Iron Man (vol. 3) #16
Scale Model
Billy Yuan has been drawn to a statue of a jade dragon that is on display at a Chinese curio shop in Seattle’s International District.[1] He doesn’t know why, and this time he thinks the statue has grown in size since his last visit. This time when he touches the dragon it begins to speak to him telepathically. The dragon wants to know everything about him. Billy, can’t help but tell the dragon all about his life. Billy played in a band at the encouragement of his sister Annie, who thought Billy would go places. He replayed that kindness by introducing her to people who were on drugs. His sister got addicted to heroin and had just recently she nearly died of a drug overdose. She is now in a coma in the hospital and the bills are piling up. Billy even went so far as to sell his guitar to try and pay down Annie’s medical expenses but it is not enough. The dragon offers to help Billy with his problem, instructing the young man to grab the statue and run. Billy does just that but is noticed by the shop keeper who chases after him.
Meanwhile, aboard a cruise ship on Puget Sound, tony Stark holds a press conference where he announces that he will be appointing his long time friend Harold “Happy” Hogan to be the had of the Maria Stark Foundation, the organization that manages Tony’s philanthropic efforts.[2] While Tony is proud to make this announcement, Hogan isn’t entirely sure he’s up to the task, and also uneasy about the media spotlight, but decides to stick with it because he will be helping local kids. With the press conference over, Tony has an automated suit of Iron Man armor carry him away from the scene in order to maintain the illusion that Iron Man is his bodyguard. Now that he has recently managed to erase most knowledge of his secret identity from the world, Stark intends to keep those in the know in small numbers.[3] Once he is in an underground parking garage, he has the suit of armor fold up and tuck into the trunk of his car before leaving.
As Tony hits the road, he gets a call from Pepper who relays a call from a potential client, Count Andreas Zorba. Zorba recalls how once Tony was involved in uncovering the tomb of Egyptian King Hatap and wants to hire Stark Solutions for consulting on his current venture.[4] Unfortunately, Tony is busy with other business and turns Zorba down. When Stark ends the call, the Count is furious at being denied and vows to secure Stark’s services to help him find the treasure he seeks before others beat him to the punch.[5]
By this time, Billy Yuan has managed to evade the shop owner and ducked into an alley to catch his breath. There, the jade dragon statue tells him that it will grant him ultimate power. The statue then comes to life and begins coiling around his arm. Panicking, Billy tries to get it off, but this causes the statue to scratch his arm, drawing blood. This seals the connection between Billy and the presence inside the statue and unleashes a powerful magic spell that begins turning Yuan into something more than human.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has taken Ramona Napier out for lunch atop the Seattle Space Needle, as thanks for her assistance when Iron Man recently needed to divert the lava flow of a volcano on Isle Suerte.[6]
While in Los Angeles, Charlie Gray is living his best life. Once upon a time he used to work for Stark Industries as a security guard, but after the business changed hands multiple times he put it behind him. Relocating to California, Charlie now works for a local security form where he makes a decent living and doesn’t have a care in the world. However, when on his way to work, he is pulled from his jeep at a stop light by two thugs who pull him into a nearby limo. When Charlie sees who is inside the back he is immediately horrified. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light and Charlie Gray is no more.[7]
Back at the Space Needle, Tony is still explaining how Iron Man saved the people of Isla Suerte, when he is distracted by a news report coming from the TV hanging over the bar. The news anchor is claiming that a giant creature has appeared in the streets of Seattle. Tony then gets a call from “Iron Man” asking for his assistance in this crisis. This is a ruse to maintain Tony’s double identity and gives him an excuse to cut his date with Ramona short. Once outside, Tony summons his retractable suit of Iron Man armor, which forms around him in a matter of seconds. Iron Man races to the scene and finds Billy Yuan — who has been transformed into a humanoid dragon — on the rampage in the streets. Billy doesn’t want to cause this violence but the entity controlling him through the jade dragon is forcing him to do it. Seeing Iron Man, the presence demands that Billy destroy the Avenger.
In the ensuing battle, the two smash through the street, falling into the sewers below. There, the entity controlling Billy Yuan uses its magic to turn the sewer rats into lizards and has them swarm Iron Man. Electrifying the his armor, Tony quickly gets the swarm off of him. He then piles into Billy Yuan, knocking him back up onto the street level where he is pummeled into unconsciousness. Believing the battle over, Iron Man is coordinating with the police when suddenly, the army of lizards crawl out of the sewers and swam Billy’s body. Suddenly, there is a flash of light and Billy is replaced with the form of Fin Fang Foom, who proclaims he lives once more![8]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Fin Fang Foom/Billy Yuan, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Hannah Donleavy, Ramona Napier, Annie Yuan, Charlie Gray, Count Nefaria (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
Billy has been drawn to the statue since last issue.
Here, Tony states that he first met Happy when Hogan risked his own life to save Tony from a wrecked race car. They have been friends ever since. This happened way back in Tales of Suspense #45.
Up until recently, somewhere in the ballpark of 35 to 40 people knew Iron Man’s secret identity. This list included his personal friends, members of the Avengers, and more problematically some of his foes. When Tony had the opportunity to erase this knowledge in Iron Man Annual 1998 he took it without hesitation. As of this point, only the Avengers (Cap, Thor, Giant-Man, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Justice, and Firestar), Happy, Pepper, Jarvis, Hawkeye, Warbird and (probably) the Illuminati (Mister Fantastic, Namor, Doctor Strange, and Black Bolt) know Tony’s secret.
Iron Man was involved in the discovery of King Hatap’s tomb and this led to a bizarre time travel adventure where he met Cleopatra. It was a whole thing. See Tales of Suspense #44.
This is setting things up for the Eighth Day event which takes place Iron Man (vol. 3) #21-22, Thor (vol. 2) #17, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #11, and Juggernaut (vol. 2) #1.
This volcano was brought back to life by the villain Firebrand. With Napier’s information, Iron Man was able to prevent the flow of lava from destroying the island resort. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #4-5.
Lots of exposition here so lets break it down:
Charlie was a security guard for Stark Industries back in the day. During his time, his body was briefly possessed by the alien named Lucifer until Iron Man defeated him and freed Charlie, as seen back in Iron Man #20. During this time, Charlie was exposed to ionic energy, this will be important, keep reading.
The narrative here states that Stark Industries changed hands in ownership over the years. That’s putting it lightly. Since Chuck worked for them, the company was renamed Stark International in Iron Man #73. Stark International was later bought by Obadiah Stane in Iron Man #173 and its name was changed to reflect its new ownership. Stane International was later sold back to Tony Stark in Iron Man #283 and it became a subsidiary of his new company, Stark Enterprises which had been in operation since issue #215. Later, Stark Enterprises was bought and merged with the Fujikawa Corporation in Iron Man #329. This will remain the status quo until Tony gets back majority ownership of the company in Iron Man (vol. 3) #56.
The mystery man in the back seat of the car is Count Nefaria. Nefaria was transformed into an ionic back in Avengers #164-166. A side effect of these new powers was that he was rapidly aging. He appeared to have died a withered old man in Iron Man #114-116. However, Nefaria came back to life as an “ionic vampire” needing to feed off those who have been exposed to ionic energies, as we’ll learn in Iron Man Annual 1999.
As we’ll learn next issue, Fin Fang Foom was trapped in another dimension following his last defeat that the hands of Iron Man back in Iron Man #275.
Topical References
In this story, Tony has a car phone in his roadster. This should be considered a topical reference as cell phones have made dedicated car phones basically obsolete.
The TV hanging over the bar in the Space Needle restaurant is depicted as a CRT model television. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.
