What Makes a (Iron) Man?

*Cover to* ***“Iron Man #4”*** (published April 8th, 2026) written by Joshua Williamson with art by Carmen Carnero and Jan Bazaldua and colors by Nolan Woodard
Cover art by Ryan Stegman and Frank Martin

Last time we saw Iron Man, he was captured and imprisoned by A.I.M. within the confines of what was once his very own helicarrier. But if we know anything about Tony, he does his best work under pressure, especially as a captive. Issue #4 of Joshua Williamson’s Iron Man series forces Tony to think outside of the box once again, not just to save himself but the other kidnapped captive scientists. Will he succeed? And if so, at what cost?

Let’s find out!

Warning: This article will contain spoilers for “Iron Man #4”.

No Escape

Adam Ware recalls his time as a teacher as attempts to escape the clutches of A.I.M.

Our issue begins with a flashback focusing on Adam Ware’s history as a teacher, encouraging a student to not simply walk in the footsteps of people like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but rather to be himself. This flashback is intermixed with the present as Adam attempts to escape his prison but is unceremoniously shocked for his efforts by the cruel Fixer. Madame Masque chastises him, reminding him that Adam and the others are there to be groomed into the next Tony Stark. Fixer, after suggesting cannibalizing their tech for his own purposes, retorts that the captives need to be thoroughly pushed to survive, much like Tony himself was during that fateful time years ago when he was forced to build the first Iron Man armor in order to escape captivity. That same threat of death needs to be ever-present in order to properly motivate them.

Iron Man builds a new suit to combat the Mysterio tech A.I.M. is employing.

We find out that the helicarrier that A.I.M. has repurposed to serve as their base of operations, as well as a prison, has been outfitted with tech borrowed from the famed Spider-Man villain, Mysterio. Tony gets to work, opting to try to control the illusions rather than defeat them outright. He makes several valiant attempts, including dealing with an illusion of the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler himself, but is brought back to square one. Ultimately, Adam gets in contact with Tony and, after reassuring him he’s not an illusion or trick, quickly establishes a connection with Tony, effectively putting his impressive tech know-how to work by matching the energy signals from a communication device to the electricity created by the human mind. He is able to establish a mental link with Tony, prompting the latter to be reminded of why the former is the recipient of the illustrious Tony Stark Award in the first place. The two bond, with Tony telling Adam they are a lot alike, but with the difference being that Adam has always wanted to help others, whereas it took a personal tragedy and horrific experience for Tony to change his ways. Tony resolves to free not just himself and Adam, but all the captives kidnapped by A.I.M., as he reveals he has been inspired.

Melinda is right, Pepper. This is weird.

Elsewhere, just outside one of Iron Man’s workshops dubbed “Gamma Base,” Pepper Potts and Melinda May are on the heels of Tony’s whereabouts, growing increasingly worried since he vanished while on A.I.M.’s trail. Pepper suggests calling the Avengers, but Melinda quickly shoots that down, referring to Tony’s wishes that he be given 48 hours before contacting Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. While approaching the base, the two run afoul of Citizen V—whomever it may really be behind the mask. He simply says he is there only to get something back from Stark that wasn’t his to take before escaping in a smoke cloud. Melinda opens fire, but the mysterious figure is already gone. Pepper wonders how V made it past security, as Melinda mentions only a handful of people would even be capable of such a feat and that it is likely they won’t find whatever it was V stole until they find Tony.

Back in the helicarrier, we see a bitter Fixer building…something. He mentions how he helped create the original Thunderbolts, and while he hates Tony Stark, he respects him as someone who was able to take nothing and build something from it. But he resents the fact that everyone thinks he’s the smartest. Fixer seems convinced that will all change very soon and that everyone, Tony and Madame Masque included, will see it for themselves.

