Why Must There be an Iron Man?

It is pouring rain on the day that Iron Man flies to the funeral for his friend Kevin O’Brien. Blaming himself for Kevin’s death, Tony Stark finds himself wondering why he continues being Iron Man when those closest to him always seem to suffer.[1]

Iron Man’s arrival at the funeral turns heads since most people blame the Avenger for Kevin’s death. Simon Gilbert, still vying to take control of Stark Industries, tries to use the situation to his advantage. Tony can’t even get support from Marianne, who asks the same question he posed earlier: Why must there be an Iron Man? When the police arrive to take Iron Man in for questioning, the hero refuses and uses his repulsor rays to keep them at by while he flies away.

High above the city, Tony can’t help but think that Kevin O’Brien isn’t the only person to lose their life because of Stark. In fact, Iron Man was only born at the sacrifice of someone else. His mind then drifts back to the events of a few years ago…[2]

In a secluded area in an American occupied zone, Tony Stark is giving a general demonstration of his latest invention, a magnetic device that can pull a steel door off its hinges. This region is being terrorized by a guerrilla group led by the merciless Wong-Chu. After taking over an entire city, Wong-Chu offers the prisoners a chance at freedom by defeating him in a wrestling match. A few desperate villagers attempt to do so, but everyone fails, much to Wong-Chu’s delight.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark has insisted on being brought out to view a field test of one of his new weapons. It’s here that Stark accidentally steps through a trip-mine and is caught in the blast. Tony is found alive and brought to Wong-Chu, who instantly recognizes Tony Stark and has one of his surgeons work on saving his life. Although Stark is expected to live, he is on borrowed time as there is a piece of shrapnel that is heading directly to his heart and will eventually kill him.[3] Wong-Chu lies to Stark by telling him that his surgeon will save his life after he creates the weapons. Stark sees through this and vows to hamper these efforts until his dying breath.

Given a lab to work in, Tony Stark is left alone to work and he quickly begins working on a device he hopes will save his life. He is soon joined by a new captive, a brilliant scientist named Ho Yinsen. Learning of Tony’s plight, Yinsen agrees to help work on a device to save his life. They begin working on a suit of iron armor. On top of onboard weapons, it will also have a special chest plate that will keep the shrapnel away from Tony’s life and keep him alive as long as the armor is fully charged. Although Tony’s condition is getting worse, Ho Yinson encourages him to keep pressing on as they are almost finished.

When the armor is complete, Tony is placed in the armor and it is plugged in to charge. That’s when their warning light goes on telling them that someone is coming. Fearing that Wong-Chu will take the Iron Man armor before it can fully charge, Ho Yinsen runs from the lab and creates a distraction to give Tony’s armor time to fully charge. However, this comes at Yinsen’s life as Wong-Chu orders his guards to shoot him.[4] When the armor is fully charged, Tony gets up but finds that remaining on his feet and being able to walk around in this armor is going to take on a learning curve. As Wong-Chu and his men try to break down the lab door, Tony uses the armor’s air pressure jets to leap up and grab onto the ceiling so he is unseen when Wong-Chu finally gets inside.

Assuming that Stark escaped, Wong-Chu orders his guards to go out and find him. Taking a trench coat and hat to disguise his armored form, Tony intends to confront Wong-Chu directly. That evening, Wong-Chu entertains himself by wrestling prisoners. That’s when Tony, as Iron Man, challenges him to a battle. Unable to see Tony’s armor under the overcoat and hat, Wong-Chu gladly accepts this new challenger. However, he is shocked when Tony strips off the coat and hat and reveals himself as Iron Man. Tony easily overpowers Wong-Chu in combat. Furious, Wong-Chu orders his men to execute Iron Man, but their bullets bounce harmlessly off his armor. He then pulls their weapons away using a magnetic attachment. When Wong-Chu tries to address his troops from a loudspeaker, Stark hacks into the transmission and — using Wong-Chu’s own voice — orders the soldiers to flee into the jungle.

