The Iron Fascist

At the onset of Civil War, when Iron Man went from largely forgettable alchoholic filler Avenger to deluded overbearing big brother figure, I didn't like the abrupt character change. Very people did, although I wasn't really all that concerned with it. I was more upset about Mr. Fantastic, a character with whom I had stronger associations with what the proper characterization is. All things considered, it was Mr. Fantastic who was most out of character, Iron Man was just the one we were supposed to hate. And don't believe Marvel's BS about thinking Iron Man was right, it's pretty clear what they were up to, and they did it well. They transformed Iron Man from a mediocre "A" hero into a brilliantly polarizing fascist anti-hero. So often anti-heroes are of the anarchist bent, but here we've given one at the other extreme of the spectrum.

All said, Civil War was extremely well produced, as we were all caught by it's web of emotional manipulation only to have our goo sucked out by the mandibles of buying the next issue. We were lured to each issue with the promise of the Iron Fascist finally getting his come-uppance. But they weren't going to give it away that easily, we had to wait for World War Hulk, for the green angel of Catharsis to descend from the heavens and beat Iron Man into within an inch of his life. Oh and the second issue of the new Thor, same excact premise. Now that 90% of comic fans everywhere hate Iron Man with a firey passion, it's easy for Marvel to just have another fan-favorite hero beat the snot out of Iron Man and basically print money. Granted, comic-book money, but still.

I wouldn't be surprised if Spiderman doesn't give him a sound thrashing next. I don't buy any of this "Marriage to Mary Jane" reset being permanent. I got a definate vibe of "we're going to fix this later" from that whole storyline. Although, it was from the writer who is no longer with the book, so we'll soon see won't we? I suppose Wolverine could always fight Iron Man. Or Squirrel Girl.