Revelations

Having grown close to Obadiah Stane, Madame Masque has decided that there should be no secrets between the two of them. To this end, she removes her mask so he can see her true face.[1] He is not the least bit put off by it and the two embrace. She convinces Obadiah to open up about his past and how he came to become the man he is today.

He tells her that it all began about twenty years ago. After his mother died, he and his father lived out of a hotel room. His father was a compulsive gambler. One day, he came home after winning a lot of money playing Russian roulette. Figuring this is his ticket to providing everything his son could ever want. Tragically, Stane the elder ended up blowing his own brains out after trying to show his son how easy it was to win.[2]

Although he was there to witness his father’s death, Obadiah’s take away from this experience was that life is a high stakes game and that one does not lose as everything is on the line. Never wanting to become a loser like his father, Obadiah made sure he would always win no matter what, and that he is not above cheating to achieve his goals. Escorting Madame Masque to his lab, he introduces her to Doctor Theron Atlanta, whom Stane liberated from a mental health facility so he can assist on an experiment he wishes to conduct on his prisoner, Bethany Cabe, one-time girlfriend of Tony Stark.

Meanwhile, at Circuits Maximus in California, Tony Stark blames himself for not being able to prevent Bethany from being kidnapped. Jim Rhodes also blames himself as he was too busy dealing with Thundersword to lend a hand. This angers Clytemnestra Erwin, their business partner, who tells the two to stop moaning over it and do something.

Back at Stane International, Obadiah Stane continues explaining his motivations and his childhood. He explains that Tony Stark wasn’t worth killing, as utterly destroying him in every other aspect and letting him live out the rest of his life in misery was more fulfilling to him. This also stems from his childhood. He explains that by age 8, he had lost all of his hair from the trauma of seeing his father die in front of him. He was teased by the other children so he became a recluse and began focusing on games that required skill and intelligence. He excelled at chess and was one of the best in his class. However, he soon met his match in a fellow student named Bernie Devlin. After losing the penultimate match in a school tournament, Stane began observing his opponent to find his weakness. He found it in the boy’s pet dog, Ruffer. Stane murdered the beloved pet and stuffed it in Devlin’s locker. The discovery deeply upset Bernie and affected his concentration that Stane was able to beat him in the chess match later that day. He learned that the best way to win was learning an opponents weakness and exploit it. When he learned that Tony Stark was an alcoholic he used that to destroy his enemy.[3]

In California, Tony and his friends go out shopping so they aren’t planning Bethany’s rescue on an empty stomach. When they pass by a wine shop, Tony fights the urge to drink. He tells his friends how he almost gave up on life when he was on his bender until he finally decided to live. Now he takes everything a day at a time.

Back at Stane International, Obadiah shows Madame Masque the decide he will use to destroy Iron Man once and for all, the Circuits Breaker. It’s here, that Masque reveals to Stane that Tony Stark is Iron Man, something that Obadiah always suspected. Madame Masque is not sure this is an adequate means of destroying Iron Man as her informants have advised her that Tony Stark has stopped drinking, and points out that a sober Tony Stark is a threat. However, she is committed to trying to kill Tony because she blames him for tossing her aside and murdering her father.[4]

Stane warns her that such uncontrolled passions are dangerous and relates to another part of his past. As a young man, he worked for a business whose owner — in his opinion — was an incompetent. The owner of the company that had a wife that was 20 years his junior. Stane destroyed his boss by doctoring photos of his wife having an affair with his best friend allowing him to taking leadership of the company for himself. From there, Obadiah got into the arms manufacturing business where he made his fortune selling to the highest bidder. He treated business like a chess game, even creating his own army of minions called the Chessmen to be his secret enforcers. That’s when he started targeting Tony Stark and Iron Man. His story is interrupted when a sensor he planted at Circuits Maximus informs him that Stark and his allies are all at the building, he then activates the Circuits Breaker and sends it to California to attack them.

When the Circuits Breaker arrives and begins its attack, both Tony and Jim change into their Iron Man armors and head out to face the killer drone. The Circuits Breaker is modular and is able to split into two components so it can more effectively fight its two targets. Tony tries his best to hold his own against the Circuits Breaker, but his original armor is not as sophisticated as the suit that Jim is wearing. Luckily, Rhodes is able to destroy the two drone components before they can melt Tony’s armor. Observing this battle remotely, Obadiah Stane isn’t the least bit bothered by the Circuits Breaker’s failure as he has other plans in motion. While Madame Masque’s guard is down, Stane injects her with a sedative that knocks her out.

The following day, Tony Stark is trying to salvage his armor but it is completely useless. When Clytemnestra suggests that he finish the new suit of armor he has been building at Avengers Compound, but he assures her that he will never become Iron Man again. While on the east coast, Bethany Cabe emerges from the lab and greets Obadiah Stane, the two immediately begin kissing.[5] Stane is deeply amused by the wonderful time he has planned ahead.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man (Stark), Iron Man (Rhodes), Obadiah Stane, Bethany Cabe, Morley Erwin, Cly Erwin, Madame Masque, Theron Atlanta

Continuity Notes

1. As revealed in Avengers (vol. 3) #32, this is not the real Madame Masque, but a bio-duplicate, right down to the facial scarring. The real Whitney Frost had her face horribly burned back in Iron Man #12.

2. Obadiah Stane’s origins are expanded upon in Invincible Iron Man #3. It is revealed that Stane was 9 years old when his father committed suicide and that he is 32 years old when he came gunning for Tony Stark’s business.

3. Obadiah Stane’s hostile take over of Stark International happened from Iron Man #162-173. Part of this plan was to drive Tony to start drinking again, which he succeeded with in issue #167. What Obadiah doesn’t know is that Tony has been sober since Iron Man #182.

4. Tony revealed his true identity to Madame Masque back in Iron Man #104. The pair had a romance that lasted from Iron Man #103 until her father died during a battle with Iron Man in Iron Man #115-116, although his death was an accident, Masque blamed Tony for killing him.

5. This is not really Bethany Cabe. It’s later revealed in Iron Man #203 that Stane had Beth’s mind swapped with Madame Masque.