The Choice and the Challenge

While on a solo flight in an Avengers Quinjet, Tigra almost crashes into a massive mutated dinosaur, once known as Godzilla, that emerges from the Pacific Ocean.[1] This causes her to crash land on a nearby island. She sends a distress call to Avengers Compound in California, however she is unsure if it’ll get through in the heavy storm.

On the mainland, Jim Rhodes arrives at Circuits Maximus to return the Iron Man armor he’s been wearing to Tony Stark. However, Tony doesn’t want it, because he believes it was the cause of his recent alcoholic bender and tells Jim to keep it as he has earned it.[2] Tony has also arranged for a meeting between Jim and Hank Pym in the hopes that Hank can cure Rhodes of the headaches of he has had since becoming Iron Man.

Back on the remote Pacific Island, Doctor Demonicus — the man responsible for mutating Godzilla, has become aware that there is an intruder on his island. Fearing that this might lead to a discovery of his ongoing plans for world domination, he orders his men to find Tigra and kill her. While not far away, Tigra continues to try and contact her allies in the Avengers.

Later, at Avengers Compound, Hawkeye and Mockingbird — aka Clint Barton and Bobbie Morse — are beginning to worry as they have not heard back from Tigra. That’s when Tony Stark — wearing his original Iron Man armor — arrives and tells them that Iron Man is taking a leave of absence from the team. Hawkeye is not quick to trust this stranger and Tony decides to reveal his true identity to prove that he’s telling the truth and not a threat. Hawkeye is shocked to discover that Stark was Iron Man this whole time and quickly explains that Jim Rhodes has become his replacement.[3] That’s when the distress call from Tigra comes in. Unfortunately it is garbled and they can’t get a fix on their position. Deciding to go out looking for her, Hawkeye invites Tony to tag along. However, Stark refuses telling them that he quit being a superhero. This angers Hawkeye who storms off before Tony can fully explain himself. However, he wonders if Clint would ever understand the trials he faced over the last few months when he was spiraling deeper and deeper into alcoholism.[4]

However, Tony realizes that he can’t just stand back and do nothing after he hears Hawkeye call for Wonder Man to come help when he gets back. He then climbs aboard a spare Quinjet and follows Hawkeye’s signal to help in the search.

Back on the island, Demonicus has found Tigra’s Quinjet and has Godzilla smash it. However, they find nobody in the wreckage as Tigra managed to escape to a nearby village. Unfortunately, none of the locals speak English, leaving the cat-woman wondering what her next move will be.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Mockingbird are en route to the island. During the flight, Bobbi looks through their database to figure out who could be using giant mutated monsters to attack one of their teammates and correctly singles out Doctor Demonicus.[5] When their scanners pick up an underwater fortress, it begins to fire missiles at their Quinjet. Although they can outrace the missiles, their ship is damaged in the explosion, forcing them to splash down on the ocean. Tony Stark arrives and rescues Hawkeye and Mockingbird from their stalled out Quinjet. Clint is glad that Tony had a change of heart and they continue their search for Tigra.

Simultaneously, in New York City, Bethany Cabe arrives at Tony Stark’s old apartment. There, the doorman tells her that Tony was evicted some time ago.[6]

Back in the pacific, Godzilla is unleashed on the island villagers who flee in panic. Tigra gets between the monster and the villagers, prompting the creature to grab her off the ground. When the other Avengers arrive on the scene, Hawkeye fires an explosive arrow into Godzilla’s maw, hurting it enough to make it drop Tigra. As Tony lands the plane, he worries that Hawkeye and Mockingbird won’t be able to handle the situation. The couple split up, with Mockingbird going after Doctor Demonicus and his men. Although she knocks out his henchmen, the mad scientist flees the scene.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye tries to handle Godzilla on his own. However, Tony arrives on the scene in his Iron Man armor and carries the monster out to sea. The strain on his power supply is incredibly and Tony fears that if he doesn’t ditch the monster soon he may fall into the ocean and sink like a stone. Back on the island, Hawkeye and Mockingbird’s search for Demonicus turns up nothing. When Iron Man doesn’t return, Clint fears that they won’t be able to find him in the middle of the ocean.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man (Stark), Iron Man (Rhodes), Doctor Demonicus, Godzilla, Bethany Cabe, West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Tigra), Captain America, Obadiah Stane

Continuity Notes

1. Although this is not outright stated, this creature is the Marvel Universe version of Godzilla last seen in Godzilla #1-24. The reason why it’s not mentioned here is that Marvel’s license to the Godzilla franchise had long since elapsed. While the monster continues to appear in other stories he is never mentioned by name.

2. Lots of drama around Tony and Jim. Here are the details:

   • Tony has just recently recovered from a bender that lasted from Iron Man #167 through 182.

   • During that time, Jim took on the mantle of Iron Man starting in issue #169-170.

   • Since becoming Iron Man, Jim had been afflicted with headaches and changes to his personality. This was because the cybernetic interface for the Iron Man armor wasn’t properly calibrated for his mind. This was revealed in issue #187 and fixed, but the issue continued to persist. Jim will be cured in issue #195.

   • As a result, Jim became increasingly unhinged leading to a battle between him and Tony in issues #191-192.

   • Here, Tony blames his alcoholism on the pressures of being Iron Man. However, he later realizes that the root cause was actually generational trauma passed along to him by his abusive alcoholic stepfather, as detailed in Iron Man #313.

3. It is mentioned here that Tony Stark was one of the founding members of the Avengers. This happened way back in Avengers #1.

4. Here we see a montage of flashbacks of Tony’s bender: When he was unable to access his Iron Man armor because he was too drunk to remember the password (Iron Man #169-170), When Captain America saved him from a burning building (issue #172), his business being taken over by Obadiah Stane (issue #173), and almost dying on the street in the middle of winter (issue #182).

5. Here, Bobbi states that Demonicus had a run in with SHIELD recently. This is in reference to his appearance in Shogun Warriors #12-14 (this story only references issue #14) However, SHIELD also clashed with Demonicus in Godzilla #4-5.

6. The reason why Bethany is out looking for Tony is because she is trying to reconcile her feelings between him and her husband, Alex Van Tilburg. She will ultimately decide to divorce her husband. See Iron Man #205, 207-208.