10 Iron Man Fates Worse Than Death

4. Knowing You Unleashed Ultron - Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Marvel Original Sin Iron Man Hulk
Marvel Studios

Taking a dip into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this entry, and it clearly weighed extremely heavy on Tony Stark that he was partly responsible for unleashing the murderous, maniacal Ultron onto the world.

In the comic book realm, Ultron is a villain forever tied to Hank Pym, aka the original Ant-Man. Created by Hank from his own brain patterns, it didn't take long for Ultron to become fully sentient, to despise Pym, to rewire himself, and to make plans to dominate the entire globe.

Changing this up for the silver screen, the MCU's Ultron came to be thanks the combined efforts of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Of course, much like in the comics, Ultron would soon became way smarter than anyone could imagine. Created to be Earth's ultimate defense system, this android soon realises that humans are the greatest threat to the planet, and thus it looks to destroy mankind.

All of this would lead to the events of Sokovia, which in turn led to the events of Captain America: Civil War, which in turn led to the break up of the Avengers. For Tony Stark - and Bruce Banner, for that matter - all of this bloodshed was very much on his hands.

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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.