Iron Man (vol. 3) #1
Looking Forward
The world is shocked to discover that Tony Stark is still alive! In order to explain his recently publicized death, Stark has led the public to believe that for the past many months he had been taken hostage by terrorists until he was recently rescued by Iron Man, his faithful bodyguard who had also recently cheated death.[1] As this astonishing news dominates the media, the people of New York City witness as Iron Man flies across the sky, punctuating that he — among many other heroes previously believed dead — are now back. Little do they know that Tony Stark is Iron Man, and now that he is back after the Onslaught disaster he is happy to see that his charity — the Maria Stark Foundation — has been assisting with the reconstruction efforts. However, his tour of the city is interrupted when a priority alarm in his new suit of armor begins going off warning him of a hostage situation at the Avalon Trading Company.
The leader of the hold up is Vittorio Silvani, a member of the Maggia crime family. When Iron Man arrives on the scene he makes short work of Vittorio and his men. As the police are carting him away, Silvani vows that he will get his revenge on Iron Man.[2] Iron Man brushes this off and once the situation is secured he heads off as he has places to be.
That evening, Tony Stark celebrates his return by throwing a lavish party at his new home atop the newly constructed Stark Tower. The event is attended by five-hundred and seventy of New York’s best and brightest. Tony welcomes Daily Bugle published J. Jonah Jameson and his wife Marla Madison, as well as Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four.[3] He also meets with Rosalind Sharpe and Foggy Nelson who helped him sort out his legal affairs after he was declared deceased.[4] He also chats with Norman Osborn and Sunset Bain out of hospitality, even though he doesn’t much like them. Tony also receives congratulatory messages from those who couldn’t be there, such as Bambi Arbogast, Bethany Cabe, and a few celebrities. Tony is also happy to see his old friends Pepper Potts and Jim Rhodes, thanking them for looking out for his affairs while he was gone. Pepper is reluctant to talk about her husband Happy Hogan, so Jim changes the subject by talking about his new salvage business.[5]
Tony soon learns that his cousin Morgan Stark is also attending the party and is surprised to see he is now walking with a cane. Morgan says it was from an accident,[6] he also reveals that he is now the head of North American operations of Stark-Fujikawa, and pleads with Tony not to use his return as a means of nullifying the sale of Stark Enterprises as a personal favor to him, as he really needs this job.[7] This is a sore spot for Tony and he tells his cousin that he’ll think about it. Tony then goes out to the balcony to think about his future. He spends the rest of the night outside until Leah Sheffield — the woman brokered the sale of Stark Tower — comes outside to tell him that the guests are all gone and that it was a wonderful party. She tries to leverage their time alone into staying the night, but Tony politely turns her down because he has a lot to think about.
Indeed Tony does, and he wants to do things right this time, remembering how he would frequently run from the stressors in his life by chasing skirts and drinking alcohol.[8] Tony thinks back to the events that led to him first becoming Iron Man.
He was a younger man in those days when he went overseas to oversee his new factory in Southeast Asia. It was on this tour that he was attacked by a local militia group. Fleeing into the jungle he stepped on a trip mine and caught in the explosion. When he woke up he discovered that he was living on borrowed time as bomb shrapnel was inching closer to his heart with every passing minute. Worse, he was being held prisoner by the militia leader, Wong-Chu. Wong-Chu forced Tony to work with Ho Yinsen to create weapons for his army. Instead, the pair built the first suit of Iron Man armor, which had a special chest plate that would protect Tony’s heart. With the armor, Tony freed himself and crushed Wong-Chu’s army.[9] This was only the beginning as Tony continued to fight injustice as Iron Man, upgrading his armor many times over the years even when his heart had been repaired and he no longer needed the suit to live.[10][11]
Reflecting back on those events, he wonders if he made the right choice back then and what he should do with himself now. He figures he could win a court challenge to undo the Stark-Fujikawa deal, but isn’t sure if he wants to go through the legal aggravation. Tony decides to go for a walk to think some more, taking his briefcase of Iron Man armor with him out of reflex. Unaware that he is secretly being followed, he goes to the construction site where the Maria Stark Foundation is constructing new affordable housing to replace buildings lost during Onslaught. There he is ambushed by a group of high tech mercenaries called the Death Squad who have been hired by someone to assassinate Tony Stark.[12] When Tony asks who wants him dead, their leader Firefight refuses to divulge that information. Before they can bump him off, Tony makes a run for it under a hail of bullets and missiles, trying to find cover so he can change into Iron Man unseen.
