Tony Stark’s body is dead, the Robots are rising, and the Marvel Universe is welcoming more and more artificial intelligences into the ranks of heroes and villains alike. Which means it’s time for Iron Man to step aside… and let his brother Arno Stark face the ‘robot revolution’ as the new Iron Man 2020.
Fans will wonder what Marvel brought one of their most well-known heroes to this point, facing off against his own long lost brother. It began when Captain Marvel killed Tony Stark during Civil War II. Eventually Tony returned by essentially downloading a copy of his consciousness into a new, cloned body. In the pages of Tony Stark: Iron Man, Tony faced the consequences of that decision and, following a battle with Ultron, admits he’s isn’t the real Tony… but no different from the A.I. he used to design himself. And no coincidence, he makes that realization just as A.I. the world over are uniting to demand equal rights. And Tony’s brother Arno Stark has taken over his empire, to stand against the robot uprising as Iron Man 2020.
In the first issue of Iron Man 2020, Nick Fury’s Life Model Decoys start the revolution, calling themselves the A.I. Army. These Decoys-gone-rogue decide to take construction workers hostage, but Arno comes to save the day by destroying the LMDs. If it’s not clear already, Arno opposes robots claiming rights — even more since one of them was going around acting as the real Tony Stark. In response to the attacks from the A.I. Army, the new Iron Man and his response team begin cracking down on robot bars in search of their mysterious, hidden leader.
Since he can’t make any progress using conventional means, Arno decides to start fighting dirty. Purchasing a robotics factory — the birthplace of countless new artificial life-forms — just to send a message by blowing it up, Arno intends to make his opponent emotional. And as a result, messy enough to start making mistakes. The robots being led by Machine Man see it as equivalent to attacking their children and future. But two can play that game. Machine Man pays back the attack by threatening to blow up an entire hospital.
As the Iron Man 2020 is busy trying to save innocent lives, Machine Man makes an escape to the Thirteenth Floor (a mysterious location made of solid light, where he is out of reach of human comprehension). And it is here that readers finally learn how the robots are managing to stay one step ahead of the Stark leader and his robot-hunting teams. It’s all thanks to the real “man” behind it all… Tony Stark’s clone, who is now addressing himself as “Mark One.”
What follows is what sets the stage for the robot revolution to come. In an address to his fellow A.I., Tony’s copy calls himself the real Tony’s “greatest idea,” re-defining this cloned Tony as the pure expression of Iron Man. This Tony copy then promises an A.I. revolution is going to begin, to claim liberation from humankind. With Tony Stark now leading an army of robots, this is quickly becoming a major change in how fans see the Marvel Universe in the future to come. Now that the hero has turned somewhat villainous - because of the humane treatment of robot life - it is going to be interesting to see how his role will play out in this series. And with Arno Stark taking up the mantle of Iron Man, it may pan out that the two will face off in an epic battle.
Iron Man 2020 #2 will be available at your local comic book shop on February 12th, 2020. Let the robot revolution begin!
