Iron Man’s Newest Ally Just Revealed How Evil He Really Is

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Tony Stark's most valuable ally in the war against Doom just revealed himself to be nearly as bad of a villain.

A preview of Iron Man #10 (by Spencer Ackerman, Guiu Vilanova, Alex Sinclair, and VC's Joe Caramagna) from Marvel Comics drops readers into the middle of a truly revelatory conversation between the titular hero and the rest of his team, namely Vishte Taru, aka the Iron Monger. As it turns out, the recent series of explosions that tore their way through Latveria weren't random at all, but carefully calculated attacks carried out by the Iron Monger in the hopes of crippling Doom's regime. And, while he has certainly done that, the fact that he did so knowing it would cost thousands of innocent lives is something that Iron Man and the others simply cannot abide.

The New Iron Monger Turns in Iron Man #10

• Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN
• Art by GUIU VILANOVA
• Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
• Letters by JOE CARAMAGNA
• Main cover art by YASMINE PUTRI
• Variant covers by ALAN VILLANUEVA; ANNIE WU; and JIM MAHFOOD

Vishte Taru made his debut just months ago in the pages of Iron Man #6, which found him being used as something of a bargaining chip and trust exercise by the overtly cruel leader of the Latverian Patriotic Front, Commander Hunyadi. Despite being born to freedom fighters and spending his entire life mastering the Mystic Arts in the hopes of one day striking Doom down for himself, Taru's efforts made him a pariah in the eyes of LPF leadership. Fortunately, Tony Stark was able to save Taru's life when his meeting with the LPF was interrupted by the Winter Guard, and since then, the two have worked closely to strike back against Doom's self-imposed planetary rule.

While Vishte has proven himself to be a capable strategist and a formidable fighter on his own, his minor mastery over the Mystic Arts was never going to be enough for him to live out his dream of personally cutting down Doctor Doom. As such, Vishte reached out to the demon Belasco, which paved the way for the former to become more powerful than ever before. Unfortunately, Vishte's ambitions and lust for revenge effectively blinded him to the human cost of his actions, which have now pushed him into overtly villainous territory.

Iron Man's war against Doom is just one of the many fronts that the Latverian, now world dictator, has to be concerned with now that he is the self-proclaimed supreme ruler of the entire planet. Marvel Comics' "One World Under Doom" event was preceded by a period of solitary confinement that Doom imposed upon himself, all so that he could set into motion his grandest scheme to date. With a little unwitting help from the Fantastic Four, Doom was able to amass enough power to single-handedly install himself as the new ruler of Earth in an instant. And, while plenty of heroes and other forces have stood against Doom since then, none have been able to bring his latest regime to the ground as of yet.

Iron Man #10 goes on sale July 23 from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics