Previously on Iron Man, Tony Stark decided to take a little jaunt into space to clear his head. Immediately he was taken prisoner as being charged with the death of The Phoenix. Instead of being put to death he was able to escape with the help of an Android named 451. This android though has larger plans as he stole what was keeping the people who locked up Tony safe and they were pretty much wiped off the face of the cosmos. Tony escaped but his new goal to track down 451 and stop whatever mad plans he has in store for him.

However there’s a twist. Apparently Howard and Maria Stark were not able to have a child. Someway. Somehow. 451 apparently was responsible for Tony Stark’s inception.

What?

Yes it’s retcon time and giving us a new origin for Tony Stark. Somehow Iron Man is going to be partially created by an alien robot life form. How that’s going to happen and why it’s going to matter is up for a matter of debate at this time. What matters though is the story itself has been surprisingly interesting.

It probably helps that this issue is a full on Ocean’s Eleven rip off done in the past of the Marvel Universe.

Wait. What?

When Howard Stark finds out that with all of the power and money in the world he can’t have his son see a day of sunlight he goes on a quest to find someone who can help. After hitting every dead end (including the High Evolutionary who says he can help but would keep the child) he finds someone who looks and acts like a complete scammer. That is until the scammer shows that he’s actually an alien from another planet.

They have an android in stasis that they believe can cure the problems that Howard and Maria are having. The problem is the alien’s boss won’t share the Android so they need to steal it.

Howard puts together a team consisting of Dum Dum Dugan (Nick Fury was ‘sick’), Thunderbolt Ross, Jimmy Woo, and a couple other faces I didn’t instantly recognize to do a complete end run and steal the Android Ocean’s Eleven style. Including a take look at the vault to make it appear as if the team had already stolen the android away.

After we are shown this flashback sequence we still aren’t quite sure how exactly this is going to tie into Tony Stark. We do know that 451 has a plan for Tony and it’s been a plan that was created before he was even born.

While I still don’t think that a super origin for Tony Stark is needed (or will even help the character) in any way, shape, or form – I’ve been loving this story line. I felt it had started off a little weak after NOW! but they’ve really managed to put together an amazing story. I just hope the end result does justice to the build up that we’ve been given so far.

Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Dale Eaglesham