Iron Man #183
All Kinds of Fear
The Taurus Life Model Decoy has been dispatched to the hideout of Cornelius Van Lunt, the Taurus of the Zodiac crime cartel, in order to kill him on behalf of the Maggia. Van Lunt is tipped off by one of his scientists. This is bad time for Cornelius as he is about to implement his latest scheme.
Meanwhile, upstate, Iron Man is testing out the new gear he got on Battleworld fighting in the Secret Wars.[1] However, the equipment fails to work properly. Morley Erwin figures that the devices are just not compatible to work on the planet Earth. Getting frustraited, Jim decides to dump the armor. However, this leaves him temporarily without repulsor rays, but Rhodey figures he can get by with his armor’s uni-beam. Morely suggests they ask Tony Stark to build him new ones, but Jim kiboshes that idea since Tony has just recently went sober and doesn’t want to cause him undue stress right away.[3] When Morley presses the issue, Jim snaps at him and flies off, leaving Erwin to wonder what has gotten into his friend.[4]
Back at Van Lunt’s hideout, the Zodiac leader begins to panic as the LMD continues to make his way to the control room. With his communications line down, he is forced to use the phone to call for help.
Later, Jim Rhodes has returned to his apartment where he is popping Asprin to deal with his headaches. He’s telling Cly Erwin how he is sorry for snapping at her brother earlier when, suddenly, the phone rings. The call is from Regis Fusskey, who wants to hire Iron Man to protect one of the buildings he owns without causing it any damage. Since Jim and the Morely siblings are getting close to making the money they need to begin their tech start-up, Jim is able to bargain up his fee with Fusskey.
In order to make up for the loss of his repulsor rays, Jim has a metal worker build him some metal gauntlets so at least his hands will be protected in battle. As he arrives outside Fusskey’s building, he spots some mobsters climbing into the sewers and follows after them. They lead him into the underground entrance of Van Lundt’s hideout. There, he rescues the scientist working for Cornelius. After saving the scientists life, he tells Iron Man about how Van Lundt is being targeted by the Maggia for assassination.[5]
Upstairs, Cornelius is trying to repel his would-be assassin with a powerful cannon. However, the Life Model Decoy easily shrugs off the attack. Luckily, Iron Man arrives just in time to save Van Lundt. Carrying the crime boss to safety, Iron Man battles the Life Model Decoy, something that proves very difficult without his repulsors. Even knocking the android off the roof of the building does little damage. Fighting the robot on the street, Jim begins to wonder what Tony Stark would do in his situation. Coincidentally enough, Tony is passing by the scene on his way back from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with some new sober friends. Watching Jim fighting for his life, Tony wonders if there is anything he could do to help.
However, the tables quickly turn when the Taurus LMD grabs Iron Man in a bear hug. Jim quickly activates the laser in his uni-beam that completely trashes the android. As the gathered audience begins to cheer, Jim takes a bow. Seeing how much his friend loves being Iron Man, Tony turns and leaves without making his presence known. While on the roof above, Cornelius Van Lundt watches the crowd below. He has deduced that Fusskey hired Iron Man to save him and fear that the hero might interfere with his plans and decides to find out how Regis got into contact with him.
Later, Jim gets a cheque for just the amount he and the Morley’s needed for their tech start-up. That’s when Cly tells them that they will be relocating to California since Silicon Valley is the ideal place for them to set up business and tells the boys to get packing while she rents a truck.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Taurus (Van Lundt), Taurus (LMD), Maggia, Tony Stark, Morley Erwin, Cly Erwin
Continuity Notes
Jim had just recently returned after being kidnapped by the Beyonder in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. He got the armor upgrade in issue #8 of that series.
This is not the last we see of Iron Man’s Secret Wars gear. This technology is actually sentient and transforms into the killer robot called Omnivore some time later. See Quasar #8.
Tony Stark fell off the wagon back in Iron Man #167. After spiraling out of control for months he finally decided to get sober again last issue.
Jim’s mood swings, change in behavior and headaches are because the cybernetic connection to Iron Man’s armor was calibrated for Tony Stark’s mind, not Jim’s as explained in Iron Man #187. He will later be cured of his headaches in issue #195.
Jim recalls how the Zodiac crime cartel once held the entire city hostage. That was back in Avengers #82.
Topical References
In this story, Cly states that they need another $20,000 to start up their new business. Fusskey offers Jim $10,000 to protect his building before Jim talks him up to $20k. At the end of the story he’s actually paid $18,050. These amounts, adjusting for inflation, would be worth $53,667.37, $26,833.69, and $48,434.80 in 2022 money respectively.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.