The MCU may have set up Crimson Dynamo, a classic Iron Man villain. When Tony Stark outed himself as a superhero in the first Iron Man movie, he started a global arms race. As seen in Iron Man 2, every country in the world began trying to construct their own version of the Iron Man armor - with pretty catastrophic results.

Testifying before the United States Senate, Col. James Rhodes confirmed intelligence suggested other nations were attempting to create their own weaponized suits. It didn't take Tony Stark long to commandeer the screens, though, and he was soon showing catastrophic failures in countries like North Korea and Iran. "No grave threat here," Stark observed, before estimating it would be five or ten years before any other country had their own Iron Man armor. But here's the catch: in-universe, it has now been well over a decade since Stark said those words. For all that's the case, no Iron Man wannabe has been seen. Fortunately, an explanation is provided in Marvel's recently-published Wakanda Files, which also tease at the possible debut of a classic comic book villain.

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The first generation of Iron Man technology was powered by an Arc Reactor containing palladium at its core. Not only was palladium toxic - gradually killing Tony Stark - it is apparently also very rare. In fact, Stark Industries' purchase of palladium for the Iron Man armor had come close to depleting all available deposits, and prices were going through the roof. This certainly explains why Stark was so confident there would be no further Iron Man suits; a key resource required to make them work was unsustainable, and already running out. But the files Shuri has obtained from Stark Industries note one country does have a stockpile of palladium; Russia. Logically, then, there is still one country in the world that can create a first-generation Iron Man armor.

Crimson Dynamo Marvel

In the comics, Russia was indeed one of the few countries to successfully duplicate the Iron Man technology. They created the Crimson Dynamo, their equivalent of Iron Man, who served as a member of an elite group known as the Winter Guard. One other key member of the Winter Guard is already confirmed to appear in Black Widow, Red Guardian, and there's been some speculation Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters has been cast as another of Crimson Dynamo's teammates, Ursa Major. Curiously, official merchandise for Black Widow includes a Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure of Crimson Dynamo, bearing a look different to anything seen in the comics. It really does seem possible the MCU is setting up this classic Iron Man villain.

Of course, the MCU's Crimson Dynamo would be nowhere near as formidable as Iron Man. Stark was an inventor first and foremost, never able to resist reinventing the wheel, and as a result his technology was always advancing in leaps and bounds. By the time of Avengers: Endgame, he had moved on from Arc Reactors and conventional armor to RT nodes and nanotechnology. Still, even if Crimson Dynamo is only the equivalent of the Iron Man Mk II or Mk III, he would be a force to be reckoned with - especially now Tony Stark is gone.

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