Iron Man #322
The Darkest Page to Turn
This story continues from War Machine #20…
His mind and heart filled with conflict, Tony Stark makes a long avoided visit to the grave of his parents, Howard and Maria Stark.[1] He has come hoping to find answers for the questions that have been plaguing his mind, and the accusations hurled at him from friends.[2]
Here he is visited by the mysterious young woman that appeared to him during a blackout.[3] Tony refuses to accept that she is real and tells her to go away. She tells Tony that he has to accept her reality as there is too much at stake. However, before Tony can get answers from her, he suffers another black out.
Meanwhile, at an abandoned air field in the middle of the American Southwest, three friends —Hawkeye, War Machine, and US Agent — hunker down for the evening. Jim Rhodes and the Agent have agreed to help Hawkeye hideout, with Rhodes explaining that he and Tony Stark have long since gone their separate ways an he no longer wears the War Machine armor given to him by Tony.[4]
At that same moment, Tony comes out of his black out and discovers that he is in his Iron Man armor and that he has just trashed Bethany Cabe’s apartment. Fearing that she might be dead, just like Hank Pym,[5] Tony goes looking for her but finds no trace of Bethany anywhere in the apartment.
Thousands of miles to the north, in Tony’s secret Arctic bunker, Marianne Rodgers and Masque are being held as “guests” of Tony.[6] Despite the fact that she has a psionic-baffler attached to her neck to prevent the use of her powers, Marianne can still pick up psychic imprints from anything she touches. The Machinesmith — Tony’s assistant — explains that the baffler prevents the aggressive use of Marianne’s powers, but she can still use them passively. The two women are trying to make sense of what is going on. While Masque believes Tony has betrayed them, Marianne thinks that he’s still their friend since they gave him free reign of his hideout. As the two plan their next move, Marianne tries to open the door that Tony told them is off limits. This causes psychic feedback that causes Rodgers to scream out in pain.
Meanwhile, Tony’s looking into what happened to Bethany Cabe and finds Stark Enterprise correspondence that states that she had gone to New York to investigate why Tony was so interest in what was going on at Avengers Mansion. The facility has been deserted ever since the Black Widow decided to seal off the facility.[7] Returning to the mansion fills Tony with bitterness once more as he once again has to think about how people were murdered in his family home, forcing it to be closed off.
When Tony enters the basement, he is shocked when the mysterious door found there opens. From inside comes Neut, one of the warriors of the mystery force that has been attacking the Avengers.[8] Iron Man tries to hold his own against the warrior, but Neut is far more skilled and powerful than he appears. Tony’s armor gets seriously damaged before Stark realizes that the source of Neut’s power comes from his battle staff. Grabbing onto the weapon, Tony ejects his suit’s gantlet, separating Neut from his staff. Commending Tony for figuring out his weakness, Neut breaks off his attack and escapes. Iron Man, thanks to injuries sustained in battle, can do nothing more than collapse to the ground.
When Tony comes around he heads to Janet Van Dyne’s estate in New Jersey, which is serving as the Avengers temporary headquarters since the evacuation. He arrives as Luna — daughter to Quicksilver and Crystal — cries for her nanny Marilla once more. Tony’s arrival frightens the little girl even more.[9] Tony is telling them about his battle with Neut when the Black Widow and Wasp enter the room.[10] Janet is furious to see Tony in her home and tells the other Avengers how Stark bankrupted her company and tells him to get out of her home.[11] Tony tries to explain that he did nothing of the sort and when he sees that the other Avengers doubt him, he gives up and walks out. This disturbs Crystal as she has never seen Tony Stark give up on something so easily and fears that something is wrong with him.
Later that evening, the Black Widow is having a secret conversation with Hawkeye. Clint is certain that he was framed for the murders by Tony Stark himself, something that Natasha finds hard to believe, because she doesn’t think Tony is capable of such a thing. Barton insists that she knows him better than she does Tony and asks her to meet with him in private so he can show her irrefutable proof that what is has said is the truth.[12]
… This story continues in Force Works #18.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Masque, Machinesmith, Marianne Rodgers, “Adult Luna”, Hawkeye, War Machine, US Agent, “Neut”, Avengers (Black Widow, Wasp, Quicksilver, Vision, Crystal), Edwin Jarvis, Luna
Continuity Notes
As revealed in Iron Man #288, Howard and Maria Stark seemingly died in a car accident many years ago when Tony was still a young man. About that:
Here, Howard and Maria are referred to as Tony’s biological parents. Years later it is revealed that Tony was actually adopted. See Iron Man (vol. 5) #17 and International Iron Man #6-7.
