Turnabout: A Most Foul Play!

At his company headquarters in New York, Tony Stark reveals to Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts that he is changing the name of his company to Stark International due to his company’s now global reach and diverse portfolio.[1] After Tony tells the couple about his recent battle at the San Diego Comic-Con,[2] and his encounter with the macabre Man-Thing, [3] Pepper remarks how hard it is for her to believe that Tony has secretly been Iron Man all these years. To prove it to her, Tony demonstrates how he changes into his armor. Tony wants to head back to Asia to continue assisting Roxanne Gilbert’s search for Marty March.[4] However, before he can leave a steam valve in one of the nearby plants has ruptured, prompting the Avenger to race in and repair the damage before anyone else gets hurt.

In Vietnam, Roxanne Gilbert has found Marty March, but Marty refuses to return with her to America because he helped build an underground city for refugees of the recent conflict. After showing Roxanne this underground sanctuary the pair were apprehended by Kuon Set, the leader of the community. Kuon intends to eliminate them both because Marty knows too much about their Dragonfire defense system. This decision is protested by Marty’s Vietnamese lover, Shara but her protests are ignored.

Word about the captured Gilbert woman soon reaches Alex Nevin, the Crimson Dynamo, who has been living in exile in Vietnam for some time now. Due to Roxanne’s connection, Alex sees this as an opportunity to lure Iron Man into a trap and avenge the death of Janice Cord.[5] When he tells his fellow exiles, the Radioactive Man and Titanium Man, of his intentions he tells them to stay out of it as this is his personal business.[6] The Crimson Dynamo then visits Roxanne in her cell and tries to convince her to help him betray Tony Stark and Iron Man. When she refuses, the Dyanmo allows her to escape so she can call Iron Man for help. Roxanne does make her escape, however she had long since activated a homing beacon given to her by Iron Man before they parted company.

By this time, Iron Man has arrived in the region and is following Roxanne’s tracking device. Detecting Iron Man’s approach, the Crimson Dynamo fires the underground city’s Dragonfire missiles. Iron Man recognizes the homing missiles as being designed by Stark Industries and tricks them into slamming into the side of a mountain, exposing the city hidden underneath the rock.[7] Annoyed that his enemy survived, the Crimson Dynamo goes out to deal with the Avenger directly.

Meanwhile, Shara has freed Marty March, but he refuses to leave the people who live in their underground city. By this time, the Dynamo tries using a “Fire-Rock” launcher. A device that fires frag grenades that unleash napalm upon exploding. Iron Man deflects this attack, but the napalm ends up lighting the underground city on fire. Iron Man then springs into action to rescue as many people as he can. Realizing that the people will blame him for the destruction of their home, the Crimson Dynamo decides to flee while his enemy is busy. Nearby, Marty confronts Kuon Set who also tries to flee. However, the would-be dictator falls through a spike pit, another left over from the recent conflict fought in the region.

In the aftermath of the battle, Marty thanks Iron Man and Roxanne for their help but he still wants to stay in Vietnam with Shara. When Roxanne takes a flight back to America, she can’t help but find herself becoming more interested in both Iron Man and Tony Stark even though their ideals run contrary to her own. Iron Man flies home by himself and his thoughts turn back to the mysterious Black Lama, and vows to get to the bottom of his mad schemes no matter what.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Titanic Three (Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, Radioactive Man), Roxanne Gilbert, Marty March, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Kuon Set

Continuity Notes

1. Mention is made of how Happy and Pepper have patched up their marriage. Tony hired Pepper in issue #57. Happy has been upset that Pepper is working and trying to pressure her into quitting since issue #59. Later in Iron Man #70, Happy has decided to start working for Stark again so the couple can still spend time together while working.

2. Iron Man fought Whiplash, Man-Bull, and the Melter last issue.

3. Tony later encountered the Man-Thing in Giant-Size Man-Thing #2.

4. Roxanne agreed to go to Vietnam to search for Marty on behalf of his brother, Eddie, in Iron Man #66.

5. Both Tony Stark and Alex Nevin fought for Janice Cord’s affections until she was murdered by the Titanium Man in Iron Man #21.

6. It’s mentioned here that the Titanic Three recently clashed with the Avengers. That was in Avengers #130.

7. Iron Man mentions how Stark International has steered away from weapons manufacturing. This decision was made back in Iron Man #48.

Topical References

• This story states that Marty March fought in the Vietnam War, which is stated to have ended not long before this story. References to the Vietnam War that refer to the conflict as being recent or presently happening in Modern Age stories should be considered topical references. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, instead of the Vietnam War, Marty would have fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict.

• Likewise should references to North Vietnam being controlled by the Viet Cong and another terminology related to the Vietnam War used in this story should be considered topical.

• That all said, it’s entirely possible that Stark Industries did provide munitions to the American military during the Vietnam War. I go into this possibility in more detail in my summary for Iron Man #60.

• Russia is called the Soviet Union in this story. Another topical reference as the USSR dissolved in 1991.