Tony Stark has often been known for his arrogance, but AXE: Judgment Day #2 takes that idea to a whole new level as Stark leads a team of Avengers and Eternals in building their own personal deity - and this new god takes a key part of his make-up from Tony himself.
Light spoilers ahead for AXE: Judgment Day #2 ahead.
As the X-Men battle the Hex, the giant kaiju-esque monsters summoned by the Eternals to destroy Krakoa, the Avengers arrive to help them. Though the Krakoan mutants are able to defeat and repel the Hex, the battle causes natural disasters around the world, to which the Avengers scramble to respond.
But back at Avengers Mountain, Tony Stark is leading a team including Sersi and Phastos of the Eternals and Mister Sinister of Krakoa in rebuilding and reactivating the giant dead Celestial that forms part of the Avengers headquarters.
Along with genetic engineering from Mister Sinister, special components built by Phastos meant to channel divine power, and a new kind of religious gospel devised and recorded by Ajak and Makkari meant to give the newly birthed "god" a more compassionate philosophy, there's one other core aspect needed to awaken the Celestial - and it's provided by Tony Stark.
Stripping out of his armor and strapping himself into a special machine hooked up to the Celestial, Tony provides a blueprint for the Celestial's entire nervous system - meaning Tony's genius brain gives the Celestial a roadmap and helps bring it to life.
Tony even jokes about comparisons to Hank Pym and Ultron, as Pym provided the basis for Ultron's neurology in the killer AI's comic book origin (and of course, Tony himself provided some basis for Ultron in the MCU).
"If I have a father, it is Tony Stark," reads the Celestial's narration.
So is it good or bad for Tony that, as soon as the Celestial is activated, it puts the entire world under a microscope for judgment, deciding based on both every individual person's morality and the collective morality of every person on Earth whether to destroy the planet and start over or let everyone live?
Is even Tony Stark that arrogant?
The story continues in AXE: Judgment Day #3, on sale August 24.
Will AXE: Judgment Day earn a place among the most impactful Marvel Comics events of all time?
