Iron Man #159
When Strikes Diablo!
Hearing a news report about commuters stranded on the Roosevelt Island Tramway, Iron Man races to the scene and rescues them just as the tram cables break, saving everyone on board. With his job over, Iron Man then flies back to Stark International to carry out his duties as Tony Stark.
He arrives at the same time as a company shuttle bus arrives with a load of employees reporting for work. Among them is a janitor Al Bido, who is having a hard time remembering his past. When Tony arrives at his office he is met by Vic Martinelli, the head of security. Vic is concerned about Al Bido, since nobody seems to remember hiring him and a background check turned up no record of him existing prior to coming to work as Stark International. Looking at a photo of the middle aged janitor, Tony doesn’t see anything menacing about him, but decides to look into it anyway.
At that moment, Al Bedo is mopping the floor in a nearby lab where a team of scientists are trying to figure out a chemical formula. Al surprises everyone when he is able to crack the secret with a second though. When they ask the janitor how he could have known such a complex formula, he admits that he just knew somehow. Seeing this, Tony has Al taken to the company psychiatrist for a mental evaluation. When under examination, Al is asked to try to think back to his past and suddenly, he remembers everything.
Before this, he was actually the alchemist known as Diablo, a long standing enemy of the Fantastic Four. He recounts how during his last battle with the foursome ended in defeat thanks to the intervention with the sorcerer known as Doctor Strange.[1] Although the Fantastic Four were taking Diablo into custody, Strange didn’t believe that any facility could properly hold him. Instead, Strange used his magical powers to teleport Diablo away and transform him into Al Bido, a nondescript janitor working at Stark International with no memory of his past. Now remembering his past, Diablo returns to his normal form and knocks out the doctor.[2] Then, disguising himself as Tony Stark, Diablo orders everyone out of the lab so he can get to work on getting revenge.
A few hours later, the real Tony Stark is working in his private lab when he gets a call from Vic Martinelli, telling him that there’s trouble on the property. Tony changes into Iron Man to see what’s going on.[3] When he arrives at the main lab, he is attacked by a two headed dragon created by Diablo’s alchemical mixtures. However, this monster is quickly destroyed by Iron Man’s repulsor rays. Attacking Iron Man directly, Diablo pits his alchemical potions against the super-science of Iron Man’s armor. However, for every elemental attack the alchemist creates, Iron Man has a device in his armor to counter its effects. When wind, ice, and fire fail, Diablo creates a creature out of stone that hits Iron Man with sufficient force that sends him crashing through the ground and into his private lab.
Here, Diablo uses his power to animate all of Tony Stark’s previous Iron Man armors. Although he is outnumbered, Tony’s current suit of armor proves superior to all the other previous models and he quickly trashes them. In one last ditch effort to stop his foe, Diablo tosses a vial that causes the air around Iron Man to solidify, rendering him immobile. Diablo then tries to punch Iron Man. Telegraphing it from a mile away, Diablo gives Iron Man enough time to electrify the outside of his armor, giving Diablo a shock powerful enough to knock him out when his punch lands. In the aftermath of the battle, Iron Man contacts the Fantastic Four who come by to pick up Diablo into custody again. When the Invisible Girl asks where Tony Stark is, the Thing figures that Stark is probably off somewhere being a playboy with no care in the world. Amused by this, Iron Man tells the Thing that he doesn’t know the half of it.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Diablo, Bambi Arbogast, Vic Martinelli, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing)
Continuity Notes
Diablo’s defeat at the hand of the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange happened in Fantastic Four #236.
Here, Diablo tells the psychologist that his mother was a witch. It’s unclear if this was a factual statement or a joke. As of this writing (January, 2022) the true identity of Diablo’s parents have not been revealed nor have their own backgrounds been explored.
There are various suits of armor on display in this issue that Diablo later animates using his alchemical powers they are:
Iron Man’s original suit of armor that was created in Tales of Suspense #39.
The gold painted variant of his original armor that first appeared in Tales of Suspense #40.
There are two version of his second suit of armor. One with the original “horned” helmet from Tales of Suspense #48 and another with the “rivetted” helmet first seen in Tales of Suspense #54.
Lastly, the third generation of Iron Man armor that was first constructed in Tales of Suspense #66.
Topical References
Iron Man is depicted flying between the original twin towers of the World Trade Center in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.
Tony asks his secretary to set up a lunch meeting as Sardi’s, a popular continental restaurant located in Manhattan. This should be be considered topical as it is a real world business.
