Even though Tony Stark has become known to fans everywhere as the Avenger, Iron Man, X-Men’s darkest timeline actually turns him into Spider-Man.
Despite the fact that Tony Stark has become a household name due in part to his superhero alter ego, Iron Man, one alternate timeline (X-Men’s darkest timeline, to be specific) strips Tony of his original moniker and gives him a new one: Spider-Man.
Tony Stark became Iron Man after he survived being a prisoner of war following an explosion that left pieces of shrapnel in his bloodstream, threatening to enter his heart. With the help of another brilliant prisoner, Stark’s life was saved–though if Tony didn’t find a way out of his confinement, that wouldn’t last. So, using materials meant to become a devastating weapon, Tony Stark created his first Iron Man suit–and with that, a hero was born. No radioactive mutations, no drug-induced enhancements, just Tony Stark’s unparalleled genius and his desire not only to stay alive, but to use his life to help others–that’s what makes Iron Man a hero. For the most part, his variant-in-question retains Iron Man’s original origin story, but evidently, Tony had a much bigger role to fill.
Age of Apocalypse Turned Iron Man into Spider-Man After Peter Parker Died
In X-Universe #1 by Scott Lobdell, Terry Kavanagh, and Carlos Pacheco, the Earth is in ruins following Apocalypse’s strike against the planet–including the once great and prosperous nation of Wakanda. This is the Age of Apocalypse, meaning not only is the world in a war-torn state of horror and death, but the Marvel heroes fans know and love are a little different, or simply don’t exist at all. In this issue, readers are introduced to a hardened version of Gwen Stacy who is in Wakanda in an effort to make a difference in the lives of those who survived Apocalypse’s attacks, and she isn’t the only one. A few pages into this issue, a large ship piloted and effectively connected to Tony Stark (the way his Iron Man suits are, but on a much larger scale) arrives to fight a group of villains who are terrorizing the people of Wakanda while also delivering a load of supplies–and this enormous suit of armor was a giant, robotic spider.
Throughout the comic, Gwen teams up with the likes of Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, Donald Blake, and Tony Stark–but only Tony has an impact on Gwen that stretches beyond the confines of the multiverse. When Gwen sees Tony arrive in his ‘Iron Spider’, she has a strange feeling come over her, a feeling of, “something long lost”. This is in reference to Gwen Stacy’s famous relationship with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man in the main Marvel Comics timeline of Earth-616, but in this reality, all Gwen has is an unconscious twinge of familiarity followed swiftly by melancholy, none of which she can rightfully explain. It’s just a giant metal spider-robot with Tony Stark plugged into it, but Gwen’s reaction to seeing the behemoth makes it more than that–it makes it Spider-Man.
Gwen’s personal feelings aside, Tony Stark is literally filling the void left by Spider-Man as Peter Parker was unceremoniously killed by Apocalypse before he was ever bitten by a radioactive spider. This means that the world was robbed of its Spider-Man, and badly needed a replacement–which is exactly where Tony Stark came in as he used the skills that made him Iron Man on Earth-616 to become the Spider-Man of the X-Men’s darkest timeline.
