WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Iron Man #2 by Christopher Cantwell, CAFU, Frank D'Armata & VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Ever since the beginning of his new series, Iron Man has acted as if he has a death wish. In the first issue, he took on a former Herald of Galactus by himself before battling The Unicorn. In the second issue, he took on Absorbing Man in a televised fight engineered by Arcade and almost died saving people trapped in a bubble by Cardiac. His recklessness extended to the pages of Thor, where he struck the God of Thunder with his own hammer nearly provoking a fight he couldn't hope to win.
The reckless behavior extended to Tony Stark's personal life as well. In the first issue, Tony took part in a Fast & Furious styled illegal street race, nearly crashing in the process. In the latest issue, Patsy Walker aka Hellcat drops a truth bomb on Stark and reminds him that he can still die, which didn't seem to faze the Avenger.
Oddly enough, Tony Stark seems to want to die. When Stark and Walker are together early in the comic, he was already injured, and all he could think about was whether he could have won his fight with Absorbing Man if the battle had not been stopped by his unmasking of Arcade. This played a lot like the street racing scene in the last issue. In one case, he is in a high-stakes car race on the streets, and in the other, he is in a ring fighting Crusher Creel. Both were moments of not only Tony testing his limits, but apparently looking for a way to die.
Stark doesn't understand why people cheer for the bad guy. When Patsy asked what he felt he needed to prove, he said he needed to prove he is still a hero. She asked who he needed to prove it to, but he didn't have a chance to answer before receiving an emergency call. Cardiac kidnapped some pharmaceutical workers, and their lives were in danger. Tony and Hellcat rushed off to save the day, and discovered that Cardiac had the workers imprisoned in a air-tight bubble composed of a mixture of adamantium and vibranium and the people trapped inside were dangerously short on oxygen.
Iron Man asked his AI the chances of his survival as he charged full speed at the dome. The AI said the chance of survival was unknown, but he had a chance to fracture most of his bones. He punched through anyway, and ended up in the hospital with seventeen bone fractures, his left lung punctured, and an irregular heartbeat.
Later in the hospital, Stark claimed he did something heroic but Patsy pointed out the hard truth to him. She said Iron Man wants to kill himself spectacularly, so he can reduce the moral complexities of his reputation and end up with a statue in Central Park. Tony would rather die a hero than live as someone the public dismisses regularly. For someone who saved the world on numerous occasions and even died a couple of times, Iron Man has never gotten what he really wants.
Stark is broken down by the public perception of him and can't get anyone to accept him as the hero he wishes he could be. As a result, he has a death wish and wants to save the world by making the ultimate sacrifice. Considering Iron Man has incurred the ire of Korvac, Stark just may end up getting his wish sooner rather than later.