Extremis, Part One of Six

November 7

Three men have entered an abandoned slaughter house in Bastrop, Texas. In a briefcase they have a strange injection gun. One of the men, named Mallen, is injected with it at the base of his neck. The injection is painful and after screaming, Mallen passes out. When nothing immediately happen, the other two men are convinced they were sold a dud. That’s when Mallen suddenly screams in agony and begins vomiting up some strange black liquid. The two men who injected him quickly scramble out of the room and seal the door behind them.

November 9

Tony Stark has been secluded in his private workshop, called “The Garage”. He is woken up by his personal secretary. She reminds him that he scheduled an interview with documentary filmmaker John Pillinger. This annoys Tony, but he’s been down there for nine weeks and its time for him to come up and greet the world. When Tony steps out of the shower, he doesn’t like the way he looks at himself in the mirror.

Meanwhile, at the offices of FuturePharm in Austin, Texas, it has been discovered that the special projects vault has been compromised and that someone has stolen something called Extremist. As this discovery is being made, Doctor Aldrich Killian is writing a full confession on his computer. He insists that what he did had to be done. When he hits print, he pulls a gun out of his desk drawer and commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. The gunshot draws the attention of Aldrich’s partner, Doctor Maya Hansen, who discovers his body and his suicide note. She is horrified to learn that Killian was the one who stole Extremis and gave it to someone.

Back in New York, Tony Stark meets with John Pillinger at his Coney Island office. There are protestors outside that are decrying Stark for his weapons.[1] Tony is musing about how his father, Howard Stark, chose Coney Island because people used to visit it Coney Island because it offered a glimpse of the future, people would often camp out on the beach just to wake up in this wonderland in the morning.[2] People don’t sleep on the beaches anymore. When Pillinger and his cameraman are ready to go, the interview begins.

While Tony tries to be casual, John goes into a hardball question by asking if Tony considers himself a munitions dealer. Tony admits that his company had designed weapons for the United States military in the past. He also confirms that his first invention — a miniaturized seedpod bomb — was created when he was around 19 years old. That’s when Pillinger asks if all of the bombs in the seedpod worked as intended. Tony can’t say if all of the bombs detonated or not because he was never given any operations report. What’s when John wants to show Tony some pictures. He tells Tony that the bomblets had an 18% failure rate. The photos he shows Tony are of children who happened to find these seedpod bombs and accidentally set them off.

That’s when John asks Tony if he remembers the Stark Sentinel, a landmine that his company created for the military. John brings up the fact that Tony was injured by one of these landmines. It reminds Tony of the accident that injured his heart — that led to his becoming Iron Man in the first place.[3] All Tony will say is that he is fine now.[4] The rest of the questions Tony can’t answer because the information is classified. Tony then starts sketching designs when Pillinger starts asking about Iron Man and if Tony considers it a military device. Tony says that every invention has military applications or a potential to be destructive. John then questions what non-destructive use repulsive technology has. Tony points out that it could be used for non-chemical space launches, although he admits that he’s not developing such applications at this time. Pillinger then has some thoughts on Iron Man himself, pointing out to Tony that as Stark’s personal bodyguard, and a member of the Avengers, he primarily acts as a defense industry application.[5]

By this time, Tony has gotten fed up with being interrupted before he can fully explain himself, he points out that his inventions has all led to useful social technologies through that initial military funding. His wasn’t first thought about nanometer size microchips would be great for bombs, but the money for his seedpod weapon allowed him to use that technology to develop various medical technologies that have saved lives. He concludes that he started as a weapons designers, but he is not one now and he doesn’t intend to die as one either. When asked if victims of war benefit from Tony’s non-military technologies, Stark can’t say. He admits that he has blood on his hands from his weapons manufacturing. However, he is trying to improve the world.

With that, the interview is done, but Tony is curious to know why he is considered a ghost of the last century. John explains that the arms that Tony created in the past still haunt the people of the war zones they were used in. Tony has a question for John, after 20 years of uncovering horrible things in the world has has he changed anything. John admits that he doesn’t know, and this is at least something Tony can relate with. He then shakes Pillangers hand and says it was an honor to meet him.

At that moment, back at the Texas slaughter house, Mallen has been encased in a strange cocoon. His body lays deathly still.

After the interview with Pillinger, all Tony wants to do is get back down to the Garage to keep tinkering. However, senior staff want to meet with him. He’s annoyed that they are pressuring him to step down as CEO and become a Chief Technologist so that he doesn’t have to worry about the day-to-day business, but agrees to meet with them later that afternoon.

Returning to the Garage, Tony goes to the secure room where he is working on his newest suit of Iron Man armor. He thinks about the interview with John Pillinger. While he said he didn’t believe Iron Man was a military weapon, but now he isn’t sure that he was lying. Tony admits that he created the Iron Man armor as stopgap measure to keep shrapnel from his heart while he waited for medical science to catch up and be able to safely remove it. He continued to work on and upgrade the technology even when he had no reason to be wearing it. He wonders if this was to take his mind off the destructive potential of the weapons he was making.

Tony then suits up in his Iron Man armor and blasts off. When he leaves the Stark Industries building the protestors can’t help but stop and marvel at his creation. Tony laughs at this as he rises above the clouds.

The Past

Tony Stark was attending a technology convention, bored out of mind and drinking at the bar. He is interrupted by another attendee who finds the fact that Tony is there in a suit amusing. He tells her that he runs a corporation and complains about how the technology on display is uninteresting. He wonders why all innovations need to have a consume application. She finds this funny as well since Tony mostly gets his money from military contracts. The woman is the first person to acknowledge the fact that she knows who they are. She explains that everyone at the convention knows who he is but are too afraid to approach him because he is viewed as a genius beyond everyone else. This woman introduces herself as Maya Hansen, and it is Tony’s turn to be impressed because is familiar with her work in medicine.

