Iron Man #233
Slaughterday
Iron Man has flown into space to intercept an abandoned Stane International satellite that is being pulled back into orbit. It poses a danger because of the nuclear power core. Ripping the core out of the satellite, Iron Man tosses it into deep space. As the satellite falls through Earth’s atmosphere, Iron Man blasts its to pieces so it burns up on re-entry.[1]
As Iron Man returns to Stark Enterprises, the media is a buzz over the identity of the new Iron Man, reminding viewers how the previous Iron Man died after waging war against other armor users that sparked outrage and turned him against the authorities.[2]
Changing out of his armor, Tony heads into his office where he is congratulated by his staff for turning the company around after Iron Man’s recent negative publicity. However, one of the people in the crowd is a lawyer named Irving Wattle who uses the opportunity to serve Tony papers for a State Department lawsuit over Iron Man’s attack on the Vault.[3] Annoyed, Tony orders his secretary Bambi Arbogast to show Wattle out and then has her call in his own lawyer, Bert Hindel. Unhappy with how Hindle has been handling Tony’s recent legal troubles, and warns him that if he doesn’t straighten out the company’s legal troubles he will be out of a job. With that out of the way, Marcy tells Tony to be ready for a special presentation that will be broadcast worldwide. Tony assures her that it will go off without a hitch as he has the best technician on the job.
That man is Scott Lang and his one-man operation, Electrolang, Incorporated. He calls his daughter Cassie to tell her that he’ll be working late. After the call Scott thinks to himself how great it is to be working a normal job that won’t require his alter-ego, Ant-Man. Little does Scott Lang know how wrong he is…
At that moment, at a maximum security prison, Edwin Cord is still plotting revenge against Tony Stark even though he is locked up.[4] He has hired some men to sabotage Stark Enterprises’ presentation in order to shake public confidence of the company. A man who planted inside Stark Enterprise assures him that it will be a massacre.
Unaware of the plot against him, Tony Stark enjoys a game of polo. After the match, Tony is approached by a woman named Kathy Dare who asks Tony for his autograph. Flattered, Tony obliges. He then meets up with his current girlfriend, Rae LaCaste, and the two head off for some time alone, leaving Jim Rhodes and Marcy Pearson to fly alone by themselves. Jim dreads the trip since he and Marcy have been dating and are going through a rough patch. However, once they are in the air, Jim decides to confront Marcy about their problems and the two agree to start back at square one.
The following day, the Stark Enterprise public presentation is getting ready to start. Since Tony will be appearing as Iron Man, he is having Jim Rhodes pose as Tony during a live simulcast to maintain Tony’s double-identity. This is accomplished thanks to Tony’s new DeepFake technology that will digitally replace Jim’s features with that of Tony Stark. While Iron Man gives a demonstration of his armor, “Tony Stark” tells the audience that this is a brand new Iron Man who replaced the original.
As the demonstration continues, Scott Lang is checking over the equipment and finds a monitor cable that was installed by somebody else. Suspicious, Lang follows the cable to a nearby warehouse were a team of armored mercenaries are plotting to attack the Iron Man presentation. Getting the drop on the mercs, Ant-Man unleashes a swarm of ants that assist him in defeating them. The Stark Enterprises presentation goes off without a hitch, and during the after party Tony is informed of the intruders who were caught without incident. Unsure what happened, Tony is relieved that he dodged a bullet.
Watching from prison, Edwin Cord is furious that his scheme failed and storms off.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Ant-Man, Edwin Cord, Jim Rhodes, Kathy Dare, Garrison Quint, Marcy Pearson, Bert Hindel, Bambi Arbogast, Cassie Lang, Rae LaCaste
Continuity Notes
Tony states here that the secret cartel that backed Obadiah Stane have ghosted on his company following his death. Stane took over Stark International in a hostile takeover from Iron Man #162-173, he was backed by a cartel of other businessmen. Stane later committed suicide after losing a battle with Iron Man in issue #200.
Tony Stark discovered that his Iron Man technology was stolen and sold to other armor users and went on a crusade to shut down this technology. This made Iron Man very unpopular. This all happened during a period where the general public was unaware that Iron Man and Tony Stark were the same person. Using this to his advantage, Tony faked Iron Man’s death and then posed as a “successor” in his place. See Iron Man #225-231.
During the Armor Wars, Iron Man shut down the Vault’s Guardsman armor in order to prevent the technology from falling into the wrong hands. See Iron Man #228 and Captain America #340.
Edwin Cord has run afoul of Tony Stark and Iron Man leading to the loss of his own business, see Iron Man #145 and 156. More recently, Cord’s Firepower armor was bested by Iron Man, as seen in Iron Man #230-231.
Topical References
The narrative of this story makes a job about Scott Lang not having to go into action as Ant-Man is about as likely as Ronald Reagan being elected for a third term. Reagan was the President of the United States and serving his second and final term as president at the time of this story. This reference should be considered topical since Reagan left office in 1989.
Jim compares the flight home with Marcy to be as fun as a root canal with Black & Decker power tools. This should be considered topical as B&D is a real world company.
Tony uses a new technology that digitally changes Jim’s appearance on camera so he looks like Tony Stark. He explains that this is “next step” in Max Headroom technology. This story was written decades before DeepFakes were a thing or we had a proper term for the technology. Max Headroom was a fictional character in a film and TV show of the same name about a digital artificial intelligence that was also late night TV host. It was quite popular in the 1980s. This should be considered a topical reference as the Max Headroom fad ended in 1988.
Cord is depicted watching the news on a CRT television that needs an antenna to pick up a signal. This is obsolete technology and its appearance here should be considered topical.
One of the prison guards, seeing Cord throwing his tantrum, makes a joke about Oprah Winfrey where the punchline is about the fat lady singing. The popular daytime talk show host struggled with obesity during her life and this comic book was published during a period in which Winfrey was over weight. At the time, her weight was the punchline of many jokes because the comedy in the 1980s was all about low hanging fruit, like fat shaming. At any rate, this should be considered a topical reference because it too is incredibly dated.
