The Curtain Rises on… Deathplay!

After a battle with the Super-Adaptoid, Iron Man’s power supply has been drained, putting him at risk of having a heart attack.[1] Returning to his apartment to recharge, Tony hoped to get help from his fiancée, Marianne Rodgers. Unfortunately, she had a precognitive flash that showed her knocking Iron Man in to a vat of acid and ran away in fear. With only seconds left to spare, Tony begins stripping off his armor, shedding enough weight to get to an electrical outlet to recharge his batteries. Once he has changed into some clothes, Tony has to make a quick excuse to Jarvis, the Avengers butler, to explain why pieces of Iron Man’s armor are strewn about the room in order to protect his secret identity.

Gathering up his armor and putting it in his briefcase, Tony makes a quick exit unaware that he is being observed by Princess Python. On the run from the law, she takes inspiration from Tony Stark and goes to the front door of Avengers Mansion pretending to be a delivery person. When Jarvis answers the door he instantly recognizes her but is too late to stop the Princess from ordering her python, Precious, to subdue the butler.[2]

Meanwhile, Tony has put on his Iron Man armor and is patrolling the city. He thinks about how Marianne abandoned him when he was at his most vulnerable and has decided that he can’t rely on someone who betrays his trust like that. At that moment, Marianne is back at her home and is once more plagued with visions of Iron Man’s demise and struggles to keep her tenuous hold on sanity.

While in Central Park, the Super-Adaptoid pulls itself from rubble following its battle with Iron Man. Trying to fly away with the wings it adapted from the Wasp, the Super-Adaptoid is shocked when these wings suddenly disappear. Falling to the ground, the android begins losing the other powers it stole from the Avengers as well and wonders what is happening. This loss of power is caused by Jarr and Tyrr, two residents of a sub-microscopic world of Bast that has been ravaged by nuclear war. The pair intend to use the Super-Adaptoid as their earthly agent to obtain what they need to revitalize their world. While Jarr has ambitions to become Bast’s new ruler, his cousin Tyrr wants to save his world for more altruistic reasons.

Later that day, Iron Man returns to Stark Industries and changes out of his armor so that Tony Stark can do an interview with the television news about Stark Industries shift away from munitions manufacturing. It’s during this interview that Tony is suddenly attacked and restrained by Precious. Princess Python then addresses the viewing audience and demands a huge ransom and a jet to take her to South America, or she will kill Tony Stark. Luckily, Tony is able to free himself by using a device on his belt to shock Precious with static electricity. Racing into some nearby bushes, Tony then changes back into Iron Man. Iron Man then attacks Princess Python’s snake by blasting it with his repulsors and throwing it against her getaway van. The frightened python then flees into a nearby research and development building where it runs right into a beaker containing a new experimental rocket fuel, shattering it and dousing itself in the chemicals.

Meanwhile, Marianne Rodger’s visions has brought her to Tony private security monitors where she watches Iron Man’s battle with Princess Python, fearing that her visions will come true. Iron Man continues his battle with Precious, discovering that the rocket fuel has somehow made the snake more powerful. With no other choice, the hero tosses the python into a vat of acid.[3] Distraught at seeing her pet get killed, Princess Python tries to commit suicide by leaping in after Precious. Iron Man saves her life, even though his jet-boots — as Marianne predicted — begin to malfunction. Luckily, they kick back in before Iron Man can share the same fate as Precious. As Iron Man turns Princess Python over to the authorities, Jarr and Tyrr have remotely transformed the Super-Adaptoid into their agent a Grim Reaper-esque entity they call the Cyborg Sinister. As the Cyborg makes its way to Stark Industries, Iron Man fiddles with his jet boots, figuring he’ll have plenty of time to repair them. Seeing all this in her mind, all Marianne Rodgers begins to panic even more as her prophecy appears to be coming true.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Princess Python, Marianne Rodgers, Edwin Jarvis, Jarr, Tyrr, Cyborg Sinister

Continuity Notes

1. Tony Stark has had a long history of problems with his heart starting in Tales of Suspense #39 when he took shrapnel in the heart. Later, Tony underwent surgery to repair the damage in Iron Man #19. However, any undue stress would cause his body to reject the synesthetic parts used to repair the damage. Tony was forced to start wearing a chest-piece to keep his heart beating in Iron Man #37.

2. Jarvis remembers Princess Python from the time the Circus of Crime crashed the wedding of Yellowjacket and the Wasp in Avengers #60.

3. When Princess Python appears again in Daredevil #118 she has a snake which she calls Precious. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #14 confirms that the Precious thrown into the vat of acid here did indeed die, and that the snake appearing in Daredevil #118 is a replacement that she also named Precious.

Topical References

• Princess Python asks for the sum of one million dollars in exchange for Stark’s safety. While this was a large sum when this comic was published in 1972 it is not that much now, relatively speaking. Adjusting for inflation at the time of this writing (July 2021), 1 million in 1972 dollars is equivalent to 6.4 million today. Needless to say, the dollar value she is asking for should be considered topical.