Superior Iron Man is a 2014 series by Marvel Comics, written by Tom Taylor with art by Yıldıray Çınar.
During 2014's AXIS event, many heroes and villains had their personalities magically "inverted", with heroes becoming villains and vice versa. Among these was Iron Man, who had all of his positive traits stripped away and his flaws cranked up to eleven. This brings us to Superior Iron Man, a nine-issue miniseries written by Tom Taylor (All-New Wolverine, X-Men: Red) focusing on Evil!Tony's escapades in San Francisco while he exploits his intellect and "hero" image.
The series was cancelled in time for the AXIS conclusion, which saw most of the heroes and villains reverted back to their original personalities, but Tony ensured that he remain the same. However, post-Secret Wars (2015) he went back to normal with no explanation.
Despite what the title implies, it has nothing to do with Superior Spider-Man aside from having a similar premise.
Superior Iron Man provides examples of:
- Anti-Hero Substitute: Stark is one for himself.
- Atrocious Alias: Tony is less than amused by "Teen Abomination", pointing out that he will eventually age out of it.Tony: No. Please don't say your name out loud. There are people around. It's embarrassing for both of us.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The series ends with Tony successfully crushing everyone who opposes him and maintaining his public image.
- Bright Is Not Good: It's really amazing how much pure, gleaming white can help with making one look like a self-important ponce.
- Call-Back: Tony's fight with the Black Lama
figures into the plot due to having motivated Tony to create a contingency plan for if he was ever Brainwashed and Crazy. It's said to have ocurred eight years ago. - Corrupt Corporate Executive: Played straight, although Tony himself wouldn't agree: he gave thousands of people access to a version of Extremis - a body-altering technology - that made them physically perfect... but then it turned out it only lasted for 24 hours, and you had to buy new increments for $99 a day. Superior Tony just considers this good business.
- Good Counterpart: Tony's sentient armor suit.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Tony almost gets this twice, first when Daredevil figures out the true nature of Extremis because it makes a specific sound, and then when he has to fight a backup copy of his personality from eight years ago that he made for the express purpose of stopping him if his mind was compromised.
- Perfection Is Addictive: Extremis, a techno-virus that can turn anyone into an idealized version of themself, starts charging $99.99 a day after a free trial. This makes people desperate to regain their "perfect" forms, even resorting to crime to pay the fee.
- Pet the Dog: After learning Teen Abomination is the illegimate son of Happy Hogan, he takes him in as his ward.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Tony ends the story alone, having alienated his friends and allies.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Tony tries to win over Daredevil by temporarily curing his blindness to keep him on a dependent leash. Matt, who has a will of titanium, refuses to be bought over and Tony casts him aside. Before his sight deteriorates, Matt chooses to use his remaining minutes of vision to go over to his best friend's house and look at his face while he still can.
- Villain Protagonist: Evil!Tony is very much this. The real heroes are his opposing forces, Daredevil and Pepper Potts.
- Villain with Good Publicity: It isn't public knowledge that Tony's personality was inverted, a fact that he exploits for his own benefit. As far as the public knows, he's just a philanthropist generously providing Extremis to everyone with a smart device.
- Water Source Tampering: Tony's plan involves infecting people with Extremis via the water supply.
