Armor Wars II Part 5: The Enemy Within

After his body has seized up in battle, Tony Stark has a team of doctors examine the bio-chip implanted in his spine to see if it is somehow responsible.[1] All the tests come back clean and the doctors say there appears to be nothing wrong with him. However, Tony isn’t entirely convinced because everything seems too perfect. Particularly since he has been given a clean bill of health even though, not that long ago, he was told that his last bout of binge drinking had caused irreparable damage to his body.[2]

Tony is concerned about losing control of his body, noting that the Living Laser only spared Iron Man’s life when he seized up because the villain wanted to have a worthy victory.[3] Tony now hopes he can get in touch with Su Yin, a brilliant scientist who might be able to help him with his problem. However, his attempts to contact her have been rebuffed by the Chinese government.[4]

Little do Tony and Jim know that their movements are being monitored by security staff that have been bought out by Kearson DeWitt — the man responsible for hacking into Tony’s bio-chip. This is to make up for the fact that they cannot see things through Tony’s eyes when they are in control of his body. Dewitt — who seeks to get revenge against Stark for some past transgression — orders his team of scientists to fire up the bio-chip hack and take over Stark’s body again.[5]

At Stark Enterprises, Tony Stark suddenly stops mid-conversation and begins walking away from Jim. Curious as to what’s going on, Rhodes follows after his boss to see where he is going and to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.

Meanwhile, in the Valley of the Dragon in China, the Mandarin has awoken the slumbering dragon known as Fin Fang Foom. The massive creature asks why the Mandarin has awoken him from his sleep. The would-be world conqueror explains that he did so under instructions of an old wizard named Chen Hsu and offers the mighty dragon the opportunity to crush humanity. However, Fin Fang Foom is disinterested in doing anything of the sort and demands to know why the Mandarin would think he would be. Knowing that Fin Fang Foom is lying, the Mandarin laughs in the monster’s face.

Back at Stark Enterprises, Jim Rhodes continues to follow Tony Stark through the facility. Deducing that someone has remotely taken control of his body, Jim wonders how they are watching him since the facility is deserted. That’s when he notices the security cameras are following Stark’s movements. He then races up to security where he ambushes the man inside. Jim is surprised to see that they have been betrayed by Cartwright, a man who he personally vetted for this job. He knocks Cartwright out and sees that he has hooked up a device that is transmitting the security feed someplace else. Before Jim can even begin to disable the transmitter, he notices that Tony is about to leave the property and races out to stop him. Seeing that Rhodes is trying to stop them, DeWitt orders his technicians to use Tony Stark to attack him. However, Jim is much more skilled in hand-to-hand combat and is able to overpower Tony and knock him out.

Needing to get out of view of the security cameras, Jim then races to Tony Stark’s private lab, the only place where there are no security cameras. With Tony disappearing from sight, DeWitt orders his technicians to do something to get him back. However, Jim has strapped Tony down to a table so he can’t move. Seeing that Stark can still move his eyes, Rhodes asks him what to do. That’s when Tony looks over at his suit of remote piloted armor. Jim dresses Stark in this suit and since his mind is still his to control, Tony can force the Iron Man armor to resist commands coming from his bio-chip. However, doing this will come at a cost as it will push Tony Stark to his physical limits. Despite this, Tony is just glad that he has some kind of control back and he vows to find out whose been messing with him and stop them once and for all!

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Kearson DeWitt, Jim Rhodes, Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom

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. Tony mentions his recent bouts of alcoholism. Tony went on two very harmful benders. The first was in Iron Man #120-128 and the other from issues #167-182. The binge drinking had negative consequences on his health and he almost died. Tony has been sober ever since.

3. Iron Man previously fought the Living Laser in Iron Man #259-260.

4. Tony will later be allowed to meet with Su Yin when the Chinese government needs help defending the nation from the Mandarin and his army of dragons. See Iron Man #269-275.

5. It’s later revealed in Iron Man Annual #13 that DeWitt blames Stark for his father’s death. Allegedly DeWitt’s father was a brilliant inventor that died broke and unrecognized. Kearson had convinced himself that Stark stole his father’s work to create the Iron Man armor.

Topical References

• When talking about his past drinking problems, Tony states here that he hasn’t drank anything stronger than Perrier, a brand of carbonated water. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world product.