Once upon a time, 2020 was to be an apocalyptic future. To be more precise, creators Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe created Earth-8410 in 1984, an alternate reality set in the then-future of 2020.
It wasn’t a glorious future, but one of those realities taken over by megacorporations. Many heroes disappeared in the 1980s, virtual realities became the main form of entertainment, the working class was replaced by robots, and humans were reduced to being slaves, except for the small upper class.
This earth was the homeworld of Iron Man 2020, a certain Arno Stark…
A Short History of Arno Stark, Iron Man 2020 of Earth-8410
Making his debut in Machine Man 2020 #2 (1984), Iron Man acted as a mercenary and was employed by the supervillain Sunset Bain to destroy the Midnight Wreckers and Machine Man.
Under the armor was Arno Stark, Tony’s first cousin once removed and son of Morgan Stark. Following the death of Tony Stark, he bought out the company and began to work as a mercenary to raise money.
It is soon established that Arno Stark is more ruthless than his predecessor, having no problem committing acts of corporate espionage for his personal gain.
Though less virtuous than his counterpart, Arno Stark is also a more tragic figure than initially presented. A group of terrorists led by Robert Saunders had infiltrated Arno’s factory and set a bomb in motion. After killing the terrorists, Arno discovered he needed a retinal scan to stop the bomb. He traveled back in time, to 1986, but failed to gain the scan and the explosion killed his wife, his child, and many employees.
More on the dark side at first, Iron Man of Earth-8410 found himself changing sides when he joined the Heralds, an interdimensional team who warn parallel Earths about the danger posed by The Celestials. He had there the opportunity to become a hero in his own right and make amends for his own mistakes, and the damage caused by the bomb he built.
He later became part of The Chronos Corps, another group of time-displaced individuals led by Kang the Conqueror to combat the Apocalypse Twins.
After all this, Arno Stark will finally horribly die, killed by a robotic zombie virus.
Arno Stark of Earth-616, the hidden brother
As we came closer to 2020, Arno Stark was introduced in the Earth-616 continuity. Though he was inspired by the Earth-8410 version, he is not a future version of Iron Man, or even Tony’s first cousin once removed.
Created by Kieron Gillen and Dale Eaglesham in Iron Man #12 (2013), this Arno Stark is the biological son of Howard and Maria Stark, while Tony was their adopted son.
As Maria Stark suffered severe problems during her pregnancy, Howard Stark traveled the world in a quest for a cure to save his unborn child. This is how he came to encounter the Rigellian Recorder 451, part of a race of sentient robots.
451 accepted to help Howard and genetically altered baby Arno for him to ensure society’s technological growth. 451 had also his own agenda and did some personal modifications too. Something Howard discovered, which pushed him to also tamper with his genetic’s son. Unfortunately, those actions condemned Arno Stark to a life of sickness, born crippled and unable to speak without the use of machines.
To protect Arno from 451, his parents chose to keep him hidden in the Maria Stark Foundation Hospice and they adopted a healthy son, Tony, who grew up ignoring Arno’s existence until decades later.
Like his brother, Arno Stark has a genius-level intellect and a lot of trauma to deal with. At first, he seemed to not dwell in the past and was happy to work with Tony to help change the world.
But it became obvious that Arno was not so virtuous, as he started putting on an exoskeleton to move around and chose to intervene only in the situation that caught his eye, never motivated by kindness.
451’s actions on Arno had long-lasting consequences, from the trauma of having grown up without a normal family, to his idea, fuelled by his ego, that he was destined to save the world.
Victim of delusion, Arno was convinced that the Earth was in danger from an Alien A.I. aberration and put a plan in motion to save the planet and enslaved humanity. This will lead him to deceive his brother, seize control of Stark Unlimited and take the mantle of Iron Man, making him officially the Iron Man 2020 of Earth 616!
In the end, Arno Stark was stopped by his brother who trapped him in a virtual armor.
Arno Stark’s Comics Recommended Reading Order
A Reading Order for Iron Man of Earth-8410:
- Iron Man 2020
Collects Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20, Machine Man (1984) #1-4, Death’s Head #10, Iron Man 2020 #1, Astonishing Tales: Iron Man 2020 #1-6 and material from Astonishing Tales: Iron Man 2020 #1-6 & What If? (1989) #53. - Earth X Trilogy Omnibus: Omega
Collects Paradise X: Heralds #1-3; Paradise X #0-12, Xen, Devils, A, X, Special Edition; Paradise X: Ragnarok #1-2; Nighthawk (1998) #1-3. The issues with Iron Man 2020 are also collected in Paradise X Vol. 1 & Paradise X Vol. 2 - Uncanny Avengers Omnibus
Collects Uncanny Avengers #1-25, 8AU, Annual 1. You’ll find Arno Stark in issues #14, #18.NOW & #19-22, also collected in Uncanny Avengers Vol. 3: Ragnarok Now and Uncanny Avengers Vol. 4: Avenge the Earth - Marvel Zombies 5
Collects Marvel Zombies 5 #1-5. Arno dies in issue #4.
A Reading Order for Arno Stark of Earth-616:
- Iron Man: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2
Collects Iron Man Vol. 5 #12-17 - Iron Man: Iron Metropolitan
Collects Iron Man Vol. 5 #18-20, 20.INH, 21-22 - Iron Man: Rings of the Mandarin
Collects Iron Man Vol. 5 #23-28 - Invincible Iron Man: The Search for Tony Stark
Collects Iron Man #593-600. Arno is present starting with issue #597. - Tony Stark: Iron Man Vol. 1: Self-Made Man
Collects Tony Stark: Iron Man #1-5. Arno features in issue #5. - Tony Stark: Iron Man by Dan Slott Omnibus
Collects Tony Stark: Iron Man (2018) 1-19, Iron Man 2020 (2020) 1-6. Arno Stark plays a big role in this run, and appears in the following issues: #5, #9-11, #14-19, and all Iron Man 2020, of course!
For more information about Iron Man, aka Tony Stark from Earth-616, see our Iron Man Reading Order.