Armor Wars II Part 8: This Mortal Coil

Tony Stark has suffered a heart attack thanks to the punishment his nervous system has taken thanks to a hackers trying to control his body through the bio-chip installed in his spine.[1] Unfortunately, this has come at the worst possible time as Iron Man has been trying to quell a worker riot at the Stark Enterprises property. This has caused the hero to fall to the ground, prompting the mob to begin swarming him.

Observing the situation on television is Kearson DeWitt, the man responsible for the hacks. When his scientists call him to ask their next move, he orders them to disconnect the link as it is getting close to beginning his final endgame.

The sudden restoration causes Iron Man to bolt upright in pain and involuntarily triggers his jet boots causing him to fly off out of control. Jim Rhodes hops into a helicopter and chases after his boss. After securing Iron Man in a skyhook long enough for Tony to deactivate his jet boots he heads back to Stark Enterprises. Along the way, Jim picks up a helicopter on the radar and recognizes it as a corporate helicopter for the Marrs Corporation. He suspects that they have been tracking Iron Man’s movements.

Meanwhile, in China, the Mandarin is displeased that he only has control of one third of the country and intends to conquer the entire land. He also cannot understand why the wizard Chen Hsu continues to disguise his true form telling him his current appearance make him look like an elderly golf caddy. When Chen offers to take his true form and begins to transform, the Mandarin is visibly disturbed, prompting Chen to stop since its clear that his student finds it unnerving. Hsu explains that he chooses this form because it is more easily understood by mere mortals. When the Mandarin apologizes for his belligerence, Chen Hsu is disappointed that he missed the point.[2]

Back in America, Tony Stark has Jim Rhodes examine his body to see the state of the damage done. Rhodes confirms that things have gotten worse than before. Tony believes that the bio-chip must have had a virus in it that replaced his nervous system with one that his tormentors could easily control. His body wracked with pain, Tony makes the serious decision to take some pain-killers, something that he is leery of considering his past history with alcoholism.[3] He then gets to thinking about the events that led to the installation of the bio-chip to begin with. It all began when he was shot through the spine by Kathy Dare and was left crippled from the waist down. He was able to restore his mobility thanks to a new experimental bio-chip that was created by Cordco Incorporated. He then realizes that, at the time, he didn’t think to look into who invested in the project. Tony pulls up the list of companies on his computer and doesn’t see any company that he has been in conflict with in the past. That’s when Jim notices that one of them is the Marrs Corporation and recalls how one of their helicopters were tracking them earlier.

Tony then recalls that he had recently in competition with Marrs over acquisition of the Centrex Corporation. He remembers that Desmond and Phoebe Marrs are rather ruthless in the business world and could see them doing something like this to get revenge. However, there is only one way Tony can find out for sure and that’s to go pay the Marrs twins a visit as Iron Man. Jim has his reservations but knows he can’t talk Tony out of it but tells his boss to be careful. This is because Rhodes feels an itch of intuition in the back of his head that is making him uneasy about it.[4]

Moments later, Iron Man crashes through the ceiling at the Marrs Corporation’s western headquarters. There he catches a team of scientists operating a computer system that is hacking into his central nervous system. As he wrecks the machinery he spots a scientist who might know everything that’s been going on and tries to force him to talk. That’s when Kearson DeWitt emerges in a massive battle suit of his own. However, as Iron Man prepares for battle, DeWitt flips a switch that sends pain flooding Iron Man’s nervous system causing him to keel over in agony.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Jim Rhodes, Desmond Marrs, Pheobe Marrs, Mandarin, Kearson DeWitt, Chen Hsu, 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’ve learned over the last 7 issues is 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. Chen Hsu’s true form is that of a dragon because he is a member of the Makluan race. He was among a ship full of these aliens that crash landed on Earth centuries ago seeking to conquer the planet. Over the years they have disguised themselves as humans as they consolidated power. See Iron Man #274.

3. 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.

4. It’s interesting to note here that Jim states that he had these intuitions when he served in the military in Southeast Asia. This is the first time Jim’s background is talked about without also mentioning the Vietnam War, as it was originally told in Iron Man #144. This is because references to Jim serving in Vietnam are considered topical. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, Jim’s time in the military is now associated with the fictional Sin-Cong Conflict to further avoid having to change the location/reason for American involvement in Asia.

Topical References

• The computer that Tony uses to research the origins of the bio-chip is depicted as having a monochrome CRT monitor. This should be considered topical as this technology is obsolete.