Iron Man #33
Their Mission: Destroy Stark Industries!!
The mysterious man known only as Spymaster has gathered the group known as the Espionage Elite to assist in taking down Stark Industries. The group includes former Russian operative Marya Penskiyov, Samson Washington a former circus strong man, Farley London a master of disguise, Godfried Herter an electronics genius, and lastly pro-athlete Roger Philips. After rigorous training the group is ready for Spymaster’s scheme and he begins going over the blueprints of Stark Industries facility.
Meanwhile, things are quiet at Stark Industries and Tony Stark returns to his apartment to consider what to do next with his life. He is still mourning over the loss of Janice Cord and is growing critical his actions as Iron Man recently. Particularly, how he almost caused the death of Val-Larr and his people dealing with the Collector, to his recent battles against the Controller, the robot Myrmidon, his battle against the Monster-Maker, the Smashers, and the destruction of the alien robot MK-5, and with it Earth’s destiny in the stars.[1] All the violence and death has really been getting to him and he begins to question if he’s doing anything right.
As Tony’s introspection continues, Godfried Herter sneaks into the sewers below Stark Industries and begins sabotaging the electrical conduits that connect to the facility. Stark, meanwhile, reflects on how simpler things were when he first formed the Avengers alongside Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and the Hulk. However, things on the team began to change after the group recovered the long lost Captain America and the team changed its roster to include Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. As his life was always on the line with each battle, Iron Man fought long and hard against the Avengers enumerable foes.[2]
Although Tony Stark goes to bed wondering what his true purpose in life is, he wakes up in the morning feeling much better about himself and wonders why he was feeling so depressed. At that same time, Herter’s meddling causes smoke to come rising out of the manhole cover outside Stark Industries, prompting security to tall in a repair crew to fix the problem. Herter and Washington soon arrive posing as repairmen working for the phone company and get to work on the next phase of their plan. At that moment, Tony Stark is having an important phone call with his banker when he is interrupted by Kevin O’Brien who has made a new breakthrough on his anti-gravity device. Although Tony admires Kevin’s enthusiasm, he warns him that there is proper protocol to follow.
Later that day, as Herter and Washington finish planting a bomb, Tony is informed that he has a call waiting from SHIELD. Tony excuses himself from his meeting and takes the call which is coming from Nick Fury himself. Fury warns Tony that the Spymaster is targeting his facility and makes arrangements to meet Tony at Orient Point at midnight to give him all the details. Meanwhile, the Spymaster continues to run his operatives through training drills until it is time for the next part of his plan. Penskiyov are London are later sent to go on a public tour of the Stark Industries facility. London, disguised as an old man, collapses to the ground prompting the tour guide to call for the in-house medical team to take him to the infirmary. Accompanying her “uncle”, Penskiyov distracts the on site doctors so London can plant another bomb.
By this time, Tony Stark meets with Jasper Sitwell, the SHIELD liaison that has been hired to guard the facility. Sitwell still feels as though he has no purpose there since Iron Man is usually around to get Tony out of trouble. Having prepared for this, Tony cues up a recording he made of himself as Iron Man telling Tony Stark that he is quitting. This is presented as a live transmission and it renews Sitwell’s sense of self-worth. That’s when they both hear an explosion in the building. While Sitwell goes to investigate, Tony has no choice but to become Iron Man and find out what happened. As it turns out, the explosion was an accident caused by one of Kevin O’Brien’s experiments. Annoyed with the inventor, Iron Man chastises him in a similar way Tony Stark did earlier, making Kevin suspicious of his employer’s bodyguard.[3] As this is going on, Farley Landon disguises himself as a prospective new hire to the company and uses the job interview to plant another explosive.
That evening, after Tony Stark leaves for the evening, the Stark Industries facility is rocked by multiple explosions as the Espionage Elite’s bombs go off. Entering the facility, Spymaster and his minions then begin taking out the security guards as they make their way to Tony Stark’s office. Kevin O’Brien tries to fight back against the intruders but is knocked out. Meanwhile, Tony Stark meets with a man who he thinks is Nick Fury at Orient Point. However he is knocked out by a stun-blast. When he wakes up, Tony finds himself in the Spymaster’s hideout. The man who was posing as Fury then takes off his disguise revealing that he is none other than Farley Landon, who tells Tony that he is a prisoner of the Espionage Elite.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Spymaster, Jasper Sitwell, Kevin O’Brien, Espionage Elite (Number One through Five)
Continuity Notes
Tony recounts a number of events of the last few issues, namely the death of Janice Cord (Iron Man #21-22), and his battles Val-Larr (#26), the Controller (#28), Myrmidon (#29), Monster-Maker (#30), the Smashers (#31), and lastly MK-4 (last issue).
Stark also goes over quite a bit of early Avengers history, mentioning their first battles with Loki (Avengers #1), the Space Phantom (#2), finding Captain America (#4), the team’s first roster change (#16). This flashback also includes a gallery of Avengers foes including Doctor Doom (#1.5* & 25), the Minotaur (#17), Kang the Conqueror (#8), the Mole Man (#12 & 17), and the Sons of the Serpent (#32-33). The reference to Tony putting his life on the line is a callback to the fact that he had shrapnel in his heart from Tales of Suspense #39 until he underwent surgery to repair the damage in Iron Man #19.
This causes Kevin O’Brien to suspect that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. This suspicion is later confirmed in Iron Man #37.
Topical References
The telephone company that is called is referred to as “Ma Bell” here. This was a nickname given to the Bell Telephone Company that operated most telephone lines in the United States. The company was dissolved as part of an anti-trust break-up in 1982. It’s reference here should be topical.
Tony is on the phone with a banker whose last name is Rockefeller. This is likely a reference to David Rockefeller who, at the time this comic was published in 1971, was the CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank. The reference here should be considered topical, particularly considering that Rockefeller retired in 1981 and died in 2017.
* I am well aware of the fact that Avengers #1.5 was published many years later and this story is merely referring to the battle with Doom in issue #25, but I’m counting both because the battle with Doom is depicted with a headshot of the villain and no other description and there’s no reason why Tony wouldn’t think of both of those battles in his recollections.
