Things are looking really, really bad for Tony Stark and the X-Men in Invincible Iron Man #8

Things are looking particularly dire for Tony Stark as well as his allies in the X-Men in this preview of interior pages from Invincible Iron Man #8. Set after the events of the X-Men's Hellfire Gala event, which has been foreshadowed to be disastrous to the mutant nation of Krakoa, Invincible Iron Man #8 sets up a new status quo for Tony Stark and introduces the much-foreshadowed Stark Sentinels.

As implied by the pages in the preview, it seems that mutant hater and tech genius Fei Long has taken over StarkTech, right down to being the new owner of the Iron Man armor. What's more, Fei Long has incorporated Iron Man technology into newly built versions of the giant mutant-hunting robots known as the Sentinels.

The preview also establishes the new relationship between Tony Stark and the X-Men, which will lead to a new incarnation of the Avengers/X-Men team-up squad known as the Uncanny Avengers - and to the apparent upcoming wedding of Tony Stark and Emma Frost.

Here's the preview of pages from writer Gerry Duggan, artist Juan Frigeri, colorist Bryan Valenza, and letterer Joe Caramagna, along with the main cover by Kael Ngu:

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This year's X-Men: The Hellfire Gala one-shot releases on July 26, the same day as Invincible Iron Man #8, and promises to shake up the mutant status quo, while also tying the X-Men and Avengers together as close allies against a common foe in Fei Long and his terrorist group ORCHIS.

Whatever happens at this year's Hellfire Gala, from the looks of Invincible Iron Man #8, it's gonna be pretty rough.

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