Warning: Spoilers for Iron Man #24 aheadThe iconic Avengers hero Tony Stark, otherwise known as the powerful Iron Man, is just as famous for being a billionaire as he is for being a costumed superhero, but the recent Iron Man #24 confirms that Tony is officially broke, and not a billionaire in Marvel continuity any longer. Much like DC Comics' Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark does not have any innate powers or extrasensory abilities, instead relying on his considerable brains and wealth to create various versions of his Iron Man armor. And while Stark has lost his wealth several times over the years, it feels like this time might be at least semi-permanent. With the increased attention on the income inequality gap, and a growing dislike of "billionaire culture," wealth-empowered characters like Batman and Iron Man are slowly losing their money in comics, making them more relatable for the average reader.
Iron Man and War Machine recently fought against the mercenary Switchback, who revealed he was working for Source Control, a new black market underground organization that dealt in wildly expensive, incredibly dangerous weapons and technology, ranging from Star System Killers to the Mandarin's Ten Rings. Tony and Rhodey immediately began forming a plan to take down Source Control when they discovered their old friend Vic had been murdered after betraying the organization.
After fighting against the Titanium Man, Iron Man and War Machine travel to Macau with their partner Carl Walker to continue their takedown of Source Control. Walker, a former villain and criminal who now uses Stark armor under the codename Force, begins to infiltrate his way into Source Control buyers' circles, quickly spending upwards of 60 billion dollars of Stark's money routed through 36 different shell companies, in order to acquire Source Control's arsenal of technology. Stark has always said that the use of the Iron Man armors, for him, War Machine, and others like Force, are all in response to his and his father's past use of Stark Industries as a supplier of weapons of war, and in Iron Man #24 - written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Angel Unzueta and Frank D'Armata - Tony finally confirms that he completely spent all of his vast generational wealth.
Who Is Tony Stark Without His Fortune?
Iron Man's philosophy and traumatic history with money is often contradictory and hypocritical, but he does seem consistently concerned with taking down avenues for villains or bad actors to purchase and use technologies of mass destruction. When he's told that he will need to use all his money to buy out Source Control, he quickly says, "Fine. Always felt a little like blood money anyway." In Iron Man #24 when Tony is confronting Riri Williams about her acquiring and planning to use the Ten Rings, he confirms that he has fully spent all of his Stark Industries money, meaning he is entirely broke with no current plans on how to regain his wealth, or if he is even going to try.
Tony has been called out in multiple forms of Marvel media about how he would be "nothing" without his money, similar to many criticisms of Batman and the correlation between his wealth and his success as the Caped Crusader. But Tony has also proven time and time again when he has lost his money that he is capable of learning how to fight without armor and continuing to act as a hero without his money. Interestingly, Tony's money has also funded the Avengers and other heroic groups in the past, so it could be intriguing to see how the loss of the Stark fortune may affect the heroic community at large.
Wether Marvel decides to keep Tony broke and unable to financially support his Avengers, or eventually give him back his wealth, it is an interesting position to place Iron Man in light of the real world's worsening attitudes towards billionaires, and it will surely push Tony Stark to be even more creative in how he operates as a hero.
Iron Man #24 is available in stores now.