The following contains major spoilers for Iron Man #23, available now from Marvel Comics.
Tony Stark has long been one of the most lauded heroes in the Marvel Universe, at least by those looking up at him from the world below. For those who have truly come to know Iron Man as he is beneath the armor, however, things are hardly as gilded on the inside. While Tony himself has finally come to terms with being his own worst enemy and embarked on a mission to turn his legacy around, the people he left behind along the way aren't willing to help him. In fact, one of Iron Man's oldest allies may have just ended War Machine's life right in front of him, and all out of a devastatingly understandable sense of spite.
Ever since he uncovered the threat posed by the underworld marketplace for high-tech arms known as Source Control, Tony has made taking them down his one and only goal. Knowing that he couldn't bring their operation to a halt by force, Tony has instead opted to buy up each and every weapon Source Control has to offer, including the Mandarin's Ten Rings. After taking off to Macau alongside James Rhodes, aka War Machine, in the pages of Iron Man #23 (by Christopher Cantwell, Angel Unzueta, Frank D'Armata, and VC's Joe Carmagna), Tony is betrayed not just by Source Control, but by one of his old allies in the worst way possible. Clayton Wilson -- the power armored vigilante known as Force -- makes his introduction by punching straight through War Machine's chest, seemingly taking his life just to spite Tony personally.
While Clayton has been around since 1973's Sub-Mariner #68 (by Steve Gerber and Don Heck), he was all but forgotten entirely until he recently reappeared to lend a hand to Tony's latest crusade. Unfortunately, Source Control has had its hooks in Clayton before he and Tony got back in touch. Not only did Source Control offer him more money than he could ever spend, but it also convinced Clayton that Tony was only using him. Worse still, everything Tony has done so far may as well have proved them right, although he was never exactly coy about that detail.
From the beginning of their latest endeavor, Tony and Rhodes were always clear about what role Clayton was playing in the plan. He may not have appreciated being bait, but that isn't indicative of any malice on anyone else's part. If anything, the transparency Tony offered him was far greater than any he had previously operated with, especially not during Clayton's heyday fighting alongside Iron Man over three decades ago. Clayton isn't necessarily wrong when he says that most of Tony's friends have ended up worse for their efforts, but by being the one to apparently take Rhodes' life, he has become the biggest part of the exact problem he claims to have spurned him.
The Tony Stark that Clayton once knew, may have been a righteous piece of work in every way imaginable, but that isn't the Tony who he is dealing with today. If he were, buying out Source Control never would have been an option, and there would be a genuine fear that Rhodes would actually be gone for good. Thankfully, the Iron Man Tony has grown into is a far smarter, more forward-thinking hero. As such, it should only be a matter of time before the tables turn, assuming Tony was prepared for a betrayal.
So long as Tony and War Machine had a backup plan laid out, the two should be perfectly fine, even if they do end up going home with a few more broken bones than they had before they left. Clayton, on the other hand, is going to be in for a rude awakening once he realizes that Source Control has even less regard for his well-being than Iron Man. That is unless he really has killed War Machine, in which case Iron Man will be the absolute end of him in ways that Clayton can't even fathom.