This is the second-to-last issue of the second series, but the hook feels like it could've been from midway through the first! From 1998,
What If? #113, written by Chris Duffy, pencils by Gregg Schigiel, inks by Ron Boyd.
In this reality, Tony Stark never had his heart injury, but Stephen Strange still got his hands wrecked; this time driving a blitzed Tony after a party. Guilt-ridden, Tony attempted cure after cure for Stephen's hands, which thankfully didn't involve amputating them and replacing them with cybernetics--I swear I saw Doom do that in one of these! Eventually the pair make it to Tibet, where Tony is the one who interferes with Baron Mordo, and then becomes the Ancient One's apprentice. Eventually Tony became Sorcerer Supreme, although he put his own high-tech spin on it; with Strange as his Wong. His increasingly resentful Wong...When Tony has to face the dread Dormammu on his home turf, will Stephen betray him?
A solid issue, leaning more into Strange's continuity than Iron Man's; but Dormammu is probably a much better villain choice than anything you could pull from Tony's early days. Since this is from well before the movies, Tony isn't maybe as snarky as you'd expect--an animated version of this with Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch would've been filled with asides and ad-libs!--but maybe he's taking the Sorcerer Supreme bit seriously. On the other hand, that mask looks cribbed from Dr. Fate, and on the next page as Tony lays into Dormammu, he hypes his armor like he's making a sale! If this had continued or been revisited, I'm sure Dormammu would've taken steps for his own armor--I'm thinking Titanium Man, he'd be a big 'un.
Yeah this is a fun one that as you pointed out could’ve just as easily been published during the early years of the first volume. I’m kinda curious who the creative team would’ve been to tackle this one & what Tony’s suit would’ve looked like. I’m guessing he’d have worn his typical, classic red & yellow armor and Strange’s cape & Eye of Agamotto.
ReplyDeleteWouldn’t mind a mini series continuing with this version of Stark honestly.
Oh and the What If where Strange gets his hands replaced with mechanical ones was the What If where Dr. Doom was the one who became Sorcerer Supreme, #54 I think.
Hmm, I would have said that mask came from Dr. Cyber, or maybe the Enforcer (though Enforcer is a bit more niche, I admit).
ReplyDeleteIs this one of those ones like the ‘What if Punisher’s family never got killed’ issue, where everybody ends up roughly where they are in the main continuity? I think they called it a fixed point in time or something like that. There was one like that with someone else becoming Thor, and I think one of the somebody else becoming Spider-Man ones too.
Now that you mention it I definitely see The Enforcer’s mask design in there. Good catch
DeleteYup, same volume. Instead of gangsters it’s crooked cops (same thing honestly) that kill his family. I think he gets killed as well this time but I could be mistaken
No, I’m pretty sure he becomes the Punisher in that one too. That was sort of my point- some things are just destined to happen in almost every continuity. The Punisher’s family dies, Uncle Ben dies, Thor finds his hammer, things like that.
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