Iron Man #46
Menace at Large
The Daily Bugle has published a front page story about how the Guardsman nearly killed protestors outside of Stark Industries, leading to publisher J. Jonah Jameson speaking out against the attack. This angers Simon Gilbert, the chairman of the board at Stark Industries, as he hoped the Bugle would support his attempts to oust Tony Stark from the company. However, Gilbert believes that he can still spin this to his own benefit. He tells those loyal to him to remain close by as they will need to act quickly and at a moment’s notice.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has returned home to his fiancée, Marianne Rodgers, to tell her how Kevin O’Brien’s Guardsman armor has made him paranoid and jealous of their relationship. Marianne blames herself for this, but Tony assures her that this is not her fault. Their time together is interrupted when the head of security calls Tony to tell him that the protestors are back outside Stark Industries and are now threatening to burn the place to the ground.
As Tony and Marianne race to the company, Simon Gilbert observes the mob from the window. He orders Kevin O’Brien to deal with them so they can continue plotting against Tony Stark and Iron Man. Unfortunately for him, Kevin has entered a moment of clarity and refuses to betray his best friend. However, this quickly changes when Tony and Marianne arrive on the scene. Seeing the couple together causes Kevin to revert to his paranoid state and heads outside to deal with the protest. Simon mocks Tony for this sudden turn of events, prompting Stark to knock him out with a single punch. Retreating back to his office, Tony changes into Iron Man and heads out to stop the Guardsman before anyone can get hurt.
Iron Man soon goes out and tries once again to reason with the protestors, but they are in no mood to listen. That’s when Iron Man is attacked by the Guardsman, putting him on the defensive as his power level begin to drop. However, Kevin makes an error of kicking a barrel of napalm at Tony. The heat from the napalm flames activate the thermal circuits in Iron Man’s armor, recharging his power supply. His armor then extinguishes the flames before they can get too hot. Seeing that the battle is turning against him, the Guardsman flees into a nearby garage and takes control of a new experimental Aero-Tank armed with a laser cannon. Unable to get Kevin to see reason, Tony is forced to blasts the prototype’s weak points to stop it. Unfortunately, this has tragic consequences as it ruptures the gas tank causing the tank to explode.
Horrified by what happened, Iron Man begins looking through the wreckage until he finds Kevin. Mortally wounded, O’Brien concedes that Iron Man has won and his final words are for Tony to tell Marianne that he loved her. With the loss of his best friend, Iron Man wonders how many more will pay the price for Iron Man’s deeds. While inside the building, Simon Gilbert watches the scene and figures that O’Brien’s death will finally give him the leverage he needs to finally take control of Stark Industries.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Guardsman, Marianne Rodgers, Simon Gilbert
Topical References
On of the protestors comments that the fight between Iron Man and the Guardsman reminds him of the fight between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Dubbed the Fight of the Century the Ali/Frazier bout happened on March 8, 1971. After 15 rounds, Joe Frazier was announced the winner. References to this fight happening recently in the context of this story should be considered topical.
