Summary

• Iron Man's new metal, mysterium, makes him an unstoppable force and sures the power levels of his fellow Avengers.
• Mysterium is a rare and potent substance that is virtually indestructible and immune to magic, rendering even the strongest magic s powerless against it.
• However, Iron Man must be cautious with his newfound power, as he has a history of misusing god-like abilities, and only Tony Stark himself may be able to control his mysterium-enhanced might.

Warning: Spoilers for The Invincible Iron Man #11 ahead!In of ranking the power level of the Iron Man is one of the most difficult to pin down: despite having no functional powers, his vast array of armors give him a wide assortment of abilities that help him keep up with his teammates. Now that he is armed with the X-Men's new metal mysterium, one of the most powerful substances in the Marvel Universe, Iron Man is poised to become the team's unstoppable juggernaut, with the rest of the Avengers unable to match the might of this magical metal.

Gerry Duggan, Bryan Valenza, and Andrea Di Vito's Invincible Iron Man #11 continues with Iron Man and Emma Frost (disguised as Tony's assistant Hazel) exploiting their much-publicized marriage to gather resources to strike back at Orchis. With Emma guiding him, Iron Man infiltrates the Orchis forces patrolling Krakoa to retrieve a trunk of mysterium from her old quarters. Tony is excited to integrate the metal into his Mark 72 Armor design, but decides to test the metal against his allies first.

The test is a resounding success. After shaping the mysterium into a cane, Tony discovers that Captain Marvel cannot bend it, Doctor Strange's spells cannot affect it, and Spider-Man's spider-sense can't even detect it.

Iron Man Can Exploit the Mystery of Mysterium

ing the ranks of other super-metals such as vibranium and uru, mysterium is a relative newcomer to the Marvel Universe. First appearing in Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, and Marte Garcia's S.W.O.R.D. #2, the creation of mysterium requires a specific application of mutant abilities within the White Hot Room (a fundamental realm outside of reality), making the substance incredibly rare and potent. The metal is virtually indestructible and completely immune to magic; even "low mysterium" - an unstable metal that appears to carry a comparably low level of mysterium's properties - has been shown to completely nullify Marvel's strongest magic s, as seen in Steve Orlando, Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D'Amico, and Matthew Wilson's Scarlet Witch series.

Iron Man Needs To Be Careful With His All-Powerful New Metal

In Tony's hands, a relatively small amount of mysterium has already functionally defeated two of the strongest Avengers. Captain Marvel's fight with Lord Ennui in The Avengers #6 by Jed MacKay, Ivan Fiorelli, and Federico Blee clearly establishes that she is "power without limit." This means that not even infinite power (or the closest thing to it on that the Avengers can muster) can destroy or alter mysterium, nor can the functionally thousands of years of arcane knowledge at Doctor Strange's disposal affect it in any way whatsoever. This metal by itself has already rendered two of the strongest Marvel heroes obsolete, and Tony intends to make an entire suit with it.

Iron Man's mastery of mysterium may be poised to make him the strongest Avenger, but there is a caveat - Tony is notoriously bad at managing god-like power. When he absorbed The Power Cosmic to briefly become the "Iron God" in the Iron Man series by Christopher Cantwell, CAFU, and Frank D'armata, he ended up doing more harm than good with his newfound omnipotence. Now with Iron Man at the cusp of suring the mightiest of the Marvel Universe again, it seems the only Avenger who may be able to temper his mysterium-enhanced might is Tony Stark himself.

The Invincible Iron Man #11 is now available from Marvel Comics.