Iron Man #2
The Day of the Demolisher!
Drexel Cord, a business rival of Tony Stark, watches footage of Iron Man in action. He blames Tony Stark for his failing business. His daughter, Janice, tries to talk sense into Drexel but he has gone completely mad. He intends to destroy Stark and his bodyguard, Iron Man. To do this, he has created a robot he calls the Demolisher to do the job for him. When the robot menaces Janice, Cord assures his daughter that he has full control of the Demolisher from his control panel. After showing off the sophisticated components inside his robot, he sends it off to destroy his enemies. Seeing that his father is too far gone, Janice wonders what she can do to stop him before someone gets hurt.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark is entertaining a group of women on his yacht. After the non-stop battles as Iron Man, Tony has almost forgotten what his civilian life was like.[1] When the Destroyer appears over his ship, Tony tells the girls to hide below deck. He then rushes to his cabin through another door so he can change into Iron Man unobserved.
As Iron Man prepares to engage the Demolisher, Janice Cord arrives at Stark Industries to warn them of her father’s plans. She is stopped up by security until Jasper Sitwell — Stark Industries SHIELD liaison — arrives.[2] Listening to her story, Jasper decides the best way to stop the Demolisher is to go back to Drexel Cord’s castle and destroy the control panel.
While this is happening Iron Man attacks the Demolisher in the air above his yacht. Unfortunately, the robot is too powerful and it is able to grab Iron Man in a bear-hug and begins blasting his helmet with a disintegration ray. Although Iron Man’s armor is covered in a refraction coating, it won’t last long. He tries diving into the water as quickly as possible, hoping the force of their splashdown will break him loose. This fails and the Demolisher begins blasting him with the disintegration ray again. With no way of escaping, Iron Man goes limp making the robot think he passed out. It then heads back to Chrod’s castle as Iron Man plays possum so his batteries can recharge.
By this time, Jasper and Janice have arrived at her father’s castle. Sitwell then uses his laser pen to burn through the door into Drexel’s lab. Madder than ever, Cord refuses to surrender and destroys the control panel to his robot. While he will no longer be able to control the robot, it will follow its original programming. That’s when the Demolisher arrives with Iron Man and tosses the Golden Avenger into one of the control banks. When Janice tries to help the hero up, the Demolisher prepares to attack. When Jasper tries to stop it with a thermo-blast pellet, but the robot easily shrugs this off and swats the SHIELD agent away like a fly. Seeing his daughter in danger, Drexel tries to stop his creation, but it tosses him away as well. The robot then begins blasting Iron Man with its ray again. Iron Man can’t do anything about this because he is busy shielding Janice from harm.
Realizing the errors of his ways, Drexel uses a long pipe to break open the control panel in the Demolisher’s back. The robot then blasts its creator in response. While the Demolisher’s back is turned, Iron Man attacks the exposed panel until the robot explodes. In the aftermath of the battle, a dying Drexel Cord admits that he was a fool and now sees that Iron Man is a true hero. With her father dead, Janice breaks down in tears and is escorted out by Jasper. Iron Man decides to stay behind because, despite the fact that his father attacked him first, he was still responsible for Dexel Cord’s death.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Janice Cord, Jasper Sitwell
Continuity Notes
Specifically, Tony mentions his recent battles with the Grey Gargoyle, Whiplash, and AIM. This all happened from Tales of Suspense #95-99, Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner #1, and Iron Man #1.
It’s stated here that Jasper has just returned from Avengers Mansion. As seen in Avengers #52, he was sent to investigate the apparent murder of the Avengers. They were actually put in a death-like state by the Grim Reaper until they were saved by the Black Panther.
Topical References
Drexel Cord is depicted watching Iron Man footage on an old-fashioned reel-to-reel film projector.
