As Marvel fans will know, Tony Stark became obsessed with existential threats to humanity after the first Avengers film, an obsession that ultimately led to the creation of Ultron. But even before the sentient AI came to be, the billionaire playboy-turned-superhero was hard at work creating the Iron Legion.
Suffering from PTSD after the Battle of New York, Iron Man 3 depicted a damaged Stark who was looking for a way to protect the people closest to him, including Pepper Potts. This manifested itself in his main passion, creating and upgrading the Iron Man suit. But according to the new MCU tie-in book, The Wakanda Files, the character had a different motivation altogether.
Apparently, after seeing the destruction caused by the Chitauri army, the prodigal son of Howard Stark came up with an idea to minimize civilian casualties in case of another big metropolitan battle. That’s why he designed all the other units. And as we saw in the film, he had JARVIS control them remotely.
Additionally, Stark realized that the Avengers would be vastly outnumbered in such events. So, the Iron Legion would serve as a physical extension that would help them fight off an extraterrestrial army. It makes sense, too, since even Infinity War and Endgame showed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes relying on Wakanda’s manpower to handle Thanos’ troops.
Apart from this safeguard, though, Iron Man also intended this project to serve as a means to “effectively communicate with the general public so there isn’t any misinformation.”
If anything, the new Marvel book shows Tony’s relentless dedication to the cause. Even after his death, he left the space drone force to Peter Parker as a contingency. But beyond that, it’s also interesting to learn that the Iron Legion wasn’t simply an offensive countermeasure, but rather a means to help preserve more lives.
