What Price Life?

This story continues from Avengers #68…

After suffering a near-fatal heart attack, Tony Stark has a nightmare where he is being attacked by every foe he has ever fought as Iron Man. He fights them off, but he soon begins being stalked by the specter of Death.[1]

In the waking world, the news about Tony Stark’s failing health becomes national news. Crowds have gathered outside of the hospital for word on the condition of the wealthy inventor. That’s when Captain America comes out and addresses the audience.[2] He tells the audience that Tony Stark is expected to live after an experimental surgery performed by Doctor Josef Santini which replaced the damaged part of Tony’s heart with synthetic material. The crowd cheers over this news, particularly Tony’s former employees Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts who are among the crowd. Hearing this news from his hideout on the Aegean Sea is the man known as Midas. This complicates his plans for Stark Industries, and her orders Madame Masque to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, Tony continues to dream about Iron Man being stalked by Death itself. Although he fights for his life, the specter manages to catch him. Tony wakes up screaming and discovers that he is alive and in the hospital. He is checked on by Doctor Santini, who warns Tony that although his surgery was a success any undue stress could cause his body to reject the synthetic parts in his body. Unaware of Tony’s double identity, Santini ironically figures this will be an easy enough task since Stark has Iron Man acting as his bodyguard. When Tony is discharged from the hospital, he tells the press that Iron Man is still on a "secret mission” for him and doesn’t know when the Avenger will be back.

Tony returns to Stark Industries where he puts on his Iron Man armor to make sure it is still in working order. He also contemplates the future of his alter-ego considering the health risk involved. When the alarm goes off, Tony changes out of his armor and goes looking for the cause. He is gassed by Madame Masque who takes Tony back to the island hideout of Midas. There, Midas demands to know the truth about Tony’s identity. Stark insists that he is the genuine article, pointing out that Josef Santini was able to operate on his well-known heart condition, something he could not do if Tony was an impostor.[3]

Still, Midas intends to force Tony to sign over his fortune and assets as Midas wishes to be the most wealthy man in the world. Tony is then locked in a cell under the watch of Madame Masque. However, Midas is unaware that Masque is questioning her loyalty after Tony previously showed her kindness for the first time since her face was horribly scarred. To see if he will still treat her with respect, she removes her mask. Tony is shocked, not because of the scars but because he recognizes her as Whitney Frost, the former leader of the Maggia.[4] To prove that he is not disgusted by her face, Tony passionately kisses Whitney. This convinces her to betray Midas and help Tony escape.

When they recover Tony’s attaché case, Midas springs a trap on them. With no other choice, Tony changes into his Iron Man armor in front of everyone. Luckily, Midas is too stupid to put two-and-two together and assumes Stark will be no match against his weaponized hoverchair. While Iron Man is busy battling Midas, Madame Masque slips away to secure a ship for them to escape the island. In the middle of battle, Iron Man pretends to suffer heart problems giving him time to pull out his holographic projector to create mirror images of himself to confuse his foe.[5]

This allows Iron Man to knock Midas out of his hover-chair and destroy the device. Iron Man and Madame Masque then flee in a ship. Meanwhile, Midas realizes that the power pack on his hoverchair is beginning to overload. Unfortunately, he can’t get on his feet on time because the gold furniture around his hideout cannot support his massive weight. Moments later, the hideout blows up, seemingly killing Midas in the process.[6] Passing out from the strain of battle, Tony is unable to stop Madame Masque from saying goodbye and jumping ship. When Tony wakes up he finds no sign of Whitney and figures her fate will remain as uncertain as his continued career as Iron Man.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Mordecai Midas, Madame Masque, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Janice Cord, Alex Niven, Jose Santini, Captain America

Continuity Notes

1. This scene is a veritable who’s who of Iron Man foes. The villains on parade here are:

   • The Mandarin who first battled Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #50.

   • The Unicorn. First seen in Tales of Suspense #56.

   • Attuma fought Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #66.

   • Also depicted is Count Nefaria. He fights fought Iron Man with the Avengers in Avengers #13. He later tried to destroy Iron Man on his own in Tales of Suspense #67-68.

   • Titanium Man first appeared in Tales of Suspense #69.

   • There is also the Freak, a creature that Happy Hogan was first transformed into back in Tales of Suspense #74.

   • The Mole Man first fought Iron Man in Avengers #12, but Iron Man also battled him solo in Tales of Suspense #88.

   • Whiplash first appeared in Tales of Suspense #97.

   • Lastly, we have an AIM operative. Tony first clashed with this group of rogue scientists in Tales of Suspense #99.

2. This story has some wonky continuity thanks to a time travel plot. The Avengers were involved in the so-called Game of Galaxies between Kang the Conqueror and the Grandmaster. This happened in Avengers #68-71. As confirmed by Offiical Index to the Marvel Universe: Iron Man, Captain America appears here following the events of issue #71. However, Iron Man — who is involved in the Game of Galaxies — has yet to participate in those events, because time travel.

3. There is a lot going on here. The details:

   • Tony ended up with shrapnel in his heart after stepping on a tripwire back in Tales of Suspense #39.

   • He kept his heart injury a secret but it eventually became public knowledge in Tales of Suspense #84 when he collapsed during a senate hearing.

   • In order to protect his secret identity from the Mandarin in Iron Man #9-11, Tony built a Life Model Decoy to temporarily take his place. He then put it in storage once it carried out its task.

   • When Madame Masque bombed Stark Industries, it activated the LMD which then tried to take over Tony’s life. Tony managed to destroy the LMD just before he was hospitalized. See Iron Man #17-18.

4. This Madame Masque revelation is also steeped in a lot of details:

   • Whitney Frost was previously the leader of the Maggia and she engaged in a long con that involved seducing SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell in order to steal secrets from Stark. See Tales of Suspense #97-99, Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner #1, and Iron Man #1.

   • This plan came to the fore in Iron Man #7-8, but was foiled by Iron Man although Whitney managed to escape.

   • Jasper found her escape craft had crash-landed in the swamps of the Florida Everglades in Iron Man #11 and assumed that she died in the crash.

5. A footnote here reminds readers that Iron Man previously used this device in Tales of Suspense #98.

6. Midas manages to cheat death and will appear again in Iron Man #103.

Continuity Errors

• In Tony’s dream, Count Nefaria is depicted in his “Dream Master” identity. This is an error since Iron Man never saw Nefaria wearing this outfit since the villain attacked from afar and abandoned the identity immediately afterward. This is likely an error on the part of artist George Tuska.

Topical References

• The camera crew in this story are using TV cameras that were commonly used in the 1960s.