WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Man Annual #1 by Jed MacKay, Ibraim Roberson, Rachelle Rosenberg and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
After catching up with fellow Marvel hero Miles Morales, Iron Man just missed out on a major warning sign as the "Infinite Destines" crossover gets udnerway. After learning about what the young Spider-Man endured while in the Assessor's "care," Tony Stark was incensed, equating Miles' experience with his time in captivity. While Tony believed he deserved what happened to him in that cave, Miles being held in captivity like that was unacceptable for him.
But in Iron Man Annual #1, Stark's rage caused him to miss out on the fact that the Assessor's minion, Quantum, is actually bonded with the Space Stone. And it seems to be tearing him apart.
Ironically, Quantum was the last obstacle to getting close to the Assessor. Iron Man had gone in with guns blazing but got caught off guard by Quantum's abilities. Miles had warned him that Quantum was capable of teleporting, but he didn't go into specifics. Iron Man had most likely been anticipating a villain who would teleport him to a different space. What he instead was a much more versatile villain who could teleport parts of his body to different areas, meaning he could get past Tony's armor while maintaining a safe distance.
This should have been Tony's first hint about the true nature of Quantum's abilities. Howeverm he was so disoriented that Quantum managed to teleport him into the Assessor's maze of tests. Iron Man fought his way through and his next round with Quantum went much more smoothly. He took a few hits, but managed to nullify Quantum's abilities with, appropriately enough, quantum entanglement. He then proceeded to knock Quantum out before moving on to the Assessor. But that might have been his biggest blunder. Iron Man had taken the time to figure out how to nullify Quantum's powers, but not figure out where they came from. If he had, he might have realized that Quantum was powered by one of the most dangerous items in the universe: the Space Stone.
Though Iron Man missed the mark on that, the issue offered new insight into the relationship between Quantum and the Assessor and why the former is in the employ of a villain like him.
Once the Assessor backed himself up following Iron Man's departure, Quantum seemed to collapse in agony. The Assessor deduced that Quantum believed that the Assessor's "capture" meant that their contract was void, hinting that Quantum signed up for this willingly. The reason why was clear as he tore off his costume.
Like Star and the Reality Stone, Quantum is physically bonded with the Space Stone, but it was having a negative effect on his body, literally tearing him into pieces as its power blazed through his chest. The Assessor continued on through Quantum's agony, stating that he would keep up his end of their deal to help Quantum remove the Space Stone, but only after the Assessor was done collecting the relevant data. But even though it was only a brief moment, it gave massive context towards Quantum and how he got here.
First, it is clear that Quantum does not want the power. He has mastered it to some defree, but it is causing him intense pain, perhaps even slowly consuming his body. This has led to a desperation that convinced him to join the Assessor in the slim hope that he could remove it. And his status as the new host of the Space Stone continues the trend of the Infinity Stones bonding with their wielders. But Quantum's situation shows that this can lead to negative consequences for the wielder's body. If this is the case, then it's possible the remaining three stones could cause their future hosts untold trouble.