Occasionally, the Marvel Comic Book Universe gets reimagined in an alternate timeline by way of an epic “What If?” story. These canon shakeups give creative teams a chance to push the boundaries on iconic characters in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible in mainstream continuity. Books like Old Man Logan can reinvigorate characters in the public consciousness, and the more successful stories tend to become alternate realities which are visited again and again. A particular gem in such stories is Earth X, which was originally published in 1999 as a limited series created by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with art by John Paul Leon.
Earth X depicts a world in which its heroes have been decimated in the most singular way. A mysterious mutant epidemic coinciding with one of Reed Richards’ experiments causes everyone in the world to develop superpowers, and Iron Man - with the help of Norman Osborn - constructs a team of Iron Avengers, modeled after the heroes who died following the planet-wide superpower overload. This is the world of Earth X. It’s a place in which there isn’t room anymore for a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Tony Stark no longer leaves his control room for fear of literally losing his humanity.
The Iron Avengers appear in the very first issue of Earth X. They serve as a strike team carrying out Stark’s so-called “purges.” Taking to the skies of New York City, they purge the city of hostile citizens who have become thralls of Hydra - not the fascist organization, but rather an artificial monster Osborn used to keep Stark busy during his own power grab. In design, the Iron Avengers bear all the hallmarks of the Iron Man design, but with the trademark look and armaments - if not power sets - of their fallen namesakes.
The Iron Avengers aren’t just shells either, but sophisticated androids modeled after Giant Man, Hawkeye, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. What’s more, the advanced AI that powers all of them simulates the personalities of the team members they are based on. They refer to each other by the secret identities of the original avengers, talk amongst themselves, and appear to have feelings, though the full extent of their sentience is never fully discussed in the comic. Nevertheless, the effect is disheartening, as it alludes to the scale of Iron Man's trauma. It wasn’t enough for him to build a team of sophisticated Iron Men to go out and save the day, he had to model them, to the finest degree possible, after the friends and fellow Avengers he lost when the world turned upside down. Despite his inventor’s mind always straining to gaze further and further into the future, he can’t let go of the past.
Earth X plays with Marvel iconography in many surprising ways, here turning the Avengers into a deadly cadre of drones while retaining the look and sound of Earth's familiar heroes. It's a grim future, and one which displays exactly how much of a threat Iron Man could become bereft of the better influences in his life and any true hope of returning to normal. While Tony is often painted as a lone wolf, it's telling that his first instinct was to recreate his teammates rather than build something in his own image - an act which combines reverence and ego in equal measure.