Iron Man #143
Meter on the Sun!
While investigating what killed the entire population of Allantown, Iowa, Iron Man has ventured into Earth orbit.[1] There he discovers a massive solar power collecting satellite created by the Roxxon energy corporation. He is taking photos as evidence when suddenly the satellite is caught in a meteor shower. Using his repulsors to destroy the debris, Iron Man is helped when another man in armor arrives and begins blasting the debris with microwave energy. This man, who calls himself the Sunturion, thanks Iron Man for his help and offers to explain everything once they get inside. Rather than physically enter the space station, Sunturion surprises Iron Man by teleporting away.
Entering through an airlock, Iron Man is surprised by how sophisticated the space station is. Inside, he is greeted by Sunturion who has taken off his armor and introduces himself as Arthur Dearborn. Dearborn explains that the entire facility was of his own invention and shows the Avenger around. Iron Man is impressed with the self-contained station where Dearborn works alone. He explains that the station’s purpose is to provide unlimited energy to the Earth through the collection of solar energy that is transmitted to Earth via microwave to receiving stations set up by Roxxon. Realizing that this is what caused the disaster on the ground, Iron Man tells Arthur about Allantown. While Dearborn is horrified, he refuses to show down the satellite because the deaths are a worthy sacrifice if it means preventing the world from entering an energy crisis.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Bethany Cabe and Ling McPhearson have arranged a meeting with the Ambassador Schmidt at the German Embassy. There Bethany is told that a recent prisoner exchange with a certain Eastern European country has gotten them important information on Bethany’s late husband.[2]
While back aboard the Roxxon space station, Iron Man’s discovery has also left the station vulnerable to detection prompting the Russians to send attack satellite to destroy it. Arthur then surprises Iron Man by being able to suddenly change into Sunturion and teleport outside to meet this threat. Unsure how Dearborn is able to pull off these stunts, Iron Man decides to go back into space and help Sunturion fight off the Russian attack satellites so he can get some more answers. While Iron Man holds his own with the various gadgets built into his space armor, Sunturion surprises once again by being able to channel massive amounts of microwave energy from his entire body. With the drones destroyed, Sunturion then detects where their commands are coming from. Using his teleportation ability, Sunturion quickly appears in the Russian facility that detected the Roxxon satellite and destroys their computers to prevent further attacks and eliminate evidence of his satellite’s existence.
When Dearborn returns to the station and reverts back to human form, he receives a call from his boss, Jonas Hale.[3] Hale wants to know what’s keeping him from beginning the next transmission of energy to the Earth. That’s when Iron Man reveals his presence and that he has collected evidence to prove Roxxon’s illegal activities. In order to preserve evidence, the Avenger also reveals that he removed the self-destruct device to prevent Hale from detonating the entire station. When Iron Man tries to get Dearborn to help him expose Roxxon, Arthur refuses. He explains that he sacrificed a lot to make his dream come true. He explains that while he designed his station for Roxxon they refused to build it because having a manner crew would have been too expensive to maintain. In response to this, Dearborn agreed to undergo a process to transform him into living microwave energy, allowing him to operate the space station without the company the expense. His energy form was then contained within the Sunturion armor that he now wears. Having sacrificed his own humanity to realize his dream, Dearborn refuses to destroy his life’s work.
Iron Man insists that the space station needs to be shut down before more lives are lost and goes outside to do just that. Dearborn can’t let the Avenger do this and transforms into Sunturion and attacks him outside. Unfortunately, his attempt to stop Iron Man causes more damage to the station then expected, causing the core to break free from its solar panels. Caught in the planet’s gravitational pull, the station begins to plummet back to Earth.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Sunturion, Bethany Cabe, Ling McPhearson, Jonas Hale
Continuity Notes
The people of Allantown were snuffed out in Iron Man #140.
Beth was previously married to Alexander Van Tilburg, a diplomat who struggled with addiction. She was led to believe that her husband died after he suffered a heart attack and drove his car off a bridge as a result of his substance abuse, as revealed in Iron Man #128. Although what the Germany embassy knows about her husband is kept secret here, it’s later revealed in Iron Man #152-153 that he is still alive and had been kept prisoner by a communist government (see below) to learn NATO secrets.
A footnote here reminds readers that Hale was last seen in Iron Man #120-121.
Topical References
In this story, Bethany is depicted as going to the West German Embassy for news on her husband Alex Van Tilburg, who is identified as a West German Ambassador. This should be considered a topical reference due to the fact that East and West Germany no longer exist and the two separate states reunified in 1989. The Bethany Cabe profile in All-New Iron Manual #1 now intentionally vague about what country is involved in the Van Tilburg plot thread choosing to refer to it as an Eastern European nation. Short of inventing a new fictional conflict (eg: The Sin-Cong Conflict) this seems like the best solution tor resolve the anachronisms in this story.
