Iron Man #326
First Sign Part III: Burn Out
This story continues from Thor #496…
Having been brought forward in time by over a decade, young Tony Stark is trying to find his place in this brave new world. Deciding to continue his education, young Tony decides to enroll at Columbia University, since it would be easier to do than explaining his situation to MIT, his previous alma mater.[1] Lost in thought has he tries to navigate around the campus, Tony narrowly avoids getting hit by a frisbee.
The disc ends up hitting another student, Chap Walters. Tony asks Chap if he knows anything about the science department and if he has any advice on what courses to take. Turns out that Walters is enrolled in the sciences as well. He tells Tony that a class run by a Ms. Alden is not to be missed. However, Chap suddenly becomes timid and quickly walks away. This is because the frisbee was tossed by local chunk head Benjamin Brennan. He and his friends get a good laugh for knocking Walters down. Tony doesn’t appreciate it and tells them off, tossing the frisbee back at them. It is caught by Kris DeGann, who is impressed by Tony Stark’s bravado.
Tony heads off to the registration office where he tries to find Chap Walters. As he waits in line he is joined by Kris DeGann who properly introduces herself to Tony. He assures her that he has no relation to the Tony Stark. She warns him not to sign up for Alden’s science class, but when another elective course quickly fills up, Tony has no choice but to sign up for it anyway. Tony doesn’t understand what all the dire warnings are for and ques up with the other students. When he gets to the head of the line and meets Ms. Alden herself, Tony is shocked to discover that she is the adult version of his old girlfriend, Meredith McCall.[2] Fearing that she might recognize him, Tony begins to panic, annoying Meredith who wants to know if he is signing up for her course or not. Before Tony can say anything the lights suddenly go out.
As people start to panic, Tony quickly pulls his new proto-type gauntlet — part of his unfinished armor — and plugs it into the chest plate that is keeping him alive as a power source.[3] Tony then uses the gauntlet to blow the nearby doors open so people can get out safely. However, his sensors indicate that whatever caused the blackout is also slowly draining the power from his chest plate. Needing to make adjustments if he wants to make it off campus alive, Tony follows an ambient microwave reading down to the school basement where he discovers a fully stocked lab he can work in.
Meanwhile, back at Avengers Mansion, Jarvis is fully aware that the city wide blackout has been caused by a terrorist group called Zodiac. With Captain America in the field trying to resolve the crisis, the dutiful butler contacts any Avenger on the outside of the impenetrable dome erected over the city.[4] He manages to reach Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Crystal, and Deathcry and gets them up to date on the situation. That’s when the power in the mansion goes down as well, cutting off all communications with the outside world. Jarvis begins to grow concerned because he hasn’t heard from Tony since this crisis began and he worries about the boy.
By this time, Tony has rigged up a device that creates a field that disrupts the energy drain. Needing to recharge his chest plate, his scanners detect an energy source near by. Listening to radio broadcasts he also learns how the city has been sealed off from the outside world by the Zodiac. Following the signal into the sewers, Tony comes upon both Captain America and Thor who are battling Zodiac’s foot soldiers at their secret underground hideout. Cap tells the youth that it is too dangerous and to run, but Tony refuses to do so. The cover he provides with his repulsor rays allows Captain America to get ahold of a skimmer that is carrying the trans-portal that is allowing Zodiac to get more of their agents into Manhattan. While Cap is picking up Tony and Thor, the trans-portal is damaged as they make their escape. As they head to the surface, Tony begins working on fixing the device.
Once on the surface, the three heroes witness a city in choas as there is panic and looting in the streets. When Tony is finished repairing the portal, he discovers that Zodiac’s technology is immune to the energy drain, giving him the idea to wire up his Avengers communi-card to the device so they can contact the outside world. They then head to the Brooklyn Bridge where they discover thousands of people desperately trying to escape the city. Unfortunately, the dome placed over the city is blocking their path.
Arriving on the other side are Quicksilver, the Wasp, and Deathcry to help out anyway they can. Tony determines that he can use the trans-portal to make an opening that will allow some of the innocent people out of the city. However, doing so will completely drain the power of his chest plate, potentially putting a quick end to his very young life.
… This story concludes in Avengers #396.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Crystal, Deathcry), Zodiac, Chap Walters, Benjamin Brennan, Kris DeGann, Meredith McCall
Continuity Notes
This version of Tony Stark was pulled forward in time to help the Avengers stop his older self after he betrayed the team. It was a whole thing. See Iron Man #319-325, Avengers #390-395, Force Works #16-20, War Machine #20-23, Avengers: The Crossing #1, Avengers: Timeslide #1, Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1 as well as Avengers Forever #8 to find out just what the fuck was going on. At any rate, this younger version of Tony comes from a divergent reality as a result, Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook #1 identifies it as Reality-96020. Tony is said to be 19 at the time he was taken from the past and he was brought forward to the future by about 10 years. Per the Sliding Timescale this is not accurate at all. It would actually be closer to 14 years. See the Pre-Modern Age Timeline for more details.
There is a lot going on with Meredith McCall that needs explaining here. The details:
When young Tony was pulled out of the past in Avengers: Timeslide #1, he was seeing Meredith McCall at the time. From his perspective he disappeared on her over a decade ago.
However, Tony’s fears that this Meredith will recognize him are unfounded since his disappearance now takes place in a divergent reality. While the Earth-616 Meredith McCall did date her reality’s Tony Stark (as seen in Iron Man #28) never would have had Tony Stark disappear on her when they were teens.
It should also be brought up that when Meredith was last seen, she had joined up with the Masters of Silence circa Iron Man Annual #14. Her sudden reappearance as a teacher at Columbia University isn’t explained here. Her profile in Iron Manual Mark 3 states that the university gig was part of her private life, apparently she is still somehow associated with the Masters of Silence, even though they are not mentioned or seen during the Teen Tony story arc. I suppose one could assume that the Masters of Silence never showed up because she had no reason to call them during these stories.
Young Tony’s heart was seriously injured by his older self last issue. This required a chest plate to be installed to keep him alive. This was seen in Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1.
Jarvis knows what’s going down because he was present when Captain America learned the truth in Captain America #449.
Topical References
At the start of the story, Tony dodges what he calls a Frisbee. More correctly, the instrument is a discus. Frisbee is actually the brand name of a discus toy released by the Wham-O toy company. The toy was so popular that Frisbee has since become a proprietary eponym. As such, its use here should not be considered topical.
One of the looters on the street is depicted carrying a CRT model television. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
First Sign Reading Order
Iron Man #326 <— You Are Here