Iron Man 3 Concept Art Hints at Extremis

With Comic-Con only a week away Marvel is gearing up to showcase Iron Man 3 – and in the days leading up have begun to tease the event. The company released the above concept art for the film which has led to speculation that it is hinting directly at an storyline centered on Extremis. In the comics Extremis – which had a six episode arc and is regarded as arguably one of the best Iron Man stories – is a virus that can turn some humans into super soldiers.

Extremis is a super-soldier solution. It’s a bio-electronics package, fitted into a few billion graphite nanotubes and suspended in a carrier fluid. A magic bullet, like the original super-soldier serum—all fitted into a single injection. It hacks the body’s repair center—the part of the brain that keeps a complete blue print of the human body. When we’re injured, we refer to that area of the brain to heal properly. Extremis rewrites the repair center. In the first stage, the body essentially becomes an open wound. The normal human blueprint is being replaced with the Extremis blueprint, you see? The brain is being told the body is wrong. Extremis protocol dictates that the subject be placed on life support and intravenously fed nutrients at this point. For the next two or three days, the patient remains unconscious within a cocoon of scabs. (…) Extremis uses the nutrients and body mass to grow new organs. Better ones…

A lot more regarding the plot – and possibly the reveal of a teaser trailer – for Iron Man 3 will be learned at the Marvel Comic-Con panel which is scheduled for Saturday July 14 at 6PM PT.