Ultimate Iron Man

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Ultimate Iron Man miniseries

Orson Scott Card is writing two five-issue Ultimate Iron Man miniseries. As of the first issue of the first miniseries, it appears that Tony Stark is a genius because of an accident his mother suffered while she was carrying him; he has undifferentiated neural tissue throughout his body, as if his whole body is a brain giving him tremendous mental capacity: quicker like no human in history, but at the cost of constant chronic pain similar to third-degree burns due to the overstimulation of the neural cells that make up his skin.

Related Topics:
Orson Scott Card - Third-degree burns

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In the second issue, a young Stark (appearing in the comic to be a child of about 8-10 years, but revealed to be 4, indicating that aside from the constant pain and high-level intelligence dropped on him by his birth, his body also experiences rapid growth) is shown covered with the blue skin-armor developed by Stark's father in the previous issue (as indicated he would need to wear to keep him sane by his pregnant Mother in the previous issue). Since Stark, in his appearences in The Ultimates, appears with a normal skin color, it can be presumed that by that point he had developed a skin-colored or transparent version of the protective armor. As well, the inoperable brain tumor that the older Stark possesses can be shown to be a result of his rapidly mutated genetics (and, the fact that he apparently did not possess said tumor until his middle-age can in itself be considered to be a small miracle).

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Whether or not the actual creation of the Iron Man Suit has anything to do with helping/easing the pain of his peculiar condition (as the original Iron Man created it to hold metallic shrapnel in his chest in place) has yet to be revealed. In the third issue, Tony meets Jim Rhodes for the first time. Rhodes is bullied at the prep school that he and Tony both attend. Tony befriends Rhodes and shows him the rudimentary beginnings of the Iron Man armor that Tony has developed.

Related Topics:
Shrapnel - Jim Rhodes

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