Armor Wars II Part 1: Lo, A Spectral Enemy Rises…

Tony Stark has finished the construction of a new training room that replicates a New York City block. He has created it so he can test out a new suit of remotely piloted armor that he can mentally control. With Jim Rhodes manning the training room controls he unleashes a massive robot against what he thinks is the remotely piloted armor. However, after Iron Man trashes the robot — after some effort — Tony reveals that he was physically fighting the robot and the remote armor was the one standing by his side observing the test the entire time. After the test is over, Tony is taking off his armor when he suddenly feels a stab of pain in his shoulder, not unlike the mysterious back pains he has been having recently. However, the pain quickly stops as suddenly as it started, frustrating Tony as he wishes he could find out what the problem is.[1]

Elsewhere at an undisclosed facility, the cause of Tony’s phantom pains is coming from a lab. Under the direction of a man named Kearson DeWitt, scientists are attempting to gain remote control of Tony Stark’s body through the bio-chip implanted in his spine. Although they are slowly cracking the ability to do so, they report that soon they will be able to take control of his whole body. The only limitation they can’t get through is being able to see though Stark’s eyes. DeWitt already knew this limitation going in and is confident that they can move ahead with their plans.

Later that day, Tony Stark is going over some designs for a new invention when he is interrupted by a call from his admin assistant, Bambi Arbogast. She tells him that there is an emergency signal coming from Stark Enterprise’s atomic research facility. Seeking to avoid a nuclear incident, Tony races to his private office so he can change into Iron Man and deal with this crisis. When he arrives at the scene one of the fleeing scientists tells him that a “huge ghost” came in through the walls to wreck the place. At first, Iron Man suspects this might be the Ghost, but dismisses the idea due to the alleged size of the intruder.[2]

Inside, whoever it is uses lasers to collapse the roof of the building on Iron Man. The hero quickly blasts his way to freedom and, with the reactor getting close to critical mass, Iron Man races to it. There, he discovers the intruder has severed the coolant system, forcing Tony to do a hard shut down of the reactor. After shutting down the endangered reactor, Iron Man attempts to get to the other two and shut them down before they too are compromised. However, before he can get to them, the intruder causes radiation shielding from the ceiling forcing Iron Man to dig his way through it to get to his destination. It is as he is digging himself to freedom that he is suddenly confronted by the attacker himself, who appears to be the Titanium Man. The villain claims that he has returned from the grave to get his revenge![3]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, “Titanium Man”, Kearson DeWitt, Jim Rhodes, Bambi Arbogast

Continuity Notes

1. Recently, Tony was shot through the spine by a jilted love named Kathy Dare in Iron Man #242. This left him confined to a wheelchair until he had an experimental bio-chip implanted in his spine to repair the damage in issue #248. He has been stricken with bouts of phantom pains since Iron Man #256. As we’ll find out between this issue and Iron Man #266 that this bio-chip was a trap set by the Marrs twins — rivals in business — to replace Tony’s nervous system with one that they can used to remotely control his body. Even after this plot is foiled, Tony will suffer lasting effects from it until he is fully cured in Iron Man #290.

2. A footnote here reminds readers that Iron Man last fought the Ghost in Iron Man #238-240. The pair also clashed in issue #219-221.

3. This is supposedly Kondrati Topolov, aka the Gremlin, and the second Titanium Man. He took on the role in X-Men vs. the Avengers #1. He seemingly perished in a battle with Iron Man in Iron Man #229. As of this writing (August, 2022) Topolov has remained among the deceased. This obviously an impostor and, next issue, we’ll discover that it is actually the Living Laser in disguise.