Death Knells Over Detroit!

Iron Man has been captured by the Masked Marauder while trying to stop the villain from stealing Stark Industries new prototype space shuttle. Restrained in an capto-lock of the Marauder’s own invention, Iron Man is now prisoner of this criminal mastermind. The Marauder details list latest scheme where he intends to load the Stark shuttle with a nuclear bomb and use it to threaten the city of Detroit into paying a large ransom.

With Iron Man powerless to stop him, the Marauder leaves the hero in the care of his minion, Steele. An electronics genius in his own right, Steele begins dismantling Iron Man’s armor to learn its secrets, starting with one of his gauntlets. Using the jet thrusters in his boots, Iron Mana manages to break free from the capto-lock. Steele then tries using Iron Man’s own repulsor ray against the hero, but the gauntlet quickly runs out of power as it is no longer connected to the main batteries of Iron Man’s armor. Iron Man then quickly knocks out Steele, but the sound of the battle has drawn the Marauder back and the villain topples some heavy machinery on the Avenger.

Meanwhile, back in New York City, Happy Hogan sees photos of his wife with Tony Stark in the newspaper and is furious. He has been against her going back to work for Stark because he believes her place is at home. This convinces Happy that she prefers the jet-set life instead of being a house wife. For a brief moment, he wonders if Tony is pursuing his old romantic interests in Pepper, but dismisses this idea. He tries calling Pepper, but the line is busy because she has answered a call from the Masked Marauder, who claims Iron Man is dead and makes his ransom demands. As Pepper races out to find Tony Stark and tell him what has happened, she is not present when Happy tries to call her again.

By this time, Iron Man has pulled himself free from the rubble and attacks the Masked Marauder anew. When the villain uses his opti-blast to blind the hero a second time, Tony manages to restore his sight by shocking his nervous system with a live-wire from his armor. Iron Man then ambushes the Marauder and pounds him into submission. With the Marauder down, Steele — who has since revived — challenges Iron Man to a one-on-one brawl, asking for the hero’s other gauntlet to make it a fair fight. The Avenger complies but secretly re-wires his repulsor ray in case Steele tries to cheat. Sure enough, when the crook tries to blast Iron Man with his own weapon, the gauntlet short-circuits, knocking Steele out instead.

With the battle over and his stolen property recovered, Tony Stark races back to his hotel room where he finds Pepper in tears. While she is relieved that both Tony and Iron Man are both safe, she is upset over an entirely different matter. Unable to reach his wife directly, Happy has sent her a message saying that he is leaving her for good.[1]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Masked Marauder, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts

Continuity Notes

1. Pepper just recently started working for Stark again. Pepper previously worked for Stark from Tales of Suspense #45 to 89 when she married Happy Hogan and quit. Tony hired her in issue #57. Happy has been upset that Pepper is working and trying to pressure her into quitting since issue #59.

Topical References

• The Masked Marauder states here that he seeks to get a billion dollars from the city of Detroit. The dollar amount here should be considered topical. Adjusting for inflation a billion in 1973 money would be worth about 6 billion at the time of this writing. (July 2021)

• Pepper gets the message that Happy is leaving her via a telegram. While telegrams are still a thing, the advent of electronic messaging such as e-mail and text message has made them fall out of popular use. As such, a telegram being used in this story could be considered topical.