9 Avengers Fates Worse Than Deaths

1. Being Corrupted By Your Own Dark Side

Age Of Ultron
Marvel Comics

Having debuted in March 1963's Tales of Suspense, Tony Stark is known as one of the greatest heroes in comic books, period. The thing is, Stark has at times often allowed a darker, more sinister side to rear its ugly head.

One prime example of this is 2014's AXIS event.

In AXIS, an inversion spell from Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch caused our regular Marvel heroes to become villains, and for the bad guys and gals of Marvel to become heroic figures. While the end of this arc saw these characters revert back to their regular selves, one person omitted from this was Iron Man.

Using his vast smarts, the evil Stark manages to work out a way to avert being returned to his heroic self. Complete with a striking new white armour, this 'Superior' Iron Man is a thorough bastard of the highest order. And not just does that mean that Stark was at his arrogant, egotistical worst - which he absolutely was - but the Armoured Avenger truly becomes a bona fide villain.

One particularly disturbing scheme put in place by Stark involved developing a free mobile app which allowed the San Francisco public the opportunity to experience the powers and abilities of Tony's Extremis. What the public do not know, though, is that Iron Man has made it so that there are horrifying withdrawal symptoms after that first Extremis hit is done... and that it will cost $99 per day to get further doses of Extremis.

Essentially, this twisted plan turns San Fran into a city of drug addicts - all just for sh*ts 'n' giggles.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.