Written Kevin Burke, Chris "Doc" Wyatt
Directed By Stephane Juffe and Phillipe Guyenne
Review by Arsenal

IMAGES

It starts with an inventive premise. Andros Stark – the Iron Man of the titular year – must stop Tony Stark from creating a technological virus that destroys the world; and he’s willing to kill him to do it.

Admittedly, we’ve seen this plot before. X-Men: TAS did the same thing 20 years ago with its version of Days of Future Past. (Except, in that case, Bishop had come back to the present to ice Gambit.)

But Iron Man: Armored Adventures adds enough personal wrinkles that it feels original.

The show finds organic ways to rope in the Extremis subplot, Hawkeye, Black Widow, S.H.I.E.L.D. and even Justin Hammer.

And this episode builds to a memorable climax that features a fantastic twist so good I can’t quite bring myself to spoil it.

This is a pretty grave episode – Stark is facing an unstoppable juggernaut from the future who intends to kill him – so it helps that what little humor it features is actually funny.

(Disclaimer: Humor is subjective so your mileage may vary but I snickered over Pepper’s shoes obsession and Sasha’s disdain for her boss.)

It’s obvious when Iron Man: Armored Adventures is trying to make an episode memorable. The plotting is tighter; the animation, more creative; the writing, more thoughtful.

Iron Man 2099 is some of the cast and crew’s best work. The only reason I would not suggest it as an entry point for people considering Iron Man: Armored Adventures is it depends so much on the universe the show has already created.