Graduation Day

Seeking to find the woman who killed Whitney Frost and took her place as Madame Masque, Iron Man has learned the location of a Maggia compound.[1] Storming the facility, he takes down the grunts and high tech weapons but learns that the new Madame Masque has escaped. Unfortunately, none of the men at the scene know where she is, prompting Iron Man to vow that he’ll never rest until she is brought to justice.

Elsewhere, at a private complex in California’s Apple Valley, the Taskmaster is training his latest group of students. When one is killed in a training session, the Taskmaster discovers that somebody tampered with his weapon, causing it to jam at a crucial moment. He doesn’t know who it is, but he commends them for their ruthlessness. He tells the surviving members of the class that in order to win this competition they must do whatever it takes to outlive the others.

By this time, Iron Man has returned to Stark Enterprises and changes back into Tony Stark. The company Christmas charity event is around the corner and he has commissioned a massive domed winter wonderland for everyone to enjoy the holiday season. Jim Rhodes particularly enjoys the artificial ski-hills that have been installed for the event. Not everyone is happy with the focus on this charity event, particularly Marcy Pearson, who is growing frustrated over all the duties that Tony is leaving her to deal with while he prepares for this event. When Jim tries to tell her to get into the spirit of the season, Marcy tells him to butt out.

Back at the Taskmaster’s headquarters, another training session has finished for the day. When the lone female trainee heads to her quarters for the night, her room explodes when she turns on the light. Seeing that someone planted a bomb in the electrical system to eliminate the competition, the Taskmaster continues to be pleased with whoever is behind it.

Hours later, Tony Stark is getting his hair done by Rae LaCoste at Doo’s ‘n Don’ts. Rae can tell that Tony is still upset about the Madame Masque thing and tells her not to let his obsessions get the better of him. She reminds him that bringing the current Madame Masque to justice won’t bring Whitney Frost back. He knows this, and tells her that he is hunting down Whitney’s killer in her memory. Rae understands, telling Tony that this is one of the reasons why she is crazy about him and kisses Tony on the cheek.

On Christmas morning, the Taskmaster is running his final test with the remaining members of his class. He takes them out into the battle arena and forces them to wear blinders in a fight to the death. Ultimately, the others inability to keep quiet in combat allows his top student to kill them all. When Taskmaster proclaims him the winner, he learns that it was this student who was responsible for all the traps. He is very pleased and gives him his reward: The Spymaster identity, now that it is currently vacant.[2] However, before he can prove that he is worthy, the new Spymaster has to carry out one final test.

Soon, the Stark Enterprises Christmas charity show is underway as under privileged children enjoy the winter wonder land that Tony has made for them. When Marcy Pearson sees Jim flirting with other women it brings her to tears, wondering why she is intentionally driving him away when she just wants to be with him.[3]

When Santa Claus shows up, the children flock to him to tell the jolly old elf what they want for Christmas. That’s when one of the kids notices that “Santa” is packing a gun. When one of the security guards orders him to toss the weapon away “Santa” grabs the kid who ratted him out and uses him as a hostage. Stripping off his disguise, “Santa” turns out to be none other than the Spymaster who is willing to blow the kid’s brains out in order to get what he wants. Jim distracts Spymaster long enough for Tony to slip away and change into Iron Man. However, the ensuing battle puts the charity attendees at risk, particularly when the artificial ski hill is damaged and almost toppled on innocent people.

When Spymaster reveals that he isn’t interested in killing Iron Man, the Avenger asks what he wants then. As it turns out, Taskmaster’s first mission for the new Spymaster was to steal the angel from atop the Stark Christmas tree. Since this is such a trivial matter, Iron Man gives him the angel and Spymaster leaves without issue. When one of the little girls asks Iron Man why he did that, he tells her that it is in the spirit of the season to give to others, even a psycho like Spymaster.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Spymaster, Jim Rhodes, Abe Zimmer, Marcy Pearson, Rae LaCoste, Bambi Arbogast, Taskmaster, Justin Hammer

Continuity Notes

1. Madame Masque was seemingly murdered by a successor in Iron Man #238. However, this woman was merely a bio-duplicate created by Masque herself as she had taken to having proxies operate on her behalf since issue #138. This will not be revealed until Avengers (vol. 3) #32.

2. Here it is stated that the original Spymaster died in Iron Man #220. In reality, this was actually a successor named Mark Sharen. The original Spymaster — known only as Ted Calloway — has gone into hiding following his last appearance in Iron Man #210. The original will resurface in Dark Reign: Made Men #1. All of this is explained in the Spymaster profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #11.

3. Jim and Marcy had a fling back in Iron Man #222. However, Marcy has been growing colder toward Jim ever since and intentionally pushing him away, causing Jim to focus on other women.

Topical References

• The children ask “Santa” for gifts that were popular at the time: the Nintendo Power Glove and Holiday Barbie, as well as an totally made up Zsa Zsa Gabor Action Doll. These should be considered topical references because they are all real world toys, brands, and/or people.

Suppliment Material

• This story also includes a pin-up of Iron Man drawn to plug the upcoming Armor Wars II. Although it states here that the event happens next issue, due to an abrupt change in writers it won’t begin until Iron Man #258.