Iron Man #268
First Blood
Now
Iron Man is working feverishly in his lab in order to find a cure for his damaged nervous system.[1] Unfortunately, he has reached another dead end. This situation reminds him of the original life-threatening injury he suffered when he first become Iron Man and finds himself remembering back to that fateful day…
Years Ago[2]
While on a business trip to Southeast Asia, Tony Stark was caught in an explosion and captured by the militia led by Wong Chu. Waking up to discover that shrapnel from the bomb is inching closer to his heart, he is told by fellow scientist Ho Yinsen that they are being forced to create high tech weapons for the warlord. When brought to meet Wong Chu in person, Tony tries to resist him and his men. Unfortunately, the strain from fighting pushes the shrapnel closer to his heart causing him to black out from the agony it has caused.
Ho Yinsen tells everyone to get back as he is the only one with the medical skills to save Tony’s life. Wong Chu is ready to let Stark die then and there, but Yinsen convinces him that in order to create the weapons he has demanded he will absolutely need the brilliant mind of Tony Stark. Wong Chu violently overpowers the old scientist and reminds him that the outside work thinks him dead and double-crossing him will certainly mean his demise if he’s planning to trick him. Wong Chu then gives Yinsen until the following day to start producing results…
Now
… Reflecting on all of this, Tony Stark is thankful that Ho Yinsen saved his life in those dark days as he ended up doing so much good as both a business leader and as Iron Man. However, now he finds himself trapped in his armor as his only form of mobility, cutting himself off from the outside world. However, despite the fact that she has withdrawn from society he can’t help but feel like something is about to happen that will force him to emerge from hiding.
Meanwhile, in the Valley of Dragon in China, the Mandarin and his teacher, Chen Hsu, observe the dragon Fin Fang Foom as he slumbers. The Mandarin wishes to use the powerful dragon to crush the Chinese government right away and take full control of the nation. However, the wizened old Chen Hsu tells the Mandarin to become patient. He reminds his student about the time his impatience that got the better of him. This was the time that he funded Wong Chu’s private army years earlier. Reminded of this prompts the Mandarin to think back to those early days….
Years Ago
… When Wong Chu went to report the current situation with Tony Stark, the Mandarin is furious that he would consider allowing Tony Stark to die. He violently reminds Wong Chu that Stark is integral to their plans and orders Wong Chu to return to his camp and make sure that Yinsen is able to save Tony Stark’s life or else he will personally destroy Chu and his entire army. Annoyed by this tongue lashing, Wong Chu vows to get revenge against the Mandarin once this is all over.
Coming upon one of his patrol groups, Wong Chu is unhappy that they are slacking off and orders them to get things in order. That’s when Wong’s female operatives come to warn him that Yinsen and Stark are plotting to betray him. Unaware that she could understand English, the two men talked about “activating” a friend who will help them escape. Unsure what any of this means, Wong Chu at least recognizes this as a bad sign and orders his men to follow him back to their camp. As they race off to stop the two scientists from doing whatever they are planning they are unaware that they are being observed by the Mandarin who is following them through the jungle….
Now
… While the Mandarin recounts all of this, Chen Hsu reminds the Mandarin of what he was feeling during that time. How the would-be world conqueror vowed to work alone from that point on because he could not trust anyone. The Mandarin remembers these feelings very well and they remind him that the only person who has ever stood in his way was Iron Man, Tony Stark’s personal bodyguard.
