A variant of Iron Man from Avengers Forever found a way to transform one of Marvel’s most powerful beings… into a handgun?!
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers Forever #1, now on sale
The various versions of Iron Man from across the multiverse have all been impressive inventors with many of them discovering amazing creations from mere scraps. But there is one variant of the character who’s made one of the most potentially destructive weapons possible in the Marvel Universe — and he made it relatively compact in the process
The Tony Stark introduced in Avengers Forever #1 by Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Cam Smith, Jason Keith, Triona Farrell, and VC’s Cory Petit found a way to transform the corpse of a Celestial into a cosmic-level weapon — and it’s ideal for the doomed world he’s from.
The reality of Earth-818 — a world that was meant to become an idyllic paradise before it was ruined by the multiversal Masters of Evil — is one where scientists like Tony Stark have spent most of their lives on the run. The discoverer of Pym Particles in this reality, Stark is introduced on the run from agents of the Black Skull, the despot who controls this reality. Along the way, he deploys a number of different tools and gadgets to avoid the symbiote-controlled ants chasing him through the tunnels of a mountain. Luckily for Stark, he has his trusted mechanical assistant Shellhead to rely on — who comes in for the save by providing Tony Stark with his most dangerous weapon ever.
Having become the world’s only archeologist in this reality, Stark seemingly discovered the head of a Celestial while exploring the world some time before the events of Avengers Forever. Modifying the remains and apparently shrinking it down with his version of Pym Particles, Stark can now place the Celestial’s head on his gun — and fire a blast of pure cosmic energy by more or less pulling the trigger and activating what remains of its brain. The blast is immensely powerful and seems to wipe out all of the symbiote creatures with a single shot.
The Celestial handgun — which Tony refers to as the Knowhere Gun — is one of the most ingenious and surprising ways someone has found to utilize Celestial bodies for their own purposes. But thanks to his ability to shrink the cosmic entity, Tony was able to use it for more than a base of operations. In the core-Marvel Universe of Earth-616, the head of a Celestial was used as the space-faring port known as Knowhere, while the Avengers have converted the body of another Celestial as their current headquarters (known as Avengers Mountain). Both of these locations have been important additions to the universe. But the Knowhere Gun is a jammy tool that can allow someone nominally powerless to have the sudden power of a cosmic God — all in the palm of his hand.
The only drawback seems to be that the head only can fire one shot at a time, as after using it Tony notably leaves the smoking skull behind and tells Sparky they’ll have to come back for it. This suggests it can be used multiple times (for now), but that it has a cool down period between blasts. Even with this hangup, the Knowhere Gun is one of the most creative (and destructive) means Celestial technology yet introduced. With the Knowhere Gun at his disposal, Stark has the ability to stand up to pretty much any threat — albeit briefly. Along with his other major discovery — the Mjolnir of this reality, he and his allies on this world might have the perfect weapons to use to save their world.
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About The Author
Brandon Zachary (4309 Articles Published)
Brandon Zachary is an Associate Writer with Comic Book Resources and has written for CBR since 2018. He covers breakouts on comics, film, television, video games, and anime. He also conducts industry interviews, is a Rotten Tomatoes certified film critic, and knows SO MUCH about the X-Men. For requests, comments, or to hear his pitch for a third Avatar series that incorporates robots, you can contact him through [email protected].