When it comes to MCU heroes, few hold a place in the hearts of fans like Iron Man. He was the one to kick off the MCU. And 2008’s Iron Man was also a superb character study of Tony Stark. Without the success of that movie and that character, the MCU would not be what it is. But a recent MCU trailer has started wild speculation that a new hero may be rising, specifically the Superior Iron Man.
The character has a dubious history in the comics but movie fans haven’t been introduced, yet. What’s crazy about the whole situation is that no one knows if Superior Iron Man is actually in the trailer. At this point, it’s just an anonymous glowing figure. It could be virtually anyone. But just in case it does turn out that a new version of the Armored Avenger is on their way, it doesn’t hurt to know what we’re dealing with.
The Superior Iron Man
While this might come as a shock to some people, the Superior Iron Man was a villain in the comics. The events of the Axis storyline made good guys bad and bad guys good. This version of Tony Stark managed to protect himself from the return to normalcy. Evil Tony spent a significant amount of time building a secret empire of his own that would allow him to become the top villain.
Basically, Superior Iron Man’s master plan was to become a high-tech drug dealer. He turned Extremis 3.0 into an app that allowed him to unknowingly get a significant portion of the population addicted to it. The app would allow users to make themselves physically perfect in every way possible. He managed to get people addicted by initially offering it for free before going on to charge them $99.99 per day to continue using it.
When Daredevil discovered this he decided to confront Tony to make him stop. Something that the Superior Iron Man was not too happy with. Stark responded by inflicting brain damage on Matt Murdock and making him forget about the whole thing.
Tony’s plan was simultaneously Machiavellian and incredibly pedestrian. He put too much effort into a process other people have refined and implemented in a much simpler fashion.
That plot was a testament to Superior Iron Man’s massive, unbridled ego. He was killed when the incursions started, leading to the Ultimate Universe and the Marvel Universe quite literally colliding with each other. Stark and Captain America died fighting each other on a Helicarrier. When Reed Richards fixed everything, Tony Stark returned to the land of the living, and Superior Iron Man was long gone.
Naturally, the Superior Iron Man had a badass suit of armor which imbued him with a variety of abilities. Stark loves his armor regardless of whether he’s good or evil. He even had all of the intelligence and engineering skills of normal Tony. The problem was that he also had an out-of-control ego and no morality to keep him in check. It was a dangerous look at what can go wrong when someone like Tony Stark goes off the rails.
This Tony Stark might not be on his way
A new trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness recently dropped. It provided some good looks at America Chavez, a reality hopping hero making her MCU debut in this movie. Much to everyone’s surprise, the voice of Sir Patrick Stewart was also heard in the trailer. The obvious conclusion is that Professor X, a character Stewart has been playing in movies since the year 2000, is also debuting. That being said, no one really knows for sure what is going on.
The same is true of the Superior Iron Man. An extremely brief clip shows a glowing person seemingly flying into battle. The figure only appeared on screen for a split second, giving fans little to go on when it comes to their identity. The first identification was that this person would turn out to be Captain Marvel. And that actually makes a lot of sense. This is the kind of situation she would get involved in.
Another good guess is Captain Marvel’s old friend Monica Rambeau. She has not been seen since powering up in the Disney+ series WandaVision. This was also the last time fans saw Dr. Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo but them turning out to be the glowing figure seems to be unlikely. Comic fans started noticing some visual similarities between the glowing figure and the way Superior Iron Man was depicted in the comics.
Despite no clear supporting evidence, the theory has taken on a life of its own. Things have gone so far that fans have even cast Tom Cruise, who was attached to Iron Man years before Robert Downey Jr. was, in the role. Fans won’t know for sure what’s going on until they see the movie. Just don’t be disappointed if an online theory with little to no evidence to support it doesn’t pan out. That being said, we can hope that it does because it would be quite cool.
