Men and Machine

After eliminating his latest target aboard a yacht in the middle of the ocean, the assassin known only a Beck is snatched away from the scene by a passing ship. On board he is introduced to Emil Stein, the leader of a brand new terrorist organization called DANTE. Stein wants to enlist Beck as his premiere assassin. Beck isn’t overly interested at first until Stein offers to enhance his abilities beyond his wildest dreams. In order to demonstrate what he means, Emil unveils that he has constructed a number of suits of armor that resemble that worn by the hero Iron Man. Beck accepts the offer and moments later one of the combat suits is deployed to sink the yacht below them.

The following day, two heroes fight two villains in two different cities. In the east, Captain America squares off against his old foe Batroc the Leaper. While in the west, Iron Man fights the Fixer. While Captain America’s mind is pre-occupied with thoughts of becoming a relic in an era when heroes shoot first and ask questions later, Iron Man is starting to feel his age. Despite these inner conflicts, the pair make short work of their foes. After the end of both battles, both men are approached by agents of SHIELD. In Iron Man’s case, he is approached by Dum Dum Dugan, while Cap is visited by Nick Fury. Both men have come seeking their help to stop DANTE as they are plotting to assassinate a president, they just aren’t certain who. Both men convince the heroes for helping for different reasons. For Iron Man, it’s the possibility DANTE has built their own suits of Iron Man armor, supposedly from the long lost designs of the original armor that Tony Stark built years ago.[1] In the case of Captain America it’s the revelation that Emil Stein, a Nazi war criminal that Steve faced in the past, is back and leading this new fledgling organization.[2] The SHIELD operatives make make it seem that each hero is being assigned on a solo mission, mostly because Nick Fury isn’t certain if Captain America and Iron Man will work well together after their recent falling out.[3]

Both men follow their own avenue of investigations: Captain America travels to Madrid where an informant tells him that DANTE’s next attack will be occurring in America. Iron Man tracks down and questions an arms dealer in St. Paul, Minnesota, who tells him that something is going to go down in Texas. This leads both men to a warehouse in the Lone Star State. When the facility is blown up and both men charge in to investigate, they discover each other. Both Steve and Tony agree to put their differences aside and work together. They end up clashing with the faux Iron Men and while they are busy, one of the DANTE soldiers makes it back to Emil Stein’s airship with the data stolen from the facility and departs. When Cap and Iron Man try to question the mercenaries they captured, they activate a suicide bomb in their armors to silence themselves.

While the attack in Texas was going down, DANTE also sent a unit to Paris, France. There they attack a facility where left over Nazi Sleeper technology is being stored.[4] SHIELD is there to try and stop them, but they are unable to stop the terrorists from getting the equipment they need.

Meanwhile, Captain America and Iron Man compare notes with one another. As they do so, both men secretly envy the other. While Captain America envies Tony Stark for the technology he wields, Iron Man envies Steve for his enduring positivity. After briefly talking about his past wartime clashes with Emil Stein, both men decide its time they talk to Nick Fury and get more information on this mission, particularly why he neglected to tell them that they would be working on the same case together. Fury explains why he sent both heroes solo, as well as the recent DANTE attack in Paris. He also tells them that SHIELD has been able to determine that the terrorist organization’s target will be attending an important trade meeting between the United States and Japan that will be happening soon. Nick impressed upon them that this meeting cannot be canceled or delayed as the American economy depends on it.

As Cap and Iron Man are being briefed, Emil Stein has had time to go over what was stolen in both Paris and Texas. Meeting with Beck, he takes the assassin down to a specially prepared surgical theater, telling him that power is within his grasp if he wants it.

Later, Iron Man pays a visit to Fury directly and tries to convince him to cancel the meeting. Fury continues to insist that it cannot be delayed. The Golden Avenger is then introduced to Nick’s Japanese counterpart, Tom Tojumi as well as Nishimura the head of a Japanese multi-conglomerate. Iron Man is still nervous about allowing the meeting to take place until he meets Nishimura’s daughter, Niki. He promises her that he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure her father is safe. While Iron Man is in this meeting, Captain America is on an information gathering mission in Washington, DC. By nightfall, he hasn’t found any clues as to who DANTE is targeting but feels a sense of danger about the city. While he ponders his next move, Cap is ambushed and disappears.

When Cap fails to appear at a midnight rendezvous with Iron Man, ol’ Shellhead returns to Fury and once again suggests that they cancel or at least postpone the meeting. Fury’s hands are tied and offhandedly mentions how Nishimura won’t be attending as he came down with a bout of food poisoning.

The following morning as the trade meeting is underway, Iron Man joins a squad of SHIELD and Japanese intelligence agents in securing the building. Suddenly, a massive airship emerges from the clouds and unleashes a swarm of DANTE’s faux Iron Men. As Tony battles these mercenaries, he discovers that their suits of armor use very primitive technology, almost as though they are intentionally throwing obsolete technology against them, leaving him to wonder why.

