Stark War: Chapter 4 - Who Guards the Guardsmen?

After being stripped of the title of Captain America, Steve Rogers — now calling himself the Captain — has sought out Tony Stark to create a new shield to use in battle.[1] Tony provides Cap with a new Adamantium shield that works almost as well as his old one. Tony hopes that by making Steve indebted to him, he won’t interfere with his on-going mission to shut down everyone who has obtained stolen Iron Man technology.[2]

After Steve tests out the shield and leaves, Tony gets a call from his lawyer saying that they have settled the Stilt-Man lawsuit out of court. Tony isn’t very happy to hear about the amount they have to pay.[3] Stark then meets with Jim Rhodes to discuss the next target on his list. He wants to shut down the Guardsmen armor used at the Vault, as the technology could be stolen and used to harm innocent people.[4] Tony decides to use the same technique he used against SHIELD to shut down their Mandroid armor, by offering to oversee the Vault’s security.[5] However, when they stop at a Denver diner near the Vault, Tony notices that Steve Rogers has followed him. Steve warns Tony to not go through with his plan as it is crossing the line. Realizing his plan is a bust, Tony leaves without incident.

However, Tony isn’t willing to give up on the Vault and returns to Stark Enterprises to come up with a new idea. After examining the designs for the Vault, Tony suddenly comes up with an Trojan Horse idea that is so crazy, it just might work.

Three days later, Jim Rhodes is disguised as Electro and pretends to go on the rampage in downtown Denver. When the Guardsmen arrive he allows himself to be captured. He is placed in a cell that has an energy field keyed in to Electro’s powers, preventing him from leaving. However, Jim’s powers were artificially created and after stripping off his disguise, he is able to safely exit his cell. He then heads to the generator room where he shuts down an outside security scanner so that Iron Man can get inside through a secret cave entrance without raising the alarm. Little does Iron Man know that the Captain has been trailing him and follows him inside.

Once inside, Iron Man unleashes a supply of PC-2, a powerful knock out gas that is used to prevent jailbreaks so that there is nobody to oppose him while he shuts down the Guardsmen armor.[5] Seeing what Iron Man has done, the Captain manages to get to a rebreather device before he succumbs to the gas. With the rest of the staff knocked out, Iron Man clashes with the active Guardsman to kill time while their internal oxygen supply runs out and they are knocked out. Meanwhile, Jim heads into the room where the Guardsmen armor is stored for recharging. There he runs into a Guardsman who had come back to recharge his armor, leading to a fight between the two. In the exchange, Jim blows up the recharger. This causes a power surgery that blacks out the whole facility. This is noticed by two prisoners, Titania and Mister Hyde, who wait for the right time to act.

Meanwhile, Iron Man continues to fight the Guardsmen and eventually, the start to succumb to the gas.[6] With only one Guardsman left standing, the Captain finally makes his presence known and tries to talk Tony out of what he is doing. However, when the Guardsman begins succumbing to the gas, Captain America sacrifices his own oxygen supply to make sure the Vault has at least one guard defending it. This allows Tony to zap the Captain before he can complete his task. Then, as Steve watches with disapproval, Iron Man uses his negator to brick the Guardsmen armor. Seeing how disappointed the Captain is, Iron Man realizes that he might not be able to walk away from this one. Iron Man then finds Jim, who just finished incapacitating the guard that was after him.

Meanwhile, tech crews have entered the prison to restore the power. However, as they make their way to the generator they discover that Mister Hyde and Titania have escaped.

… This story continues in Captain America #339.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, The Captain, Jim Rhodes, Bambi Arbogast, Guardsmen, Titania, Mister Hyde

Continuity Notes

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

2. Tony Stark discovered that Spymaster stole his Iron Man tech and sold it to Justin Hammer who in turn sold it to various criminals and organization that use high tech armor. See Iron Man #225 for all the details.

3. Stilt-Man was one of the first Iron Man tech users to be shut down by Iron Man. He filed a lawsuit against Stark Enterprises in Iron Man #226.

4. Tony states that the Guardsman specs were sold to the government after Obadiah Stane took over his old company, Stark International. Tony built the first Guardsman armor back in Iron Man #43. Stark International was taken over by Obadiah Stane in issue #173.

5. Tony states here that he has worked with PC-2 gas in the past. This was in Iron Man #118.

6. Iron Man recounts the last time he battled the Guardsmen. This was when the Avengers were arrested by the government based on trumped up lies. See Avengers Annual #15 and West Coast Avengers Annual #1.