Powered By Blogger

Monday, April 4, 2016

The origins of the #IronLantern...amalgam of Iron Man & The Green Lantern



     Tony Jordan, son of the prestigious billionaire industrialist, Howard "Hal" Jordan, was, for a long time, the spoiled rich kid with a genius IQ.   He graduated high school at age eight, college at ten, and achieved four separate doctorates by his twentieth birthday;   His love of robotics and engineering propelled him to be the heir apparent of his father's multinational tech company, specializing in a myriad of classified military research and development projects.  Despising his dear ole dad's workaholic nature and the abandonment it created, Tony refused to be a part of Jordan Industries.  Instead, he enlisted in the Air Force, quickly becoming an elite test pilot for some of the most dangerous and cutting edge craft both known and unknown by the general public.

     After only four years, Tony left the service to commercially pilot experimental aircraft for one of his father's competitors, Ferris Air.   That is when he met the up and coming R&D scientist, Pepper Ferris, and fell in love.   Pepper was working on a high tech mech armor that unlike the aviation focus of her father's company would skyrocket the fledgling corporation past all other of its ilk and guarantee a long-term and extremely lucrative government contract.  

     Tony volunteered to test the suit at a barren stretch of land.   During the experiment, which was not going well, to say the least, Tony observed what appeared to be a meteorite striking the earth not far from this location.  Disobeying orders, he left the test area, using the suit's flight capabilities to journey to the impact site.  There he found a downed alien craft, with its strange pilot clinging to life. 
 
     The creature's name was Abin Sur, a chief member of an intergalactic protection force called the Lantern Guardians.  He had been sent to earth to recruit new members for the Lanterns, as he called them.   Abin Sur told Tony he was searching for him, but a mysterious weapon brought down his craft.  Seeing deep inside Jordan's soul, Sur was able to identify that Tony had the heart and spirit to fulfill the task; despite his often reckless behavior and damaged past. 

     He gave Tony his ring and a power lantern, along with the instruction on how to use both.  Before Pepper's team arrived to retrieve Jordan, Sur died, his body deteriorating into an emerald dust.   But in his last breath, he warned Tony of a malevolent force that was trying to rule the cosmos; a former Lantern known only as the Sinister, controller of a group called the Yellow Rings. 

     Jordan attempted to conceal the ring prior to Pepper's arrival but somehow its power united with the innovative energy source within the armor called the Arc Reactor.   The bond permanently transformed the armor into an ethereal and indestructible material.  Noticing the change immediately, Pepper questioned Tony with a deep resonance of concern, bordering on fear. 

     Tony whisked her away to explain everything, avoiding the curious eyes and ears of her staff.  After hearing his story, she agreed to keep his secret and assist him in researching the ring and its effects.  But her team, already aware of the alien vessel and seeing Tony in his newly evolved armor, notified Pepper's father, Obadiah, who demanded possession of all the alien tech. 

     Tony, having no other choice, brought the suit and ring to his father Howard, in the hopes he could assist him and ensure their anonymity.   But Obadiah had planned to remove his competitor long before this encounter, and already sent an assassin, The Reaper, to Jordan's parent's residence.  Tony arrived to find them both dead and his father's lab utterly destroyed.  

     Little did Obadiah or anyone else know Howard had a secret facility that Tony could access.  He fled there, with Pepper.   It was at this secret lair, with his father's inherited fortunes, and Pepper's talented aid, that Tony learned how to use the ring and its power, in addition to the suit it had enhanced. 

    He designated his armor, the #IronLantern which was not only invulnerable when worn with the ring; it could manufacture a host of weapons at mental command.  It also allowed Tony to travel deep into space, below the darkest depths of the sea and resist any effect of temperature.  But with all these incredible abilities there was a significant cost. 

     The arch reactor, which powered the suit, embedded itself deep in his chest fusing with his anatomy and atomic structure.  Complicating things even more, the reactor's only buffer, containing the raw potency of the reactor, is the ring, so without it, Tony would die.  So Tony's tech became a living part of him, able to be conjured and solidified at a mere thought. 

     Jordan enlisted the aid of his AI system J.A.R.V.I.S, built after the butler who raised him; with its personality and tone matching perfectly with his long lost caretaker.  Tony's skills at quantum mechanics ensured that J.A.R.V.I.S was the pinnacle of computer technology.

     Meanwhile, in a final attempt to acquire the tech and kill Tony, Obadiah, using the alien ship's mechanics, built a mech suit of his own.  He soon found the hidden compound and attacked, nearly killing his only daughter.  Tony fought back as the #IronLantern and after an immense battle, defeated and destroyed Obadiah.  When the dust settled, Pepper obtained her father's company and combined it with Jordan Industries.  Together, they rebuilt both corporations, basing their operations in New York, in the immense and sophisticated Jordan Tower. 

     Soon after, the ring called Tony back to the Lantern Guardians where he traveled to the edge of space itself to meet them.   There he was given his final training as the newest Lantern and learned all there was to know about The Sinister and his Yellow Rings; nine defrocked Lanterns who possess all the power and weapons of fear.  He also was educated in the other Lantern colors and what they represented. 

     Tony returned to Earth a decade later.  Pepper had moved on, believing he was dead, and his company had completely transferred to her name as Ferris Tech was born.   Their reunion was testy at best, but Pepper allowed him to use the tower as the base of his operations.  There Tony continued to work with his love of robotics and engineering, eventually creating #Mercury, earth's first android.  

     He also discovered the evils of a technological rival, Cadmus Labs, where illegal and unethical experimentation was occurring using Obadiah's research.  Their scientists were relentlessly attempting to replicate the #IronLantern armor and its power source.  Knowing attacking Cadmus would cause a significant national incident, Tony called on Nick Gordon and his Agents of Justice to assist him with their expertise in covert operations and their seemingly limitless resources. 

     Gordon agreed as long as Tony would join his new initiative, the #LeagueofAvengers.  The union spiked interest with a particular member of the team, #TheQuiver, who had lost former friends in combat and their bodies were allegedly kept at Cadmus.   In the meantime, The Sinister and his Yellow Rings watched Jordan in all of his endeavors biding time until they would strike out against the hero in an attempt to recover Sur's ring.  If obtained, The Sinister could control not only the Yellow Rings of fear but the Green Lanterns' power over will. 

      The #LeagueofAvengers infiltrated Cadmus, discovering their terrifying experiments.  #TheQuiver, surprising found his fellow commandos alive, all subjects in Cadmus' military projects.   Emancipating his comrades, destroying the facility and all of its data, the team returned back to Ferris Tower to regroup and strategize.   But they need not have worried, as the government covered up the event, because of their connection to the facility.

    It was only a matter of time before the #LeagueofAvengers would call Ferris Tower home.  From there they battled the Legion of Hydra and, eventually, face one of the most horrifying encounters they would never have imagined possible.  Soon, The Sinister would strike, and this team would be tested beyond their limits as his diabolical plan unfolded.       

No comments:

Post a Comment