Back in America, Iron Man once again feels the sensation that someone is touching his mind. He can’t make any sense of it or why it is forcing him to remember the events of many years ago. He wonders if it is his subconscious mind trying to tell himself something and decides to focus on the details from back then…
Years Ago
… The shrapnel in Tony Stark’s heart soon grew to be a serious problem. Luckily, Yinsen is putting the finishing touches on an armored chest plate that would keep the shrapnel in Tony’s chest from reaching his heart and killing him. This is just part of a suit of battle armor that the pair had been secretly working on to break themselves out of Wong Chu’s prison. As Tony plugs in the armor to calibrate it to his body, Yinsen notices that Wong Chu and his minions are coming for them. Since Tony needs more time to calibrate his armor, Yinsen runs outside to create a distraction for him, sacrificing his life in the process.[3]
Hearing Yinsen get shot, Tony vows to avenge his mentor and begins putting on what would become the first suit of Iron Man armor. Clinging to the ceiling, Tony evades Wong Chu’s sweep of the room. Unable to find Stark, Wong Chu and his men scour the property. Using a hat and trench coat to disguise himself, Tony then emerged from the make-shift lab and challenges Wong Chu to fight one-on-one in hand-to-hand combat. Sure enough, Wong Chu was no match for the Iron Man armor and is soundly defeated. When his soldiers try to attack Tony, he uses the various gadgets in his armor to deflect their bullets and bombs making them all flee.
Chasing after Wong Chu, Iron Man is too slow to keep up with his enemy. With no other choice, the hero ignites a nearby ammo dump causing it to explode and seemingly killing Wong Chu in the blast….
Now
… Recalling this moment himself, the Mandarin remembers how this was the first of many times that Iron Man foiled his plans. He recalls watching the battle from the other side of the jungle, allowing him to see the true fate of Wong Chu…
Years Ago
The Mandarin was watching from the opposite side of the ammo dump and watched as Wong Chu was knocked clear from the blast. Injured by the explosion, Wong Chu is confronted by his employer and begs for forgiveness. The Mandarin however will not tolerate failure and uses his power rings to seemingly transform Wong Chu into a lady bug and crushing him beneath his foot.[4]
Watching Iron Man leave the ruins of the camp and entering the jungle, the Mandarin briefly considers shooting him in the back. However, for reasons even he cannot explain, the Mandarin decided to spare the conquering hero and departed in the opposite direction….
Now
… The Mandarin still, to this day, cannot explain why he spared Iron Man that day. Chen Hsu however thinks the answer is pretty obvious. This annoys the Mandarin, who is tired of looking internally and wishes to strike out with Fin Fang Foom and finally conquer China. When he boasts that none command grater power than he does, Chen Hsu isn’t so convinced.
Back in America, the strange feeling in Iron Man’s mind has subsided. Iron Man concludes his trip down memory lane by looking at all the upgrades he made to his Iron Man technology over the years.[5] He thinks about all the good he did, not only as a wealthy businessman but as a super-hero. However, he wonders if the world would still view him the same way if they knew the truth about the fragile man that is now forced to live inside his armor 24/7. He also worries about his effectiveness as Iron Man, recalling his poor performance against Vibro.[6] He also think about how he has been trapped in his armor thanks to the Marrs twins and how he is working on getting revenge against them.[7] However, if he doesn’t find a way to undo the damage done to his body he is finished as both Tony Stark and Iron Man.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Mandarin, Chen Hsu, Fin Fang Foom, (in flashback) Ho Yinsen, Wong Chu
Continuity Notes
TL;DR: Tony was shot in through the spine in Iron Man #242 leaving him disabled from the waist down. He cured himself with an experimental bio-chip in issue #248. This chip was used by the Marrs twins as a backdoor to override Stark’s nervous system with an artificial one that allowed them to take control of his body. Iron Man uncovered and foiled this plot over the course of Iron Man #258-266. Tony’s condition will persist until Iron Man #290.
What follows is a retelling of Iron Man’s origins adapted from Tales of Suspense #39. However, this story has been updated in many ways. See below for details. Per the Sliding Timescale, these events took place about 8 years prior to the main story.
It is later revealed in Iron Man (vol. 3) #31, Yinsen survived getting shot and was taken away by Sun Tao, one of Yinsen’s students. Sun Tao left him after hearing what he thought were Yinsen’s dying words. However, Iron Man Annual 2000 reveals that Yinsen was pulled forward in time moments after he was shot by Doctor Midas.
