Marvel Debuts The Advanced Iron Man, Tony Stark’s Official Replacement

There’s a new Iron Man in town, as the search for Tony Stark’s successor ends with a shock replacement who considers himself the “Advanced Iron Man.” This new suit has capabilities Tony couldn’t imagine, and it couldn’t be in worse hands…

The Fixer Is Marvel’s New Advanced Iron Man

In today’s Iron Man #4 – from Joshua Williamson, Jan Bazaldua​​​​​​​, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard and Joe Caramagna – AIM’s search for the next Tony Stark ends when Tony organizes a prison break, freeing the various promising inventors AIM had hoped to pressure into a world-changing discovery.

However, as the survivors of the process flee, the Advanced Iron Man attacks. This new gold suit is comprised of the many different weapons each ‘candidate’ designed to try and escape AIM, with experimental weaponry including a plasma blast that can break Iron Man’s armor down in seconds.

The man wearing the suit is Norbert Ebersol, aka the Fixer. A supervillain who breifly courted redemption with the Thunderbolts, Fixer was charged by Madame Masque with finding the next Tony Stark. Instead, he’s become him, and he’s more than happy to kill off the original.

​​​​​​​Tony’s True Successor Adam Ware Is Dead… Or Is He?

Fans new a new Advanced Iron Man was coming, and the obvious candidate was Adam Ware – a genius teacher who took a unique approach to AIM’s tests, trying to communicate with the outside world rather than building a weapon. Sadly, Ware is fried by Fixer’s weaponry, dying in Tony’s arms.

This death is a major event for Tony, who blames himself for bringing Ware to AIM’s attention by selecting him as the latest winner of the Tony Stark award for up-and-coming geniuses. By killing Ware, Fixer just made himself Tony’s number one target for the foreseeable future.

But is Ware actually gone? Earlier in the issue, Ware uses new tech to communicate with Iron Man, utilizing a version of the thought-based signals that allow Tony to control his armor,.

Given the attention that Iron Man has paid to Adam so far, it seems entirely possible that he will live on as this kind of signal – robbed of his human body, but living on as a sort of artificial intelligence that’s able to inhabit technology. Fans may have just witnessed not the death of the new Iron Man, but the birth of Marvel’s next major superhuman.

What Does the Advanced Iron Man Mean for Tony Stark?

Madame Masque was set up as the big bad of this new volume of Iron Man, but Fixer has emerged as the true villain. Not only did his kill dozens of young geniuses, but he’s not stolen their tech for his new suit, taking Tony’s hero codename while he’s at it.

Fixer has a huge grudge against Tony for being seen as the world’s leading inventor, while Tony will stop at nothing to get justice for Ware and the other murdered geniuses. The Fixer seemed like a random choice to oppose Tony in this new era, but the last few issues have set him up both as a major threat and a villain who Iron Man will do anything to bring down.

Iron Man #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Died

2023 (in the MCU)

Alias

Iron Man

RELATIONSHIPS

Jude (biological father), Amanda Armstrong (biological mother), Howard Stark (adoptive father), Maria Stark (adoptive mother), Arno Stark (brother)