S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 later revealed that Howard worked for a secret organization called the Brotherhood of the Shield. The organization had come up with a contingency plan to fake Howard’s death should the need arise, using a car accident as part of the ruse. As of this writing, it is yet to be revealed if Stark actually faked his death or not.
This is in reference to a number of incidents that have happened during The Crossing. Namely the deaths of Yellowjacket and Marella in Avengers: The Crossing #1, an attack on him by Marianne Rodgers last issue, and Hawkeye’s being accused of the murders in Force Works #17.
Tony suffered a blackout where he was visited by this mystery woman in Iron Man #320. This mystery woman is later implied to be the adult version of Luna Maximoff, the daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal, as posited in Avengers #394. However, this is another Space Phantom in disguise, as per Avengers Forever #8. That story reveals that this entire event is all part of a grand deception created by Immortus to keep the Avengers distracted as he manipulated their destiny.
Tony and Jim have been at odds with one another since Tony faked his death and kept it a secret as seen in Iron Man #284-289. Jim has gone solo since then. Although he and Tony made peace with one another in Iron Man #313, they have also remained distant. Here, Jim states that he no longer wears Tony’s War Machine armor. He lost the suit during a trip through time and now wears the alien Eidolon Warwear. See War Machine #17-19. The War Machine armor will be lost in time and space until Iron Man (vol. 3) #19.
Tony was led to believe that Hank Pym had his throat slit last issue. In reality, this was all a mental deception created by Marianne Rodgers to trick Tony into thinking he murdered one of his closest friends.
Masque makes a point of saying that Tony hasn’t tried to unmask here, suggesting that that she is someone other than Madame Masque. This story intended for her to be Bethany Cabe in disguise, as we’ll see next issue. However, Avengers (vol. 3) #32 reveals that Masque is actually a rogue bio-duplicate of the original Madame Masque, Whitney Frost, who has been using cloned proxies to do her dirty work out in the wild as a means of self-preservation. Why she chooses to disguise herself as Bethany Cabe in this storyline is never clearly explained.
This is due to the fact that a mysterious door that appeared in the basement circa Avengers #382. This door has been tied into the murders that happened in Avengers: The Crossing #1 as well as various attacks by “Kang’s” forces prompting the Widow to quarantine the building in issue #391.
As revealed in Avengers Forever #8, Neut is another Space Phantom in disguise as this is also part of the grand deception being orchestrated by Immortus.
Luna’s nanny, Marilla, was one of the people murdered at Avengers Mansion. What nobody knows yet is that Luna witnessed the killing and knows that it was carried out by Iron Man, as seen in Avengers: The Crossing #1. The truth will come out next issue. The Crossing storyline makes the supposition that Iron Man has been secretly a sleeper agent working for Kang the Conqueror since after the time traveler’s first appearance in Avengers #8. Avengers Forever #8 later reveals that this was also part of the deception created by Immortus and is totally false.
Janet and Natasha are talking about how War Machine and US Agent broke Hawkeye out of Force Works’ headquarters. That happened in War Machine #20.
Janet discovered that Stark Enterprises cleaned her out in Avengers #391.
Hawkeye’s statement that Natasha knows him better than most stems from the fact that the two shared an intimate relationship. It all began in Tales of Suspense #57. Their relationship came to an end in Avengers #57 when Natasha and Clint came to odds over her role in their relationship.
Topical References
The computer that Natasha uses to communicate with Hawkeye in this story is depicted as having a CRT monitor. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
The Crossing Reading Order
Avengers #390, Iron Man #319, Avengers: The Crossing #1, Force Works #16, Iron Man #320, Avengers #391, Iron Man #321, Force Works #17, Avengers #392, War Machine #20, Iron Man #322, Force Works #18, War Machine #21, Iron Man #323, Avengers #393, Force Works #19, War Machine #22, Iron Man #324, Force Works #20, War Machine #23, Avengers #394, Avengers: Timeslide #1, Iron Man #325, Avengers #395, Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1