Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, possesses a genius-level intellect in Marvel Comics. The tech mastermind has developed various gadgets and suits over the years to defeat supervillains. This time, he took a page from the skillset of Vision to defeat one of the members of the Ashen Combine.
Stark’s newest armor suit, the Mark Nil, has drawn comparisons with Naruto’s Kakashi Hatake. The latter is dubbed the ‘Copy Ninja’ as he often uses Sharingan techniques to mimic the abilities of fellow shinobis. Similarly, the Mark Nil armor replicated Vision’s phasing powers and techniques with its density control.
Iron Man Copied Vision’s Abilities In The Latest Marvel Comic
Marvel fans know that Tony Stark is constantly learning and upgrading his Iron Man power suit. He has gained ideas from multiple Avengers in both movies and comics, such as Thor’s ability to summon his hammer, the Hulkbuster suit, and even fixed Captain America-inspired shields in his designs via nanotech.
However, Iron Man has rarely copied the abilities of fellow Avengers. That changed in Avengers #6, created by Jed MacKay, Federico Blee, and Ivan Fiorelli, when the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes faced off against the five supervillains of Ashen Combine. Tony Stark revealed the powers of the Mark Nil armor during his fight with Citysmith.
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Citysmith has the power to reshape cities as well as people into living sculptures made of clay. After initially being overpowered, Iron Man activated an ‘early prototype’ power in his Mark Nil suit that gained him control over density. He phased through the tangible clay traps of Citysmith and later overpowered the supervillain.
Tony Stark did reveal later that the phasing powers of Mark Nil were based on Vision. In fact, the activation code for the ‘Flattery, Sincerest Form’ mode was the name of the fellow Avenger.
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Why Did Tony Stark Copy Vision’s Phasing Ability?
The Mark Nil armor was specifically designed to be a stealth option for Iron Man’s scouting missions. As such, the black, grey, and neon colors were to blend with the surroundings at night. The ‘Flattery, Sincerest Form’ mode was a last resort or a plan B if things turned south.
According to Tony Stark in Avengers #6, he wanted to add Vision’s phasing powers as it was the best stealth option. His exact words were “walking through walls is pretty stealthy.” While the armor may not be as powerful as the ‘God Killer’ Iron Man armor, it has its perks.
The Mark Nil suit was first seen in a preview of Invincible Iron Man #7. A few days later, Juan Firgeri’s design sheet was posted on X by Gerry Duggan. Marvel artists Bryan Valenza and Kael Ngu were also part of the project.
Also. Pre-order Iron Man, X-Men and Uncanny Avengers. Or they won't be there for you. And for fun, here's Juan's turnaround for the MARK NIL stealth armor. pic.twitter.com/1iHZQ3ZYSJ
— Gerry Duggan (@GerryDuggan) June 9, 2023
Interestingly, Tony Stark is also working on a new and more powerful suit to defeat Feilong. The supervillain who took control of Stark Industries in Invincible Iron Man #4 has multiple tricks up his sleeve but Tony is no one trick pony himself.
