9. Extremis
Rumoured to be playing an important part in
Iron Man 3, the Extremis virus is perhaps best-described by one its creators, Dr. Maya Hansen: "Extremis is a super-soldier solution. It's a bio-electronics package, fitted into a few billion graphite nanotubes and suspended in a carrier fluid." Um, maybe not, then. C'mon, Maya, lay it out for us in layman's terms, won't you? "It hacks the body's repair centerthe part of the brain that keeps a complete blue print of the human body. When we're injured, we refer to that area of the brain to heal properly. Extremis rewrites the repair center. In the first stage, the body essentially becomes an open wound. The brain is being told the body is wrong. Extremis protocol dictates that the subject be placed on life support and intravenously fed nutrients at this point. For the next two or three days, the patient remains unconscious within a cocoon of scabs. Extremis uses the nutrients and body mass to grow new organs. Better ones." Given that we're somewhat in the know with regards to Killian's selling of the virus, are we right to assume that Tony Stark will come up against several individuals - super-soldiers - infected with it? If so, your average "goon" is going to prove a far more difficult challenge than usual. Gulp!