Speaking of Masque, we see her watching Tony through her array of security cameras as she quietly urges him to be the man that she knows he is and to build something great. She asks him not to make her regret it…only for Tony to reply that she will definitely regret it, revealing he can hear her. Stunned, she asks him how he is doing this, to which he simply replies that he was asked to build something to escape, and so he did. Masque pleads for Tony to stay and to help her control A.I.M. and change the world, and if he does, she will let some of the survivors go. Tony pointedly asks her what she means by “some” of the survivors, to which she hesitantly responds that, much like Tony was, they pushed these scientists to their limits—limits some did not break but were broken by.

Tony ends the call, but not before expressing that he is seriously angry at her as he dons his iconic helmet and faceplate. Masque rallies security to Stark’s cell block in response, desperate to contain him. But it is too late. Literally a second or two later, Iron Man appears, having blasted his way to Masque’s command center. Masque retreats as a confused Fixer asks what’s going on, only for her to shout at him to move. She grabs an experimental plasma gun and blasts Tony, putting him down before ordering her troops to quickly pull him out of the armor before the plasma comes into contact with his skin. They do so…only to find out the suit was empty all along. A frustrated Masque demands that Tony be found.

Tony rescues Adam, who’s really been through the wringer.

Tony, meanwhile, is booking it something fierce as he guesses his stunt gives him about 90 seconds or so to work with. Tony gets to Adam’s cell, revealing that his mind-to-metal technology combined with the armor works. Adam is in rough shape but, instead of resting, decides to help as best as he can, freeing all the other remaining imprisoned scientists. Tony is dismayed to realize that there are only five others who survived. He is cut off by one of them, who boasts that he didn’t need his help and that he built something that would have made the whole joint go “boom.”

Tony asks what exactly he built as our next scene shows the helicarrier literally suffering an explosion, with Tony, Adam, and the others making a frantic escape as Madame Masque bellows for A.I.M. to try and contain the damage. Tony attempts to lead the others to escape pods so they can get the hell out so he can confront Masque and see if she was telling the truth about the surviving captives. Adam takes point, leading the group to presumed safety, only for an energy blast to soar past his face, severely scarring and burning the young man as he collapses into Tony’s arms.

Our comic comes to a startling end as we find out the energy blast comes from Fixer, as he reveals just exactly what he was working on: the Advanced Iron Man armor!

Building Blocks

This issue was extremely fast paced and it absolutely worked in its favor. I don’t feel there was a single wasted moment of dialogue or a panel brought to life, and it culminates with a wild ending that leaves me wanting to see more. Joshua Williamson has so far delivered a pretty engaging opening arc for his Iron Man ongoing series, and it really excels as both a character study of the Armored Avenger as well as delivering some hard-hitting high-tech action and adventure.

One of the recurring themes of not just this issue but the arc as a whole is building things. We know, obviously, Tony is probably the most brilliant creator in Marvel, almost to a fault. His own fears and paranoia have led him astray multiple times, and the very helicarrier he finds himself in currently is ironically a big reminder of that—of what can happen when Tony’s fears drive him to build. Keep in mind that the current mobile base of operations of A.I.M. was once his flagship during his time as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that all happened post-Civil War, the infamous crossover event that has irrevocably changed Marvel Comics (both narratively in-universe and as a company). This was arguably the height of Iron Man’s “bad decision-making” career, and serving as his prison is a great detail without actually force-feeding long-time readers the context and connotations of it being so. But Tony isn’t the only builder in this story.

Tony and Adam are two sides of the same coin and I really don’t wanna see this kid go full blown villain…

Adam Ware, the brilliant altruistic teacher who won the coveted Tony Stark Award, is also a builder and, given what he pulled off in this issue, a brilliant one at that. Whereas it took a harrowing near-death experience for Tony to want to build things for others and to help the world, that’s just a part of who Adam is. His peers built weapons, either to survive or to try to escape, but Adam simply built tools to check on his fellow captives to make sure they were okay. It’s this selflessness that makes his fate all the more tragic at the end of the book. It’s hard to say if he was actually killed or not, but somehow I get the impression he will not just survive, but unfortunately become a force to be reckoned with—and not in a good way.

