Iron Man #202
The Savage Goes West
Iron Man is putting his new armor through the paces. While out racing some missiles, he decides to test out his new forcefield. It withstands the blast, but Tony makes a note that the suit itself could have withstood the blast. Tony takes great joy in being Iron Man again after being out of the suit for so long. Overseeing the test is Tony’s best friend, Jim Rhodes, who is glad to see Stark back in the saddle. Even though he still has Tony’s old suit of armor, he figures it is obsolete now that this new one has been made.[1]
That’s when Tony’s radio picks up a distress call from a commercial airliner in distress. Using his new Iron Man armor, Stark helps the plane land safely on a nearby beach. The rescue makes the news. The story is observed by a mysterious individual who is impressed by the technological abilities of Iron Man’s armor and vows to steal it.
Meanwhile, on the highway, Kevin Plunder — aka Ka-Zar — is driving to California to do some soul searching following the destruction of the Savage Land at the hands of Terminus, possibly to join the West Coast Avengers.[2] This had deeply upset his wife, Shanna the She-Devil, as they have a baby on the way but ultimately she realizes this is something her husband needs to do and gives him her blessing.[3] After driving non-stop, Ka-Zar decides to stop a nearby truck stop for a bite to eat and direction. There, one of the truckers tries to pick a fight with him. He easily trounces all of the truckers and decides it is time to go. Outside, one of the trucker’s girlfriends is so impressed by his feats of strength that she offers herself to him. A married man, Ka-Zar declines and drives off questioning why he even came out here.
Nearby, Iron Man seeing Jim off for the day when Ka-Zar eventually arrives. Kevin is welcomed onto the compound and he tells Iron Man about his interest in joining the Avengers. He wonders if maybe he can have a suit made to give him additional powers, but Iron Man points out that a hero doesn’t necessarily have powers and Ka-Zar has more than proven himself in a fight. After showing Iron Man a picture of his wife, Ka-Zar is shown around the property. After getting a look at the security defenses, Kevin is brought to the compound library.
The visit is interrupted when the Fixer ambushes Iron Man and Ka-Zar. Attempting to steal Iron Man’s armor, the Fixer fires a device that incapacitates his armor. Ka-Zar jumps the Fixer, giving Iron Man enough time to destroy the device. Unfortunately, the Fixer gains the upper hand and plants a paralyzing device on Ka-Zar’s spine. He then threatens to kill the jungle adventurer unless Iron Man surrenders his armor. With no other choice, Iron Man strips down until he’s only wearing his helmet, tossing the different pieces at the Fixer’s feet. When the Fixer demands he turn that over as well, Tony Stark uses his cybernetic uplink to the rest of his armor to activate the suit’s force field. This knocks the Fixer away and frees Ka-Zar, who then tosses a gauntlet and jet boot toward Iron Man. Putting them on, the Avenger grabs Ka-Zar and makes a tactical retreat.
The Fixer follows after them and disables Iron Man’s boot and gauntlet and uses a shackle to pin him to the ground. However, Ka-Zar manages to ambush the Fixer from the trees and this time, he strips the villain of his high tech vest. Rendered powerless, the Fixer is helpless against Ka-Zar’s pummeling fists. With the battle over and the Fixer subdued, Ka-Zar has come to realize that he only came out this way because he was running away from his problems. He decides that he needs to spend more time figuring out his place in the civilized world. After calling Shanna to tell him he’s on his way back east, Ka-Zar thanks Iron Man for all his help and heads for home. Escorting his friend to the highway, Iron Man can’t help but be impressed that Ka-Zar was able to hold his own against a technologically advanced foe using only his bare hands, a level of bravery that takes a lot of heart.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Ka-Zar, Fixer, Shanna the She-Devil, Jim Rhodes, Zabu
Continuity Notes
For a brief period, Jim took over as Iron Man while Tony Stark’s life is in shambles starting in Iron Man #169-170. Tony was forced back into being Iron Man in issue #199-200.
The destruction of the Savage Land happened in Avengers #256-257. It’s later restored in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12 where Ka-Zar will discover that all of the people he believed to have died actually escaped to another dimension. The creature he thinks is Terminus turns out to be actually be a Deviant named Jarro who was posing as Terminus. This was revealed in Quasar #7.
Shanna discovered that she was pregnant with Ka-Zar’s child in Ka-Zar the Savage #32. She will have given birth to their son, Matthew, in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12.
Topical References
Their commercial airliner that Iron Man saves in this story is identified as being owned by US Airlines. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real-world company that became defunct in 2015.
This story has many moments where Ka-Zar is compared to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan character since the two nearly indistinguishable. At the Avengers library, Ka-Zar finds a copy of Tarzan of the Apes, the first Burroughs book about the character. This would not necessarily be considered a topical reference as Tarzan is considered classic literature and many of Burroughs’ stories are now considered Public Domain.
At the truck stop, Ka-Zar reads the latest issue of True Detective magazine. This should be considered topical as it ceased publication in 1995.
What wouldn’t be a topical reference is Ka-Zar’s mention of Disneyland as Marvel Comics is now owned by Disney this sort of brand synergy would no longer be topical.
