Stark Wars: Epilogue - Intimate Enemies

Tony Stark — in his old red and white armor — searches a high tech facility where he is being hunted by cybernetic humanoid. When ambushed by the creature, Tony tries his best to fight it off. However, the creature disappears after blasting off his Iron Man helmet.

That’s when Tony discovers that he is laying on a pile of dead bodies. That’s when another Iron Man — Jim Rhodes — appears and tells him that these are all the victims who have died due to Stark’s Iron Man technology. Tony tries to argue this, but the ?Jim won’t hear it. Suddenly, a bar materializes around them and the Rhodes Tony something to drink. Succumbing to the pressure to drink, Tony asks for a double vodka tonic. However, Jim refuses to serve him, telling Tony that he’s had enough.[1]

That’s when Tony is suddenly wrapped up in wires and suspended off the ground. Struggling to get free, he is once again attacked by the cyborg. This time, the creature is wearing Tony Stark’s face. As the creature tries to steal his soul, Tony fights free and tries to get away but he is impeded by the many wires and the hands of people crying out for him to save him. While scrambling to get loose, he sees Jim once again and he reminds Tony that the power to fight back is within him. Realizing Rhodes is right, Tony repairs his repulsors and lunges back into battle. As he fights the creature, Tony recounts the Lord’s Prayer. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, the cyborg creature succeeds in merging with him.

Tony suddenly wakes up in his bed and realizes that it was all a bad dream. He realizes that the cyborg he fought in his dream was a representation of his struggles with alcohol and that it is a struggle that he will have to live with for the rest of his life. The only way to move forward is for him to accept and reconcile this truth so he can move on with the rest of his life.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man

Continuity Notes

1. Tony has been struggling with alcoholism his entire adult life and had just gone through two particularly bad benders. The first was in Iron Man #128 and the other — much longer bender — lasted from Iron Man #167 through 182. Tony almost lost it all during that period.