Comics can be weird sometimes. Though there are still three issues left in Marvel's Civil War II comic book event, delays and other factors have resulted in a number of new comics that take place after the event already hitting store shelves.
One of those comics is Infamous Iron Man, released this week. Fans have known Tony Stark might not emerge from Civil War II unscathed for a while now. After all, Marvel has spent months hyping up two new Iron Man comics in the form of Infamous Iron Man and Invincible Iron Heart, with Tony himself nowhere to be seen.
While the first issue of Infamous Iron Man doesn't go into specifics, it does give fans a solid idea of what happens to Tony Stark at the end of Civil War II, even though fans won't get the nitty-gritty until the event concludes later this year.
Major spoilers for Infamous Iron Man #1 and Civil War II below!
As it would be kind of lame for a comic out right now to spoil all the major events to come at the end of Civil War II, Infamous Iron Man #1 instead tiptoes around the exact details of what happens. Tony, obviously, is missing, and that leads Victor von Doom to step into the spotlight as a new Iron Man. That may seem a little confusing at first, but if you've kept up with Marvel's Invincible Iron Man series it makes sense. The one-time villain is a different man in the post-Secret Wars world, and he has been working with Tony on saving the world from behind the scenes ever since.
So what happened to Tony? A conversation between Doom and Tony's on-again, off-again romantic interest Doctor Amara Perera offers one key detail, namely that whatever happened to Tony was broadcast on national television. Amara also brings up the fact that superheroes often have a knack for coming back to life or faking their death, which seems to heavily imply that Tony met his end at the end of Civil War II, one would assume on live TV. That would give it some nice parallels with Marvel's original Civil War event, which saw Captain America assassinated on his way to trial as cameras across the world watched.
It turns out Amara is on to something though, as it's revealed later in the issue that Tony is, in fact, alive. Sort of. He's downloaded his consciousness, or his "essence," into a computer in case his body ever dies. For all intents and purposes, Tony is now an artificial intelligence, presumably one that could at some point be downloaded into a new body.
There you have it. Tony Stark will meet his end in Civil War II, only to live on digitally as Doom steps up to become the new Iron Man. Fans will have to wait a little longer to learn the specifics, but it seems Tony's battle against Captain Marvel takes a dark and deadly turn.
