Force Works #6
Hands of the Mandarin Part 1: Goodbye Hong Kong
This story continues from Iron Man #310…
At the Hong Kong branch of Stark Enterprises, Suzie Endo — the head of cybernetic research — is informed that the network connection with Beijing University has gone down with no explanation. As they try to re-establish a link the power suddenly goes out. This is because the Mandarin’s Avatars have arrived in Hong Kong to weaken its defenses for their master to take it over.[1]
The Avatars consist of: Butterfly whose causes bad luck to all those who fall under her shadow; the undead warrior Lich; the tremor creating Q’Wake; water based Deluge; and the armored Foundry. Local authorities try to stop the Avatars from destroying everything in sight, but they are hopelessly outgunned. Seeing the chaos in the streets, Suzie Endo sends out a distress call to Stark Enterprises in California for help but her transmission is cut short when the Avatars smash into the building.
The distress call is flagged and forwarded to Force Works where it is reviewed by US Agent and Spider-Woman. They are surprised that PLATO and the Chaos Computer didn’t warn them about this crisis in advance of the distress call. Unfortunately, PLATO has no memory of the alert and can’t explain why that is.[2] Figuring that this is going to turn out to be one of those days, Spider-Woman heads down to the comms room to tell the Scarlet Witch what’s up. At that moment, Wanda is in touch with Bethany Cabe at Stark Enterprises who is reporting the brawl between Iron Man and War Machine that came to an abrupt end when both were teleported away by parties unknown.[3] Wanda is already well aware of the situation in Hong Kong an that is why she was trying to locate Iron Man. Since he has disappeared without a trace, she decides that Force Works will have to deal with the crisis without him.
Meanwhile, PLATO is summoning the rest of the team, interrupting Century during his meditations. The alien was trying to probe his mind and unlock his missing memories but had no such luck. As Century teleports to catch up with the others, PLATO wonders if Century isn’t the only one dealing with memory problems.[4] As the team boards the hex ship, the Recorder hops aboard insisting on coming along because it is dedicated to documenting the team’s missions. While US Agent protests this, the Scarlet Witch says they have no time to argue and takes off.
On mainland China, Iron Man and War Machine have been kidnapped by the Mandarin. The pair have been completely immobilized thanks to an anti-technology field that has reverted the country back to its feudal origins. This has rendered the heroes Iron Man tech inoperative. The Mandarin gloats over his victory and threatens to finally unmask Iron Man, but decides to savor the moment. Instead, he unmasks War Machine and confirms that he is the same Iron Man replacement that defeated him some time ago.[5] To repay Rhodes for his past insult, the Mandarin unleashes the full power of his ten rings upon him in one powerful blast.
While back in Hong Kong, the Avatars attack on the city continues unabated until Force Works shows up to stop them. The team splits up with each member of Force Works going one-on-one against a member of the Avatars. Its during this fight that Century’s Parallax detects the source of the Avatar’s powers. When he recognizes what it is he is horrified.[6] Pinpointing the location of this power source, Century suddenly teleports away. US Agent is enraged by this, thinking his teammate has abandoned them in the middle of a battle. As the battle rages PLATO contacts the hex-ship and passes along a message to the Recorder that after a search of Stark Enterprises it has been confirmed that Iron Man and War Machine are indeed missing. This news bothers the robot since Force Works are two men short.
Meanwhile, the Mandarin and the remaining Avatars finish torturing War Machine for the time being. The Mandarin then turns to mock his greatest enemy once more and revel in what he views as his greatest victory to date. Suddenly, Century appears in the room and Iron Man yells at him to grab War Machine and escape. Century does as told but the Mandarin blasts them both at the same time, seemingly disintegrating them and leaving behind only Parallax.[7]
… Hands of the Mandarin continues in Marvel comics Presents #169.
Recurring Characters
Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), War Machine, Mandarin, Avatars (Ancestor, Butterfly, Deluge, Foundry, Lich, Old Woman, Q’Wake, Warfist), Bethany Cabe, Suzie Endo
Continuity Notes
The Mandarin had obtained the Heart of Darkness a mystical artifact that can regress technology by thousands of years. It also allowed him to empower his Avatars. These facts are not made very clear in this story. See Iron Man #306-309 and Marvel Comics Presents #169-171.
The warning about the situation in China was erased by Recorder RE-404 last issue. He did the same thing in Force Works #3 as well. The robot — reprogrammed by the Kree Starstreal — gets his robot rocks off by observing Force Works in deadly situation and has intentionally delays alerts to the team so they end up in potentially more dangerous situation. See Force Works #11-14 for the full dope on that.
The situation leading to the Iron Man/War Machine brawl is complicated. It started when Tony faked his death between Iron Man #284 and 289. When he revealed the truth to Jim, he quit on the spot and went solo. As War Machine, Jim earned Tony’s ire for using his armor to fight in the Imayan civil war in War Machine #1-4. With his armor damaged, Jim went to Tony to get repairs done and this led to a brawl the ended when the Mandarin kidnapped the pair. See War Machine #8 and Iron Man #310.
Century’s past has been a mystery to him since Force Works #1. It’s later revealed that he was created by the Hodomurians to destroy their enemy Lore. See Century: Distant Sons #1 for more on that.
Jim Rhodes acted as Iron Man for a period of time when Tony was dealing with alcoholism between Iron Man #169 to 195. He fought and defeated the Mandarin in issues #180-181.
This power source is the so-called Heart of Darkness, as we saw in Iron Man #309. It’s an alien source of arcane power of unknown origins, much like anything else Century related.
Century and War Machine weren’t disintegrated here as it seems. In reality, Century managed to teleport them away to safety as we’ll see in War Machine #9.
Hands of the Mandarin Reading Order
Force Works #6, Marvel Comics Presents #169-171, War Machine #9, Iron Man #311, Marvel Comics Presents #172, Force Works #7, War Machine #10, Iron Man #312