Iron Man #152

January 3, 2022 Nick Peron

Escape from Heaven’s Hand!

Iron Man has come to Eastern Europe in the search of his girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, who was arrested as a spy by the local government.[1] She has been taken to a military facility called Heaven’s Hand. He uses to use this opportunity to test out his new stealth armor. When scanning the area for security systems, he discovers that the area around Heaven’s Hand is protected by a laser net. Worse, this discover triggers a security system that sends two drones after him. With no on-board weapons, Iron Man is forced to use his jet boots to blast the machines out of the sky, but his armor takes damage in the clash. Fearing discovery, Tony flies back across the boarder to the local Stark International facility to figure out his next move.

As he strips off his armor, Tony thinks about how he got into this situation after hearing that Bethany had been captured as a spy. Wanting to rescue her, Tony then used his connections within the international community to learn everything he could about her capture in the hopes that he use political pressure to have her released. When this didn’t work, he decided to take matters into his own hands. After getting out of his armor, Tony slips into his private office where his pilot, Jim Rhodes is fast asleep on a couch. Waking Rhodney up, Tony tells him that they are moving ahead with the next part of their plan.

At that same moment, Bethany Cabe is taken by her captors into an interrogation room where she is shocked to discover her husband, Alexander Van Tilburg is still alive.[2] She is also introduced to a Russian operative named Anatol Dubrov, who tells her that they faked her husband’s death in order to pump him for secrets about NATO sleeper agents that were operating in Eastern Europe. They attempted to use Alex’s addiction to get him to talk, but when this failed to produce results they captured her in the hopes of using her safety as leverage. Beth is surprised by this revelation and finds herself conflicted as she isn’t sure if she still loves her husband.

The following evening, Iron Man returns to Heaven’s Hand with Jim following in a stealth craft. With a full blueprint of the facility, the Avenger dives into the nearby river where he gains access through an open drain pipe that vents out water from the facility’s nuclear reactor. Once inside, he shatters the pipe, causing the reactor room to flood with water and sending its staff fleeing. Once it is safe to come out, Iron Man quickly changes out of his armor and into an officer’s uniform as a disguise. With phony credentials “Major Anton Shtark” is able to bluff his way into the cell where Bethany is being held prisoner. She plays along until they can slip away into a nearby supply closet. When Tony explains that he has come to rescue her, she tells him that her husband is still alive and needs to be saved as well. She is upset that he came because she attentionally allowed herself to get caught because she hired a team of freedom fighters to break her out after rescuing her husband. Since her plans have gone sideways, she then reveals that she knows Tony is secretly Iron Man and that she has known for quite some time.[3]

Although this news comes as a shock to Tony, he changes into Iron Man in front of her for the first time. The two then fight their way into the interrogation room where they are keeping Alex. As they are making their rescue, the hired mercenaries attack the facility. Although seeing Bethany with her husband causes momentary hesitation from Iron Man, he helps clear the guards so they can make their escape. Meeting back up with the mercenaries, Iron Man leads them to the stealth ship so they can make a quick escape. With enemy forces closing in, Iron Man tells Jim to take off while he keeps them distracted. However, while he is busy fighting the soldiers he is struck from behind by a concentrated laser blast fired by none other than the Living Laser!

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Living Laser, Jim Rhodes, Bethany Cabe, Alexander Van Tilburg

Continuity Notes

Bethany disappeared back in Iron Man #146 to go on this mission and was captured last issue.
Up until now, Beth believed her husband had died after a drug binge caused him to suffer a heart attack and crash his car, as per Iron Man #128.
Beth reveals that she had suspicions about Tony’s double identity for a while until the truth was confirmed for her by Madame Masque. That was in Iron Man #139.

Topical References

The politics and geography of this story are steeped in the Cold War as this story was written during that time period. As such, it is chocked full of topical references.

The majority of this story is stated as taking place in East Germany. Following the end of World War II, Germany was split in half with West Germany being democratic while the east became a communist nation. This is topical now since Germany was reunified in 1989. When the events of this story were recounted in the Bethany Cabe’s profile in the All-New Iron Manual #1, it is stated that this story takes place in an Eastern European country. It has been generalized so this story doesn’t need to be constantly updated with the times.
Iron Man makes a quip about things being as phony as a “two deutschmark bill”. At the time of this story, Germany’s official currency was the Deutschmark. However, this should be considered a topical reference as the currency was retired in favor of the Euro in 2002.
The Russian operative that is interrogating Alex Van Tilburg states that he works for the KGB. This should be considered topical as the KGB was disbanded during the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 and replaced with the Federal Security Service. Modern readers can assume that this operative is a member of whatever is the current Russian intelligence service is.