He gets his cover when an explosion knocks him down a hole in the floor to a lower level of the building. The Death Squad follows after him moments later but are having trouble finding Stark in the shadows of the unlit room. Eventually, they are confronted by Iron Man, who is able to shrug off the Death Squad’s various attacks. Seeing that the battle is getting them nowhere, Firefight orders a strategic retreat. With the battle now over, Iron Man looks around and is horrified to see that the entire building was destroyed, undoing all the hard work of the foundation.
Deciding he needs to do more to be prepared for conflicts, Tony goes back to his personal lab to work on his armor some more. However, he quickly realizes that it’s going to take more than just upgrading Iron Man for the millionth time. After thinking about it on the couch, Tony comes up with an idea and begins making arrangements. Soon, Tony calls a press conference where he announces that he will not be fighting to undo the Stark-Fujikawa deal, but to start a brand new business. Called Stark Solutions, Tony announces that his new company will be a consulting firm where his inventive expertise and be contracted out to those who want to use his services. However, he tells everyone gathered that his services won’t come cheap and that he will only work on projects that make the world a better place, not destroy it. He also has a warning to his many enemies: It is a recording from Iron Man, Tony’s “bodyguard” telling them all that while Tony Stark will be ignoring his old enemies to focus on his work, he won’t be and will be there to stop any attempts at interference pitted against this new business venture.
As Tony beings taking frantic questions from the media, the press conference is observed by many of those in the business world as well as former foes of Iron Man. The board of directors at Stark-Fujikawa believe that this is good news, but decide to keep a closer eye on things in case this is part of a much deeper game. Meanwhile, Sunset Bain — owner of Baintronics — tells her men to make arrangements to hire Tony Stark as she wants him to working for her. At an Advance Idea Mechanics facility, MODOK decides that Stark is a threat and begins planning to contain and destroy him.[13] In another secret facility, Madame Masque learns that her “betrayer” is alive and decides that this should be remedied.[14] In yet another undisclosed location, Mordecai Midas vows revenge for his past defeats.[15] While the Mandarin finds the news most interesting.[16]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Vittorio Silvani, Death Squad (Rocket-Launcher, Airborne, Smokescreen, Boobytrap, Firefight), Morgan Stark, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Jim Rhodes, J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Madison, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Rosalind Sharpe, Foggy Nelson, Norman Osborn, Sunset Bain, AIM (MODOK), Madame Masque, Mordecai Midas, Mandarin (All four villain’s identities are partially obscured but if you know your shit, you know who they are)
Continuity Notes
Yeah there is kind of a lot going on off the top that is mostly explained in this story, but some of it not. Let me break it down for you:
Prior to this story, Tony Stark as we know him was dead. Tricked into thinking he was a sleeper agent for Kang the Conqueror, he then sacrificed his life to save the Avengers in Avengers #395. It was later revealed that this was all a ruse created by Immortus, as per Avengers Forever #8. The public became aware of Tony’s death in Iron Man #326.
Prior to Tony’s death, the Avengers pulled his younger self from the past to help stop him, as seen in Avengers: Timeslide #1. This created a divergent reality and as per Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook #1, this teenaged Tony Stark hales from Reality-96020. After the adult Tony died, the teenaged version remained trapped in the future and carried on as Iron Man.
It was this teenaged Iron Man who sacrificed himself along with the other Avengers and Fantastic Four in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. Leaving the world to believe Iron Man and his allies had died in that crisis. In reality, they were transported to a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards where they relived reimagined versions of their lives. These heroes eventually returned to their proper homes in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.
What’s not explained here is how the teenaged Tony Stark became an adult on Counter-Earth, or how it was the OG Tony Stark that came back and resumed his life even though he was dead and buried. The answer is finally given to us in Avengers Annual 2001, that explains that when Franklin transported everyone to Counter-Earth he “corrected” things that he saw as mistakes. In the case of Tony Stark, he was resurrected and merged with his teenage self.
It should also be noted that at the time of this story the general public is unaware that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. He will not publicly reveal his identity to the world until Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.
Vittorio does try to get revenge against Iron Man, see Iron Man Annual 1999 for that story.
