Heart of Ice

Thanks to a cryogenic accident, Sloane Alden has been transformed into the ice man now calling himself Frost-Bite. Deciding to turn the world into one of ice, he is running amok all over New York freezing everything in his path. Watching in silent horror is his former wife, Meredith McCall-Alden, who has been turned into a frozen statue to stand as silent witness as her former husband covers the world in ice.

Meanwhile, Edwin Jarivs has returned to Avengers Mansion to discover that many of the appliances and electronics have been cannibalized for their components. Following the trail of scattered parts, Edwin ends up in the sub-basement lab where young Tony Stark is finalizing his own suit of Iron Man armor.[1] Once finished, Tony suits up and follows the trail of snow and ice to find and stop Frost-Bite. He happens upon the villain as he is freezing a NYPD SWAT team that had been deployed to try and stop him.

When Frost-Bite tries to freeze Iron Man in a block of ice, Tony uses the heaters in his gauntlets to melt his prison, just as he had done when Alden tried this on him earlier. Iron Man’s on board defensive weapons can now protect him from the various ice based attacks that Frost-Bite unleashes upon him. When he tries to use his built in thermal blasters, Frost-Bite counters this by causing a sewer main to burst and freezes the water that comes gushing out of the ground.

While in California, the executors of the adult Tony Stark’s final wishes — Abe Zimmer, Bethany Cabe, Bambi Arbogast, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Jim Rhodes, and Foggy Nelson — have been summoned to Stark Enterprises to discuss selling the company to Yu Kirin, the head of Fujikawa Incorporation. Facing a potential hostile take-over if they refuse to deal, the group finds themselves wondering what Tony Stark would do in their place. Jim Rhodes insists that for the sake of the company and its employees they have to fight.

Back in New York, Iron Man continues to battle Frost-Bite and discovers that trying to counter his foe’s abilities is not working. He instead decides to change tactics by fighting cold with cold. Using the temperature controls in his armor, Tony unleashes a torrent of increasingly cold air against his foe. Frost-Bite tires to counter this by fighting back with even colder air. In this battle of wits the ultimate victor is Tony Stark’s new armor as Frost-Bite generates more cold than he can control and ends up freezing himself in a block of ice.

With the danger now over, Iron Man takes a gamble and uses his thermal devices to try and thaw out Meredith McCall-Alden. To his great relief, the process works and Meredith is freed from her icy prison. As ambulances arrive on the scene, Iron Man uses the same trick on all the others that Frost-Bite froze into statues.

The following evening, Jarvis is helping Tony move into his new dorm room at Columbia University. Stark explains that he as a man out of time he no longer feels like Avengers Mansion is his home and has decided to move out so he can make a new life for himself. Jarvis understands, but warns young Tony that he is also he is his father’s son.[4] He means that while Tony can handle himself in emergency situations as Iron Man, he should be weary of the day-to-day tribulations as they can cause undue stress. Tony assures Jarvis that he can look after himself. That’s when there is a knock at his door. It turns out to be Tony’s classmate Kris DeGann who has come to drag Tony out to a beer bash being thrown by one of the fraternities on campus. Jarvis grimly wishes the boy luck and prays that God will watch over him.[5]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Frostbite, Meredith McCall, Edwin Jarvis, Happy Hogan, Abe Zimmer, Bethany Cabe, Bambi Arbogast, Pepper Potts, Jim Rhodes, Foggy Nelson, Kris DeGann, Yu Kirin

Continuity Notes

1. 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.

2. This mystery man is revealed to be Tony’s cousin, Morgan Stark, as we’ll discover in Iron Man #330-331.

3. 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.

4. Here, Howard Stark is referred to as Tony’s biological father. However, years later, it is revealed that Tony was actually adopted. See Iron Man (vol. 5) #17 and International Iron Man #6-7 for the details.

5. Jarvis’ concerns for Tony’s well being is due to the fact that his adult self had a problem with alcohol, having gone through two damaging drinking binges in Iron Man #120-128 and 167-182. This younger version of Tony could also be susceptible to alcohol abuse since, as per adult Tony Stark’s recollections in Iron Man #313, his own alcohol dependence stems from generational abuse passed down to him by Howard Stark.