[Concluding my issue by issue look at Iron Man: The Inevitable.]
And, so: the inevitable. Iron Man vs. Spymaster! Iron Man vs. the Living Laser! And, of course, acceptance of the inevitable.
The fight between Iron Man and Spymaster is a genuinely entertaining fight as Iron Man gets more and more furstrated with this useless exercise. When Spymaster mentions their 'mutual hatred' fueling them, Iron Man responds with "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HATRED FEELS LIKE? THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE" and punches him so hard that his mask shatters. It's a dumb action movie bit, but it works. He also keeps it up after that, talking about how he and Spymaster are nothing, how Tony Stark would stop, but he's going to keep beating the shit out of Spymaster until it's done. It's suprisingly harsh -- but effective. The best part is Greta Abbott watching on a video feed and noticing that her husband sucks at this.
The conflict is never truly resolved and the Living Laser arrives, more powerful than ever and in complete harmony with the idea that he's the real bad guy here. That fight is a bit more typical with Iron Man eventually absorbing all of the Living Laser's energy. He puts him back in containment, the Spymaster escapes (prison or escape, the two inevitabilities of villains), and the comic ends with Tony Stark accepting that this is his life.
He may want to move on, but he can't. Whether it's the world demanding that he remain what he's always been or something inside of him, he's Tony Stark the Iron Man, a superhero. You can't move past what defines you. This comic seems like a big response to the changes that Ellis was making in the main title. Casey tries to continue that style forward, to keep pushing those ideas, but they don't work. They're not part of the genre, the conventions. Iron Man is a superhero and superheroes fight supervillains. That's just the way it is. That's what defines them.
That's the inevitable.
In 30 minutes, I'll discuss "The Eternal Return" aka The Authority: Revolution!
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative! (Details in this post.) After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Phoenix #5 annotations
14 hours ago
