New Anti-Thor Iron Man Armor Makes Tony’s Original Thorbuster Look Pathetic

Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers: Twilight #5!While Iron Man and Thor have long been close allies on the Avengers, there have also been many occasions where the two have come to blows. Indeed, Tony crafted a dedicated Thorbuster suit in case he ever had to take down the God of Thunder. However, Tony’s best effort was just totally eclipsed by a new armor that Thor can’t even dent.

Fans see this new suit in Avengers: Twilight #5, where the Red Skull battles against Captain America’s new Avengers roster. Having undermined and targeted the team behind the scenes, Red Skull reveals that he long ago imprisoned Ultron and forced the Mad Android to craft him his own ultra-powerful Iron Man suit. The suit is plugged into Red Skull’s body in some disgusting ways, but it gives him the power to fight Captain America and Thor at the same time, repeatedly knocking Thor off his feet.

Having brainwashed Tony Stark’s son, Red Skull has had the resources of the young genius at his command for years, as well as the beyond-human mechanical insights of Ultron. The result is a suit that stands up to Iron Man, Captain America and Thor without missing a beat, with both the Iron Man armor’s energy blasts and physical strength taking Thor to task. It’s everything Tony wanted from his original Thorbuster armor but couldn’t quite deliver.

Red Skull’s Iron Man Armor Is an Avengersbuster Suit

Thor, Captain America and Iron Man Are Struggling to Match Red Skull – Let Alone His Allies

Avengers: Twilight takes place in the future of the Marvel Universe, where the devastating H-Day caused mass death after the Hulk was enslaved by Ultron and sent on a devastating rampage. Red Skull used the chaos to create a new identity and infiltrate America’s corridors of power, pulling strings to destroy the Avengers’ reputation and usher the country into a new age of fascism. However, despite effectively already winning his bid for control, Red Skull’s ego can’t stand remaining in the shadows, causing him to take the fight to the Avengers in his new armor. The Skull is joined by James Stark in his own Iron Man suit and the Hulk, who is still being controlled and deals the definitive blow against Thor in this battle, knocking the thunder god unconscious.

Iron Man’s Thorbuster Armor Didn’t Live Up to the Name

Ultron Has Accomplished What Tony Stark Couldn’t

Iron Man’s Thorbuster armor debuted in 2003’s Iron Man #64 from Alan Davis and Mike Grell. In the story, a cult springs up around Thor in the country of Slokovia, and the God of Thunder feels he must intervene when they are targeted by their own government. As Doctor Doom manipulates events to cause an international incident, Iron Man steps in to stop Thor. The Thorbuster suit was incredibly powerful, but it was also a direct insult to Thor. The suit used a rare Asgardian crystal which Thor had gifted Tony, hoping he could achieve a new type of renewable energy. Instead, Tony used the crystal to prepare a suit for the day Thor needed to be taken down.

Ultimately, like the Hulkbuster before it, Iron Man’s Thorbuster wasn’t up to the job. While it got one good shot in, Thor quickly tore it to pieces, almost killing Tony and denting Captain America’s shield when Steve Rogers dove between his friends. Now, Red Skull is showing the Avengers what a real Thorbuster suit looks like, as he wipes the floor with the Asgardian god. Hopefully, Captain America has some kind of plan to fight back against the unbeatable trio of Red Skull, James Stark and the Hulk, because so far Red Skull’s new Iron Man armor seems capable of killing not just Thor, but the entirety of Captain America’s new roster of heroes.

Avengers: Twilight #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.