A Duel Must End!

Iron Man finds himself in the middle of a battle with the Gladiator. This has become a challenging fight as Iron Man’s repulsor rays have been damaged and the Gladiator has upgraded weapons.[1] However, Iron Man continues to fight because Janice Cord and her lawyer Vincent Sandhurst are prisoners. As the battle rages, Janice fears that Tony Stark cowardly ran away, unaware that he and Iron Man are the same person.

Meanwhile, the Big M, aka Whitney Frost, is leading a team of Maggia heavies on a raid of Stark Industries. They manage to knock out the staff and guards with knock-out gas and make their way to the vault where Stark keeps his latest weapons. The whole way, Whitney fears for the safety of Jasper Sitwell, Stark Industries’ SHIELD liaison.

As she leads her team she thinks back to how quickly her life change. For years she thought she was the daughter of Byron Frost, a wealthy Wall Street financer. She lived a life of leasure and want of nothing. As an adult, she was engaged to marry Roger Vane the son of a wealthy political family. Her life was then turned upside down the day that Byron Frost died. She was visited by the notorious Maggia leader, Count Nefaria. The Count provided her with irrefutable proof that she was his biological daughter and that she was placed in the care of the Frost family until adulthood. Although he wanted a male heir to his criminal empire, he settled for Whitney being his successor. When she revealed this to Roger, he quickly ghosted on her, as did all of her other friends. Soon, she underwent heavy training to one day succeed her father. That day finally came on the day that Count Nefaria was sent to prison. She then took over the organization from the Masked Marauder.[2] By the time Whitney finishes her recollection, her men have rigged the vault to blow and blast the door off its hinges.

Earlier, at the Maggia’s headquarters, the battle between Iron Man and the Gladiator continues. Iron Man has been on the defensive the whole time due to his damaged weapon systems, however, he manages to send his foe crashing through a wall. While the Gladiator is distracted, Iron Man unties Janice and Vincent and carries them to safety. As he does so, the Gladiator takes his ship and heads for Stark Industries. Iron Man soon follows and both arrive just as the Maggia have breached the vault. To everyone’s surprise, Jasper Sitwell and a team of SHIELD agents are waiting on the other side. As it turns out, Jasper knew that Whitney was stringing him along and set a trap for her. Soon a huge gun battle erupts and when the Gladiator tries to attack Jasper from behind, Whitney saves him by shooting at her one-time ally. This allows Iron Man to swoop in and resume his battle against his foe.

When the Gladiator reaches for a hyper-volt charger, Iron Man activates it causing enough electrical feedback to destroy the Gladiator’s wrist-mounted buzz-saws. The Maggia quickly surrenders soon after. That’s when Iron Man and Jasper notice that Whitney Frost has slipped away. They catch her outside making a run for a helicopter. Although Jasper aims his gun at her, he can’t bring himself to shoot and she is able to get away. Jasper can’t understand why he was unable to do this, but Iron Man knows why all to well — despite the fact that Whitney was the Big M, Jasper still fell in love. He wishes he didn’t know how that felt so he could deal with Janice Cord without worrying if she thinks Tony Stark is a coward or not.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Maggia (Big M, Gladiator), Janice Cord, Vincent Sandhurst, SHIELD (Jasper Sitwell), Count Nefaria (flashback)

Continuity Notes

1. Multiple mentions in this story are made of how the Gladiator, aka Melvin Potter, has fought Daredevil and that prior to becoming a criminal, he was the owner of a costume shop. See Daredevil #18.

2. There is a lot of exposition here that glosses over some finer details.

   • The big one being Whitney Frost’s birth name. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6 reveals that it was Giuletta Nefaria.

   • Count Nefaria’s arrest happened following his failed attempt to hold Washington, DC hostage in X-Men #23. He will remain in the clink until X-Men #94-95.

   • She mentions that she succeeded the Masked Marauder as leader of the Maggia. His tenure lasted from Daredevil #22-27.

Topical References

• Count Nefaria is depicted playing a recording of Byron Frost admitting that Whitney is not his daughter on a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

• Whitney is depicted as having a rotary phone in her bedroom.

• Dated pop-culture references: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cock-Eyed Optimist”, The Doors’ “Break On Through (To the Other Side)”, Jim Morrison