Zombie Iron Man

What If... Zombies!? In an alternate reality, Iron Man is one of many heroes to succumb to the global zombie infection. Here's a question for you: if, as we know, the What If...? zombie plague gets transmitted by saliva, how did Tony Stark get infected? The situation was dire enough that Cap and Iron Man reunited post-Civil War, so it's not like they were caught by surprise - they knew what was up before they went out there. And yes, Ant-Man got inside the Iron Man armor during the Berlin airport fight, but that was two full years prior; are we really meant to believe Tony didn't fix that flaw in the design in the intervening time? Especially now that his armor is based on nanotech instead of little plugs and wires? Seems unlikely. So what happened? Tell us your theories! It's no surprise that this figure isn't wearing a helmet - after all, if you're going to the trouble of making a zombified version of a major character, you don't want to cover up the biggest signifier that they are a zombie. That said, they could have given him a torn-up faceplate like in Far From Home, even if he didn't really appear like that in the episode. Unlike Captain America, who was quite different from his normal releases, Iron Man at a glance looks like he's just a repaint. This is the Mark 50 armor, we already have a Mark 50 toy, it just makes sense. But while armor is harder to destroy than... whatever kind of fabric Cap's costume is made of, clearly some damage has been done: there's a panel missing on the right side of the abdomen, with his blue skin and some ribs visible within. Not that ribs actually come down that far inside a body, but consider it a little bit of artistic license to make the toy more visually interesting. There's a matching wound on his left forearm, too. His nose is missing, you can see all the way through his cheeks to the other side. A big diagonal slash runs across his forehead, and the little locks of hair on his forehead are lifted up slightly, rather than being sculpted flat against his head. Even the parts that don't get any battle damage are new molds, rather than reusing the 2018 sculpts. They're very similar, since they're based on the same thing, but if you really get in there and compare, there are subtle differences in the shapes. The figure moves at the head, shoudlers, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, hips, thighs, knees, and ankles. He includes your choice of fists or hands flexed back to fire the dark blue repulsor blasts, and there's dark blood painted on his chest (though it's hard to see). Zombie Cap didn't come with a piece of the Watcher Build-A-Figure, and Zombie Iron Man doesn't come with a piece of Khonshu - all those new molds are expensive. This one isn't as blatantly undead as Captain America was, but it's still a lot of fun to get horror figures in the main line. -- 01/16/23

Tweet