Taking up the Ebony Blade as an additional weapon, Iron Man chose to sacrifice himself to cover their escape - making sure to die as himself instead of devolving into the same maniacal villainy that often defines Norman Osborn. Feeling his grasp on reality waning as the Goblin Serum took further effect, Iron Man elected to stay behind when the Spider-Queen's forces cornered the resistance. However, Tony never saw that happy ending. This corrupted Tony played a vital role in giving the heroes an edge against the Spider-Queen - which eventually led to the fall of her regime. Tony Stark's willpower and inventive nature allowed him to briefly adapt to the situation, even incorporating Green Goblin elements and weaponry into his Iron Man armor. While the heroes also freed Iron Man, it came at a cost, as the only means left to free Tony Stark involved the Goblin Serum created by Norman Osborn, effectively turning Iron Man into a new version of the Green Goblin. This resulted in the remaining heroes exposing what few others they could get to new states, giving the Hulk the Lizard Serum, turning Captain America into a werewolf, and changing Captain Marvel into a Living Vampire like Morbius. Others who suffered from other transformative states ( like Werewolf by Night) could break free of the Spider-Queen's command while in their altered states. Only a handful of figures proved capable of resisting the virus completely. In this realm, the heroes had failed to prevent the Spider-Queen from infecting most of Manhattan with a transformative virus that put the populace under her control. One of these realms was known as Spider-Island and was derived from the crossover of the same name. Others directly drew on specific storylines, introducing realms where a classic storyline had taken a different turn. Some of them reinvented classic Marvel concepts in new eras of genres, such as the wild west variants of 1892 or the Martial Arts-inspired Masters of Kung-Fu. Each "realm" was based on a different reality. Either way, by the time the narrative crux of this issue really clicks into place, it's already over.As a result of Secret Wars, the remnants of the Marvel multiverse were recreated into the patchwork planet known as Batteworld. Maybe it's also because the recently-wrapped Iron Man ongoing rarely passed up an opportunity to let its plot simmer, creating space for some genuinely compelling character beats. Maybe that's because the concept of I Am Iron Man #1, and the time travel narrative devices it utilizes, are compelling enough to fill six issues on their own. But it is jarring having this particular plot be the first (outside of a few smaller backup stories the creative team has contributed in recent months) of those stand-alone installments. That storytelling decision is inherently admirable, especially since it leans into the kind of one-off tales that Tony was spotlighted in for the first couple decades of his tenure. Let's get one thing out of the way – this is a standalone comic adventure, with little-to-no obvious set-up for some grand narrative. As we check in on Tony across various parts of his life and superhero career, a new threat makes itself known, and provides Tony's personality and morality an opportunity to shine. I Am Iron Man chronicles stories from all across Tony Stark's legacy – beginning with a tale that uses time travel to navigate several of those eras.
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