Iron Man 2020
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| Iron Man 2020 | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Machine Man Vol. #2 (Nov. 1984) |
| Created by | Tom DeFalco |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arno Stark, Sr |
| Abilities | Armor grants: Flight, Superhuman strength and physical resistance, Energy blasts |
Iron Man 2020 (real name Arno Stark) is a fictional supervillain. He is the counterpart of the superhero Iron Man in the future year of 2020 in the Marvel Comics multiverse. He first appeared in the second issue of the Machine Man limited series (1984).
[edit] Fictional character biography
Arnold Stark is the future first cousin once removed of the present day Iron Man, billionaire industrialist playboy Tony Stark. His father is Stark's unscrupulous cousin, Morgan Stark. Arno inherited his uncle's company, Stark Industries, and rather than use the armor for heroic deeds, prefers to act as a hired mercenary or commit acts of corporate espionage to cripple his competitors for industrialist gain.
In his original appearance, the Iron Man of 2020 was employed by Sunset Bain (then an old woman) to destroy Machine Man, who had been accidentally discovered and subsequently reactivated by the Midnight Wreckers, rebellious youths who scavenged discarded technology. Despite ostensibly superior power and numbers, Iron Man was defeated by the furious Machine Man, who went on to claim "I'm a better man than you."
The future Iron Man traveled to the present day in order to obtain the retinal patterns of a young boy. In the year 2015 (confusingly placing this appearance before his original showing), that boy's adult self had set a bomb (of Stark's own invention) to kill Arno Stark's family (as well as anyone else in the city), and his retinal patterns were needed to defuse the bomb. Unfortunately the terrorist was killed while trying to get away, so in a desperate gambit the experimental time machine (also of Stark's design) was employed. While in the past Arno was attacked by one of Tony Stark's villains, The Blizzard, who mistook Arno's armor for Tony's. Having no time to spare, Arno killed the Blizzard with a blast from his Repulsors. Iron Man 2015 was successful in obtaining retinal scans, but was delayed in battle by the superhero Spider-Man, who only witnessed an unconscious and battered young boy being presumably kidnapped by a villain. Despite Iron Man's greater strength and power, Spider-Man's fury and determination made him unstoppable. In the process the retinal scan device was destroyed. Stark's timing mechanism malfunctioned and returned him to the future where he learnt that the bomb timing mechanism was also faulty; he found only a radioactive wasteland where his family, factory and city had been.
In a later appearance, Iron Man 2020 fought the time-traveling cyborg Death's Head.
Iron Man 2020 also had his own one-shot, in which he faces off against an industrial rival who seeks to use him to destroy all his competitors all at once, sacrificing his own daughter in the process. At the end of the story, Arno Stark and the girl, Melodi, get together, suggesting an evolution towards a more heroic role again. Meanwhile, the background character Howard is revealed (if only to the reader) to be an aged Tony Stark himself who intends to guide his nephew.
The Iron Man of 2020 also appeared in the Paradise X mini-series alongside numerous Marvel heroes from different time-lines, such as Deathlok, Spider-Girl and Wolverine (in his Days of Future Past form). Similarly, a version of the Iron Man of 2020 appeared as one of the multidimensional "potential" Avengers in Avengers Forever.
He (or an alternate version of him) has recently seen imprisoned in the time cells of the Time Variance Authority, the holding facilities for the most "dangerous time-travel offenders".
In 2023, Arno Stark makes helicarrier technology available for public use, to start with in the form of a helicruiser called the "Spirit of free enterprise". At the same time, he has supplied SHIELD with a far more advanced replacement Hypercarrier. Unfortunately, his launching the airborne cruise ship has raised the ire of the aged sky-pirate, commodore Q. Arno has married Melodi at this point and `Howard´ remains his retainer. He also employs a squad of `fetal Extremis enhanciles´ who act as his personal armored combat squad.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Iron Man 2020 wears a suit of highly sophisticated armor, similar in appearance to the classic (circa Model 5) Iron Man, with the exception of the faceplate and shoulders. Beam weapons are fitted in the gauntlets of the suit, as well as the chest beam and shoulder epaulets. The user no longer requires a cybernetic link in the helmet to control the armor; the helmet can also be hidden via cloaking technology, which was presumably developed sometime in the future. Iron Man 2020's systems are built for warfare, not super heroics like the original Iron Man. Iron Man 2020's repulsors (and an arsenal of other weapons) always fire at maximum power for the most lethal effects. Curiously, Iron Man 2020 also has the 1970s-era Iron Man rollerskates (updated to a "roller blade" style) built into the boots of the suit.
[edit] External links
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