As Wong-Chu tries to flee, Iron Man ignites an ammunition dump causing it to explode as Wong-Chu passes by. Wong-Chu is seemingly caught in the blast and killed.[5] Satisfied that he had avenged the death of Ho Yinsen, Iron Man heads into the jungle and wonders what destiny has in store for him now.[6]

… Iron Man finishes his recollection just as he arrives at Stark Industries. He thinks about how he never stopped upgrading his armor to face the various foes that have appeared since that day. He thinks about all the friends and allies he made along the way, some of them even stepping up to become Iron Man in his place. However, there has been a lot of death as well. [7] He walks to the part of the facility where he worked on his armor over the years. He thinks about how he has always been referred to as a munitions maker, and not always in a positive light and begins to wonder if he change the direction of his company. He then comes upon the display case containing his original suit of armor. He remembers how he painted it gold early on because people were afraid of its dull grey design.[8] Tony finally comes to the conclusion that although people have died because of Iron Man, he has saved more lives than has been lost, giving him all the rationalization he needs to continue being Iron Man.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Marianne Rodgers, Simon Gilbert

Continuity Notes

1. Tony and Kevin design the Guardsman armor around Iron Man #46. Neither of them were aware that it was affecting Kevin’s mind, making him jealous of Tony’s romance with Marianne Rodgers until it was too late. Kevin died in battle against Iron Man at the end of last issue.

2. The proceeding is a retelling of Iron Man’s origins. They are nearly identical to how the story was told in Tales of Suspense #39. Per the Sliding Timescale, Tony became Iron Man about 3 years prior to this story.

3. The shrapnel lodged into Tony’s heart here will become an ongoing concern for Tony until he receives a heart transplant in Iron Man #19.

4. Yinsen actually survived. It is later revealed in Iron Man (vol. 3) #31, Yinsen survived getting shot and was taken away by Sun Tao, one of Yinsen’s students. Sun Tao left him after hearing what he thought were Yinsen’s dying words. However, Iron Man Annual 2000 reveals that Yinsen was pulled forward in time moments after he was shot by Doctor Midas.

5. Wong-Chu also survived the blast. Iron Man #268 shows that he was found by the Mandarin, turned into a beetle, and then crushed. Iron Man Annual 2000 reveals that the Mandarin only made Wong-Chu believe this to have happened for. Wong-Chu went on to rebuild his organization.

6. How Iron Man got out of the jungles of Vietnam is not explained until Iron Man #144, which reveals he was found by James Rhodes, an American soldier who became a good friend to Tony in later years.

7. Iron Man’s friends and foes are all depicted in a memory collage with no further explanation. The details:

   • Two of the most present people in Tony’s life among the assembled people are Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, who worked for Tony from Tales of Suspense #45 through 89 when The couple got married and left Tony’s employ soon after. During this period, Happy learned Tony’s double identity in issue #70. Happy once wore Iron Man’s armor to help protect Tony’s secret identity in Tales of Suspense #84-85.

   • Other woman in this collage is Janice Cord, who Tony dated on an off following their first meeting in Iron Man #2 until she was murdered by Titanium Man in issue #22.

   • Also present are Captain America and Thor, representing the fact that Iron Man helped found the Avengers in Avengers #1 and was present when the team revived Captain America in issue #4 of that series.

   • Lastly we have a parade of villains which include the the Melter (First seen in Tales of Suspense #47), Mandarin (#50), Titanium Man (#69) the second Crimson Dynamo (Iron Man #21)

8. Iron Man was convinced to repaint his original armor gold in Tales of Suspense #40. Tony built the first version of his red and gold armor in issue #48. At the time of this story, Tony is wearing his third model of Iron Man armor which he has been wearing consistently since Tales of Suspense #66, only making internal and minor cosmetic designs. His next upgrade will happen in Iron Man #85.

Topical References

• This story states that Tony Stark’s munitions were being used by the US Army to fight in the Vietnam War. This should be considered a topical reference. All present-tense references to the Vietnam War in the Modern Age have been changed to the Sin-Cong Conflict, as per History of the Marvel Universe #2.

• This story also states that the revolutionary technology used in Stark’s early inventions are transistors. This should be considered a topical reference as transistors have gone on to become one of the most common components found in all electronics.