Frenzy in a Far-Flung Future!

Tony Stark has returned to his lab following his battle with the Unicorn. Suddenly, he is caught in a whirlpool of energy and suddenly has himself teleported someplace else before he can grab his armor. He is quickly taken captive by a group of men wearing strange armor, who drag them to their leader. The leader of this underground army explains that they have brought Tony to the 24th Century,[1] to be executed for an invention he has yet to create, a super-computer they call Cerberus.

Tony tries to appeal to reason, but they refuse to listen. Instead, they explain how Cerberus decimated their world. A few hundred years ago, Tony Stark invented Cerberus to help run the world. The computer’s artificial intelligence continued to grow and the computer’s physical hardware is expanded until the machine had spread all over the world. Soon it was making all the decisions and humanity soon found itself becoming slaves to the machine. While some formed a resistance and began fighting back, others were nothing more than loyal drones to the machine. Despite their best efforts, the resistance was forced underground. Now they intend to kill Tony in order to prevent him from creating the super-computer.

As they prepare to execute Tony, he tries to explain the potential time-paradox that could come out of killing him. This final appeal also falls on deaf ears. That’s when the tendrils of Cerberus come crashing into the room, as the machine was able to track the energies of their time machine. Suddenly, the hideout is swarmed with warriors loyal to Cerberus. Tony manages to escape in the ensuing battle. Without his armor, Stark is helpless in this future era and as he tries to figure out his next move he is approached by a woman named Krylla. Although she is part of the resistance she is against killing Tony Stark and believes he can help them defeat Cerberus in this era. Evading detection, the pair head to the ruins of an old museum where Tony is shocked to discover a suit of his armor had been preserved in a display case over the centuries.[2]

Iron Man then blasts his way into one of the access tunnels that leads into the heart of Cerberus. There he fights off various automated defenses and robots until he reaches the heart of the computer. There, Cerberus appears before them as a holographic projection of a human face. Iron Man blasts it with his repulsor rays, prompting Cerberus to appear before him in a the form of a massive humanoid robot. Still it unleashes more of its robots to attack Krylla, but Iron Man easily saves her life. This is when Cerberus personally enters the battle and his titanic size and futuristic weapons are no match for Iron Man’s centuries old armor. Eventually, Iron Man comes up with a way to outsmart the computer. Removing his helmet, he reveals that he is Tony Stark. Faced with destroying his creator, Cerberus’ programming begins to conflict with itself. While the computer begins to malfunction, Krylla uses an explosive pellet recovered from the museum to destroy the primary computer, shutting Cerberus down for good.

This also causes a planet wide shut down, forcing Iron Man and Krylla to race back to the time machine before it runs out of power. Their luck holds out and Krylla succeeds in sending Tony back to the present. Stark finds himself back in his lab at the exact same moment he was taken to the future. He almost couldn’t believe it if he was not still wearing the armor he found in the future.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man

Continuity Notes

1. The future that Tony Stark visits is actually an alternate reality. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4 designates it as Reality-68091.

2. It’s interesting to note the Krylla does not know that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person even though, in the future of Earth-616, Tony will publicly reveal his identity in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55. Either Earth-68091 diverged in such a way that Tony never revealed his double identity, or the records of Iron Man’s true identity were lost.

Topical References

• Any reference to the Modern Age taking place in the 20th Century should be considered topical. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the Modern Age has been pushed forward so it now takes place in the 21st Century.