This all just screams supervillain origin, and given he’s found a way to develop new communication technology, I’m suspecting that A.I.M.’s grand experiment is going to work better than they intended in the form of a new Tony Stark. I hope I’m wrong, but this seems all too plausible, especially given how a couple of issues ago he gave voice to how his greatest fear is that someone undergoes the same kind of trauma he did, but emerges from it cruel and mean, wanting to make weapons to hurt people instead of help them.

Our final builder in this issue is the Fixer, a guy who’s historically been overshadowed almost his entire supervillain/hero/villain-again career. He obviously hates and resents Tony, but as we see in this book, quite obviously respects the fact that he’s come so far using his wits and own two hands. Having had a couple of different identities, Fixer getting a brand-new one in the form of Advanced Iron Man seems on point, and it’s actually kind of clever given it can also serve as a new definition of A.I.M. instead of Advanced Idea Mechanics. Granted, I can see if someone might roll their eyes at the prospect of a new Iron Man villain that’s once more just a guy in a suit of technological armor, but I really like this character arc for Fixer and I hope the Advanced Iron Man armor isn’t just a one-and-done gimmick.

Fixer is a terrible opportunist scoundrel, but makes for a great foil.

The rest of our cast is also used seamlessly in service to the narrative. Madame Masque veers back and forth between someone who clearly has some sort of feeling for Tony (maybe not GOOD feelings, but feelings none the less) and someone who is the employer from hell. The fact she so willingly sacrificed the lives of brilliant young minds to chase after making a new Tony Stark only to quickly beg the genuine article to just stay and help her control A.I.M. was telling and makes as engaging as she is unpredictable. Melinda May and Pepper don’t get a lot of page time but I like how the two are Tony’s most trusted non-Avenger allies (even if they’re instructed specifically not to call the Avengers). The mystery behind Citizen V deepens as well as we’re led to believe he’s not outright an antagonistic force to Iron Man but someone keeping a close eye on him. Given that Captain America and others literally got together at the end of the first issue to discuss just that, I’m willing to bet his true identity is going to be related to that deliberate scene.

Changing gears, let’s talk about the art here. Carmen Carnero and Jan Bazaldua work in tandem to create fantastic line work, whereas Nolan Woodard brings the colors to the table. The end result is a brilliantly illustrated comic that perfectly evokes the high-octane energy of what one would expect from Iron Man, but also matches the tone for this specific issue. For most of it, Tony and Adam are prisoners, and the art reflects that. The sequence with Iron Man effectively making “Mysterio Buster” armor is trippy and unsettling, forcing the reader to grapple with what is real and what’s not. My only gripe is that this sequence didn’t go on for a bit longer, as I would have loved to see the art team cook some more with the mind-bending illusions, but that’s just me being greedy. At the very least, we get a brief look at a new Iron Man armor, which is always fun.

Beyond that, we can really feel the desperation Tony and Adam are feeling, especially given how rough Adam looks; he’s being tortured nonstop and it shows. You feel the weight of those injuries well before he gets blasted by Advanced Iron Man. And speaking of…Advanced Iron Man looks really gnarly, resembling a cross between War Machine and the black-and-gold armor he sported during the Marvel NOW! Initiative. Fixer’s new duds are the perfect combination of sleek and powerful. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it in action in the next issue.

Other highlights of the art in this issue include Madame Masque, which is a character that is decidedly difficult to emote given, well, the mask—and yet, you can really tell what she’s feeling and thinking based on her body language and how she carries herself, which is something that often goes underappreciated in comics. Altogether, it’s a beautiful comic that benefits from the stellar writing and plotting here, forging something great in the process.

Final Thoughts and Review

Issue #4 of Iron Man does wonders in the sense that it makes for a quick read that delivers a ton of substance and style without sacrificing anything else. The creative team is highly efficient and takes us on a wild ride going well over the speed limit but we’re almost impossibly comfortable the whole time.

Final Review: 9.5/10

Iron Man #4 is practically perfectly paced and ensures every page, every panel, every dialogue bubble serves a purpose that builds off the story being told so far while being incredibly engaging at the same time. Joshua Williamson is taking Shellhead to new heights in this current ongoing series and we can’t wait to see how high he can soar.