History
As one of Earth's premier super heroes and due to his constant exposure to danger, Tony Stark has devised a consciousness-backup system which uploads his consciousness and memories into a clone in the event of a lethal injury. If he survives an otherwise-fatal hazard or the system glitches out, a surplus clone or clones might surface. Since that represents a liability on its own, whenever a Tony Stark discovers an anomaly, he is to hunt down and terminate all other Tony Starks.
One such backup clone, believing himself to be the real Tony Stark, once visited the Cube to recruit and help reform the technopath criminal Deola. He became aware of the anomaly when the Cube's warden George mentioned his lobbying to reform the prison into a more humane environment, which he hadn't personally done. When leaving the prison with Deola, Iron Man was attacked by a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team led by yet another surplus Iron Man clone. Tony broadcast data packets around himself which were downloaded into the other Iron Man's armor, assembling in its systems as a virus which hijacked his suit's life support and killed him. Afterward, Tony synchronized his memories with those of his dead opponent.
Three months later, Iron Man and Deola were refueling a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite in orbit when Stark was attacked by a new Gargantus deployed to take him down, who knocked Tony down back to Earth. Tony's consciousness-backup system was damaged in the process, and Gargantus overpowered him. Deola came to Tony's aid, augmenting his armor with her own, which gave him the edge against Gargantus. The robot detonated afterward, and Tony shoved Deola out of harm's way. Before being caught in the blast and dying, Iron Man admitted to Deola that he still didn't recall reforming the Cube, meant as a reassurance that there was still another Tony Stark out there.[1]Notes
- The intent of the ending of I Am Iron Man #5 is to hint that the "last-man-standing" Tony Stark who reformed the Cube is the one featured in Gerry Duggan's Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5).[2]
See Also
- 1 appearance(s) of Anthony Stark (Backup Clone) (Earth-616)
- 18 image(s) of Anthony Stark (Backup Clone) (Earth-616)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about Anthony Stark (Backup Clone) (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Anthony Stark (Backup Clone) (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ I Am Iron Man #5
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (September 6, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "Yes, we do get questions about Continuity regarding... X. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024. Originally retrieved on April 23, 2024.