Sometime in the next few years, the classic Iron Man storyline "Armor Wars" will be adapted
into its own Disney+ miniseries. But just what happens during this arc, and how does
it fit into the wider Marvel Universe? This is Iron Man's "Armor Wars" explained.
One of the most famous Iron Man stories is the "Demon In A Bottle" arc, in which Tony
Stark's dependence on alcohol turns into a full-blown addiction. Although he recovers
once or twice, he later relapses, ends up losing his company, and is left drunkenly
wandering the streets of New York.
Hoping to set up a new business in California, Stark acquires a small company called Accutech,
which has been working on all kinds of cutting-edge energy technology, and recently turned down
an ownership bid from the villainous Roxxon corporation. They were right to do so, too,
as Roxxon reacts by hiring a legendary industrial saboteur named the Ghost to bring the company
to its knees. The Ghost is out to get Stark on a personal level, however, and even when
Roxxon tells him to back off, he carries on with his vendetta. Roxxon subsequently sends
the longtime Iron Man foe Spymaster to kill the Ghost, but the Ghost quickly turns the
tables, killing Spymaster by materializing him in the middle of a wall. The Ghost later
dies by his own hand whilst trying to bring down Iron Man himself.
Meanwhile, a longtime operative of Justin Hammer named Force goes rogue, having become
tired of causing trouble for his nefarious boss. Force turns to Stark, who helps him
fake his death and gives him a job in exchange for a little information — and Force's armor,
of course.
The first chapter of "Armor Wars" begins with Stark examining Force's armor. Here, he makes
a horrifying discovery: that there's circuitry in the suit that he himself created, and was
supposed to be so secret that he'd never even patented it. Stark has no idea who stole it,
however, or when, or how. But he's determined to find out, mostly out of guilt for the pain
caused by the villains who have previously had access to his tech.
"The very technology that you designed to keep yourself alive… is being used to commit
atrocities. Endless opportunities for terrorist misery, because of what I built!"
Stark initially deduces that it was Justin Hammer who stole his tech. He turns to his
colleague Abe Zimmer to help him hack into Hammer's database, but Zimmer needs an inside
man to help — so Stark goes to his old electronics whiz friend and employee Scott Lang, who has
just moved to California. Unbeknownst to Stark, Lang is also Ant-Man, and so he helps Zimmer
get what he needs: a computer file containing a list of everyone who has benefited from
Stark's stolen technology.
Next, Stark builds a scanner to track down his tech when it's in use, as well as a special
Negator Pack to help destroy it. The first name on the list is the lesser-known villain
Stiltman, who is grievously injured in an ensuing fight with Iron Man. Stark then tracks
down the Mauler, who gives up his armor willingly, and the Controller, who puts up more of a
fight — leading to the death of one of the villain's followers.
Following the battles at the end of "Armor Wars'" first issue, Tony Stark is taken to
court: first by Stiltman, who claims Iron Man used excessive force in apprehending him,
and then by the Controller's cult, who take him up on a violation of freedom of religion.
Meanwhile, Iron Man continues his vendetta by frying the armor of the trio of mercenaries
called the Raiders — that just so happen to be working for his old corporate enemy
Edwin Cord, who has vowed revenge for Stark putting him out of business years earlier.
Abe Zimmer calls Stark and tells him that, due to a glitch in the file, there is one
name that isn't properly showing up. Stark analyzes a list of armored heroes and villains
and reasons that the only one he couldn't account for was the part-time Avenger and
oceanographer Stingray. Iron Man then flies to Hydro-Base and demands to examine Stingray's
armor — who outright refuses to cooperate.
Iron Man then chases down Stingray, tricks him into a trap, and stuns him. When he slaps
a Negator Pack onto his armor, however, nothing happens. Turns out, Stark's hunch was wrong.
Knowing there will be consequences for his actions, and with multiple threats of government
lawsuits looming, Stark holds a press conference and fires his longtime employee and bodyguard
Iron Man. Considering the world doesn't know that Stark is Iron Man at this point, of course,
this turns out to be a pretty clever play on his part.
After hunting down the villain known as the Beetle and hitting him with a Negator Pack,
Stark is contacted by Hawkeye, who speaks on behalf of the West Coast Avengers. When
Hawkeye demands to know what's really going on with Iron Man, Stark insists that he can't
tell them why he's on this particular vendetta — and simply asks for their trust, instead.
Later, Stark arrives at his office to find Nick Fury and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents
are waiting for him. Having invented a false secret identity for Iron Man named "Randall
Pierce," Stark offers to help Fury track down "Pierce" in exchange for getting Iron Man's
armor back. As it turns out, however, Stark set up this elaborate ruse to make Fury think
he was on his side — all so that he could get access to the S.H.I.E.L.D Mandroids, sophisticated
suits of armor that were built with Stark tech.
"I'm sure Iron Man won't destroy them all and make my conscience just a liiiiiittle
bit clearer."
Obviously, Stark doesn't enjoy the idea of deceiving his allies in the government, but
by this point he's convinced that they too must be stopped.
Stark tricks Fury into sending the Mandroids to capture Iron Man, and then sets some Negator
Pack traps that successfully knock out two of them. He makes short work of two more as
well, but soon runs into a problem: the last one is standing alongside a number of unarmored
field agents. Not wanting them to be caught up in the crossfire, Iron Man uses sonic weapons
to knock out the agents, and then captures the final Mandroid after the pilot ejects
and flees. When Fury later accuses Stark of betraying him, Tony produces a "bug" that
Iron Man had supposedly planted on him — thereby sidestepping any guilt for his role in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s
defeat.
