The Thing Most Precious

Plagued with headaches since becoming Iron Man, Jim Rhodes has flown up to western Canada in the hopes of getting the cured.[1] He arrives at the Tsuutʼina Nation near Calgary, Alberta. There he pays a visit to the local doctor, Michael Twoyoungmen and quickly discovers that he is the Indigenous mystic known as the Shaman.

At first, Jim is reluctant to get involved in anything mystical, but is convinced to give it a shot. When Shaman touches his head and tries to reach into his mind, Jim sees an image of the universe and screams. Despite the pain, this allows the mystic to examine Jim and he determines that his illness is one of the soul. He offers two types of treatment: The first being psychology which will take time, or engage in a mystical spell that can possibly cure him much faster.

This will require Jim to travel to a mystical dimension called the Gorge where two things will happen: He will learn what is most precious to him and lose it.

Meanwhile, at Avengers Compound in California, Tony Stark is asked by Hawkeye to rejoin the Avengers. Tony flat out reuses, having decided that helping them on their recent mission was a mistake that almost cost him his life.[2] Clint understands but asks Tony if he could build a new suit of Iron Man armor since the West Coast Avengers could benefit from having a new Iron Man on the roster since they are currently understaffed. Tony is reluctant but agrees to do it since there are some new ideas he wants to try out. After Tony leaves, Clint tells Mockingbird what Stark is going to do for them. However, Barton has an ulterior motive — he hopes that once Tony finishes building this new armor he’ll want to get back in the saddle again.

In San Francisco, Bethany Cabe returns to her hotel room where she is attacked by some armed thugs. A trained body guard, she is able to knock them all out and then calls security to collect her attackers.

Six hours later, Obadiah Stane receives word of how these hired thugs failed. Worse, his mysterious female companion reports that her operative was murdered before he could go after Iron Man.[3][4] When she asks why Stane is so interested in Bethany Cabe, he tells her that he is curious why she is seeking out Tony Stark who, as far as he knows, is a pathetic drunk wallowing in his own self pity.[5]

Back in Alberta, Shaman has taken Iron Man away from town so they can embark on their mystical journey. Reaching into his medicine bag, Shaman tosses some mystical dust that transports them to the bizarre dimension known as the Gorge. There, they are almost buried by a cloudburst of rocks. Luckily, Iron Man is able to blast most of them away with his repulsors before flying himself and Shaman to safety. Once back on the ground, reality begins to shift around Jim causing Shaman to become transparent, invisible, or shrouded in darkness. Rhodes starts losing his temper when Shaman continues talking in riddles about the nature of reality. That’s when Jim starts listing off his accomplishments in life from his military service to becoming the best pilot in the world. When he begins talking about Tony Stark, he suddenly shouts Tony’s name and collapses in agony as he is struck with another headache.

That’s when Jim’s inner voice begins talking to him and tells him that he is in pain because he refuses to understand what is going on in his mind. His inner voice beacons him to walk through some nearby flames. Unafraid, Rhodes does so and as he travels deeper down the path pieces of his Iron Man armor begin to vanish. At first he is upset by this, but decides that he doesn’t need it to continues pressing onwards. Its on this journey that Jim comes to terms with the fact that, since he was a little boy, he always craved being a hero and that he envied Tony Stark for everything he had, including being Iron Man. He realizes that the headaches have been because he felt guilty for taking something that belonged to Tony. By this time, the armor is completely gone and Jim doesn’t care anymore, as far as he is concerned they can keep his armor. Jim then walks over the edge of a cliff and everything fades to black.

When Rhodes wakes up, he is finally back in the real world but without his armor. He is relieved that the headaches are finally gone. Although he doesn’t agree with a lot of what Shaman had said, he thanks the medicine man for his help. He then excuses himself because he has to go for a walk and get used to being himself again.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Shaman, Tony Stark, Obadiah Stane, Madame Masque, Bethany Cabe, Hawkeye, Mockingbird

Continuity Notes

1. Jim took over the reign of Iron Man in Iron Man #169-170. Almost immediately after he began getting plagued with headaches and mood swings. In issue #187 this was determined to be due to the fact that the cybernetic uplink in the armor wasn’t calibrated for Tony Stark’s mind and not his. All this was fixed, the headaches persisted.

2. This was because Tony went out in his original suit of Iron Man armor and almost ended up sinking in the ocean. See Iron Man #193-194.

3. This mystery woman is actually Madame Masque, or rather a bio-duplicate of her. We learn her identity in Iron Man #198. The revelation that she is a bio-duplicate and not the original happened in Avengers (vol. 3) #32.

4. This operative was the Enforcer who was murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld last issue.

5. When Stane sought to take over Stark International, part of this plan was utterly destroying Tony himself by pushing him back into drinking. This occurred over the course of Iron Man #162-173, with Tony falling off the wagon in issue #167. What Stane doesn’t know is that Tony has been clean and sober since Iron Man #182.

Topical References

• In this story, Michael Twoyoungmen is referred to as an Indian. This is a dated term dating back to the colonization of North America where the original settlers confused the native population with people from India. Today, this is widely considered an offensive term when referring to someone indigenous to North America. The correct term is now to call them Aboriginal, Native Peoples, First Nations, or after their tribe.

• In addition, Michael’s people are identified as the Sarcee here. This group of First Nations have since changed their name in 1993 to the Tsuutʼina Nation.

• While in the Gorge, Jim tells the Shaman that he fought in the “dirtiest war this country ever fought for.” He is referring to the Vietnam War. This should now be considered a topical reference. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, Jim fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict, not Veitnam.