Iron Man’s Most Powerful Armor Is a Secret Metaphor for His Rivalry with [SPOILER]

Warning! Spoilers for Invincible Iron Man #16 ahead!Tony Stark is a talented inventor, even without the resources that created Iron Man, and his newest armor proves that his foe Feilong will never be anything more than a pale imitation of Tony. Feilong is himself a tech company CEO, and now has control of Tony’s robust set of intellectual property. However, Feilong and the anti-mutant organization, Orchis, have only provided pilots for the Stark Sentinels, and no original technology or designs of their own in Feilong’s campaign against mutants and humankind.

In Gerry Duggan, Creees Lee, Walden Wong, Bryan Valenza, and Joe Caramagna’s Invincible Iron Man #16, Feilong works his way inside Iron Man’s massive Sentinel Buster armor, hunting Tony Stark down while wearing the War Machine Sentinel. Wearing armor based off of Tony’s own designs while infiltrating a massive mysterium Iron Man suit, Feilong’s jealousy of Tony’s genius is on display.

Driving his piracy is a sense of personal inadequacy. This isn’t the first time Feilong has aped his nemeses, having effectively mutated his body with cosmic rays to gain superhuman strength and abilities.

Feilong’s Use of Iron Man Imagery is a Sign of Weakness

Feilong originally appeared as an X-Men villain, striving to eliminate the mutant colonies on Mars and Krakoa. In Invincible Iron Man #10, by Gerry Duggan, Bryan Valenza, Juan Figeri, and Joe Caramagna, Emma Frost reveals to Tony through telepathy that Feilong was born a powerless, non-mutant child of mutant parents. Using this vulnerability, Tony has taunted Feilong in battle about his sensitivity regarding his origin. But Feilong’s resentment goes deeper than simply becoming enraged at the mention of his parents.

Though Feilong has taken over Stark Unlimited, Iron Man and War Machine designs are the basis for Orchis’ Sentinels. Feilong has used the defenses that Tony built against Magneto in his attempt to rid Earth of mutants. In his theft and destruction of the filmstrips left behind by Howard Stark, Feilong makes no attempt to learn from the revelation of the metal mysterium, from which Tony constructs the Sentinel Buster. It is this rejection of innovation in favor of the proven strategies of others that enables Iron Man to build a defense against Feilong.

The Mysterium Sentinel Buster Cannot be Stolen

Tony Stark’s marriage to, and alliance with Emma Frost enables him to discover the mysterium and to obtain enough of it to create his new armor. His mentorship of Riri Williams enables her to assemble the Sentinel Buster in space. The impregnable properties of mysterium are what enables the Buster to defeat the Stark Sentinels. Tony’s ability to develop new strategies, use new resources, and work with allies creates something that Feilong cannot seize, and can only damage or infiltrate.

A true arms race involves equal and escalating innovation on both sides, and this is where Feilong falls short as a foil to Iron Man. Though he’s equipped and experienced, he recognizes the superiority of his nemeses’ abilities. True to his form, he can only admire and imitate his rivals. His infiltration of the Sentinel Buster can only end the way his takeover of Stark Unlimited ended: a frontal assault on a smarter opponent. When he reaches Iron Man in the core of the mecha, Feilong will be armed only with stolen abilities and his stolen suit.