Iron Man #191
The Iron Destiny
Jim Rhodes has been growing increasingly paranoid and irrational. Consumed with rage, he trashes some trees near the Circuits Maximus headquarters. This draws out his colleagues, Tony Stark, Morley Erwin and his sister Clytemnestra come out to question his judgement. Jim explains that this was necessary for future growth of their company. [1] When they point out how irrational he is being, Jim gets annoyed and flies away.
Going back inside, Tony admits he’s not sure what Jim has become and, upon looking at the suit of Iron Man armor he has built, Tony isn’t sure who he is anymore.[2] Tony says that regardless of the fact that he built this armor, he doesn’t intend on wearing it. This is because he believes that the armor was one of the things that drove him into alcoholism.[3] He only built the armor — a reproduction of his original Iron Man suit — was a form of work therapy to keep his hands busy.
Meanwhile, Iron Man arrives at the West Coast Avengers compound. He is greeted Tigra who becomes concerned when he suddenly screams in pain. This is yet another headache he has suffered since becoming Iron Man but dismisses it as nothing and goes inside until the pain subsides.[4] Once again, Jim is convinced that Tony Stark lied about fixing this problem and figures this is an attempt at taking back the Iron Man armor and vows to prevent this from happening.
At that moment, the authorities from Nevada are transferring Vibro back to California to stand trail for his crime, little realizing that his powers are tied into the San Andreas fault line. When the plane lands, Vibro’s powers come back and he uses them to escape custody. He ends up crossing paths with Tony, Morley and Cly, who just happen to be driving by on their way to find Jim so they can talk things out. When the Erwin’s suggest going after him and that Tony fight him in the armor they have in the trunk, Tony refuses as it is too dangerous. Seeing that Vibro is heading to a nearby airshow, they turn around so they can alert the authorities.[4]
After calling the cops, they head to Avengers Compound where they are greeted by Tigra and brought to Iron Man.[6] When they tell Iron Man that Vibro is loose again, he takes off to deal with him. Seeing how Jim is still acting irrational, Tony realizes that telling him about Vibro has put innocent people at risk. Morley once again pressures Tony to put on his armor once again to save lives, but Tony still can’t bring himself to do it.
Meanwhile, Iron Man searches the area for Vibro. In his unhinged mind, Jim trashes a barn thinking Vibro is hiding there before heading to the air show. There he begins blasting planes with his uni-beam, thinking his foe is still hiding. This causes a panic that isn’t helped by Iron Man’s complete disregard for people’s safety. Tony and the others hear reports of the battle on the radio as they race to the airshow. With their worst fears realized, Morley decides that if Tony isn’t going to step in, he’ll put the armor on instead. However, this makes Tony realize that he has no other choice but become Iron Man once more.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man (Stark), Iron Man (Rhodes), Morley Erwin, Cly Erwin, Vibro
Continuity Notes
Jim mockingly asks Tony if he remembers his former company, Stark International. Tony lost his company to Obadiah Stane after a hostile take over. See Iron Man #162-173.
Tony is recreating the original suit of armor he fist made in Tales of Suspense #39. The last model of this suit was destroyed along with Tony’s other spare suits of armor to prevent them from falling into the hands of Obadiah Stane. See Iron Man #174-175.
Tony had just recently gotten over a bout of alcoholism from Iron Man #167-182. In reality, the reason Tony has a drinking problem is due to generational trauma passed on from his adopted father, Howard Stark, who also had a drinking problem. See Iron Man #315. See below for more on this.
As revealed in Iron Man #187, the source of Jim’s headaches and personality change is due to the fact that the cybernetic interface in the Iron Man armor wasn’t properly calibrated for his brain. Although Tony fixed the issue, Jim will continue suffering from the negative side effects until he is ultimately cured in issue #195.
Here, it is recounted that Vibro got his powers in a scientific accident. This happened in Iron Man #186.
Tigra is really surprised to see Tony Stark. This is because she knew that Tony was the original Iron Man after learning his identity in Avengers #216-217.
Topical References
The airshow has displays put on by aircraft manufacturers Beechcraft and Cessna. This should be considered topical references, as they are real world business. Particularly Cessna which became defunct in 2014.
The Root Cause of Tony’s Drinking Problem
Between Iron Man #191 and 200, Tony blames his alcoholism on being Iron Man and this creates his aversion for taking on the mantle again. However, this is later refuted in Iron Man #315 when it’s revealed that Tony’s problem drinking stems from generational trauma. His adopted father, Howard Stark, was an alcoholic and abusive and this in turn created his own addiction issues.
How does one reconcile these conflicting explanations? Well, addiction is a complex issue and more of then than not it takes a lot of soul searching and professional help identify the root causes. Understanding and accepting the root cause can be difficult to ascertain, particularly if the person with the problem is resistant to seeking help. At this point in Tony’s journey back into sobriety, he hasn’t really had a whole lot of time to process how he allowed himself to fall off the wagon.
By the time he admits the childhood trauma linked to his addictions, Tony had been going to Alcoholics Anonymous for some time. One could assume that Tony didn’t recognize the real reason for his drinking problems until much later and much soul searching and treatment for his addictions. His inability to identify the root cause in this story is likely because he hasn’t really explored it yet. Blaming it on being Iron Man makes some logical sense because he has been Iron Man for a long time and his double-identity has been the root cause of so many of his current problems that drawing this conclusion was probably easier to make this early in his stage of recovery.