Iron Man #304
Crash & Burn Part 4: The Sound of Thunder
Iron Man has failed to stop the New Warriors from destroying a Stane International dam built in the African nation of Nadua. To make matters worse, Thunderstrike has arrived and is spoiling for a fight. This is because he is secretly Eric Masterson, the architect who designed the dam for the company and is furious that someone would destroy it. At first, he blames Iron Man for doing it, but the Warriors quickly explain that it was their handiwork. This leads to a clash between Thunderstrike and the young heroes.[1]
Eventually, Iron Man gets fed up and orders everyone to stop fighting. He points out all the damage they have caused. He also scolds Thunderstrike for acting like a hot head when he’s old enough to know better. This shames him into making an apology, but Iron Man has had enough. He tells them that they are trespassing on Stark Enterprise property and tells them to get lost.
After cleaning up the mess, Tony Stark returns to New York and meets up with Steve Rogers, aka Captian America, for dinner. There they resume their conversation about the impertinence of younger heroes. Cap is empathetic, reminding Tony that they are still young and need more time to grow up a little.[2] Stark, on the other hand, points out how Steve had recently been pushed out of the Avengers recently for being too noble and how the west coast team was so directionless it had to be disbanded.[3] However, Tony has a plan to fill the gap created by the west coast team’s disbandment and it involves many of its former members. Tony then wonders if Steve ever feels discouraged when he looks at the state of the world. Steve admits that it can be at times but he focuses on the little things. Tony thinks that sounds a lot like faith and admits that he needs a little more than that to get by on. Rogers points out that in their business that faith is sometimes the only thing they got.
The following day, Tony meets with his VP and lawyer, Felix Alvarez. He informs Tony that the District Attorney is dropping the case against the Controller due to a the fact that this current election cycle is incredible volatile. Tony is annoyed by this as he wants some kind of justice for Basil Sandhurst’s most recent crimes.[4] Felix warns Tony about that kind of thinking since this is exactly what landed Stark Enterprises in its recent bit of hot water. That’s when Abe Zimmer comes in with some good news force once: He was able to track down the hacker who broke into their database and leaked information to the media. He recognizes it as the work of Philip Grant, a hacker who goes by the name “The Raven” online. Tony is pleased by this news and sends his head of security, Bethany Cabe, out to track Grant down and bring him in. Cabe is on it but she wants to call a meeting since she has just uncovered more trouble for the company.
Meeting up with Tony, Abe, and Felix, she tells them that she just uncovered evidence that Stane International was involved in the “Gamma-Gate” scandal.[5] As it turns out, they were the company that constructed the bombs in question. When the truth was exposed, the Nevada complex where the bombs was shut down but not dismantled. It has recently the attention of the Ecology Defense League an environmental group who believes that it is a threat to the environment. They have been protesting outside the facility for some time now and things are getting heated. Tony also fears that someone else will soon get involved and asks Abe to prepare what he has been working on as a countermeasure for such an opponent.
Tony then heads down to his lab and suits up as Iron Man, cursing Obadiah Stane who still manages to make his life miserable from beyond the grave and heads to Zephyr Flats, Nevada. There the situation has boiled over and the guards are preparing to open fire on the unruly protestors. Luckily, Iron Man arrives on the scene just in time to stop them and prevent a loss of lives. When the guards say they were just following orders, Iron Man fires them on the spot and promises that whoever gave those orders will be punished by the law.
With the facility cleared out, Tony receives a shipping container containing a massive suit of armor that he has prepared for the coming confrontation. Just as Tony suspected, the Hulk arrives on the scene after dark. Iron Man — waring his new Hulkbuster armor — is ready and waiting and tells the Hulk that in order to lay a finger on this facility he’ll have to get through him first.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Thunderstrike, New Warriors (Night Thrasher, Nova, Firestar, Speedball, Rage), Captain America, Felix Alvarez, Bethany Cabe, Bambi Arbogast, Abe Zimmer, HOMER, Hulk
Continuity Notes
This whole mess stems from Stane International’s shady business dealings. Stane International was previously Stark International, Tony’s family business. It was stolen away from him by Obadiah Stane during a hostile take over in Iron Man #173 and renamed after himself. After Obadiah’s death in Iron Man #200, the company eventually ended up in the hands of Justin Hammer who sold it back to Tony for a dollar in Iron Man #283. During its operations Stane International got involved in a lot of shady business that just came to public attention in Iron Man #300. Last issue, it prompted the New Warriors to attack the Nadua dam because of the heavy handed tactics that Stane employed to build it in the first place.
Steve reminds Tony how Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were hot headed when they first joined the Avengers. They joined the team way back in Avengers #16 when they were young adults and had a lot of piss and vinegar.
Tony’s referencing the following:
Captain America didn’t get pushed out of the Avengers so much that he decided to leave the group due to differences in opinion. This all stemmed from Operation: Galactic Storm where a number of Avengers (Iron Man included) decided to execute the Supreme Intelligence for war crimes. Cap didn’t like that idea and chose to step down. See Avengers #347 and Captain America #401. Tony’s statement isn’t entirely accurate as Cap has returned to the group and worked with them on and off since Avengers #360. It’s his failing health that has been keeping him off the active roster at the time of this story. (See Captain America #425-445)
That said, Cap’s resentment over Operation: Galactic Storm did create a schism between the east and west coast teams and it resulted in a vote being held to disband the west coast roster. Iron Man was the deciding vote that led to the group to disband in Avengers West Coast #102. The team will later reform under a new name in Force Works #1.
Tony have been pushing for the Controller to get prosecuted after he tried to kidnap Tony Stark. See Iron Man #292-293. Tony will have to deal with the Controller personally in Iron Man Annual #15.
As seen in Incredible Hulk #340-346, the government was revealed to had secretly built a bunch of gamma bombs. These bombs were launched on Middletown, Arizona by the Leader causing countless deaths and mutating the survivors into gamma mutates.