Iron Man Annual 2000 reveals that the Mandarin only made Wong-Chu believe this to have happened for. Wong-Chu went on to rebuild his organization. Also, it is later revealed in Iron Man #274 that the Mandarin had Yinsen kidnapped in order to unlock the secrets of his newly acquired power rings.
On display are various suits of Iron Man armor that Tony has created over the years. They are:
The original suit of Iron Man armor (Model 1) that he built in Tales of Suspense #39.
The gold painted variant he started wearing in the following issue.
His first suit of red-and-gold armor (Model 2) that he began wearing in Tales of Suspense #48.
The 3rd red-and-gold suit (Model 3) that he started wearing in Iron Man #85.
The Silver Centurion armor (Model 8) which first appeared in Iron Man #200.
Lastly, his then most recent suit of armor (Model 9) that first appeared in Iron Man #231.
Iron Man performed poorly against Vibro last issue.
As detailed in Namor the Sub-Mariner #14, Tony Stark is using business channels to wage war against the Marrs Corporation, stymying their business operations.
Updating Iron Man’s Origins
This is the first time that writers have updated Iron Man’s origins. Originally Tales of Suspense #39 was set during the Vietnam War. In the original story, Tony was giving a demonstration of his new transistorized weapons to the military when he accidentally walked across an enemy trip wire, setting off the explosive that sent shrapnel near his heart. He is then caught by Wong Chu and his guerillas who were part of the Viet Cong army. In that version of the story, the technology that made the Iron Man armor possible was transistors. Also in that story, the properties of the life saving chest plate was to create a heart-pump that would pick up the slack from Tony’s damaged organ. The original version of the story also states that the reason why Ho Yinsen needed to buy the armor time to charge its batteries. Also in the original story, Wong Chu is presumed dead in the ammo dump explosion caused by Iron Man.
In this version of events (which tells the second half of the origin story), a number of details are changed. Primarily, all references to the Vietnam War are gone. Instead, the geographical location is kept vague merely stating that Tony is somewhere in Southeast Asia. The Mandarin is now the man behind the scenes instigating events. In the new version of the origin the technology used in the original Iron Man has changed. All reference to transistors are gone since this is a pretty common component in all technologies. The device in the chest plate is now a device that uses magnetic fields to keep the shrapnel away from Tony’s heart. Later, rather than needing to build a charge, the suit needed time to align itself to Tony’s body. Lastly, rather than dying in the ammo dump explosion, Wong Chu is seemingly killed by the Mandarin.
Years after this story was published, Marvel put out History of the Marvel Universe #2, which created the fictional war called the Sin-Cong Conflict. Sin-Cong is a fictional nation that exists near Vietnam in the Marvel Universe. This fictional conflict was created in order to avoid the constant retconning of early Marvel stories that made references to characters being involved in the Vietnam War. This would allow for minor revisions to explain why the American military was in Vietnam in the Pre-Modern/early Modern Age.
The Iron Man profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 makes references to the origin story above (and other contradictory ones that are told in later issues) as well as refers to Wong Chu as a Sin-Cong revolutionary.
With regards to the technology surrounding the Iron Man armor and how it worked should be considered topical. This is because each successive retelling of Iron Man’s origins updates that portion of the story. This is mainly due to the advances in both technology and medicine that have occurred in between re-tellings.
As such modern readers should consider the following: Tony Stark’s trip still took him to Vietnam but during the Sin-Cong Conflict. All technological references should be considered topical. Events that occurred in Tales of Suspense #39 that aren’t repeated here happened behind the scenes and/or between panels. Likewise any events that took place in later telling’s of Iron Man’s origins which are not told here (with the exception of Iron Man (vol. 4) #1) should be stated as having took place behind the scenes between the panels of this issue as well.
Because Iron Man (vol. 4) #1 completely changes Tony’s origin story to fit a War on Terror narrative that ignorers all previously established continuity it should be, at the very least, ignored. However, we’ll talk about that another time.