Iron Man #170
And Who Shall Clothe Himself in Iron?
Stark International is under attack by the villain known as Magma and Tony Stark is too drunk to do anything about it.[1] Having just learned his boss and best friend was also secretly Iron Man, Jim Rhodes is forced to put on the armor and save the company.
However, Jim stops short of putting on Iron Man’s helmet on. This is because he just realized that becoming Iron Man leaves a lot about the future in question. Despite the fact that he is in over his head, Jim realizes that there is no other choice since Tony is passed out drunk. Putting on the helmet, Jim is relieved to discover that a lot of the armor’s functions are mentally controlled through a cybernetic connection. Still, he has no idea what the armor’s full capabilities are and goes to find someone who can figure that out for him. He finds a new employee named Morley Erwin and asks him to help.
Meanwhile, news of Magma’s attack at Stark International reaches Obadiah Stane, a business rival who has been trying to steal Tony’s company. He is amused to hear this and orders Indries Moomji, one of his operatives, to dispatch the Knight to join the battle.[2]
Back at Stark International, Erwin Morley is excited for the opportunity to examine the inner workings of Iron Man’s armor, and is glad he chose to work here instead of his other options. With the information imparted by Morley, Jim is able to control the Iron Man armor just well enough to face off against Magma. When he can’t damage the villain’s battle platform he attempts to blow it up by detonating a tank of liquid oxygen. Unfortunately, this doesn’t even scratch Magma’s machine.
Elsewhere, technicians finally manage to get the power back on after Tony Stark caused an overload earlier that evening. The return of electricity finally wakes Tony up from his drunken stupor and when he sees Jim battling Magma on the security monitors he believes its some kind of impostor trying to ruin his reputation. Deciding to put on one of his other suits of armor, Tony tries to open the combination lock but is too intoxicated to remember what the code is.
Back outside, Jim isn’t getting anywhere in his fight with Magma and retreats to see if Morley can figure anything that might give him an edge in battle. Unfortunately, Erwin’s examination of Iron Man’s circuitry only reveals that they are too sophisticated for him to make any sense of. By this time, Magma has turned his attention to the building that houses Tony Stark’s private lab. Seeing this on the monitors, Tony begins to get frantic because he can’t get to his suits of armor. However, Jim — as Iron Man — returns to resume his fight with Magma. That’s when Knight arrives on the scene and instead of attacking Iron Man, he fires a device that incapacitates Magma’s battle platform.
Witnessing this from afar, Indries asks why Obadiah Stane was actively stopping Magma instead of helping him destroy Stark International. Stane explains that he is in the process of buying Stark International and wants something left to own afterwards.
By this time, Magma has abandoned his battle station and forced his way into Tony Stark’s private lab. Inside he is amused to find Tony Stark incredibly drunk wearing nothing but his underwear. Jim comes to his rescue and is finally able to defeat Magma when he depletes the his ammunition supply. Turning the villain over to the authorities, Jim then uses Iron Man’s armor to dump Magma’s battle platform at a local scrapyard.
When Jim gets back to Stark International, Tony has sobered up enough to shower and shave. However, Jim is shocked when Tony says that he’s giving up being Iron Man because he is tired of fighting all the time. Rather than deal with the problems plaguing his company, Tony instead goes out to drink with some starlet.
Tony’s departure leaves Jim wondering what to do. Remembering that Iron Man has an upcoming meeting with the Avengers he decides the only thing he can do at the moment is to call them and tell them that because of the recent problems at Stark International, Iron Man is going to be quitting the Avengers.[3]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Tony Stark, Morley Erwin, Bambi Arbogast, Magma, Obadiah Stane, Indries Moomji, Knight, Wasp (voice only)
Continuity Notes
Another issue where shit is going off the rails. The facts:
Tony Stark had struggled with alcohol until going sober in Iron Man #128.
Since issue #162, Obadiah Stane has been trying to destroy Tony Stark and take over his company. Part of this plan was to drive him back into alcoholism. This plan succeeded in issue #167. Tony won’t sober up until after a brush with death in Iron Man #182.
Tony revealed his secret identity to Jim last issue when he was too sloshed to stop Magma and decided to give up, forcing Jim to take on the mantle.
That Knight’s real name is unrevealed here. He is identified as Raleigh Halward in Iron Manual Mark 3 #1.
This telephone conversation can bee seen from the perspective of the Avengers in Avengers #231.
Topical References
Morley Erwin lists off a number of different places he could have worked instead of Stark International. They include IBM, Burroughs Computers and Data General. These are all real world companies and their referencing here should be considered topical. Particularly in the case of Burroughs and Data General as these companies have been defunct since 1986 and 1999 respectively.
Tony decides to go out drinking at a place called the Oak Room. There were two such businesses by that name in New York City at the time this story was published. One was at the Algonquin Hotel and the other at the Plaza. They both closed a year apart from one another in 2011 (the Plaza) and 2012( the Algonquin). As such this should be considered a topical reference.