At this point in time, Steve Rogers has been forced to give up his Captain America identity
by the government. In response, he simply starts calling himself "the Captain," and
turns to Tony Stark for a new shield. Stark is more than happy to help, of course, hoping
that if Steve owes him a favor, he might just stay out of his way in return.
Sadly, that plan doesn't quite work out, and the Captain quickly guesses Stark's next target:
the Guardsmen, an elite squad who guards the supervillain prison known as the Vault. The
Captain catches Stark before he can bluff his way in, however, so Stark beats a hasty
retreat. Luckily, Stark has a new plan. He has Jim Rhodes pretend to be Electro in order
to get sent to the vault. Once inside, Rhodes shuts down the defenses and floods the place
with knockout gas.
Rhodey and Iron Man then disable 40 suits of Guardsman armor. Luckily, most of them
were off-duty, leaving just half a dozen still able to put up a fight. Iron Man is about
to deal with the last one before the Captain, who has anticipated Iron Man's break-in, finally
steps in. While the Captain helps the downed Guardsman, Iron Man takes the opportunity
to immobilize him with electricity.
While Iron Man succeeds in his mission, this confrontation with Rogers marks the beginning
of a rift that would only widen over the coming years, finally culminating in the devastating
"Civil War" storyline, almost 20 years later.
Unfortunately, Iron Man's actions at the Vault inadvertently lead to the break-out of several
high-profile prisoners. Subsequently, Hawkeye tells Iron Man that his vendetta must come
to an end, but Stark, well, pretty much just ignores him. By this point, he has just two
names left on his list, both of whom reside in the Soviet Union: the Crimson Dynamo and
the Titanium Man.
The Dynamo is still very much loyal to the state, but the Titanium Man is piloted by
a villain called the Gremlin, who has no love for the Soviets. Iron Man tracks down the
Titanium Man in his special Stealth armor, taking him completely by surprise.
Having been warned about Iron Man's rampage, the Dynamo shows up, hoping to pick off the
survivor of the battle, but Iron Man quickly uses a Negator Pack to neutralize him. When
he tries to do the same thing to the Titanium Man, however, the latter crushes the pack.
In the ensuing fight, Iron Man ends up accidentally overheating the Titanium Man's armor and killing
the Gremlin inside. Things only get worse when Iron Man returns home, as he is thrown
out of the Avengers and declared a traitor by the United States government.
Meanwhile, Edwin Cord uses stolen Stark technology to develop a new suit of highly weaponized
armor that he calls Firepower, piloted by a psychopathic villain named Jack Taggert.
Cord subsequently hires out Firepower's services to Senator Boynton, who hopes to use the suit
as a deterrent for any superheroes who spiral out of control. To set an example, Cord and
Boynton decide to use Firepower to kill Iron Man.
While this is taking place, Abe Zimmer concocts a way to solve Stark's tech problem: he develops
a "tapeworm" virus that will destroy every last trace of his armor technology, and then
replicate itself in perpetuity. Soon after, Boynton shows up in Stark's office and demands
that he help lure Iron Man into a trap, where Firepower will destroy him. Stark decides
to take the bait, knowing that Firepower was the "glitch" he had missed earlier.
During their battle, Firepower's heavy weapon systems and armored coating quickly overwhelm
Iron Man, so he tries to outmaneuver him in a gulch, bringing a rockslide down on the
villain. Firepower shrugs it off, but Iron Man then uses Firepower's molten rock against
him, disorienting Taggert for long enough to apply a Negator Pack to his armor.
But nothing happens. Firepower reveals that the government has analyzed the equipment
and found a way to shield against Iron Man's attempted sabotage. Iron Man is then forced
to make his escape in a helicopter piloted by Jim Rhodes — but when it becomes clear
that Rhodey's life is at risk, Iron Man leaps back out again… and is immediately destroyed
by one of Firepower's nuclear missiles.
Of course, it soon turns out that Stark faked the death of Iron Man, putting a little blood
inside his armor and remotely piloting it to its doom. Bruised and beaten, Stark is
more than happy to let Iron Man stay dead and move on with his life.
When Boynton comes to claim the Firepower armor that he financed, however, Cord refuses
to give it up, as he now has his own agenda: destroying Tony Stark. First, he uses Firepower
to intimidate the people doing business with him. Then Firepower begins destroying company
property. Finally, he delivers a message to the man himself: Quit Stark Enterprises or
die.
Stark responds by building a brand new Iron Man suit, specifically designed to defeat
Firepower, which he vows to destroy as soon as the threat is dealt with. Predictably,
Firepower shows up at a new branch opening for Stark Enterprises, and, in the battle
that follows, it becomes clear that Iron Man has a counter for every one of Firepower's
tricks. When Firepower finally attempts to launch one of his nuclear missiles, he discovers
— to his horror — that it has jammed.
Iron Man uses an electromagnetic pulse to shut down Firepower's systems, and then uses
his computer to find the cancellation code for the nuke. Defeated and humiliated, Firepower
points out that more like him will come, which finally convinces Stark to keep Iron Man alive.
The "Armor Wars" arc ends with Stark going home victorious… and finally getting some
well-deserved rest.
"Alright, yay, alright, good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take
a day. You ever try shawarma?"
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