Iron Man Just Officially Became a Mutant Thanks to a Marvel Goof

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1

Thanks to an apparent goof made by a Marvel Comics creative team, Iron Man has officially become a member of the X-Men. The latest Marvel has the heroes of Earth scrambling as they have all joined forces to fight a threat that is highly technologically advanced. While in the heart of battle, Iron Man makes a statement which indicates that he is a member of the X-Men, one that was clearly meant for another Marvel Comics character. 

In Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1 by Dan Slott, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, and Carlos Magno, the Fantastic Four have recruited the help of all of Marvel’s heroes including the Avengers and the X-Men. The threat they face is that of an ancient enemy, one that ravaged the universe before the time of Kree, Skrull, or even Galactus. This ancient race of conquerors go by the Reckoning and have returned to enact their cruel vengeance on all of reality stemming from their defeat at the dawn of time. While all of Earth’s heroes join together and battle the invaders, fans learn of Iron Man’s apparent induction into the X-Men. 

As the battle ensues, the enemy blows up the moon and the remnants of Earth’s lunar partner come crashing down upon New York City. While Reed Richards is coming up with a game plan on how Marvel’s heroes can most effectively save as many people as they can, Iron Man says, “We X-Men have people working on that around the globe, Mr. Richards”. Iron Man’s statement gives the impression that he not only considers himself to be a member of the X-Men, but that he has intimate knowledge of the mutants’ military strategies. After Iron Man says this, no one around him questions it, meaning that Iron Man must have discovered off-panel that he had the X-Gene and has since been welcomed into the X-Men with open arms. While this is an exciting if not unprecedented development in Marvel Comics lore, it was assuredly completely done by accident as that line was clearly meant for another hero present during that battle who is actually a mutant. 

On the page before Iron Man’s game-changing line, fans are given a clear view of every hero that was deployed to New York City upon the moon’s destruction. One of those heroes is the mutant Sunfire. What seems to have happened was Sunfire was supposed to say that line of dialogue, but there was some confusion within the creative team behind this book and Iron Man was colored in his place. 

While it was clearly a mistake, the idea of Iron Man becoming a member of the X-Men was, for a brief moment, a ground-breaking development for Marvel Comics and for Iron Man as a character. The presence of the X-Gene would certainly explain Tony Stark’s insanely high intellect and the ability to create pretty much anything he sets his mind to, a power that would have been similar to the mutant Forge in that regard. However, as suddenly as Iron Man became a member of the X-Men, he was not one again as it became apparent that it was all just goof made by a Marvel Comics creative team.

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