In Marvel’s Earth X future, Tony Stark has built Iron Man robot versions of the Avengers and not all of his former teammates are happy about it.
The Avengers is one of Marvel’s most popular teams, and Iron Man is one of their most iconic members. One of Marvel’s darkest futures, however, doomed the team to a robotic existence. Earth X by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and John Paul Leon was essentially Marvel’s equivalent to DC’s Kingdom Come, showcasing a dystopian world in which the Earth’s human population had all developed powers of some sort through the release of Terrigen. It also saw the figurative and literal deaths of several key Marvel superheroes and teams, with the Avengers being one of them.
Tony Stark, still human thanks to remaining inside of a sterile Iron Man suit, attempts to monitor this vastly changed world with help from some old friends. The aged Iron Man was aided by an army of Iron Avengers, and while they might look like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, they’re all far less than human.
Iron Assembly
The Iron Avengers first show up in the seminal issue of Earth X. As their name would suggest, they are robotic facsimiles of old members of the Avengers. The models for these androids include Sting, Monolith, Bolt, Crimson Sage, and Steelbow, who are each based on The Wasp, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye respectively. Their metallic frames imitate both the traditional designs of Iron Man’s armor, along with the appearances of each Avenger. Given Steelbow’s archery, it would seem that each of them is also able to at least somewhat imitate the skills, powers, and abilities of their respective hero, as well. The team came into being following the deaths of their namesakes. A massive battle in Washington D.C. saw the Absorbing Man become more powerful than ever. With his newfound abilities, he killed several of the Avengers, without stalwarts such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Vision, and Thor. Wanting to honor their memories, Tony built the Iron Avengers to carry on in the line of heroism, with each robot even imitating the deceased Avengers’ personalities.
This drew the ire of Captain America, who disliked seeing his former comrades’ lives essentially mocked. He was even more vocal about this when Tony had the Iron Avengers begin working for President Norman Osborn. In actuality, Tony planned to use the growing money that he amassed by working with Osborn to overthrow him, creating an even larger army of Iron Avengers that would be able to stomp out crime anywhere. Some of the robots’ most vital missions were saving the aged Captain America from the alien Hydra plague in New York, as well as standing up to the Skull. When the psychic youth realized that he could not control them, he quickly had the Iron Avengers dismantled by his minions.