WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #31, by Jason Aaron, Gerardo Zaffino, Geraldo Borges, Szymon Kudranski, Bazaldua, Robert Gill, Mattia DeIulis, VC's Joe Caramagna and Rachelle Rosenberg, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
One of the most iconic scenes in cinema history comes towards the end of 1980's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In the film's climax, Darth Vader reveals to Luke Skywalker the he is, in fact, the young Jedi Knight's true father. The revelation completely alters the course of the series and affects how Luke understands himself in relation to the rest of the galaxy in which he lives while also serving as a way to potentially motivate him to join the Dark Side. Avengers #31 features a similar moment involving Tony Stark, Howard Stark and Mephisto, the former king of Hell.
At the beginning of the issue, Tony recalls being a young man and finding out his father participated in devil worship. The boy walks in on an exchange being made: Time for souls. The book then jumps forward to an adult Tony Stark, who is trapped a million years in the past. After a confrontation with the 1,000,000 B.C. Avengers, Tony's helmet begins talking to him, and a serpent slithers out. The beast attempts to get Tony to make a trade for his soul, and it's soon clear this serpent is, in fact, a manifestation of Mephisto.
The serpent initially asserts Tony's soul already belongs to him before saying, "Look into my eyes, Tony, I'm your real fa--" Tony then throws the serpent to the ground and bashes it in with a helmet. It's clear the serpent was going to say, "father," though. Still, that's the last the two forces see of each other for a little while.
Later in the book, Tony again confronts Mephisto, who takes the form of Howard Stark. Mephisto again makes the offer for Tony to join him and accomplish great things, offering his hand to the hero. This is greatly reminiscent of Darth Vader promising that, when partnered with Luke, the two could do great things and conquer the galaxy. Tony blasts Howard, and Mephisto then appears in his normal Marvel Universe form. The devil then explicitly tells Tony that he's his father.
Mephisto is able to appear in the distant past due to the Time Stone, which he uses to send Tony into the future. Once Iron Man gets back, he goes to Las Vegas, where he confronts the imprisoned Mephisto and once again rejects an offer to join him. Once Tony leaves, Howard appears in his stead and talks to Mephisto. The former king of Hell reveals that he never seriously though Tony would join him and he's instead trying to put him off balance in anticipation of their coming battle.
There are a lot of clear parallels between Mephisto's behavior towards Tony and what happens between Luke and Vader. Both assertions of fatherhood throw the child off balance and thus theoretically make them easier to beat later on. However, the big difference here is that Vader did sincerely want Luke to join him, while Mephisto is only trying to make him weaker. As this next arc goes on, Tony Stark's many, many father issues are going to be tested, and that might just mean fighting against a turn to the Dark Side.
Avengers #32 releases March 11 from Marvel Comics.