"Extremis" is a six-issue story arc from the comic book series Iron Man (vol. 4), published in issues one through six in 2005 and 2006 by Marvel Comics. It was written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Adi Granov. Extremis elevates the status quo for Iron Man, increasing the power of his armor significantly.
Extremis received mostly positive reviews, and it is often listed as one of the best Iron Man stories.Ultimate Bookshelf 2.0: Iron Man, IGN Elements of Extremis were adapted for the 2008 film Iron Man, and the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Extremis," and the storyline serves as the primary source material for the 2013 film Iron Man 3.
Production Extremis was the second story arc after the "Avengers Disassembled" crossover event, not to be confused with "Stark: Disassembled", a later story in The Invincible Iron Man.
The story was meant as a sort of "new start" for the character—to redefine him from his origins as an arms dealer, to be the "test pilot for the future" Ellis intended him to be. The story rarely mentions any of Iron Man's past, and references to the rest of the Marvel universe are limited to brief, passing mentions of the Avengers and Fin Fang Foom. Warren Ellis admitted he had intentionally not read any Iron Man material besides the earliest issues.
This is similar for Adi Granov: "My first official introduction to the character occurred a year prior to Extremis. [...] Upon reading the script, I realized how realistic Warren's approach was to the story. [...] When illustrating the book I wanted my art to mirror the realism in Warren's writing [...] I felt that Warren wrote a story that's a sort of techno-thriller action story and I wanted the art to reflect this. [...] I saw Iron Man as not just a superhero in a suit; rather he is a pilot or weapon. To me, the Iron Man armor is more akin to a jet fighter than it is to an outfit.Iron Man: Extremis Director's Cut #1, Marvel Comics
The story, which lasts about three to four days in comic book time, takes place at an undefined time after the founding of the New Avengers and before the destruction of Stamford, Connecticut by Nitro (which led to the Marvel Civil War).
Plot Three men enter a disused slaughterhouse in Bastrop, Texas, where two of them inject a willing third, whom they call Mallen. This injection contains an experimental drug which makes him fall to the floor in immense pain. Mallen's compatriots flee the room, locking him in.
Miles underground in his Coney Island "garage", Tony Stark is awakened from sleep and several weeks of work, isolation, and diminished self care by his secretary's phone call, reminding him of a scheduled interview with a journalist. During the interview, it emerges that Stark deeply regrets that the world-changing, humanitarian improvements he had hoped to fund with his weapons sales have not yet materialized. Confronted by his regrets, Stark returns to the garage, takes stock of himself while realizing that the Iron Man is likely his key to a better future for both himself and humanity. Having canceled all appointments, Stark dons the newest version of the Iron Man armor and takes off into the sky.
At Futurepharm Corporation offices in Austin, Aldrich Killian commits suicide after typing and printing his confession. The note informs co-worker Maya Hansen that he has stolen and "loosed" the company's Extremis serum for a greater purpose. Hansen calls Stark, whom she met years prior.
Stark arrives in Texas in the middle of a teleconference with his board of directors, rejecting their requests that he resign as CEO of his company and take a head technician title instead. Stark argues that Stark Industries, having invented a revolutionary cell phone and connection method, no longer needs the government's funding. The conference ends at a crossroad. Arriving at Futurepharm, Stark learns that the intended receiver of the Extremis dose is currently unknown due to an inability to hack Killian's computer. Using Stark Industries's new prototype phone, Stark emails Killian's hard drive to be hacked by one of his employees, and, to distract Hansen, jets her and himself to San Diego to talk with their old friend and teacher, Sal Kennedy.
Meanwhile, the three men from the slaughterhouse arrive at the FBI field office. While Kennedy, now a futurist following nature and an idealistic way of life, harangues Stark and Hansen on their military work and thus-far-failed promise, Mallen sets the FBI office on fire. Hansen catches the story on the news, realizing that the terrorists are using Extremis. In flight back to Texas, Hansen tells Stark that Extremis is a military nanotechnology serum created in an attempt to recreate the Captain America Super-Soldier Serum.
Iron Man tracks the terrorists' van from above and tears it in half with a non-lethal repulsor ray. Mallen recovers, and after refusing to surrender peacefully, engages Iron Man in a brutal fight. Throughout the battle, it becomes obvious that Mallen's abilities far surpass the processing speed and durability of Iron Man's armor. Mallen flees, leaving Stark trapped beneath a burning car with his armor at zero power. Stark saves himself and the car's passengers by drawing from the flames' thermal energy to reactivate his armor.
