Movie/comic Tony question

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck editing the next part to my fic because I'm not sure if I'm referring to the device in Tony's chest properly. In the movie, it's referred to as an arc reactor, but what is it called in the comics? How long has Tony been without it?

I've seen a few older comic covers where Tony is bare chested and doesn't have any sort of device installed/implanted and am now totally confused. @_@

Comments

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

It's a bit complicated in the comics (looks to older fans to correct me if I get this wrong).
Intially (way back in 1960's), Tony had a chest plate of his armour, doing essentially what the arc reactor does in the movies (read giant electromagnet), which mean he could never remove the chest plate. Later on he got a heart transplant that meant his heart was fine (within reason).Later (I admit I'm fast forwarding past about 40 years of acoholism and herorics, but the web can fill you in on that and you're only interested in the chest right?) His armour goes sentient, and in a battle between the two Stark suffers another heart attack. The armour rips out its own heart to save him (seriously, read this arc it's called "Mask in the Iron Man and is excellent). That's refered to as an artifical heart, again could never be removed and needed freqent recharging to keep Tony alive and I think he keeps that, up until he's infected with Extermis, which basically rewrote his biology, removing the need for that (and giving him a healing factor). Most recently, in the aftermath of the Skrullwar, extermis was compromised, and Post Stark disassembled (also known as "The brain delete" Story line), Stark now has a arc reactor in his chest. As he's only had that for about four issues, no more details are becoming. I look to other fans to tell me I've got this all wrong or to add anything I've missed.

[tonks07.livejournal.com]

I think Tony must have had some sort of heart surgery between the aftermath of the Sentient Armor and Extremis because in the beginning of Extremis Tony is bare chested.

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot for the information! :D I guess I'm going to have to collect a lot of back issues in order to find out what happened for sure.

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

I've seen the chest plate and thought that there might've been something between that and the heart transplant... but I guess not. I'd really like to get my hands on "Mask in the Iron Man" but the cheapest I've seen it going for is about $60, and that's for a used copy. T_T I'm hoping that Marvel reprints it... sometime soon.

Thanks so much for the information! Especially on the sentient armor. I'm really interested in that storyline. :D

By the way, you wouldn't happen to know why Tony went from having blue eyes to suddenly having brown ones, would you?

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

Nope, sorry, I thought his eyes were blue, but apparently World's most wanted decided they were brown.

Don't worry, Wolverine's eyes have been known to change colour without explaination mid issue.

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

I noticed Wolverine's eyes were blue in a lot of recent comics but always thought that they were brown or hazel. So, I guess you're right about that.

In Secret Invasion, Tony's eyes were thankfully blue, but in World's Most Wanted they were brown. I didn't like how they started to draw Tony's face towards the end of that either, but maybe that's just me being picky. ;P

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

Could be they're trying to tie in with the movie.

only explaination I've got.

[muccamukk]

If you hit the "scans" tag in the comm, someone posted quite a bit of the sentient armour plot last year.

Tony's eyes were changed, and he was given the arc reactor in 616 canon because Matt Fraction wants to make his comic as much like the movie as he can. -sighs-

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for pointing that out! ^_^ I didn't even know that there was a scans section. Must check that out soon...

So, Tony's eyes have permanently changed color? That's just disappointing. They shouldn't change the character's physical appearance to match a movie that was made after the character was already developed. Separately, I would enjoy both representations of the character... but not a mix. :(

[muccamukk]

There's lots of fun stuff there. Including, iirc, Tony dressed as Alice in Wonderland.

Well, they've changed colour in that title, with the Loroca art. Every one else still has them as blue, so far as I remember.

[lucre-noin.livejournal.com]

I'm not a great expert in the recent story of the comics but if I remember correctly Tony has now Extremis... that rewrote Stark as a computer and so Tony has a sort of healing factor (I think?) and he doesn't need the artificial heart (that it may be a magnetic chest plate?).

I actually prefered the Tony before-Extremis.

This is the story of Extremis: (shameless from wikipedia)
After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injects his nervous system with a modified techno-organic virus-like body restructuring machines (the Extremis process).[volume & issue needed] By rewriting his own biology, Stark is able to save his life, gain an enhanced healing factor and partially merge with the Iron Man armor, superseding the need for bulky, AI-controlled armors in favour of lighter designs, tecnopathically contolled by his own brain. His enhanced tecnopathy extends to every piece of technology, limitlessly and effortlessly (due to his ability to interface with communication satellites and wireless connections to increase his "range"). Some components of the armor-sheath are now stored in Tony's body, able to be recalled, and extruded from his own skin, at will.
During the Secret Invasion storyline the Extremis package is catastrophically purged out of his body, forcing him again to rely on the previous iteration of his armor, and restoring his previous limitations.[volume & issue needed] Furthermore, Osborn's takeover of the few remaining Starktech factories (with Ezekiel Stane systematically crippling the others) limits Tony to the use of lesser, older and weaker armors.
After being forced to "wipe out" his brain to prevent Norman Osborn for gaining his information, Tony Stark is forced to have a new Arc Reactor, of Rand design installed in his chest.[volume & issue needed] The process restores his Extremis-enhanced powers, even at a more advanced level (with more cybernetical components embedded in his physiology), and greatly improves his strength and stamina. However, the procedure left him with virtually no autonomic functions: as his brain was stripped of every biological function, Tony is forced to rely on a digital backup of his memories (leaving him with severe gaps and lapses in his long-term memory) and on software routine in the Arc Reactor for basic stimuli reaction (blinking, breathing...)

[twilight-fang.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing the wikipedia info! :D Sometimes I forget that most questions can be answered on there.

I just finished reading the Extremis storyline... and have to agree with you about liking Tony more before he went through that process. He just seems to be less human afterwards. It's interesting how he has to have a new Arc Reactor installed in his chest after deleting his brain, but I would've preferred it if he remained normal physically. He 's becoming a bit like a robot I think. :(

[lucre-noin.livejournal.com]

That's what I fear. Usually in the Marvel everything returns as it was so I'll wait hoefully for a goodbye to Extremis and hello to Avengers as they used to be and dear old artificial-heart-Tony.