Iron Man #199
And One of Them Must Die!
In the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, a team of armed mercenaries have abducted Bambi Arbogast, Tony Stark’s former secretary, in a brazen daylight kidnapping.[1]
Across the country, at the headquarters of Circuits Maximus, Tony Stark is planning a rescue mission to save Bethany Cabe, unaware that Obadiah Stane is targeting all those close to him. This makes his business partner, Clytemnestra Morley, jealous because she had been developing feelings for Tony. That’s when her brother Morley arrives with a reporter from the Tulauma Tribune named Susan Mulwray, who is doing a profile on their company. Tony tries to be polite but is growing increasingly worried about Bethany.
Later, Morley goes with Susan to her office where she shows him around. It’s here that Morley sees the news about Bambi Arbogast’s kidnapping and he calls Circuits Maximus to warn Tony. However, Stark had already left, leaving Jim Rhodes to put on his own Iron Man armor and check in on Tony’s other friends. He first makes a stop at Vic Martinelli’s apartment as he is still working for Stane International as head of security. Despite the fact that he and Jim go way back, he refuses to betray his current employer, and warns Jim that Stane plays rough.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Bambi Arbogast is brought to Obadiah Stane. She is outraged to see Tony’s ex-girlfriend Bethany Cabe is now siding from the man who stole everything from him. When she gives Cabe a piece of her mind, Beth responds by knocking her out.[2] With Arbogast subdued, Stane orders Bethany to initiate the next phase of their plan.
At that same moment, Jim Rhodes has arrived in Cleveland to check in on Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Changing into Iron Man he flies to the Hogan apartment where he catches Stane’s goons trying to kidnap Pepper. Unfortunately, he fails to stop them from taking her because they damage a nearby building, putting lives in danger. After saving the innocent bystanders, Iron Man promises Pepper’s children that he will save their mother.[3] He then races to Happy Hogan’s office. Jim arrives just as the armed men try to abduct Happy in a helicopter. Luckily, Iron Man manages to rescue Hogan and send their chopper crashing.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has arrived in New York City to check in on Timothy Andres, the orphaned child of his old drinking buddy, Gretl Anders.[4] Unfortunately, he arrives just as the armed men are kidnapping the child from the orphanage. Tony tries to rescue the baby but is knocked out.
As Pepper and Timothy are handed over to Obadiah Stane, he is upset they failed to capture Happy as well. However, he has another plan in motion. At that moment, Jim Rhodes receives a package at Circuits Maximus, little knowing it contains a bomb planted by their foe. At that same moment, Clytemnestra is picking him up at the airport. When they return to their business its just as the bomb goes off, destroying the entire building. Soon, rescue teams arrive on the scene and recover a body from the wreckage. Tony is shocked when he lifts up the sheet and sees who died in the blast.[5]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Obadiah Stane, Tony Stark, Cly Erwin, Morley Erwin, Vic Martinelli, Bethany Cabe, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts
Continuity Notes
Bambi Arbogast was Tony’s secretary just before his company was taken over by Obadiah Stane in Iron Man #173. She resigned from her position the following issue.
This is not actually Bethany Cabe, her mind was swapped with a bio-duplicate of Madame Masque, as explained in Iron Man #203. The revelation that this is a bio-duplicate and not the real Madame Masque is explained in Avengers (vol. 3) #32.
It should be noted that these children are not Pepper and Happy’s biological kids. Iron Man #210 reveals that they are adopted.
When Tony was on his drinking bender that started in Iron Man #167, he ended up living on the streets where he met Gretl Anders, who due to give birth. Tony helped her give birth in a doorway in the middle of a blizzard in Iron Man #182. While Gretl died from exposure, Tony kept her son alive until rescue teams found him. The experience convinced him to quit drinking.
It’s revealed next issue that Morley Erwin is the victim of the explosion.
Topical References
In this story, Susan Mulwray shows Morley a news ticker. Back in the 1980s, this was a common part of every news room where information from the Associated Press was relayed to news organizations all over the world. However, since the proliferation of computers and the advent of digital technologies these types of machines are now considered obsolete.
Sloppy Writing
This story suffers from some narrative issues in the story and is the product of either poor writing or editing or both. For example, in this story Jim Rhodes manages to rescue Happy Hogan from Obadiah Stane’s minions. However, he is depicted as one of his prisoners in Iron Man #200 and 201. One could assume that while Jim rescued Happy to start, Stane had a second team of kidnappers on hand to capture him later. This makes Jim’s rescue pretty sloppy. If he saved Happy’s life, why didn’t he take him somewhere safe? At any rate, Iron Man #210 confirms that Happy was indeed kidnapped a second time after Jim saved him.
Another sticking point here is that early in the story, Tony leaves to go looking for Bethany Cabe, so he’s not at Circuits Maximus when Morley calls to warn him that his friends are being kidnapped. Despite this, Tony shows up at the orphanage to check in on Timothy Anders apropos of nothing. When this story was published in 1985, Tony getting warned while in transit would have been difficult if not impossible. One could assume he was tipped off somehow. Which would have been difficult to pull off in 1985 when this story was published. However, since this story is subject to the Sliding Timescale, one could assume that Tony now had the advantage of modern telecommunications (such as cell phones and the Internet) to be tipped off en route and that he dropped his search for Beth to rescue Timothy.
