Iron Man #196 — Nick Peron

Jan 3

Jan 3 Iron Man #196

In a mystical dimension called the Gorge, Jim Rhodes has finally cured himself of his painful headaches.[1] This has come at the cost of leaving his Iron Man armor behind. The presence of the armor attracts the attention of an entity called Omnos. It examines the armor and takes on a humanoid form in order to inhabit it. Curious about its owner, Omnos crosses out of the Gorge dimension to find them.

At that moment, at the Tsuutʼina Nation in Alberta, Canada, Jim Rhodes is told by Shaman that he cannot go back to the Gorge dimension to recover the lost suit of Iron Man armor. Shaman explains that this was the price he had to pay for the cure to his headaches. That’s when he senses the presence of Omnos and warns Rhodes that it is seeking out Tony Stark.

While at Avengers Compound in California, Tony Stark has decided to shave off his beard. He explains to Hawkeye that it was a statement to who he was and now he is changing as a person again, it’s not who is currently is.[2] Going back to the lab, he continues working on a new suit of armor he has been commissioned to build for the Avengers. When Clint asks about who will wear it, Tony hopes that Jim Rhodes will continue being Iron Man. That’s when Clint asks what happened to the armor that Tony was wearing when they fought Doctor Demonicus. Stark explains that he had to ditch it when he landed in the ocean in order to prevent himself from drowning and figures its on the ocean floor.[3]

At that very moment, the mutated form of Godzilla returns to the headquarters the undersea headquarters of Doctor Demonicus.[4] He is surprised to see that the monster has returned with Iron Man’s suit of armor. Demonicus is pleased and rushes off to examine the armor and learn its functions so he can turn it against its creator. At that same moment, Omnos is making its way to California, almost killing a couple on a hot air balloon ride in the process.

By this time, Jim Rhodes has returned to Avengers Compound to apologize to Tony for losing his armor. Tony doesn’t think anything of it and doesn’t think that Jim’s career as Iron Man is over just yet. That’s when Hawkeye comes barging into the room telling them to turn on the TV. They catch a news report about the Omnos almost killing the couple which includes an interview with Obadiah Stane. Stane tells the viewing audience that he hopes that Iron Man must be stopped.

Since this is his armor running amok, Tony believes its upon him to stop it. With his new suit of Iron Man armor still incomplete, Tony fashions himself a make-shift costume so he can keep his identity secret while he goes out to deal with this new threat. Tony, Jim and Hawkeye then take a Quinjet and head back to Circuits Maximus, unaware that they are being followed by Doctor Demonicus, who is following them in a ship of his own. Morley and Clytemnestra Erwin are happy to see Tony and Jim are back safe and sound. However, when Morley tries to tell Tony that Bethany Cabe recently came by looking for him, Cly shuts him up because she is jealous of her.[5] Going inside to figure out their next move, Tony assures the Morley’s that he’ll be focusing on his job at Circuits Maximus once this Iron Man business is all sorted out.

However, the search ends before it can even begin as Omnos arrives on the scene and is attacked by Doctor Demonicus, who is now wearing Tony’s original armor. In order to stop the battle, Tony runs to the Quinjet alone and takes to the air. He engages the two Iron Men in battle, and manages to defeat them by magnetizing their armors causing the two to stick together and fall to the ground. While doing so, Tony ends up falling out of the Quinjet but is able to break his fall by the new set of repulsor rays he built. With the battle over, the then begin to unmask the two Iron Men to figure out who they are. The first is Demonicus and when they remove the other suit Tony is enveloped in a flash of blue light for a brief moment. Unsure of what happened, they are surprised to see that the other suit of armor was apparently empty.

However, Jim heard something in his mind when Omnos made contact with Tony, it was the words “you’re welcome.”

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Doctor Demonicus, Tony Stark, Morley Erwin, Cly Erwin, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Obadiah Stane, Godzilla, Shaman

Continuity Notes

Since becoming Iron Man in Iron Man #169-170, Jim had been plagued with headaches and mood swings. This, as explained in issue #187, was caused by the cybernetic interface in the Iron Man armor not being calibrated for his mind. Although this was fixed, Jim was still plagued with headaches until he was cured last issue.
Tony grew a beard while plunging the depths of alcoholism from Iron Man #167-182.
Tony was forced to wear his original Iron Man armor to help the West Coast Avengers fight Demonicus in Iron Man #193-194.
Godzilla is not mentioned by name here, but this is intended to be a mutated version of the monster that appeared in Godzilla #1-24. The reason why he’s not mentioned by name is because Marvel no longer had the license to the character.
Bethany Cabe has been looking for Tony since issue #193. This is because she is trying to reconcile the feelings she has for both Tony and her soon-to-be ex-husband Alex Van Tillburg. See Iron Man #205 and 207-208.