Iron Man #252 — Nick Peron

Aug 8

Aug 8 Iron Man #252

Apothecary Now!

After narrowly finishing a battle with the Wrecker, Iron Man is left defenseless when Chemistro arrives to finish the job. Jim Rhodes and Curtis Carr — Chemistro’s brother — try to stop him, but the villain’s new wrist mounted alchemy weapons give him greater control than ever before. He uses the weapons to transform Iron Man’s armor into lead, immobilizing the hero.

Curtis tries to reason with his brother, but Calvin intends to carry out the job the Wizard hired him for to pay for his new weapons. He calls his brother a failure and he intends to elevate the Chemistro name into the big leagues of the super-villain game.[1] He then turns back to Iron Man and uses his weapon to change the armor into acid in the hopes of killing the man inside the suit. However, he discovers — much to his surprise — Iron Man somehow abandoned his suit while he was distracted.

This was thanks to Jim Rhodes, who tore open the back of Iron Man’s transformed suit and hauled Tony Stark to safety. The two then retreated into the nearby forest and followed it to the side of the highway. There, Jim managed to thumb a ride for back to Stark Enterprises. Tony is ready when Curtis Carr arrives to apologize for what happened. Tony accepts it as Curtis had nothing to do with his brother’s attack. He also promises to use Stark resources to rebuild his prosthetics business and that he is going to make Carr a full staff member with salary. He then asks Carr to help him come up with a means to counteract Chemistro’s alchemy weapon. Going over Curtis’ designs, he explains how he was never able to replicate the radiation in his original Alchemy Gun but has come up with way to counteract it. They are interrupted by Bambi Arbogast — Tony’s secretary — who tells them that Chemistro is on the rampage on the compound. Tony tells Curtis to get to work on the counter-weapon while he goes to get Iron Man.

Once alone in his lab, Tony pulls out a spare suit of his armor and when he is suited up gets a special force field device created by Curtis to block out the rays from Chemistro’s weapons. Sure enough, Chemistro cannot transmute Iron Man’s armor. Unfortunately, this only works for so long as Chemistro unleashes a bombardment of rays that eventually overload the force field. The explosion knocks Iron Man off his feet and he is soon trapped underground when Chemistro turns the ground under his feet into water and then into concreate.

That’s when Curtis arrives with a cobbled together weapon and orders his brother to surrender. Chemistro is unintimidated and uses his powers to turn his brother’s other foot glass, causing it to shatter. Curtis falls to the ground and tries to shoot but by the time he readies his aim, Chemistro uses his power turn the weapon into gas.

However, before things can go any further, Iron Man finally breaks free from his concrete prison. He then uses his uni-beam to unleash a tractor beam that pulls Chemistro’s arms forward and shatters his wrist weapons. Stripped of his powers, Chemistro quickly surrenders. As the police arrive on the scene, Jim Rhodes gets Curtis a wheelchair now that he has no feet. Iron Man apologizes for what happened, but Curtis doesn’t see the loss of his good foot as much of a loss confident that he can build a new prosthetic with it and be back on his feet in no time. While Iron Man admires Curtis’ spirit, the cost of the battle was way too high. Suspecting that someone is targeting them, Iron Man takes off to meet up with the Avengers.

… The Avengers involvement in Acts of Vengeance continues in Avengers #313.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Chemistro, Jim Rhodes, Curtis Carr, Bambi Arbogast

Continuity Notes

Curtis Carr was the original Chemistro, as seen in Hero for Hire #12. His career ended pretty quick when he accidentally amputated his own foot with his alchemy gun. Calvin took over the Chemistro persona in Power Man and Iron Fist #93.