Warning: contains spoilers for Iron Man #14
In Iron Man #14, Tony Stark finally gets his most powerful cosmic armor ever. The writer shared the inspiration behind Iron Man's god-like transformation. The answer is, surprisingly, based on the 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon "Thru the Mirror."
This Iron Man series has been focusing on retelling the origins of Korvac, who has been called the Marvel Universe's greatest traitor. The writer is Christopher Cantwell (Doctor Doom) with this issue featuring artwork by CAFU (Action Comics) and more gorgeous cover art by Alex Ross (Kingdom Come). Iron Man #14 has Tony Stark taking on Korvac and becoming the Cosmic Iron Man, with the capabilities of changing all Marvel's reality as readers know it.
On his Twitter account, Iron Man scribe Christopher Cantwell revealed that Tony Stark's transformation into a cosmic god was his own interpretation of the Mickey Mouse cartoon episode "Thru the Mirror." The short, which is from 1936, features Mickey falling asleep after reading Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. He has a dream where he goes through the mirror in his home, which Iron Man #14 parallels, into a skewed version of his house. So, Cantwell's parallel to "Thru the Mirror" is, in turn, a parallel to Lewis Carroll's works. Modern readers may also be aware of "Thru the Mirror" short since it is a playable level in the platforming game Epic Mickey.
Considering Tony Stark has been spiraling since the beginning of the series, starting with him being roasted on Twitter, giving him the enormous weight of god-like powers may not end well for the universe, no matter how well-intentioned he may try to be. He also isn't alone in his upgraded state since Korvac also received a boost of power aboard Galactus' ship. While Korvac insists he'll be using his new form to serve as a savior, he appears to instead be obsessed with gathering power and control.
Iron Man's transformation has officially begun. Iron Man #14 is already out in comic book stores, having been released back on November 24, 2021. The description for the issue teases the fact that Iron Man's unchecked ego could mean a "radical and drastic change for the entire universe...and reality itself." The full ramifications of this change will be seen in Cantwell's current run on Iron Man.
Source: Christopher Cantwell