Warning: Spoilers for The Avengers #19!Tony Stark’s original addiction doesn’t even reach the top Iron Man alcohol dependence. Tony Stark’s penchant for alcoholic beverages has been well documented, most notably in “Demon in a Bottle” by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, and John Romita Jr., one of the best Iron Man stories of all time. However, Marvel has made a point of reminding readers in recent years that Iron Man’s first addiction wasn’t alcohol.
Iron Man’s first vice was warand The Avengers #19 by Jed MacKay, Farid Karami, Federico Blee, and Cory Petit illustrates why he may never overcome this addiction. The new Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Doom, presents a perfect, hypothetical world for the Avengers, and in that sense, presents a world where neither Iron Man nor the world needs weapons.
But it’s an unrealistic vision of the world that the comics guarantee will never come to fruition. As such, Iron Man will never get rid of his addiction that continues to haunt him today.
Iron Man is addicted to war and continues to fight this addiction
Doctor Doom exposes Tony Stark’s first addiction
Iron Man and his fellow Avengers met at the center of the “Blood Hunt” story arc when they faced their greatest challenge: a vampire invasion. Pop culture’s oldest vampire, Varnae, made things personal by possessing former Avengers member Blade and turning the planet into a playground for his cruel vampire army once he blotted out the sun. One of the Avengers’ greatest assets, Doctor Strange, was neutralized when he was killed by Varnae, leaving Earth’s Mightiest Heroes without a Sorcerer Supreme. The heroes had to rely on the most unexpected name to save the world: Doctor Doom.
In place of Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom joined Iron Man and the Avengers in the fight against Varnae, becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. Doom used his position as Sorcerer Supreme to return the sun to its natural place, destroying the global vampire threat while Miles Morales’ Spider-Man and Blade’s daughter Bloodline killed Varnae. However, against his word, Doctor Doom refused to give up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. Now, Doctor Doom uses his position to judge Iron Man and the Avengers, questioning why they didn’t use their power to eradicate the world’s biggest threat and initiate world peace, as he plans to do.
After expressing how he doesn’t respect the Avengers for not utilizing the full extent of their power to force the world to be a better place, he shows them a vision of the world if they did just that – as the Emperor’s Agents. Ruin. By highlighting each member’s place in their world, Doom proposes that Iron Man become “gun-free at last. Attributing both his and the world’s addiction to war to the trash of history.” In the world of Doom, Iron Man’s life’s work will finally create world peace without the need for war or weaponry.
Iron Man’s love of war and weaponry is linked to addiction
Tony Stark always longs for war
To better understand Doctor Doom’s words, readers must first understand Iron Man’s vices. His drinking addiction and subsequent recovery is one of Tony Stark’s most iconic characteristics. Ignoring a relatively recent relapse, Tony managed to keep his alcoholism under control. Obviously, he still struggles with it, as alcohol addiction is a lifelong battle, but in layman’s terms, it can be said that he has overcome the addiction and is not going to fall into it again anytime soon. The same cannot be said of his addiction to war.
Without war, there is no Iron Man.
In the most recent comics, Marvel framed war as Iron Man’s first vice. Even in this series, The Avengers #7 calls to war “your first vice, your first addiction… your first love.” Likewise, his worship of war explains why he spent the better part of a year going to war with warmonger and Orchis member Feilong, perhaps Iron Man’s darkest villain yet. It makes sense why Tony is so addicted to war. After all, his entry into superheroism was through war and, as a creator of armor and weapons, his mentality is driven by war.
Can Iron Man overcome his addiction to war?
At this point, it is not likely
When Doctor Doom finishes showing the Avengers what an ideal world would look like, Iron Man explains why they don’t use their powers to “fix things” in the world: “I know war. I built the war. It was created in the war. And if the Avengers tried to take over the world, it would be war.” Taking the world by force would not only deprive the world of its free will, but would also create greater problems in killing millions to save billions. In short, trying to stop all wars will only create more wars.
Iron Man is in a strange paradox, where he needs war as much as the world does to ensure his safety. There could never be a scenario in which Iron Man got rid of his first addiction, because there is no scenario in which the world could be without war. In fact, he needs war to ensure a safer world, and therefore, as he crafts his infinite Iron Man armor and weapons, he must accommodate the world he finds himself in, constantly building to prepare for the worst. By this logic, Iron Man He will be fighting his addiction to war until the day he dies.
The Avengers #19 is now available from Marvel Comics.