Iron Man Annual #6
In Dreams What Death May Come!
Jim Rhodes is out testing his Iron Man armor to make sure it is in proper working order. While flying in the air, he encounters a squad of fighter jets and encourages them to fire a missile at him. He surprises them by being able to grab the missiles, disarm them, and clamp them back onto the launcher.
Suddenly, something takes control of Iron Man’s armor. Calling Morley Erwin for help, the young scientist can’t stop the hack. When Jim tries to remove the armor’s power pack, the force taking control of him stops him from doing so.[1]
Force to fly across the planet, Iron Man is brought to Olympia, the hidden civilization of the Eternals. There he is attacked by an army of Deviants, the Eternals mortal enemies. Still unable to regain control of his armor, Iron Man is quickly subdued by the Deviants. Taken to Warlord Kro dismisses this as a human weapon and tells his men to disassemble it so they can learn its secrets. That’s when Jim gets control back and after fighting off the Deviants he tries to escape. However, whatever brought him to Olympia refuses to let him leave. Deciding to look around and find out what’s going on, Iron Man finds a room where all the Eternals are being held in some sort of stasis. He watches as Warlord Kro has one of the Eternals brought to his leader Brother Tode. With the Eternals all incapacitated with Deviant Brain-Mines, they can then be exposed to a device that will kill their immortal enemies by breaking them down at a molecular level. These energies are then collected which Borther Tode can breath in order that he can become immortal.
Iron Man decides that he can’t leave the Eternals to die and heads back to the room where they are all being kept prisoner. In that room, he is surprised to see Kro revive Thena. The two are in love with one another and Kro pleads with Thena to leave with him as both the Eternals and Deviants are doomed to destruction. However, Thena refuses to her fellow Eternals, particularly after the death of their leader and her father, Zuras.[2] Kro is annoyed by this and turns her Brain-Mine back on, hoping she will change her tune after they kill a few more Eternals. Iron Man enters the room and tries to use his repulsor ray to remove the Brain-Mine, but his suit is running out of power after his flight halfway across the world.
Looking around for somewhere to recharge, Iron Man finds the Eternals master computer, which tells him the largest source of energy is coming from Zura’s dead body. Taking Thena’s inert body along with him. Slipping past the Deviants he quickly finds Zuras’ tomb. When he lays Thena down next to her father, energy leaps from Zuras’ body and into his daughter. This burns out the Brain-Mine and gives Thena great power. However, this also drives her insane and begins using her transmutation powers to change everything into the room around her. First she turns Iron Man’s armor into a tuxedo. Then a toga. When Jim tries to talk sense into her, Thena uses her power to give him a crown of thorns before finally getting ahold of herself.
She changes everything back to normal, but Iron Man’s armor. She tells Jim that she was driven mad because her father’s soul is hovering somewhere between life and death. That’s when they are caught by Warlord Kro and his men. With her powers temporarily depleted, Thena tries to buy them time by pleading for her life, saying that she will become Kro’s loyal slave if he lets her Eternals go. Kro once again says they need to abandon both Eternal and Deviant alike. This prompts one of Kro’s minions to try and impale Kro with his spear. Kro survives this attempt on his life and tells those loyal to him to kill the failed assassin. Thena then tries to convince Kro to let Rhodes go. Instead he incapacitates her with a Brain-Mine and orders his men to kill the human.
Jim makes a run for it and escapes to the master computer and asks for its help. Luckily, the computer is able to recreate Iron Man’s armor. He uses the rebuilt armor to defeat his Deviant pursuers. He and the computer then formulate a plan to save the Eternals. By this time, Kro has brought both Thena and Zuras to the device and convinces Brother Tode to destroy Zura’s body first. When they attempt to disintegrate his body, Iron Man has the computer uplink to Zuras causing a huge flare of energy that blows up the device and frees the Eternals.[3] Iron Man then leads them into battle and the Deviants are quickly rounded up and taken prisoner.
In the aftermath of the battle, Thena tells the other Eternals that upon connecting with her father’s mind she learned that their destiny lays in the stars. This leads to virgorious debate among the other Eternals.[4] As Iron Man is trying to make sense of everything that has happened, Ikaris invites him to the victory celebration.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Deviants (Kro, Brother Tode), Morely Erwin, Eternals (Zuras, Ikaris, Thena, Makkari, Gilgamesh, Sersi, Ajak, Valkin)
Continuity Notes
Jim recalls how Iron Man’s armor was previously hacked by Justin Hammer. This happened in Iron Man #127.
Zuras seemingly died defending the Earth from the Celestial. This happened in Thor #300. Thena also recaps the origins of the Eternals and Deviants, as it was told in Eternals #1.
Although Zuras’ body is destroyed here, he will be resurrected years later as seen in Eternals (vol. 3) #1.
The Eternals will continue to debate leaving Earth. Half the population decides to leave for the stars and the other half remaining on Earth. See Avengers #246-248.
Topical References
The fighter pilots are depicted flying McDonnell Douglas F-15 Strike Eagles. Whiles these planes are still used by the military they will eventually be retired.
