We're in the last stretch of Armor Wars by this point, and Stark is feeling the heat (though not as much as Titanium Man will be later in the issue.) He beat up Stingray thinking his armor was based on some specs from Iron Man. Then broke into the Vault to trash the Guardsmen armors and fought Captain America - sorry, I mean the Captain - while he was at it.
So the West Coast Avengers feel they deserve some answers, and Tony provides them. Including why he didn't ask for their help, which was to keep them from ending up as wanted criminals like him. Hawkeye tells Iron Man he's gotta knock it off and Iron Man. . .puts on his helmet and flies off without saying a word. Well then. Problem solved.
Damn it, Tony!
Stark is actually going to invade the USSR to try and trash the armors of Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man at the same time. So he's putting together a Stealth Armor to sneak in. Looks cool, bends radar waves, but lacks a lot of protection, and only has enough power for 3 repulsor blasts. Nice to know he's giving himself some wiggle room. He tells Rhodey to go get the jet ready, then grabs those big rocket boosters and takes off alone. He's at least aware this is going to get him in hot water, and he won't drag Rhodey down with him.
The KGB, anticipating Iron Man's moves, contact the two targets and suggests a team-up. Their combined festive Christmas spirit will be sure to triumph over the crass commercialism of that capitalist dog, Iron Man! Dynamo's just a loyal soldier in a suit serving out his term of service (one week from retirement!), so he's in. We saw Gremlin in ROM four months ago, and he's more hostile to the government now than he was than when he knew they were infested with shape-changing aliens. Which suits them fine. They expected he'd reject them, and what he doesn't know is they know the location of his "secret" lab, and have it bugged. When Iron Man shows up, they'll send Dynamo in to mop up two problems at once.
Except they didn't know about the stealth armor that lets Tony slip through the defenses. Still, Dynamo (flying slowly, hoping they'll kill each other before he gets there) getting pasted by Gremlin's security distracts Shellhead long enough for Gremlin to get in his suit ahead of repulsor blast #1. Iron Man bails - almost directly into Crimson Dynamo. But it gives Tony a chance to draw his guard with repulsor blast #2, then sucker-punch him and slap a negator pack on the armor. One down.
Titanium Man's a bit more of a problem. Stark tries using a camouflage function and repulsor blast #3, but dicks around too long and winds up having his other negator pack crushed. Look at the time. Gotta go! Titanium Man's got other ideas. He lock in a "stasis beam" then starts bear-hugging Iron Man. Tony cranks up his boot jets trying to break free. The jets are up against the legs of Titanium Man's armor, heating it until it combusts. Tony and Gremlin both freak out, as Tony notes titanium can't be put out 'until what's burning is consumed - totally!'
Gremlin does a splashdown in the sea, the KGB put on a good show of being outraged (probably just pissed the Dynamo armor is scrapped and they can't get Titanium Man's suit, either), and Stark bails. Back in Cali, the Avengers call a meeting and vote to kick Iron Man out. Stark says it was an 'act of self-defense,' which kind of ignores the part where Tony was the one who started the fight. It also really seems like at this point the Avengers ought to be arresting him, considering he's standing right there, but they don't.
Armor Wars had a couple of issues left after this, which would result in a new armor, one that returned to the red-and-gold color scheme. I think that design would stick until maybe issue 300?
{6th longbox, 7th comic. Iron Man #229, by David Michelinie (plotter/scripter), Mark Bright (artist, breakdowns), Bob Layton (plotter/artist, finishes), Bob Sharen (colorist), Janice Chang (letterer)}
5 comments:
So the lesson is: Tony has always been an a-hole.
He's definitely an expert at justifying his decisions. He's prone to deciding that he's right, and more, that his way is the only way to accomplish things.
I would expect a guy who once lost his entire company because he decided crawling into a bottle of Johnny Walker was a good idea to question his own judgment, but not Tony Stark!
It's one of the (many, oh so many) reasons I disliked Civil War; why are half of the heroes following *this* guy, who has shown such *excellent* judgement and responsibility in the past, when he claims to be doing the right thing?
Even more ridiculous when we consider that the other 2 guys at the forefront of the Pro-Reg side were Reed Richards and HANK PYM. Why would anyone trust the judgment of any of those 3 characters?
The alcoholic weapons designer, the sociopath, and the guy with a personality disorder who builds killer robots. A trio of trustworthy folk.
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