Moon Wars!

Caught between a war between the New Men of Wundagore II and a rogue group of Colonizers from Rigel, Iron Man has decided to join the New Men in defending their home world. Riding one of the New Men’s atomic steeds into space, the Avenger leads the Knights of Wundagore into battle against the invaders.

While aboard the Rigellian flag-ship, Arcturus — the crew’s leader — tries to force Jack of Hearts to join their side by threatening to invade Earth, even though this has been forbidden by their leaders.[1] When Observer YJ-18 protests this threat, Arcturus imprisons him in porton-shell. This does little more than convince Jack that Arcturus is to be opposed. That’s when Iron Man and the Knights come crashing through the hull of the ship and engaging in battle.

With the tide of battle quickly turning, Arcturus decides he needs a way to divert humans attentions from the battle. To this end, he sends his Punisher robot to Earth via a teleporter. Seeing what is going on, Iron Man follows after the robot. They both come out of the massive metallic egg that has been sitting on the moon, flying past the Russian superheroes Darkstar, Vangaurd and the Crimson Dynamo who have been standing guard. That’s when the battle aboard the Rigellian ship spills out on to the moon surface, prompting the Russians to join Jack of Hearts and the New Men in fighting the Rigellians.

As the Punisher makes its way to Earth, Iron Man tries his best to follow it. He soon realizes that his power supply will run out trying to keep on with the robot. Using his tractor beam to get close enough to grab onto the Punisher, Iron Man rides the robot through re-entry, fighting it all the way down to Earth.

Meanwhile Jasper Sitwell, Madam Masque a Life Model Decoy Tony Stark observe the situation from Stark International. Madame Masque continues to be impressed how the LMD continues to fool everyone while the real Tony — as Iron Man — is fighting to save the Earth. However, when Madame Masque begins barking orders to shoot the objects re-entering the atmophere, Jasper Sitwell becomes suspicious that “Tony” agrees to everything she says.[2] One of the technicians also finds it interesting that Stark is taking order from a former leader of the Maggia and begins plotting to use this to his advantage.[3] The missile is launched with nobody knowing that they are firing on Iron Man himself as he is still locked in battle with the Punisher.

At that moment, at a farm high in the Rocky Mountains, Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan are settling into a new life on a horse ranch. Happy has made a full recovery from his injuries and is no longer at risk of turning into the Freak again.[4] The couple remark over how their lives have changed from being Tony Stark’s closest allies and employees to horse ranchers. Still, as exciting as their old lives were, the couple look forward to living a simpler life. Still, they can’t help but wonder what Tony is up to now.

By this time, Iron Man and the Punisher have crash landed in the middle of Detroit. The plummet to the Earth allowed Iron Man to yank a piece of the Punisher’s body loose and he discovers that the robot is made of some kind of living metal. With innocent people in danger, Iron Man resumes his battle against the Punisher and, miraculously, is able to knock the alien robot out in an all-out brawl, saving the planet in the process.

Back on the moon the war between the New Men and the Rigellions continues unabated until Arcturus tries to convince the New Men to join forces with him and attack the Earth instead. Jack of Hearts tries to convince the New Men not to fall for it. Luckily, the New Men don’t get a chance to decide as the Rigellian Recorder has arrived on the moon. He was dispatched by the Grand Commissioner. For his crimes, Arcturus is stripped of his rank and arrested on the spot, ending the conflict once and for all.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Arcturus, YJ-18, Punisher, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Madame Masque, Jasper Sitwell, Jack of Hearts, Sir Hogg, Crimson Dynamo, Vanguard, Darkstar, Recorder, Spymaster (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

1. The Rigellians pledged never to try and colonize the Earth after they were saved from Ego the Living Planet by Thor. See Thor #131-134.

2. Mention is made of Madame Masque’s former ties to the Maggia. As the Big M she ruled the criminal organization from Tales of Suspense #97 until her identity was exposed in Iron Man #8.

3. This Stark International employee is actually the Spymaster in disguise as we’ll learn in Iron Man #116. Issue #117 reveals that he was hired by rogue SHIELD operatives trying to learn who owns shares in Stark International so they can get majority control of the company and force it back into the munitions business.

4. Pepper and Happy casually mention their history with Tony Stark. The facts:

   • The pair had been working for Tony Stark from Tales of Suspense #45 until issue #89 when the couple got married and left their jobs. Pepper and Happy would return to work for Tony in Iron Man #57 and #70 respectively.

   • During their association with Tony, they both discovered he was secretly Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #70 and Iron Man #65 respectively.

   • Also during their time with Tony, Happy was injured on a number of occasions. In order to save his life in each instance, Hap was healed with the Enervator that caused him to temporarily transform into the Freak in Tales of Suspense #74-76, and Iron Man #3-4, 26, and 84-85.

   • After Happy’s last injury and transformation, Pepper decided that it was too dangerous for them to continue working for Tony and they both quit in Iron Man #88.

   • The couple will next reconnect with Tony in Iron Man #199.

Topical References

• This story has a number of dated Cold War references. Such as referring to the Russian characters as Soviets. The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.