Tony Stark’s health deteriorates, and he discovers the armor’s cybernetic interface is causing irreversible damage to his nervous system. His condition is aggravated by a failed attempt on his life by Kathy Dare, a mentally unbalanced former lover, which injures his spine, paralyzing him.[68] Stark has a nerve chip implanted into his spine to regain his mobility.[69] Stark’s nervous system continues its slide towards failure, and he constructs a “skin” made up of artificial nerve circuitry to assist it. Stark begins to pilot a remote-controlled Iron Man armor, but when faced with the Masters of Silence, the telepresence suit proves inadequate. Stark designs a more heavily armed version of the suit to wear, the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit”, which becomes known as the War Machine armor. Ultimately, the damage to his nervous system becomes too extensive.
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