X-Men Just Obliterated Iron Man’s Entire Purpose

Warning: contains spoilers for X-Corp #4!

Possessing one of the greatest minds in Marvel Comics, billionaire philanthropist and Avenger Iron Man is constantly studying the present to better guess at potential threats in the future, but the X-Men‘s immortal ally just proved how foolish that actually is.

In his career as Iron Man, Tony Stark has built his entire persona and life’s work around safeguarding the world from future threats by any means necessary. The most obvious form of Tony’s overbearing paranoia is his Iron Man armor, constantly redesigned and upgraded for the threat of the moment. Tony proudly labels himself a “futurist,” claiming that his particular genius allows him to predict and react to societal trends – hence why he’s such a great inventor. This sense of having a unique relationship with the future has led Tony to make many questionable decision, from founding the secretive Illuminati to kicking off the Superhuman Civil War. It was the latter event which truly showcased Tony’s hubris, as he took more and more extreme measures against his allies – including an extra-dimensional prison – feeling safe in the knowledge that his vision of the future justified whatever he needed to do to reach it. The consequences of Civil War left Earth’s ultimate line of defense – the Avengers – irrevocably divided, and several heroes either dead or changed forever. Nevertheless, Tony still clings tight to the idea that he’s the steward of tomorrow.

Tini Howard, Alberto Foch Duarte, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles’ X-Corp #4 follows the titular team’s efforts to enhance mutant business interests in the human world. Following business rival Noblesse Pharmaceuticals’ harsh treatment of X-Corp member Monet St. Croix, the former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club known as Selene confronts their top specialist Sara St. John. An ancient energy vampire, Selene has some choice words about people who think they can predict the future, saying, “You stupid futurists. Let me tell you something about the future. The future promises nothing. The only thing we know for sure is that someday, you will die there.”

Selene has a point, and one the X-Men are perfectly placed to recognize. Marvel’s mutants have had the displeasure of visiting several ominous future timelines, most notably the Days of Future Past reality, where mutantkind is all but extinct, and the Age of Apocalypse, where an almighty mutant has toppled society. Many of the X-Men are refugees from divergent futures, and the entire nation of Krakoa is itself founded on the past lives of Moira X, who has lived her life through multiple times, only to witness mutants wiped out in every one. The X-Men know the future is as deadly as it is unpredictable, and so it’s no surprise that it’s a mutant who so ferociously decries the idea that futurists like Iron Man truly have a grasp on what’s going to happen next.

Tony Stark is definitely a genius, but with the benefit of incredible hindsight, Selene dismisses the idea that futurists like he and Sara St. John are going to save the world – or that their immense intelligence gives them the right to manipulate and abuse others to realize their personal vision. Iron Man may justify his ambitions by claiming he has a unique understanding of the future, but mutants like the X-Men and X-Corp know that seeing tomorrow isn’t a matter of intellect, but a matter of survival.

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