The Doomsday Machine

While investigating an accident at a Stark geothermal facility, Iron Man got into a fight with Earthmover, a being transformed into living molten rock in the accident. The fight came out of a misunderstanding as Earthmover is trying to prevent some major catastrophe from happening but was initially unable to speak in his new form.

Unfortunately, by the time he does the real danger has presented itself as the massive robot known as Ultimo has emerged from the Earth’s molten core.[1] Realizing his mistake, Iron Man and Earthmover then begin working together to try and stop the massive robot. When Earthmover increases his mass he is quickly melted by Ultimo’s eyebeams. Iron Man tries to attack but is swatted away. The damage caused to his remote armor is transmitted back as pain to Tony from his telepresence rig.

As Tony is busy trying to fight Ultimo, he is interrupted by Veronica Benning, his physio-therapist. Stark tries to explain that he is busy, but she insists that she needs to talk to him right then and there. Tony tries to keep his composure as she tells him that she has developed feelings for him and due to professional ethics she can no longer work with him.[2] Tony understands and wants to pursue a relationship with her, but Veronica tells him that she can’t even do that. She tells him that she is leaving for New York and walks out. As Tony deals with this personal crisis, Iron Man takes a pounding from Ultimo.

Meanwhile, Marcy Pearson — who had recently been fired from Stark Enterprises — heads to a seedy LA bar called Tech Noir. There she seeks out a hacker named Philip Grant, aka the Raven. She has come to hire him to hack into the Stark Enterprises computer systems and help steal information that will make the company look bad.[3] He is very up for the challenge, telling Marcy that he’d almost do it for free.

Back at the scene of the battle, Iron Man frees himself from under tons of stone and debris. He quickly catches up to Ultimo with his jet boots. However, his next attack is more feeble than the last allowing Ultimo to grab hold of him. The massive robot then rips the Iron Man armor limb from limb. The feedback causes Tony to scream in agony prompting Bambi Arbogast and Happy Hogan to race to his office to see what’s wrong. Discovering the door is locked, Happy kicks it down to see how he can help him out. At that same moment, Ultimo discards the remains of the Iron Man armor and continues on his path of destruction into the town of Futura.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Ultimo, Veronica Benning, Bambi Arbogast, Happy Hogan, Earthmover, Marcy Pearson, Philip Grant

Continuity Notes

1. Ultimo has been trapped below the Earth’s surface since Iron Man dropped the damn thing in a volcano back in Iron Man #96. Here, the narrative states that Ultimo has existed for 5 thousand years, contradicting the Mandarin’s previous claim that he created Ultimo back in Tales of Suspense #76-77. Iron Man (vol. 3) #24 reveals that Ultimo came from outer space. The Mandarin merely found the massive robot and used it to his own ends as many of the Mandarin’s claims have turned out to be utter bullshit.

2. Long story short: Tony was shot in the spine and crippled. He had an experimental bio-chip implanted there. It was hacked and his nervous system ruined by enemies. He then went into cryo-stasis for a time until a cure could be fashioned. He was thawed out but lacks full mobility at this time. See Iron Man #242, 248, 258-266, 284 and 289 for the harrowing drama. Tony will be fully back on his feet in issue #300.

3. When Jim was appointed CEO of Stark Enterprises in Iron Man #284, Marcy was angry that she didn’t get the top job. She gave Jim an ultimatum: the job or their relationship. Jim chose the job and fired her on the spot. Marcy then sought revenge and got involved in a conspiracy with Morgan Stark to try and frame Jim for the death of Tony Stark, as seen in Iron Man #288. When Tony came out of the deep freeze he became aware of Marcy’s attempt to frame Jim and confronted her about it in issue #292. This is part of a larger scheme to by the artificial intelligence known as VORTEX, but we won’t learn that until issue #307.

Topical References

• The narration of this story states that the world population is 4.5 billion people. This should be considered a topical reference as it is relative to the time this story was published in 1993. As of this writing (August, 2022) the world population is about 7.7 billion people.

Wake Up Call

The feedback from getting his armor ripped apart has put Tony Stark in a coma. His body is quickly rushed down to the medical lab for immediate treatment. Examined by Erica Sondheim, the prognosis is not good. Gathered to hear the news are Abe Zimmer, Bambi Arbogast, Felix Alvarez, Happy Hogan, his wife Pepper Potts, and Eddie March. Erica tells them that Tony is on life support because his artificial nervous system suffered a total crash and he might die as a result. Unfortunately, the only thing they can do no is wait and pray that Tony comes out of it.

This leaves Felix Alvarez in charge of things and with Iron Man destroyed and Ultimo still on the rampage, he doesn’t know how to handle this crisis. However, Bambi Arbogast does and calls Jim Rhodes, once one of Tony’s closest friends. Jim is not happy to hear from Bambi as he is still upset that Tony faked his death and kept the truth from him. When Bambi tries to guilt him into helping he angrily slams down the phone. However, after giving it some thought he realizes that he can’t just do nothing and so he calls Mrs. Arbogast back and asks what’s going on and how he can help. Jim then tells Bambi to gather Abe, Happy, Eddie, Mike O’Brien, Bethany Cabe, and Carl Walker and to have them meet with him in Tony’s storage vault.[1] With that, Jim puts on his War Machine armor and heads out to save Tony Stark, one last time.

Recurring Characters

Tony Stark, War Machine, Erica Sondheim, Abe Zimmer, Bambi Arbogast, Felix Alvarez, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Eddie March, Carl Walker

Continuity Notes

1. All of these individuals were in town for a welcome back party thrown for Tony in Iron Man #296. There are three reasons why he is calling on most of these people. They have either worn the Iron Man armor themselves, such as Happy (Tales of Suspense #84-85) and Eddie (Iron Man #21-22), worn their own suits of armor such as Michael (as the Guardsman in Iron Man #96-99 and in Tony’s armor in issue #100), Carl Walker (as Force in Sub-Mariner #66-69 and Iron Man #140-141, and 222-225). Lastly, he is colling on Bethany Cabe due to her long career as a bodyguard, as first seen in Iron Man #117.