Iron Man #284
Legacy of Iron
The top story in the news is that Tony Stark is dead. Having succumbed to a long standing illness caused by his ruined nervous system.[1] Listening to the newscaster’s eulogy on television angers Jim Rhodes, Tony’s closest friend, as the general public doesn’t know the real Tony Stark. He gets so frustrated he smashes his television.
Jim was there when Tony suffered a total system crash and had to be rushed into the emergency room at Stark Enterprises. Erica Sondheim and the other doctors worked tirelessly to try and revive Tony, but he was soon declared legally dead. Little does he know that when the doctor left to tell him the tragic news, Erica Sondheim contacted Abe Zimmer and arranged to have the body transferred within the next six minutes.
A few hours later, Jim Rhodes held a press conference to announce Tony’s passing. The news travel quickly and impacted friends and foes alike. Tony’s ex-girlfriend Bethany Cabe sheds some tears for her former lover. The story makes front page headlines. The Avengers, in response to the news, lower the American flag to half-mast outside their headquarters. In Latveria, Doctor Doom proposes a toast to a worthy foe. The West Coast Avengers observe the news coverage in somber silence. Elsewhere, Happy Hogan comforts his wife Pepper Potts once they hear the news. Nick Fury takes the news bad, wondering why an old war horse like him continues to endure while guys like Stark die young. Kathy Dare, the woman who once shot Tony out of jealous revenge, realized that she never really wanted Tony dead after all. Other see opportunity, such as Spymaster who begins plotting a new scheme upon hearing the news.
Back at Jim’s apartment, Rhodes is visited by Tony’s lawyer Felix Alvarez. Has come with a recording of Tony’s final will, his keycard to Stark Enterprises, and a note to play the will in his private office. Jim complies and the will turns out to be a holographic recording of Tony. Jim is furious to learn that Tony wants him to not only take over as Iron Man, but also take the role of CEO of Stark Enterprises.[2]
He takes this news to his girlfriend, Marcy Pearson, who is furious that Tony picked Jim to succeed him as CEO since she was actually the next in line to run the company. Although Jim doesn’t want the job he is conflicted because he cannot ignore the dying request of his best friend. Marcy tells him to step down and let her take over and he is shocked to discover that she doesn’t really care that Tony is dead. When he tells her he just can’t do that, she gives him an ultimatum: step down from the job or they are over.
That night, Jim has a nightmare where the world is under siege from all of Iron Man’s foes. Panicked people race to Iron Man to ask for help but discover that his armor is empty. That’s when the zombified corpse Tony appears on Jim’s TV and demands to know why he let this happened. Jim suddenly wakes up and realizes what he has to do. He then heads down to Tony’s office and opens the secret storage compartment where Tony’s War Machine armor is being kept. Suiting up, Jim accepts the role of Iron Man. Moments later, he calls Marcy in the middle of the night and tells her that she is fired.
Elsewhere, Tony Stark is in absolute darkness when suddenly he sees a bright light in the distance. As he heads toward the light he sees the image of those who have died before him: His parents, Ho Yinsen, Kevin O’Brien, and Morley Erwin. However, Tony Stark is far from dead.[3] After he flatlined, Tony’s body was raced down to the crygenics lab where Abe Zimmer man froze his body. Succeeding in putting Stark’s body into full cryonic suspension.[4]
Recurring Characters
Tony Stark, War Machine, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Bethany Cabe, Kathy Dare, Marcy Pearson, Abe Zimmer, Erica Sondheim, Rae LaCoste, Linda Donaldson, Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Black Widow), Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Tigra, Spider-Woman, US Agent, Living Lightning), Doctor Doom, Nick Fury, Spymaster
Continuity Notes
Man, I’ll be happy to finally stop repeating this fact but: Recently, 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.
Jim is angry that Tony wants him to become Iron Man again because (other than the rare occasion) he decided he never wanted to wear the armor again. This was due to two bad experiences. The first was when he took over as Iron Man for an extended period that lasted from Iron Man #169 to 195. Because the suit wasn’t calibrated for Jim, it slowly drove him into paranoia and he had to seek mystical treatment from the Shaman to restore his mind. Later, in Iron Man #215, Jim almost burned up in planetary re-entry wearing the armor and it put a fear into him that made him avoid wearing it again whenever possible.
Tony sees images of those he believes are dead, however that’s not necessarily the case for everyone picture here. The facts:
Tony’s adopted parents, Howard and Maria Stark, seemingly died in a car accident years ago when Tony was still a young man as will be revealed in Iron Man #288. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 reveals that the Brotherhood of Shield came up with a contingency plan to fake Howard’s death with a car accident. If this is what truly happened or not remains to be seen as of this writing in August, 2022.
Tony believes Howard and Maria to be his biological parents at the time of this story. The revelation that he was adopted and the true identity of his biological parents will be revealed in Iron Man (vol. 5) #17 and International Iron Man #6-7.
Ho Yinsen seemingly died when he sacrificed himself to buy Tony time to power up his newly built suit of Iron Man armor back in Tales of Suspense #39. Yinsen’s woudl live on as a disembodied brain as seen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #31-32, 48 and Iron Man Annual 2000.
Kevin O’Brien was once a very close friend of Tony starting in Iron Man #31. Given a suit of armor of his own, it wasn’t properly calibrated and drove Kevin mad. He died fighting Iron Man in Iron Man #46.
Morley Erwin was an employee of Stark International first seen in Iron Man #168. When the company was taken over by Obadiah Stane he quit to help Jim as Iron Man. Later, he and his sister Clytemnestra went to California with Tony to start a new business. However, Morely died in Iron Man #199, a victim of a bomb planted in the Circuits Maximus building by Stane.
Tony will remain in cryogenic stasis until he is cured of his health condition in Iron Man #289-290.
Topical References
The televisions and computer screens in this story are depicted as CRT style monitors. This should be considered a topical reference due to the fact that this is an obsolete technology.
The newscaster reports rumors that Tony had contracted HIV. This story was written during the AIDS pandemic of the late 80s and early 90s when little was known about the illness. Back in those days contracting HIV was pretty much a death sentence. That said, this should be considered a topical reference due to advances in medical treatment that allows people with this illness to live full lives. For example, in 1996 the life exectancy of someone with HIV/AIDS at 20 years old was about 39 years. As of this writing (August, 2022) a person can now be expected to live for 70 years if they receive proper treatment to manage the virus.
Rhodes takes offense when the doctor says “He’s dead Jim”. This is a reference to the original Star Trek TV series. The character Dr. McCoy is famously known for saying the line 20 times throughout the run of the series. So frequently that it had become a trope. You could consider this a topical reference.
An issue of Time Magazine features a cover story about Tony Stark’s death. This should be considered topical as Time is a real world publication.
In this story, Tony recorded his will on a CD-Rom. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a outdated storage format.