Sky Duel

Stane International is falling apart at the seams following a battle between Iron Man and Obadiah Stane, which ended in Stane’s death. Below the facility, in a secret laboratory are Happy Hogan, his wife Pepper Potts, and Bambi Arbogast, close friends of Tony Stark that Stane had kidnapped. With the facility coming down around them, they wonder if Iron Man forgot about them and how they’ll be able to get out.

Outside, Iron Man is checking with fire crews when he suddenly remembers he left his friends down below and rescues them. As he is doing so, the stasis chamber holding Madame Masque shuts down, freeing her. Confused and disorientated, Masque tries to figure out what’s going on when she is caught in an explosion and pinned under some rubble. Luckily, she is found and rescued by Iron Man who has begun searching for others who might be trapped in the building. As he is carrying her outside, Iron Man witnesses as an ship from Advance Idea Mechanics abducts Doctor Theron Atlanta, who was freed from a mental health facility to work for Stane. Iron Man briefly considers stopping this from happening, but decides to let them go since Madame Masque needs immediate medical attention. Handing Masque to some EMTs, she tries to tell Tony that she is not Madame Masque. However, Iron Man doesn’t believe a word she says and heads off to try and catch up with the AIM ship.[1]

Unfortunately, Tony is too late and the ship has since made it to AIM’s underwater base. There Doctor Atlanta is welcomed Yorgon Tykkio, who welcomes the scientist and tells him he is about to see a new beginning for this rogue group of scientists.[2]

By this time, Iron Man has returned to Stane International to see what he can do to help with the fire fighting effort. That’s when Bethany Cabe comes rushing to his side, happy to see him. She is attacked by Madame Masque, who tries to warn Iron Man that she isn’t who she appears to be, but the hero refuses to listen to her. As the authorities take Masque into custody, Bethany asks to speak to Iron Man in private. He tells her to meet back with him in California and takes off on his own.

There, Clytemnestra Erwin has made final arrangements for her brother, Morley, who was killed during Obadiah Stane’s final attack on Tony Stark. Jim Rhodes accompanies her to the funeral home and as they leave she tells Jim that she doesn’t have any family left and is afraid of being alone.[3] Rhodes hugs her tightly and tells her that he’ll be there for her during this troubling time.

Back aboard the AIM submarine, a squad of fighters are being deployed to attack Avengers Compound. This is observed by Yorgon and Theron from the monitors. When one of the AIM operatives asks who ordered this attack, Yorgon explains that the orders came from the Scientist Supreme himself. At that same moment, Iron Man is arriving in California when he receives a distress call from the West Coast Avengers asking for help.

Meanwhile, in New York, Madame Masque has been processed by the police. However, before putting her in a cell for the night, they insist that she remove her golden mask. She refuses and takes out the guards before breaking out.

In California, the West Coast Avengers have scrambled to their Quinjets to fend off an attack from AIM and are not doing very well.[4] Tigra’s jet is shot out of the sky and almost crashes into a stadium full of people watching a baseball game. Luckily, Iron Man arrives in time to prevent the crash from happening. Iron Man single handedly drives off the AIM invaders with the various new weapons built into his armor. In the aftermath of the battle, he thanks Hawkeye for encouraging him to get back in the saddle as it was his encouragement that convinced Tony to create this new suit of armor.[5]

Back at AIM headquarters, the Scientist Supreme is furious that the attack was launched without his authority. As it turned out, Yorgon hacked the computers to make it look like an official order. He confides this to Theron Atlanta, figuring the mute scientist will keep his secret and his aspirations to take over as Scientist Supreme.

Meanwhile, Bethany Cabe arrives at Los Angeles International airport. Using one of her connections she buys a gun from an illegal arms dealer intending to use it to put Tony Stark out of his misery.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, AIM, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Jim Rhodes, Bambi Arbogast, Cly Erwin, Madame Masque, Theron Atlanta, West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Wonder Man, Tigra)

Continuity Notes

1. What Tony doesn’t know is that Obadiah Stane performed a mind swap on Bethany Cabe and the woman everyone believes to be Madame Masque. This is revealed in Iron Man #203. However, it won’t be revealed until much later, in Avengers (vol. 3) #32, that “Madame Masque” is actually a bio-duplicate of the original.

2. What Yorgon is referring to is that AIM has finally been unified after a lengthy schism. The group split in two in Ms. Marvel #8 with one faction being loyal to MODOK and the other not so much. The two factions just recently reunified following the death of MODOK in Captain America #313.

3. Morley Erwin was murdered by Obadiah Stane who planted a bomb at Circuits Maximus. See Iron Man #199-200.

4. Here, Tigra mentions how she recently crashed a Quinjet. This was back in Iron Man #193.

5. Hawkeye commissioned Tony Stark to build the armor he is now wearing in Iron Man #195. At the time, Tony had no interest in becoming Iron Man again after passing off the role to Jim Rhodes in issue #169-170.

Topical References

• The baseball game is said to being played by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Up at bat with Kenny Landro. These references should be considered topical as this is a real world baseball team and Kenny Landreaux (his name is misspelled here) is a real life person. Particularly in the case of Landreaux who retired from Major League Baseball in 1987.