Iron Man #138
Façades and Ruses
After learning that Ling McPherson was attacked, Tony Stark has his pilot Jim Rhodes fly him to the hospital so he can be there for his girlfriend - an Ling’s business partner - Bethany Cabe. There, Beth tells Tony that Ling was attacked by muggers while working as a bodyguard for Harmond Taylor. She fears the worst because the hospital called a code blue when Ling went into cardiac arrest. As Tony comforts her, a doctor comes out and informs them that Ling is back in stable condition and since there is nothing to do but wait, suggests that the couple head home and get some rest. Tony convinces Bethany to come back to Stark Industries with him where it will be safe, something she reluctantly agrees to do because she is too tired for anything else.
Outside, a police officer is writing a ticket for the Stark helicopter landed in the parking lot. When the cop refuses to rip up the ticket, Tony uses it as an excuse to stay behind so he can investigate Ling’s beating himself. However, Jim and Bethany decide to disobey orders and look into Harmond Taylor. Landing on the roof of 200 Park Avenue, the pair head to Taylor’s apartment where they run into Tony who thought to investigate Ling’s client as well. When Jim kicks down the door they find a indignant Harmond Taylor inside who demands answers for this intrusion. Taylor professes his innocence and tells them that he is being framed and that the real mastermind being Ling’s attack is tied up in the closet. When they look, they find Harmond Taylor tied up inside. That’s when the man they thought was Harmond tosses a gas grenade that knocks them all out.
When Tony and Jim wake up, they discover the fake Harmond escaped and took Bethany and Tony’s briefcase with him. Searching the apartment for clues, Tony is convinced that he is dealing with Spymaster.[1] Tony finds a sizable cheque written out to Taylor from Williams Industries. Tony is disturbed by this discovery because he recently learned that the company is now a front for the Maggia crime family.[2] Taking Harmond’s gun, Tony and Jim head off to find Bethany’s kidnappers.
By this time, Spymaster has met with his employer, Madame Masque, at a publishing front for the Maggia in Connecticut. She is pleased with his work and pays him handsomely.[3]
Meanwhile, Tony and Jim are following the homing device in his briefcase. Spotting a utility truck making line repairs, Tony pays the worker for his uniform and use of his truck so they can infiltrate the building. However, their cover is quickly blown when the staff see through their disguises. This leads to a gunfight in between the pair and some Maggia thugs. While Jim creates a distraction, Tony goes looking for Beth and his missing briefcase. He finds the case in one of the rooms and is horrified to discover that the mob has purchased some Dreadnaught robots. Hearing one of them coming, Tony slips into another room and finds Bethany knocked out and tied up. As he scrambles to change into his Iron Man armor, Madame Masque comes bursting into the room with two Dreadnaughts to kill him.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Maggia (Madame Masque, Dreadnaught), Spymaster, Bethany Cabe, Jim Rhodes
Continuity Notes
Tony recounts that he last encountered Spymaster while he was in the employ of Justin Hammer. This was in Iron Man #126-127.
Here, Tony recalls how Williams Industries was a company once owned by Simon Williams, now the Avenger known as Iron Man. As explained in Avengers #9, Williams was forced out of business because he could compete with Stark Industries. As revealed in Marvel Premiere #55, Williams Industries assets were bought up by the Maggia.
This is not the real Madame Masque, but a bio-duplicate. The death of her father, Count Nefaria in Iron Man #116 led her to create bio-duplicates of herself to act as her proxies so she could keep herself safe from her enemies. This will be revealed in Avengers (vol. 3) #32.
Topical References
The officer who is writing up the ticket is drawn to resemble comedian and actor Steve Martin. Quite sure they’re paying homage to some role that Martin played either on television or film, but I don’t have an extensive knowledge on what they are referencing. You Google it this time. Anyway, this wouldn’t be considered a topical reference as the character is not identified as Steve Martin or whatever. It’s a homage, not a direct reference.
What is a topical reference is when Jim and Bethany land the helicopter on the Pan-Am Building, as it was known when this story was published in 1980. This building exists in real life at 200 Park Avenue. It was the Pan Am later sold the building to MetLife and eventually the name of the building was changed in 1993. As such, it being called the Pan Am building here should be considered topical.
Spymaster’s fee in this story was for $20,000. This amount should be considered topical. Adjusting for inflation this amount would be worth about $61k in 2022 money.
