Nerds That Geek Book Review - 'Iron Man: Extremis'

​Written by Scott Edwards

In the heart of evil, there is always someone that can rise above it and you guessed it, Iron Man is that hero that everyone needs. Now, I have not been quiet about my love for Iron Man and when reading Extremis, I like him even more. Not being alright with sitting on the sidelines and jumping in when needed, Iron Man would rather face evil head on to save lives rather than sit back and wait for the threat to grow too strong. It is difficult to think that Iron Man would have an equal, but as we all know, he is just a guy in a suit, for now.

​After revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, Tony Stark is consistently being hounded by the paparazzi and needs to find some place to get away from the lime light for a minute. Holding up in his Coney Island office, Tony has been away from the world for over a month working in the garage on different projects when he is forced to the light of day again by his new assistant Mrs. Rennie. Sending Ms. Potts out on a special assignment since he wants to protect her from the press, Mrs. Rennie has taken over and is much more abrasive than Pepper ever was. With his fans following him where ever he goes, the Iron Man decides to give them a little thrill and sends them to the theme park that was built by the World’s Fair before stopping by. With Mrs. Rennie in charge, nothing could go wrong, or so he thought. While taking a spin in his armor, Tony gets word that the Wonder Wheel has come to standstill and a young boy is in danger of falling from his car. Being able to save the boy and allow the ride to come to an end, Tony is ready to put on his armor once again and become the full time Iron Man. 

In Texas, Mallen and his crew are looking for a quiet place to process a quick experiment.  Finding an abandoned slaughterhouse, the group dawns their new find, Extremis and injects Mallen on the spot. Being out for a couple days, Mallen comes to and finds that his senses have become more powerful than they ever were before.  Feeling different altogether, Mallen knows that he is capable of much more, but has no idea of how much until he pays the FBI offices in Houston a visit.  Being able to kill a person with a single punch, rip people open with his new claws and spew fire from his mouth, Mallen has become the hero that America deserves, even though they do not know it yet.  With his hatred for the government beginning at the age of ten and seeing his family killed by FBI agents during a raid on the house, Mallen has decided to take the country back for the normal folk that have been wrongfully punished.  Wanting to make it to Washington DC to make sure that the President knows what is happening is wrong, Mallen encounters many people that say they are following the American Dream, but they are not even close to being on the same level as he is. 

In her office, Maya Hansen is shocked to see that her boss, Aldrich Killian has killed himself and let a sample of Extremis loose on the world.  Calling her old friend Tony for help, Maya knows that the Iron Man will be able to thwart the threat before it gets out of hand. With all of the technology at his fingertips and his personal satellites, Tony is able to track down Mallen with minimal ease, but what he does not know is how Extremis can change a person’s body. Meeting for the first time, the Invincible Iron Man shows that he has met his match and with a broken body needs to retreat before Mallen is able to kill him.  Returning to Maya for help, Tony needs Extremis to survive his injuries and get back in the sky to defeat Mallen before he is able to complete his goal of liberating America.  Not needing all of the benefits that Extremis offers, Tony wants to use its regenerative ability to link up with his suit, so it will operate on brainwaves to speed up reaction time, thus giving him the upper hand to defeat his new foe.  When coming out of his Extremis cocoon, Tony is repaired and ready for a fight of a lifetime against Mallen who wants nothing more than to see the government burn.

This is a great story from Marie Javins and she is able to capture a little bit of the comic book and movie Tony Stark in the pages. With more of a look inside of Tony, you get to see what really drives the billionaire besides being Iron Man, but the wonders of the planet. With all of the killing around the world that has been attributed to Tony and his smart weapons, he is trying to atone for his flaws, but nobody will allow him to live it down, no matter what he does. Wanting to prevent more human casualties, Tony dawns the Iron Man suit to be the deterrent, but that does not always work.   Being defeated by Mallen, Tony knows that the next step must be followed and truly becomes the Iron Man, inside and out.  If that is not love for your job, I don’t know what is.  I need to check out the Graphic Novel for this story since there is a ton of action and even some heads being splattered around and that is not including what Iron Man does when the time is right.

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