Iron Man reveals the surprising metal behind his most powerful armor ever

Iron Man just learned about the X-Men’s powerful metal Mysterium, and he’s already eyeballing it for his next armor.

In the pages of the current run of Iron Man, Tony Stark has made a necessary but uneasy alliance with the Hellfire Club. This has included hiding its White Queen, Emma Frost, in plain sight as his secretary, Hazel Kendall. 

That plan backfired in the closing pages of X-Men, though, when Stark was caught trying to slip an inhibitor ring back to Emma. To protect her identity, the two had to throw together an impromptu proposal. 

Marvel has touted Tony and Emma’s wedding as the event of the century, but it actually wound up being a much smaller affair. However, it did net Tony one surprise: the metal that forms his next armor. 

Iron Man’s next armor will be made of mutant Mysterium

Tony’s feud with Orchis head Feilong kicked off when he destroyed a mysterious film reel left to Tony by his father, Howard Stark. In Invincible Iron Man #10, Tony and Emma finally are able to find out what was on the reel through telepathic trickery. 

With Feilong at their wedding as the sole attendee, Emma telepathically incapacitates him so they can view his memories. In addition to learning Feilong has lied about his upbringing at the hands of mutant parents, they discover Tony’s father discovered a new metal outside of the known universe. 

Emma immediately picks up that Howard likely discovered Mysterium. Revealed in 2020’s S.W.O.R.D. #1, Mysterium is a metal mined by the mutants of Krakoa. It’s found in the White Hot Room, a mysterious realm outside of the Multiverse, best known as the space where the Phoenix most commonly resides. 

Tony obviously picks up on the idea of making a new Iron Man armor out of Mysterium, which could potentially make it his strongest suit to date. Mysterium isn’t as strong as pure Adamantium, but it is naturally as durable as Adamantium Steel. It also has unique anti-magic properties that made even the Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, Clea, express concerns over it.

With his armor and company having been bought by Feilong and being confined to the stealth-oriented Mark Nil, a new Mysterium armor could be exactly what Iron Man needs to level the playing field against Orchis. And now that he and Emma have stolen Feilong’s designs for the new mutant-hunting Sentinels, it’s only a matter of time before the X-Men are able to rally. 

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