Iron Man calls Hansen and has her people fly him to Futurepharm, where he privately reveals himself as Tony Stark to Hansen. Knowing the severity of his injuries, Stark realizes the only way for him to survive and defeat Mallen is to use Extremis himself. Hansen gives Stark a lower dose of the serum that will not alter his mind and body as it did for Mallen. Twenty-four hours later, Stark awakens with his armor integrated into his body.
Tapping into a satellite cluster, Iron Man finds Mallen heading towards Washington, intent on killing the president. Having the police evacuate the city, Iron Man confronts Mallen. Now superior to Mallen, Iron Man explains that he had to be the one to stop the terrorist, seeing Mallen as a perversion of himself: a man with power but no concern for or ability to see the future. In the end, Mallen refuses to listen, pins Stark to the ground, and violently declares, "There isn't any future. I'm gonna kill it!". Enraged by Mallen's refusal to give up, as well as his contempt for all life, Iron Man kills him.
Confronting Hansen at Futurepharm, Iron Man reveals that Hansen was clearly Killian's accomplice, due to the issue of needing two key cards entered at the same time as well as her extensive involvement with the formula. Hansen allows herself to be taken away, though she justifies her actions by comparing the Extremis serum to the atomic bomb, saying, "It had to be used once in anger so that it would never be used in anger again." Hansen then declares that Tony is no better than she is, to which Iron Man replies "No. But I'm trying to be... And tomorrow I'll be able to look myself in the mirror."
The Extremis virus Extremis is referred to as a "virus" throughout the story. The verbatim description offered by its inventor Maya Hansen, goes: "...Extremis is a super-soldier solution. It's a bio-electronics package, fitted into a few billion graphite nanotubes and suspended in a carrier fluid. A magic bullet, like the original super-soldier serum—all fitted into a single injection. It hacks the body's repair center—the part of the brain that keeps a complete blue print of the human body. When we're injured, we refer to that area of the brain to heal properly. Extremis rewrites the repair center. In the first stage, the body essentially becomes an open wound. The normal human blueprint is being replaced with the Extremis blueprint. The brain is being told the body is wrong. Extremis protocol dictates that the subject be placed on life support and intravenously fed nutrients at this point. For the next two or three days, the patient remains unconscious within a cocoon of scabs. (...) Extremis uses the nutrients and body mass to grow new organs. Better ones..."Iron Man vol. 4 #3. Marvel Comics.
Effects of the Extremis process, apart from the changes specific to Tony Stark, included: greatly accelerated healing; immensely-boosted immune system; generation of "new, improved organs" (Stark's cardiovascular and respiratory systems were greatly upgraded); and, the side effect of increased aggressiveness.Iron Man vol. 4 #9. Marvel Comics. Stark had the super-powers removed from the Extremis compiler, though, effectively 'exchanging' them for the ability to interface directly with machines and his own armor. But Mallen retained said super-powers, resulting in his high-level super-strength, super-speed, advanced invulnerability, and the abilities to breathe fire and project arcs of electricity from his hands, as well as being bullet-proof.
As well as the obvious physical changes, Extremis also affected Stark mentally, allowing him to process information extraordinarily quickly, on a subconscious level, to help him better cope with the direct technological link he now possessed to his armor (even as his standard thought processes remained at a human norm). As a result, his brain, taking in more information than he could consciously process, began to sublimate it into his unconscious mind, causing Stark to experience occasional hallucinations of particularly relevant information, manifesting as people whose deaths he felt personally responsible for, such as Captain America or Happy Hogan. These hallucinations served to make him aware of facts that he had noted subconsciously while not recognizing their relevance or existence on a conscious level, such as that a member of the Initiative had lied about his powers (he claimed to just have superhuman physical abilities when he actually manipulated gravity to create the appearance of superstrength, as otherwise he couldn't be given an IV while in hospital as he would have had invulnerable skin), or that Maya Hansen was actually alive after her death was faked. Doc Samson speculated that the hallucinations appeared because the excess information was filtered into the same place Stark subconsciously stored his guilt to stop himself facing it.Iron Man vol. 4 #25. Marvel Comics.
When the Mandarin attempts to release Extremis on a large scale as part of his plan to 'reshape' the human race, it is revealed that Maya's initial version of Extremis can only be successful when used on people who possess a rare genetic sequence, found in only 2.5% of the human population. This percentage includes Tony Stark and Maya Hansen, but does not include the Mandarin. Anyone without this sequence who is exposed to Extremis will be killed by it.Iron Man vol. 4 #24. Marvel Comics.
When industrialist Michael Hall attempts to create his own suits of armor based on the Carnage symbiote, Iron Man attempts to hack the suits, but Carnage is able to "hack" Iron Man in return by using the technological/biological interface elements of Extremis.Carnage #5. Marvel Comics.
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