Iron Man #75
Slave to the Power Imperious
Caught in the middle of the Black Lama’s so-called War of the Super-Villains, Iron Man has been defeated in battle by MODOK. The leader of AIM learns that Iron Man was being controlled by the Mad Thinker and attacks the rival genius in his own hideout. The Thinker responds by unleashing one of his killer androids upon MODOK.[1] As the battle rages, Iron Man tries to get to his feet but is suddenly plagued by a mental assualt showing him visions of horrible monsters. This is psycho-feedback from the Black Lama himself, who has been plagued by these horrifying visions. The Lama realizes that these visions were getting worse and that other minds are starting to become connected.
Meanwhile, MODOK — thanks to his massive cybernetic battle suit — manages to destroy the Thinker’s android. He then appears to crush the Mad Thinker to death in his hand. With the Mad Thinker dead, MODOK then begins learning how he managed to remotely pilot Iron Man’s armor so he can use the same technique when he attacks Yellow Claw, another villain competing for the Golden Globe of Power being offered by the Black Lama.
Elsewhere, Firebrand continues to try and make sense of his sister’s interest in Tony Stark and Iron Man. Suddenly he too is caught in the psycho-feedback of the Black Lama. However, he is visited by a blond woman in these visions who tells him him that he must confront the Black Lama. While at his hideout, the Black Lama can’t bare the insanity any more and becomes desperate to find his champion. He then teleports to the Mad Thinker’s hideout and urges MODOK to attack Yellow Claw right away and to speed things up teleports MODOK and Iron Man to the Mandarin’s castle in China.
However, the Yellow Claw is ready for the invaders and unleashes his usual batch of genetically modified horrors and robotic killers. While Iron Man is busy fighting these defenses, Yellow Claw activates a trap door causing MODOK to fall to his apparent demise.[2] Yellow Claw then takes down Iron Man, but when he tries to examine the hero’s armor it suddenly explodes revealing that it wasn’t the Avenger at all, but an android duplicate.
As it turned out, the Mad Thinker fooled MODOK with androids of himself and Iron Man and he still lives, with the real Iron Man as his prisoner. As Iron Man suffers another wave of psycho-feedback, he is contacted by the same woman who reached out to Firebrand. She helps Iron Man free himself from the Mad Thinker’s ability to remotely control his armor. Breaking free from his bonds, Iron Man interrupts the Mad Thinker’s plotting to get his revenge.
… This story is continued in Iron Man #77.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Black Lama, MODOK, Mad Thinker, Yellow Claw, Marianne Rodgers, Firebrand, Princess Susan (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
This is the same type of android that was used against the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #70-71.
MODOK doesn’t die here. Chronologically, he appears next in some flashback stories in Avengers (vol. 3) #17 and Gambit: From the Marvel Vault #1. Publication wise, his next published appearances are in Ms. Marvel #7, and 9-10. He doesn’t mention how he survived his battle with Yellow Claw. One could assume that he abandoned his massive mechanical body.
