Warning: Spoilers for The Avengers #7!Even before he was addicted to alcohol, Iron Man suffered rom another addiction, one that explains his latest feud. Tony Stark infamously has a history with alcohol addiction, dating back to his character-defining “Demon in a Bottle” storyline. He’s long been on the wagon – save for a recent slip-up – but there’s a far different deeper psychological addiction that plagues him, even to this day: an addiction to war.
The Avengers #7 – by Jed MacKay, C.F. Villa, Federico Blee, and VC’s Cory Petit – unveiled this deep, dark secret, providing an entirely new context for the long and storied history of Iron Man. The issue depicts a shared vision of horror influenced by the villain Nightmare, one that exposes Tony’s first, most primal addiction.
Such an addiction puts his new obsession with his new rival, Feilong, in an entirely new perspective, while also having wider implications for how readers view many of Iron Man’s classic storylines, from his earliest days as an arms manufacturer, to his struggles with alcohol, to his greatest triumphs as a hero.
Avengers Writer Jed McKay Redefines Iron Man
Tony Stark’s Psychological Addictions Drive His Substance Abuse
Avengers #7 depicts the Avengers getting picked off one-by-one, in a hyperrealistic doomsday dream designed by the supervillain Nightmare. During the heroes’ dilemma, Nightmare narrates their plight. When it comes time for Iron Man to meet his demise, with the Avengers facing a literally unstoppable threat, Nightmare talks about the weaponry that Tony manifests during the fight. “He understands that he is a futurist with no future,” Nightmare says about Tony. “So he gives in to his first addiction. His first vice and summons his devices, his offerings to his first love: war.” This stand-out moment is one of many from a thrilling Avengers run by Jed McKay so far.
Outside the Avengers series, Iron Man’s attention is focused on the villain Feilong, most notably in his Invincible Iron Man series. Feilong is among the top brass of Orchis who helped turn society against mutantkind, with the help of the Stark Sentinels he introduced using Iron Man tech, after overthrowing Tony, expelling him from his own company. Throughout Invincible Iron Man, it seems as though Tony’s hatred for Feilong has constantly escalated. He has become hellbent on going to “war” with the man who stole his company from under him. Nightmare’s observation from Avengers #7 puts his conflict with Feilong in an entirely new perspective.
Tony Is Letting His Darkest Secret Come To Light
Stark Has Smothered His Thirst For Warfare For A Long Time – But Not Anymore
By Invincible Iron Man #8, Stark is furious at the thought of Feilong having “the honor of being my nemesis….” His fury compels him to collaborate with Emma Frost, orchestrating a wedding just to get the chance to infiltrate Feilong’s mind. With each issue, Tony’s frustrations intensify enough to constantly escalate things in extreme ways to one-up his enemy, as one does in any war. Just as easily as Tony has fallen off the wagon in the past, it’s just as easy for him to go overboard in war if he’s overly committed to the cause. If he’s not careful, Iron Man could succumb to his addiction to war unlike ever before.
This new insight into the deepest part of Tony Stark’s psyche provides a greater level of insight into his current storylines – but it also will mean that readers going back, revisiting classic Iron Man and Avengers stories, will look at Tony’s actions in a different light, aware of the deep desire he’s harboring. A storyline like “Demon in the Bottle,” and Stark’s battle with alcoholism up to that point, will take on new meaning, knowing this addiction is a surrogate for another, that Stark is substituting self-destruction for destruction. This is both a new era for Iron Man storytelling, and an opportunity to reappraise the character’s history.
The Avengers #7 is available now from Marvel Comics.
