Extremis (comics) - Production

Production

"Extremis" was the second story arc after the Avengers Disassembled crossover event, not to be confused with "Stark: Disassembled", a later story in The Invincible Iron Man.

The story was meant as a sort of "new start" for the character—to redefine him from his origins as an arms dealer, to be the "test pilot for the future" Ellis intended him to be. The story rarely mentions any of Iron Man's past, and references to the rest of the Marvel universe are limited to brief, passing mentions of the Avengers and Fin Fang Foom. Warren Ellis admitted he had intentionally not read any Iron Man material besides the very earliest issues.

This is similar for Adi Granov: "My first official introduction to the character occurred a year prior to Extremis. Upon reading the script, I realized how realistic Warren's approach was to the story. When illustrating the book I wanted my art to mirror the realism in Warren's writing I felt that Warren wrote a story that's a sort of techno-thriller action story and I wanted the art to reflect this. I saw Iron Man as not just a superhero in a suit; rather he is a pilot or weapon. To me, the Iron Man armor is more akin to a jetfighter than it is to an outfit.

The story, which lasts about three to four days in comic book time, takes place at an undefined time between the founding of the New Avengers, and the Stamford catastrophe (which led to the Marvel Civil War).