She then tells him that futurist Sal Kenned y is about to give a speech and suggests he tag along with her to listen to it. As he leads Tony away, she suggests that he loosen his tie a bit.

Now

Maya Hansen calls Tony Stark, holding him to a promise they made to always take each others calls. When she says that she has some trouble, Tony agrees to meet with her and will fly out to Texas in his private jet right away. As Tony flies back to Stark Industries he calls his assistant and has her arrange his flight and to have his Iron Man armor transported.

Back at the butcher shop, the two men who injected Mallen return to check on him. The door they sealed has dents in it as though whoever was inside was trying to punch their way out with great force. Opening the door they find Mallen curled up in the fetal position on the floor. When they approach he wakes up and looks at them with his blood red eyes and says he’s alive.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Maya Hansen, Mallen

Continuity Notes

1. Tony Stark got out of the munitions game years ago in Iron Man #42. The protestors aren’t protesting new Stark weapons, but the ones that are still out there in the world. Yeah, this is the first time they ever address the fact that the weapons you have built don’t magically disappear when you decide to stop making them. That took writers what, 30 years to figure out?

2. Howard Stark is referred to here as Tony Stark’s father. In reality, he’s Tony’s adopted father, something Tony won’t learn until Iron Man (vol. 5) #17. Per International Iron Man #7, his real father was a man known only as Jude. Howard Stark is referred to in the past tense here because, per Iron Man #288, he was believed to have died in a car accident years earlier. S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 suggests that Howard may have faked his death, but as of this writing (April, 2023) this has yet to be independently verified.

3. This story reframes Iron Man’s origins from Tales of Suspense #39. The original origin story places Iron Man’s origins happening in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. This story (and subsequent recounts over the next few years) reframe the origin, stating that it happened somewhere in the Middle East. See below for more on this.

4. Tony’s injured heart was repaired via surgery in Iron Man #19. However his heart gave him trouble for years. Eventually, it was replaced with a mechanical heart in Iron Man (vol. 3) #30.

5. Here, Iron Man is referred to as a second person. This is because Tony has convinced the world that he has stepped down as Iron Man and has someone else wearing the suit, as seen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #89. This will remain the status quo until Tony reveals his identity again in Civil War #1.

Topical References

• Tony Stark’s cell phone is depicted as a flip phone with a visible antenna. This should be considered a topical reference as this type of cell phone is obsolete.

• Killian is depicted as having a computer with a CRT monitor. This should be considered topical because this is also an obsolete technology.

• Pillinger’s documentary is called “Ghosts of the 20th Century”, implying that Tony built weapons in the 20th Century and that it just recently became the 21st. This should be considered a topical reference. The Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time enough that it does not begin until after the start of the 21st Century. It would probably be called “Ghosts of the 21st Century” now.

• It’s stated here that Tony Stark’s first invention was used in “Gulf War I”, this is referring to the Gulf War of 1990-1991, when the United States forced Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. This should be considered a topical reference, as Tony being a teenager at that time was relative to the date of publication. As the Sliding Timescale moves everything forward in time, it will become impossible for Tony to have provided weapons to that conflict. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that Tony provided weapons for an unspecified Middle Eastern conflict that is unique to the fiction.

• Tony compares his position to that of Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, when he stepped down. In reality, Gates was stepping down to focus on his philanthropy. Since this happened in 2006, this should be considered a topical reference as it can be replaced with a more contemporary example.

The Reframing of Iron Man’s Origin

This story makes an attempt to modernize Iron Man’s origins. The original version from Tales of Suspense #39 was written in 1963 was framed as happening during the Vietnam War. Over the years, other writers have attempted to modernize Tony’s origins. As such, the purpose and conflict that led to Tony becoming Iron Man is always considered a topical reference. However, up until this point, the retellings of Iron Man’s origins has always placed it as happening somewhere in Southeast Asia.

This is the first (and only) time that the geographical location was completely changed. In this version of the origin, Tony goes to the Middle East to assist with a military conflict with al-Queda. Originally, Tony was injured when he accidentally set off a trip mine. Since this wouldn’t make logical sense in a desert, that fact was changed as well. In this version, the explosion was caused by a stray bullet hit a Stark landmine. When Iron Man’s origins were retold during the Marvel Legacy event (Invincible Iron Man #593), the origin was retold in its original setting and reason. Likewise when it was told again in History of the Marvel Universe #3.

So how does one reconcile this wildly different story? If you’ve read my index long enough, you know that for me, tossing out something what lazy unimaginative people do. Retcons are the devil.

I’d like to think that these events still happened, they just didn’t tie in to Iron Man’s origins. This happened before Stark went to Southeast Asia and is a separate incident. John Pillinger states that this incident happened when Tony was in his early 20s. Per Invincible Iron Man #7, Tony was about 23 when Tales of Suspense #39 happened. Since the story is vague on the specifics, you could argue that this flashback took place in the three years of Tony’s 20s that preceded his origin story. Given how other stories (particularly Iron Man (vol. 3) #50) later said Tony was developing armor for the military, an incident like this could have inspired him to come up with the idea like this to begin with.

So based on the logic above, I would argue that this flashback happened, just before Tony started developing his prototype armor. The injury Tony sustained is separate from the injury he would experience later on.

The only thing left to argue would be how Pillinger would conflate the two incidents. I figure that Tony’s time designing weapons for the military would have been top secret. Pillinger seems like the type of guy who would try to learn the truth through Access to Information requests to the government, but a lot of that would likely redacted. Pillinger is probably basing his questions on what he learned from redacted records. This seems to be supported when Tony says that the details are classified when Pillinger presses him for answers.