Strike!

Outside of Stark Industries, workers are protesting the news that the company is selling technology to communist nations. It has gotten so bad that they are burning effigies of Iron Man on the property. As his business has shifted from munitions to non-violent technologies, Tony Stark doesn’t need this negative publicity while his company is undergoing an expensive shift in focus.[1] Tony demands answers from his senior staff, who report that a man named Gene Khan has been riling up the workers by handing out leaflets accusing Tony of selling out his country for profits.

Angered by this, Tony calls Gene Khan to find out what his game is. Little does he know that “Gene Khan” is actually his old foe the Mandarin. “Khan” warns Stark that he will be forming a union to represent his workers and cause him even more grief. The Mandarin then quickly ends the call before Tony can recognize his voice. As Stark tries to figure out his next move he is visited by Pepper Potts, who tells him that she and her husband Happy are in a tight financial situation and asks for her old job back. Tony, happy to see Pepper again re-hires her on the spot and asks her to start working right away. For a brief moment, Tony considers this as an opportunity to rekindle his old romance with Potts but has to remind himself that she is a married woman now.[2]

Deciding to deal with his protesting employees directly, Tony changes into Iron Man and goes outside. Unfortunately, this only makes them more angry and he almost gets violent with them. Realizing that he can’t deal with his workers until he deals with Khan, he takes off to confront the rabble rouser. Iron Man goes to Khan’s office where he recognizes him as the Mandarin and comes crashing in through the window.[3] After dealing with the hired goons, Iron Man looks forward to dealing with the Mandarin since he heard that the villain no longer has his power rings.[4] He is not prepared when the Mandarin blasts him with the rings he still clearly has.

With his foe incapacitated, the Mandarin quickly explains how he got his rings back. He recounts how he increased the power of his rings with the fabled Eye of Yin, leading to his ill fated battle with the Inhumans. He was defeated by Black Bolt who sealed the Mandarin’s rings in a grave before hypnotizing the villain and sending him away. The Mandarin was freed from his trance upon returning to China and began working on regaining his lost powers. Studying Yin tomes he was reminded that the rings were originally a power source for a starship piloted by the Axonn-Karr, aliens who came to Earth thousands of years ago and their appearance fed the ancient Chinese legends about dragons. Deciding to go back to the site where he first found the rings, the Mandarin discovered the craft was still there and untouched after all these years.[5] There he found a headband that allowed him to summon back his rings and although they lost the enhancements from the Eye of Yin, they still retained their original powers.

Finishing his story, the Mandarin moves in for the kill only to discover that Iron Man had been playing possum the entire time. The two begin duking it out and their battle spills on the street. There, Iron Man gains the upper hand by using his uni-beam to knock a lamp post over onto his foe. With the tide of battle turning, the Mandarin pulls off his mask revealing that he is still wearing the headband he used to retrieve his rings and uses it to summon his new ally, the Unicorn!

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Mandarin, Pepper Potts, Unicorn

Continuity Notes

1. Tony Stark had decided to shift Stark Industries focus away from munitions to other scientific endeavors in Iron Man #48.

2. Pepper worked for Tony from Tales of Suspense #45 to 89 when she married Happy Hogan and quit. Tony has been in need of a new secretary since his last one went on maternity leave in Iron Man #49.

3. Here, Iron Man states that the Mandarin chose his name “Gene Khan” as a reference to his alleged ancestor to the Genghis Khan. This was the claim made by the Mandarin when Iron Man first encountered him back in Tales of Suspense #50. Later revelations revealed that the Mandarin does not apparently have any royal heritage but was instead the son of an opium den prostitute as details in Iron Man Annual (vol. 3) #1.

4. The Mandarin’s rings were taken from him after a clash with the Inhumans in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #3-4.

5. The origin of the Mandarin’s rings were first told in Tales of Suspense #62 with additional details being provided in Iron Man #274, and Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #1.