Stark Wars: Chapter 3 - The Last Mandroid

Continuing to hunt those who have been using stolen Iron Man technology, Iron Man ambushes the Beetle as he attacks the celebrity auction.[1] When the Beetle triggers an avalanche by blasting the side of a mountain, Iron Man uses his repulsors to dig a trench to catch all the rubble. Catching up with the Beetle, Iron Man uses a negator pack to brick his armor. The battle is not received vary well by the people attending the auction and when security tries to apprehend him, Iron Man flies away.

Since Tony fired his alter-ego from Stark Enterprises, he is forced to use the secret entrance to his private lab hidden below his mansion in order to keep up the illusion that Iron Man and Tony Stark are two different people.[2] There, Tony reminds Jim Rhodes that he needs to shut down all unauthorized use of his technology so it can’t be used to hurt innocent people. Tony then gets a call from Hawkeye, leader of the West Coast Avengers, and his wife Mockingbird. They want Tony to explain his recent activities. Stark tells Clint that he can’t get into details and his earlier attack on Stingray was a mistake, Tony insists that he is doing the right thing even though he can't get into detail. When Mockingbird offers the Avengers aid, Tony declines telling her that this is a private matter. The couple reluctantly decide to trust that Tony is doing the right thing.

Returning to Stark Enterprises, Tony learns that the his recent firing of Iron Man isn’t doing much to mitigate the lawsuits and negative publicity that has been directed at his company. Bambi Arbogast tells Tony that there are some men waiting to meet him in his office. It turns out to be Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, who wants Tony’s help to bring Iron Man in. Expecting something like this, Tony hands over a file on a man named Randall Pierce, whom he claims is the man behind Iron Man’s armor. Tony suggests that Fury set a trap for Iron Man. Fury likes the idea and leaves to make arrangements, little knowing that he is playing into Tony’s hand as the Mandroid armor use stolen technology. After Fury is gone, Jim asks who Randall Pierce is and Tony explains that it is a fake identity he created in the event he had to distance himself from his alter-ego.

Meeting up with Fury at SHIELD headquarters in New York, Tony reveals the location of “Randall Peirce’s” hideout, a house in upstate New York. He tells Stark that the lab below is heavily protected and that SHIELD’s best bet at making an arrest will be deploying their Mandroid armor. Once again, Fury goes along with Tony’s suggestion unaware that he is falling for a trap. Before the big strike in the morning, Tony looks up his old friend Ling McPhearson and the pair have a night on the town and he reminisces on his old life in New York.[3]

The following day, Tony and Jim meet up with Nick Fury outside the home of “Randall Pierce”. In order to cover for being in his armor, Tony pretends to be overseeing the operation from a safe distance in his private helicopter. When the Mandroids are deployed, they trigger a electronic trap that launches negator packs at them. While the devices shut down one of the Mandroid suits, the other operatives manage to activate force-fields that protect them from the negators. This forces Tony to change into Iron Man and confront the remaining Mandroids directly. Using his onboard weapons, Iron Man is able to drain the energy from the Mandroid force fields allowing him to manually plant negator packs to shut them down. However, he was forced to use use a sonic blast to incapacitate SHIELD agents in order to get away.

Changing out of his armor, Tony Stark meets with Fury who is not happy that Iron Man bested them. When he accuses Stark for helping his “employee”, an accusation that Tony flat out denies. In order to sell this lie, Tony had planted a bug to make it look like Iron Man had bugged their command post. With SHIELD continuing their manhunt for Iron Man, Tony realizes that his mission is going to be even more difficult from here on out.

Days later, Tony is back at Stark Enterprises where he is visited by Steve Rogers. Having been stripped of his Captain America identity, Steve has continued his superhero career as the Captain.[4] However, in order to continue serving his country, Steve has come to Tony to ask him to make a new shield after he had to give up his old one. Seeing this as an opportunity to make Steve indebted to him and prevent the Captain’s interference in his plans, Tony agrees to do what he can to help out his old friend.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Beetle, Mandroids, Jim Rhodes, Bambi Arbogast, Marcy Pearson, SHIELD (Nick Fury), Stingray, Ling McPherson, the Captain

Continuity Notes

1. Tony discovered that his Iron Man technology was stolen by Spymaster who then sold it to Justin Hammer who has been providing it to super-villains. See Iron Man #225.

2. Last issue, with negative publicity growing following an unprovoked attack on Stingray, Tony was forced to “fire” Iron Man as the company spokesperson in order to distance his activities from Stark Enterprises.

3. When passing by Trump Tower, Tony recalls how he used to own a whole floor in the building and trails off before explaining how he lost it. Tony’s old company Stark International fell victim of a hostile take over enacted by Obadiah Stane from Iron Man #162-173. Driven to start drinking again in issue #167, Tony pretty much lost everything for a time until he got sober in Iron Man #182 and took down Stane in issue #200. Tony later founded Stark Enterprises on the west coast. That company officially opened in Iron Man #217.

4. At the time of this story, Steve Rogers was forced to surrender the Captain America identity to the government in Captain America #332. This will remain the status quo until issue #350 of that series.

Topical References

• A number of real life celebrities appear at the celebrity auction, they are: musicians Lionel Richie, Tina Turner; pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan; and actors George Wendt, Don Johnson, and Michael J. Fox. These appearances should be considered topical.

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as the towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.