WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Man #2, by Christopher Cantwell, CAFU, Frank D'Armata and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
While the threat of rogue sentient artificial intelligence may be quelled, for now, things aren't getting any easier for Tony Stark as he settles back into his superhero role as Iron Man. Back to using his classic Iron Man armor instead of constantly refining and innovating new ways to save the day, Tony's return has been marked with the arrival of several familiar supervillains all looking to make the Armored Avenger's new lease on life particularly truncated. And while Tony is taking the back-to-basics approach with his superhero career, a longtime Avengers villain has resurfaced that has faced Iron Man and killed several of Earth's Mightiest Heroes before Korvac.
Shortly after setting up shop in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Iron Man and Hellcat confronted Unicorn while he was in the middle of a heist at the New York Public Library. During the middle of the subsequent battle, Iron Man was struck by a mysterious bolt of lightning that appeared to be linked to an entrepreneur named Fuller Teilhard. Teilhard had previously been blown off and humiliated at a party thrown by Tony at his new home despite wanting to work with Tony on a project to harness the power of lightning. Fuller is revealed to be a reborn incarnation of the cosmic villain Korvac, resurrected through advanced cybernetics approximately a year ago and looking to provide the Marvel Universe with a deity that he believes will save it from itself.
Korvac was created by Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin in 1975's Giant-Size Defenders #3 as an omnipotent threat from an alternate future timeline brought to face the heroes by the Grandmaster. Korvac was revealed to be gathering data on his opponents and the Grandfather, deliberately losing his first fight against them before returning to his world to battle the original Guardians of the Galaxy. A human fitted with cybernetic technology by the Badoon from his native timeline, Korvac could siphon energy from any power source to augment his abilities, becoming an enormous threat after infiltrating Galactus's ship and gaining access to the Power Cosmic. After marrying the Collector's daughter Carina, Korvac looks to reshape the Marvel Universe in his image, opposed by the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
After Iron Man tracked down Korvac and Carina posing as a middle-class couple in Queens, Korvac realized his manipulation and existence in the Marvel Universe was exposed and was forced to battle the assembled heroes. In the ensuing confrontation, Korvac kills several major heroes, including Captain America, but is horrified by what he and his wife have become. With Moondragon realizing his pure noble intentions, she refrains from engaging Korvac directly leading him to commit suicide after resurrecting the fallen heroes with his dying act.
Since then, Korvac has sporadically reappeared to menace the Marvel Universe, often seeking to reshape the universe and/or reunite with Carina at any cost. With Iron Man back to using his classic armor, he is set to face off against an enemy that can feed off advanced technology, making Tony's old-school approach a potential blessing in disguise. And with Tony rebuffing Fuller/Korvac's offer to make a better future by harnessing energy together, Korvac's wrath is about to unleash in full on the Avenger that had fatefully forced his hand all those years ago.