Iron Man #14
The Night Phantom Walks!
On a Caribbean Island, the locals are slowly adapting to the modern world, but some of the old superstitions hold. In the evening the sound of voodoo drums beat in the air as an entity called the Night Phantom wanders the forests. The Night Phantom breaks into a Stark Industries facility on the island. After knocking out the security guard, the entity sets the generator to overload, destroying the factory.
Soon, Tony Stark arrives on the island to personally investigate what happened. He is brought to the hospital by Inspector Christophe and learns that the night watchman was left in a catatonic state after encountering the Night Phantom. As they leave the hospital they are confronted by Travis Hoyt. Hoyt is a famous writer who had recently been crippled in a plane crash. The writer is not happy to see Tony Stark and is against Stark Industries’ presence on the island as it is ruining the natural beauty of the island. Tony dismisses this as the ravings of an embittered old man and tells Hoyt that he intends to rebuild his facility, bigger and better than before.
As Tony and Christophe head to the facility, Stark thinks about his real reason for coming: He had heard that Janice Cord was visiting a friend on the island. He is still conflicted over pursuing a relationship with Janice. His hesitation comes from the fact that Janice has been imperiled multiple times due to her association with Tony and his alter-ego, Iron Man.[1] However, it’s not just Janice that has had her life put in jeopardy because of Tony’s double life, and recalls how both Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts have been endangered multiple times in the past. He is glad that Pepper eventually agreed to marry Happy, as it allowed her to forget Tony and move on with her life.[2] Once again, Tony wonders if he deserves a chance at love or if he is destined to forever be alone.
When Tony and Christophe arrive at the ruins of the Stark facility, the Geiger counter in watch begins detecting radiation in the rubble. This suggests to Tony that their Night Phantom is more scientific than he is supernatural. As the pair continue their search for clues they are unaware that they are being observed from afar by Travis Hoyt, who is spying on them through his telescope. As night begins to fall, the voodoo drums begin to beat, prompting Inspector Christophe to suggest they head back into town. As they drive through the jungle, their jeep is ambushed by the Night Phantom, who flips the vehicle off the road with his bare hands.
The crash knocks Tony out and when he wakes up he finds himself being cared for by Janice Cord. As it turns out, her friend is none other than Travis Hoyt. Now that Tony is awake, Hoyt demands that Stark leave, blaming him for the death of Janice’s father.[3] Tony is insulted by this accusation and storms out. He then returns to the scene of the crash to recover his attaché case so he can change into Iron Man and investigate the Night Phantom. Using his chest-mounted Vario-Beam he is able to detect his foe’s radioactive footprints and follows the trail.
Back at the Hoyt home, Travis is furious that Janice could love a man like Tony Stark and not him. He then shocks her by rising up out of his wheelchair and begins walking. He then grabs her with phenomenal strength and begins carrying Janice down a secret passage into an underground cavern. Frightened, Janice tries to get free by clawing at Travis’ face. She is horrified to discover that his face is actually a life-like mask covering up a bandaged face underneath. Travis admits that he is the Night Phantom and he has Inspector Christophe chained up in his cavern. Also here is the source of his newfound mobility and power, the so-called Pool of Life.
The Night Phantom intends to hunt down and kill Tony Stark this evening and activates the speakers that play the voodoo drums in preparation for this task. However, the drums only serve to help Iron Man find the entrance to the Night Phantom’s underground lair. Back inside, Travis explains that although the radioactive water horribly disfigured him while also giving him his new powers. However, a crack has formed in the bottom of the pool threatening to drain the waters, something that Travis blames on the Stark Industries facility. He then tries forcing Janice into the pond, intending to transform her just like him thinking this will make her finally love him instead of Tony Stark.
Luckily, Iron Man arrives and attacks the Night Phantom. After a brief battle, Iron Man stuns his foe with a double repulsor ray blast, which allows him to free Christophe and Janice. Ironically, the vibrations caused by the voodoo drum recordings cause the crack at the bottom of the pool to widen. With the waters draining out faster than before, the Night Phantom leaps into the Pool of Life. His added weight causes him to fall through the crack ending his threat for good.[4]
The following day, Tony Stark and Janice Cord catch a flight back to America together. However, Tony is no closer to sorting out his feelings for Janice.
… This story is continued in Captain Marvel #14.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, the Night Phantom, Janice Cord
Continuity Notes
Tony specifically recounts how Janice was imperiled by the Gladiator, as well as the Mandarin and his Hulk robot. These incidents happened in Iron Man #7-10. There were other threats, such as her father’s Demolisher robot in issue #2 and more recently the Controller in issues #12-13.
Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan have a been put in danger many times. For brevity only a handful of details are specified here:
Reference is made of how Happy was once stolen from his hospital room by the Black Knight. Happy was injured during Iron Man’s battle with Titanium Man circa Tales of Suspense #69-71. While recovering, Happy was taken hostage by the Black Knight of issue #73 of that series.
The time Pepper Potts was threatened by the Titanium Man happened in Tales of Suspense #81-83.
There was a tense love triangle between Pepper, Happy, and Tony from the moment they all started working together in Tales of Suspense #45. Although Pepper loved Tony, she eventually learned to love Happy and the pair got married in issue #91.
Drexel Cord died trying to stop the Demolisher from harming his daughter in Iron Man #2.
Although the Night Phantom seemingly perishes here, he is discovered to be still alive many years later as one of the prisoners of SHIELD’s Plesant Hill prison, as seen in All-New All-Different Avengers #7.
