War Games

Iron Man has helped the Black Widow break into NORAD missile command to stop a Russian sleeper agent known as Oktober from triggering a nuclear launch that will kick off a third world war. However, once they reach the launch computers, Natasha incapacitates Tony with a synaptic scrambler. As it turns out, she was Oktober all along and is now prepping America’s nuclear arsenal for launch. Soon, missile silos all around NORAD open up and begin launching their deadly payloads.

When Iron Man wakes up he realizes how he had been tricked. Wondering how Natasha managed to take him out, Tony briefly removes his helmet and finds the scrambler attached to the back of his head. He figures that the Widow must have planted it when she woke him up earlier that evening.[1] However, before Iron Man can act, soldiers finally arrive on the scene and try to put him under arrest. Iron Man points to the fact that there is no time for this as missiles have been launched. Seeing that it is a code “Joshua” the soldiers begin to panic because this is the code used for mutually assured destruction. Quickly, communications are sent to the White House to warn the President. He is equally horrified by the news and decides to get on the hot line to Russia to offer his apologies before it is too late.

Back at NORAD, Iron Man is being escorted to a prison cell. Iron Man explains to them how the Black Widow tricked him into breaching the facility to stop a Russian sleeper. However, once they are clear of any important equipment, Iron Man then unleashes some gas bombs so he can make his escape. Escaping the facility through a missile silo, Iron Man then heads off to intercept the nuclear missiles before they can reach their targets. Iron Man manages to catch up with the missiles and is relieved to see that he still has time before the Russians respond in kind. Racing ahead of the missiles, Iron Man uses a device to hack into the navigation systems of the missiles and divert them so they fly off into solar orbit where it’ll be at least 20 years before anyone has to worry about them. With the world saved, Iron Man heads back to NORAD to stop the Black Widow before she gets in any more trouble.

At that moment, Natasha has been sneaking her way to the NORAD hangers where she steals a fighter plane in order to fly back to Russia. When Iron Man catches up with her he discovers that she is back in control of herself and is heading for the man who was responsible for activating the Oktober protocols.

Three hours later, the Black Widow shows up at the home of Russian Deputy Attaché to the United Nations. There, they catch the attaché proposing a toast to Vladimir Lenin. As it turns out, the attaché was against any peace between Russia and the United States and believed that utter annihilation was more acceptable than co-existence. Having known about the Oktober protocols during his time in Russian intelligence he had the means of triggering Oktober once he was in a position of power. After making this startling confession, the Black Widow confronts him. The attaché then tries to commit suicide in order to evade punishment, but Iron Man uses the magnetic devices in his armor to yank the gun away. The hero then orders the Russian attaché to confess his crimes otherwise he’ll leave him alone with the Black Widow. Fully aware of the torture that Natasha could inflict upon him, the attaché promises to confess.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Black Widow

Continuity Notes

1. Tony mentions the damage done to his central nervous system here. He 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.

Topical References

• Some of the technology at NORAD depicted in this story, such as reel-to-reel tape being used for data storage or that they send communications to the President via fax machine, should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.

• The President of the United States is depicted as George H.W. Bush in this story. This should be considered a topical reference Bush’s presidency ended in 1993 and he subsequently died in 2018.

• This story is framed as though the Cold War had just ended. This is because the Soviet Union had crumbled shortly before this comic was published. As such any references to Cold War terminology — such as referring to Russia as the USSR, and its intelligence agency as the KGB — when used in the present tense should be considered topical. Modern readers should interpret the “newly established” peace between the USA and Russia as a easing of tensions unique to the fiction as opposed to a real world event. In that same token, Oktober can still be considered a Cold War protocol, only that it has been many decades since it was planned and initiated.

• The type of fighter plane that Natasha steals is depicted as a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. These were a common fighter plane used by the US Air Force when this comic was published back in 1991. This should be considered a topical reference as well due to the fact that the military is planning on retiring their fleet of F-16s by 2025.

• This story also frames the Russian attaché as someone who was a lowly code breaker for the KGB during the Cold War. This becomes increasingly impossible as the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time without a means of artificially extending the character’s lifespan. It seems unlikely that Marvel would come up with such a solution for a one-off character like this. Modern readers should instead interpret that the attaché knew about Oktober due to his position rather than discovering it back when it was being implimented.