Aboard the ship, Emil Stein has Captain America held prisoner and he takes the opportunity to gloat over his master plan. He reveals that DANTE’s target has always been Nishimura and once they eliminate him, it will secure DANTE’s reputation and bring the clients pouring in. As it turns out, they intentionally poisoned him so they could attack him at his hotel. In fact, the attack on the trade meeting is merely a distraction. Stein then leaves Captain America to stew so he can observe his plan achieve victory.

Once alone, Captain America puts all his strength into breaking free of his bonds. Meanwhile, Iron Man comes up with a means of shutting down the rogue Iron Men. Magnetizing his armor, he attracts all of the suits of armor toward him and once they form a huge mass, uses an electrical pulse to brick them all. This is just as Captain America steals some armor, weapons, and a hover bike from the DANTE ship. He quickly flies down and picks up Iron Man, whose internal circuits are fried and can no longer fly on his own. They race to the hotel where Nishimura is staying to discover that it is being attacked by Beck.

Beck has been cybernetically enhanced by DANTE to become a perfect killing machine. Captain America and Iron Man arrive just as Emil Stein gives the order to kill the Japanese businessman. Captain America lunges at the assassin first, guns blazing. However, this does little to but temporarily knock over the killer. Finding the armor and weapons far too cumbersome, Cap strips it off finding the advanced technology providing little advantage. As he brawls with Beck, Iron Man watches from the sidelines wishing he had the courage Steve does to fight an opponent with nothing more than a shield and his own human strength. That is until he notices that Niki has come to her father’s side and Emil Stein is about to kill her. Stripping off his fried armor, Iron Man charges at the Nazi. He manages to stop Stein from shooting Niki and her father from the gun built in his walking stick. However, in the ensuing struggle Stein ends up fatally shooting himself in the chest. Meanwhile, Captain America manages to overpower Beck hitting him with enough force to cause the cyborg to stumble backward and impale himself on wrought iron fence.

In the aftermath of the battle Iron Man expresses astonishment that Steve was able to win a one-on-one fight with a cyborg. Cap corrects his friend, saying that they won. Carrying each other from here, the pair head for home.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Captain America, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Batroc the Leaper, Fixer

Continuity Notes

1. They are referring to the armor that Tony Stark built along with Ho Yinsen when he was a prisoner of Wong-Chu in Tales of Suspense #39. This story suggests the plans were somehow recovered even though Tony thought he destroyed them all. It’s never confirmed one way or the other even at the time of this writing in January, 2023.

2. To date, we have yet to see any past stories where Captain America fought Emil Stein. The closest we get is a one panel flashback in this story. Per the Marvel Chronology Project, this flashback takes place in the early days of Captain America’s career as indicated by the fact that he is wearing his first costume where the mask is not attached to the rest of his suit. The details of that battle, or any other for that matter have yet to be detailed. How Emil Stein could still be alive in the Modern Age is unexplained, see below.

3. Based on the chronology of this story, they are referring to the events of Operation: Galactic Storm. Where it was revealed that the Supreme Intelligence orchestrated a conflict between the Kree and the Shi’ar an intentionally allowed a nega-bomb to be detonated in the Kree galaxy, killing untold scores of people. While Captain America wanted the Intelligence to stand trial for war crimes, Iron Man convinced a number of Avengers to execute the Supreme one then and there, as seen in Avengers #347. Although they think Supremor is dead, he actually transmitted his mind from his artificial body. He’ll turn up alive again in Imperial Guard #1-3.

4. While there have been many Sleepers, Nick Fury will state later in this story that the technology stolen was left over from the original three Sleepers that Captain America destroyed early on in the Modern Age. See Tales of Suspense #72-74.

Topical References

• When this comic was first published in 1994, it was entirely possible for someone who was alive during World War II to still be active in the present day. However, this becomes increasingly impossible due to the Sliding Timescale as it causes the gulf of time between the end of the War and the start of the Modern Age to grow larger with each passing year. With that in mind, it becomes impossible to Emil Dante to still be alive without some means of slowing or stopping the aging process or finding a way to extend the average human lifespan. As of this writing (January, 2023), Marvel has yet to provide an explanation. However, given the fact that Stein had the resources to start a highly advanced terrorist organization like DANTE, the idea that he could have access to something that could allow him to endure all these years is within the realm of possibility.

• When referring to Emil Stein’s pre-DANTE days, Nick Fury states that he was working within the East German government. He refers to that as being “two years ago” in relation to this story. Following World War II, Germany was divided into two different countries, the democratic West Germany and the communist East Germany. The two countries were reunified in 1991. With that in mind, references to Germany being divided in the recent past should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale. Modern readers could interpret this to mean that organizations within Germany were involved with DANTE as opposed to the East German government.

• Niki Nishimura asks Iron Man if he’s 8 Man. 8 Man was Japan’s first cyborg superhero who appeared in manga from 1963 to 1966. It was adapted for television in 1964. It’s popularity still endures to this day spawning a live action movie in 1992 and two spin-off manga’s in the early 2000s and 2020s. That said, its reference here should be considered a topical reference.