When talking to Reed and Sue, Tony maintains the pretense that he and Iron Man are different people. The thing is, Reed knows that Tony is Iron Man and has known since after the Kree/Skrull War as revealed in New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #1. Tony is probably keeping up pretenses because they are in mixed company.
Foggy has been identified as Tony’s lawyer since Iron Man #327. He helped officiate Tony’s will and put Tony’s friends in charge of his various assets and interests.
Pepper and Happy had been married since Tales of Suspense #91. Her reluctance to talk about her husband is actually because the pair got divorced during Tony’s absence. Strain on their relationship led Pep to believe that Happy was cheating on her so she got revenge by sleeping with an old high school friend. This totally destroyed their marriage and the pair got divorced. Tony won’t learn about this until Iron Man (vol. 3) #4.
Morgan’s comment about suffering an injury is putting it lightly. The dude got fucked up when an assassin shot out the front tire of his car, causing Morgan to suffer a serious automobile accident, as seen in Iron Man #292. He survived and turned up again in Iron Man #327 and 330-331. At that time the guy was hideously mangled from his accident. How he ended up getting his original looks back and only needing a cane to get around isn’t entirely explained. Guess he had a pretty good plastic surgeon.
Stark Enterprises was sold to the Fujikawa Corporation during the period that Tony was dead, as we saw in Iron Man #329. Tony won’t get control of his old company back until Iron Man (vol. 3) #56.
This is of course a nod to the fact that Tony has struggled with alcoholism his entire life. He has been on two major life wrecking benders in Iron Man #120-128 and 167-182. Tony has struggled with sobriety, the only two times he broke it so far has been due to extenuating circumstances such as when his body was possessed by an AI in Iron Man #308 and when he was trapped on Counter-Earth as seen in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1.
This is a truncated version of the Iron Man origin story first told in Tales of Suspense #39. It adapts some of the changes that were adopted in the first origin update told in Iron Man #267-268, particularly the parts that involve the death of Stark employee Toshiro Kanada.
Tony suffered the shrapnel in his heart until it was surgically removed and he received synthetic implants to repair the damage. This was back in Iron Man #19.
Here we get the obligatory parade of past Iron Man suits. This time we see models #1 (in both grey and gold, circa Tales of Suspense #39-40), 2 (Tales of Suspense #48), 4 (Iron Man #85), 8 (The Silver Centurion from Iron Man #200), 11 (War Machine from Iron Man #281), 13 (the modular armor from Iron Man #300), the unidentified suit worn by Teen Tony (circa Iron Man #325) and CE1 (The Counter-Earth Promethean Armor from Iron Man (vol. 2) #1).
It’s later revealed in Iron Man Annual 1999 that they were hired by Count Nefaria who wants revenge against Iron Man for killing him years earlier (he obviously got better, as explained in that isssue). See Iron Man #116.
MODOK and AIM have regularly clashed with Iron Man dating back to Iron Man #74-75. MODOK’s next battle with Iron Man will not happen until Iron Man (vol. 3) #44-45.
Madame Masque was once Tony Stark’s lover. The pair had a relationship shortly after she started working for him under the guise of Krissy Longfellow. Their romance ended when Tony killed her father Count Nefaria in Iron Man #116. This isn’t even the real Madame Masque, but one of many bio-duplicates she has been using since Iron Man #138. See Avengers (vol. 3) #32-34.
Midas has clashed with Iron Man on a few occasions, notably in Iron Man #17-19 and again in 103-107. In the latter instance he briefly took over Stark Industries. Although he vows revenge here, as of this writing (September, 2022) we have yet to see him try.
The Mandarin has been a long time Iron Man foe dating back to Tales of Suspense #50. When last we saw him, ol’ Mandy was mystically transformed into a harmless janitor by the Heart of Darkness following his defeat in Iron Man #312. Over the next few issues he will be sending agents to try and destroy Iron Man. He will attack the hero directly in Iron Man (vol. 3) #9-10, where we will learn how he liberated himself.
Topical References
Tony asks for a bottle of S. Pellegrino bottled water. This should be considered topical as it is a real world product.
The congratulator messages from friends and celebrities are said to have arrived via telegram. While telegrams are still a thing, this usage should be considered topical as they are no longer commonly used, particularly by someone as technologically inclined Tony Stark. One of these telegrams is also said to be from comedian Jerry Seinfeld. This should be considered a topical reference as Seinfeld is a real world person.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and have been subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.