The Spy Who Killed Me!

Now

The Spymaster has returned to the rooftop across from Tony Stark’s penthouse apartment to finish the job he was hired to do. Seeing Stark on the phone, Spymaster uses a sniper rifle to seemingly kill the wealthy inventor. Unaware that this was a Life Model Decoy, Spymaster considers his mission a success and appears to leave in a one-man aircraft. This was a trap set by Iron Man when he tries to capture Spymaster, he discovers the craft is empty, unaware that Spymaster’s employers were one step ahead of him. Failing to capture his would-be killer angers Iron Man, who heaps this on top of his current troubles…

Earlier

After the Spymaster set off a bomb in his penthouse, Tony Stark returns home to pick up the pieces. He is still reeling over the fact that his lover, Whitney Frost, betrayed him to try and save her father and then left him.[1] As Tony tries to make sense of his life he is visited by his landlord who has come with a petition from the other tenants in the building. Unanimously agreeing that Stark’s presence puts their lives at risk, the landlord informs Tony that he is being evicted from the building. This annoys Tony, but he is perfectly find living out of the Stark International headquarters on Long Island.

With an assassin on his heels, Tony decides to do whatever it takes to draw them out in the open. He decides the best way to do this is accept an invitation to a party being held by the Carnelian Embassy. The party is dull and Tony tries to drown his worries in some champaign when he suddenly spots a very attractive woman across the room.[2][3] He introduces himself and learns that her name is Bethany Cabe and that she is just as bored at the party as he is. When he suggests they take a walk, she agrees to accompany him outside. Suspecting that the assassin is tracking his movements, Tony returns to his apartment at the end of the night and set up the LMD as a trap and was hiding out as Iron Man when Spymaster tried to kill him.

Now

Suspecting that the Spymaster was trying to keep him away from Stark International, Iron Man heads back to the facility. Checking the security monitors, he discovers Spymaster attacking the computer center where all the company data is stored. When he confronts Spymaster, the would-be assassin tries to flee the scene. Iron Man gives chase and is able to shrug off the spy’s high tech weapons until he manages to catch up to him. After knocking out Spymaster with a single punch, Iron Man searches his body to find out what data he stole. He is surprised to learn that Spymaster only stole information on company shareholders and wonders why he would be interested in that information.

Little does Iron Man know is that he is being observed by the three men responsible for hiring Spymaster to begin with. The trio are annoyed that Spymaster failed, but are certain their next attempt to steal the data will succeed. As they leave the monitor room to a meeting hall, the three men are chastised by Nick Fury for not doing their jobs. As it turns out, these three men are SHIELD agents on security detail for a very important NATO meeting.[3]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Spymaster, Bethany Cabe, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Adam Manna, Buck Richlen, Val Adair)

Continuity Notes

1. Madame Masque’s father was Count Nefaria as revealed in Iron Man #8. At the time of this story, Nefaria had given himself ionic powers. However, he discovered they came at a price: He was rapidly aging and is now an old man. See Avengers #164-166 and Iron Man #114. Whitney betrayed Tony to try and restore her father to normal in Iron Man #115-116. This ended in Nefaria’s accidental death, prompting Whitney to leave him. Nefaria is not really dead though and will return in Iron Man Annual 1999.

2. Tony going out of his way to drink here is the first time his growing drinking problem is hinted at. It will become full blown alcoholism by Iron Man #128.

3. During the party, Tony is speaking to a man named Senator Mountback. The Senator’s first name is revealed to be Chad (ugh) in Iron Man #142.

4. The three rogue SHIELD agents in this story are revealed to be trying to force Stark International back into the weapons manufacturing business next issue. One of the agents here is identified only as Buck. Next issue reveals his full name as Buck Richlen and that his fellow conspirators are Val Adair, and Adam Manna. Manna’s last name is not given in that story, but it is revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10’s profile on SHIELD.

Topical References

• Stark International is depicted as storing data on reel-to-reel recorders, which was a fairly common way of doing so when this comic was published in 1978. However, the technology is very, very dated by today’s standards and its depiction here should be considered topical.