Iron Man #144
Sunfall
While attempting to disable a deadly space satellite created by Roxxon, Iron Man ends up in a battle with its defender, the Sunturion. However, their battle has done a lot of damage to it, causing the station core to get caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull, threatening countless lives on Earth.
Although Sunturian is reluctant to destroy his life’s work — as it could end global tensions by creating unlimited energy — Iron Man convinces him the loss of life is too great. Using his microwave powers to teleport aboard the station, Sunturion tries to activate the retro-rockets to stop its descent, but it is already too late.
With no other choice, Sunturion agrees to use his own bodily energy to super-charge Iron Man’s repulsors giving them enough power to knock the plummeting station off course so it harmlessly lands in the waters outside of Florida. When the crisis has been averted, Iron Man turns to congratulate Sunturion only to discover that he apparently sacrificed his life by depleting all of the energy that makes up his body.[1]
The next day, Tony Stark returns to work at Stark International. Checking in with his secretary, Bambi Arbogast, Tony is given an invitation to a Roxxon Oil charity golf tournament for the victims of Allantown. Disgusted by the fact that this is being covered up as an anthrax contamination, Tony tells Bambi to respond to the invitation by telling Roxxon to shove it up their asses.[2] He then tells her to hold all of his calls as he wants to be alone for a while.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Sunturion, Bambi Arbogast
Continuity Notes
This is not the end of Sunturion. His energy form was only disbursed and he manages to pull himself back together and will resurface in Iron Man Annual #9.
The Roxxon space station accidentally bombarded Allantown with microwave radiation that wiped out the entire town. See Iron Man #140 for all the grim details.
Apocalypse Then
Tony Stark has been invited to the to the Annual Conclave of Electronics Engineers and Innovators being held in Dallas, Texas. With his personal pilot Jim Rhodes, the pair almost get int a collision with a transport vehicle during take-off. Luckily, Jim’s flying skills allow them to pull back up in time although they almost crash into another approaching aircraft. Tony is grateful for Jim’s quick thinking but Rhodes insists that it’s all part of the job. The incident causes Tony to think how lucky he is to have Jim as his friend and personal pilot and thinks back to how they first met.
This happened years ago in Vietnam, when Tony was overseeing munitions tests of weapons created by Stark Industries, the same day that he stepped on the fateful trip mine that led to the birth of Iron Man. Captured by enemy soldiers under the command of Wong-Chu, Tony was forced to develop weapons along with famous inventor Professor Yinsen. As Tony’s heart was injured with shrapnel and his life in mortal jeopardy, the pair instead worked on the first suit of Iron Man armor to keep Tony’s heart beating and give them a weapon to escape captivity. Unfortunately, Wong Chu threatened to interrupt their plans just as Tony was charging up his armor for the first time, prompting Yinsen to sacrifice his own life to buy him time. Tony avenged Yinsen by killing Wong-Chu in battle and wandered off into the jungle to find his way home.[1]
Not far away, Jim Rhodes an American soldier fighting in this conflict tries in vein to repair his helicopter after it was shot down behind enemy lines. As he tries to figure out what to do next, Iron Man emerges from the jungle. Thinking this is an enemy attack, Jim opens fire with his machine gun but the bullets bounce harmlessly off Iron Man’s armor. Tony tries to convince the soldier that he’s American when they are suddenly attacked by enemy troops. Iron Man then uses his armor’s built in weapons to help defeat their attackers.
With the battle over, Iron Man convinces Jim to let him use the battery of the downed chopper to recharge his suit and the pair begin the long walk out of the jungle together. Since Jim’s leg was wounded in the fight, Iron Man carries him across the terrain, an easy task thanks to his armor. On the trek back, Iron Man protects Jim from a sniper and soon they come upon a bombed out village. Jim believes this is roughly where his chopper was shot down and they quickly discover an enemy base camouflaged by canvas made to look like ordinary jungle. Ambushing the enemy troops inside, the pair steal a helicopter and blow up the base.
Flying back to American lines, Jim contacts the base via radio and convinces the commanding officer that they are friendly before they are shot out of the sky. After they land, Iron Man uses Tony Stark’s top secret security clearance to get out of answering any embarrassing questions. Once alone, he decides that he owes Jim Rhodes his life and intends to repay him for it. A few days later, when Jim is released from the hospital, Tony Stark pays him a visit to thank him for saving Iron Man’s life. He then offers Jim a job with Stark Industries once he retires from the military. Interested, Jim tells Tony that he may just take him up on the offer.
It would be a number of years before Jim did so, and in that time Iron Man grew to be one of America’s greatest heroes. Stark Industries grew and evolved into Stark International.[2] Jim had did leave the military and had a colorful career thereafter before taking up Tony on his job offer. Jim became Tony’s personal pilot, chief aviation engineer and eventually a close friend. Having dozed off during this recollection, Jim wakes Tony up as they are arriving in Dallas. When asked if he wants to land the plane himself, Tony declines, telling Jim that he’d rather leave at to the best pilot he knows.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Jim Rhodes
Continuity Notes
This of course is a recap of Iron Man’s origins as originally told in Tales of Suspense #39. However, there is more to this story than meets the eye:
References to the Vietnam War are now considered topical. Wong Chu has since been identified as being from Sin-Cong in Avengers Spotlight #22. Rather than the Vietnam War, this origin now takes place during the Sin-Cong Conflict, per History of the Marvel Universe #2.
Wong Chu doesn’t actually die during this confrontation but rather horribly burned. He’ll turn up again in Iron Man (vol. 3) #32.
Yinsen also survived this encounter. While his physical body was buried, his brain was removed and kept alive for years as we’ll discover in Iron Man Annual 2000.
Per the Sliding Timescale, the flashback seen in this story happens about five years prior to the present day of this story.
After getting out of the munitions game circa Iron Man #50-51, Tony decided to change the name of his company and settled on Stark International in issue #73. It will retain this name until the company is bought out by Obadiah Stane who renames it Stane International, after himself. See Iron Man #173.
Topical References
Tony’s private jet is identified as a Lear. This should be considered topical as this brand was retired in 2020.
Tony is stated to be attending the 14th Annual Conclave of Engineers and Innovators that is said to be hosted at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Dallas Texas. The name of the hotel should be considered topical because of the real world branding and has changed its name many times since this story was published. Called the Park Sheraton here, at the time of this writing (January, 2022) it is now called the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.
When Jim is rhyming off American things that the enemy wouldn’t know he references soul music singer Wilson Pickett, the Big Mac, mini-skirts and complains that the New York Mets will “win the pennant” before he convinces them that he is American. These are not necessarily topical references as he is making reference to terms, products and individuals in a general sense to prove his American identity. With maybe the exception of Pickett, all of these references are ubiquitous to the American zeitgeist.
