Ultimate Danger

Tony Stark has been summoned to the SS Joseph C. Gillis, a research vessel built by Stark-Fujikawa located off the Washington coast. There he is happily reunited with his friend Rumiko Fujikawa. She has summoned Tony on behalf of his cousin, Morgan Stark, who is also the head of Stark-Fujikawa’s American division. Morgan wants to show his cousin the unique power source they have utilized to power the Gillis.

Tony is horrified to discover that his former company found and is utilizing the massive robot known as Ultimo to power the ship. Tony warns them that Ultimo is a disaster waiting to happen. He then has his artificial assistant Jocasta to pull up his files on the alien robot. Tony explains how Ultimo was first unleashed upon the world by the Mandarin early on in Iron Man’s career. Although the Mandarin claimed to have created the robot himself, Tony has since learned that it is actually of alien origin. Iron Man has fought the massive robot on four different occasions and each time Ultimo came back deadlier than ever before and caused much more destruction.[1]

When Rumiko asks what they should do, Tong suggests that they deactivate Ultimo right away. However, Morgan refuses to do anything of the sort, reminding his cousin that as Ultimo was salvaged by Stark Enterprises — Stark-Fujikawa’s predecessor — and is their decision to make, not Tony’s.[2] Although his scientists have yet to uncover the robot’s origins, they have succeeded in tapping its growth systems and is confident that they can keep the menace under their control. He assures them that the energy lock they placed around Ultimo’s power supply will prevent it from ever waking up. Tony still isn’t convinced that Ultimo isn’t a threat and insists the Morgan have his own scientists go over everything again and make sure they have the monster under wraps. This angers Rumiko, who initially invited Tony out so they could spend the day together and is furious that he wants to pass that up to play engineer all afternoon. She then tells Tony that she’ll be back in the city that evening and will let him take her out to dinner, but only if he goes home and doesn’t show himself until then.

Tony is hurt that Rumiko would accept Morgan’s word over his own, but leaves none the less. On his way back to Seattle, Tony fantasizes about returning to the ship just in time to stop Ultimo before it can fully activate and having Rumiko hail him as a hero. He quashes the thought as it makes him wonder if being Iron Man is becoming an addiction to him just like his past issues with alcohol.[3][4] He pushes these thoughts aside for now as he has dinner plans to organize. He calls ahead to his assistant Pepper Potts and has her make reservations at a fancy restaurant for him and Rumiko. After ending the call, Pepper has a conversation with Happy Hogan. He cuts their conversation short because he has a lot of work to do for the Maria Stark Foundation and leaves. This makes Pepper long for the days early on in their romance, and recounts how their marriage ended in divorce. Now for the first time since they started working for Tony together agian, Pepper realizes that Happy no longer needs her and this makes her very sad.[5]

Meanwhile, Tony goes to check on Carol Danvers, who is working on a new book with her old friend Tracy Burke. When Tony arrives at the office, Burke tells him that she is worried about Carol. Heading into her office, Tony sees exactly why Burke is concerned: Carol is drunk as a skunk. When Tony tries to convince her to stop drinking, Carol tells him to stop butting in her affairs. Tony then realizes that she is doing the exact same thing he did when his friends tried to convince him to get off the sauce. Nobody, not even Jim Rhodes or Captain America could convince him to stop drinking.[6] Tony had to hit rock bottom on his own before deciding to turn his life around.

That’s when Tony gets an emergency call from Rumiko, who requests Iron Man’s help as the SS Gillis is being attacked by Golden-Blade and Sapper. Overhearing that her old foes have returned, Carol changes into Warbird and insists on coming along even though she is totally wasted.[7] Tony knows this is a bad idea and distracts Carol so he can sucker punch her, knocking Danvers out. Iron Man then races to the ship where Sapper is drawing energy from the vessel. As Iron Man fights the pair, Sapper is knocked overboard and sees that he has been drawing energy from Ultimo. Horrified by this discovery, Sapper emerges from the water and warns Golden-Blade what they are dealing with. However, before they can get away, Iron Man incapacitates them all and has them caged for the authorities.

In the aftermath of the battle, Rumiko thanks Iron Man for his help but is annoyed that Tony didn’t show up for their scheduled dinner date, and assumes that it is because he is overworking again. Since Iron Man is Tony Stark, he tries to assure her that his “employer” is just running late but Rumiko can tells he is making excuses and tells him not to bother.

This gives Tony a lot to think about and he returns to his home to contemplate if a romance with Rumiko is worth giving up being Iron Man for good. He recalls the last time he considered this, years ago when he was dating Janice Cord. However, the decision was ultimately taken away from him when Janice was killed by one of his enemies.[8] Pepper, knowing that Tony is upset, comes to cheer him up. Tony admits to her his current feelings, about how he feels like Iron Man is becoming an addiction, and that he is pushing away all the people that care about him. Pepper tells him that it’s not true and that there are people that are there for him, that she’s there for him. The two suddenly start kissing and as this tender moment is unfolding, out in the ocean Ultimo begins waking up!

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Ultimo, Rumiko Fujikawa, Morgan Stark, Jocasta, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Warbird, Sapper, Golden-Blade, Tracy Burke, Socrates

Continuity Notes

1. Tony goes over Ultimo’s entire history up to that point. Including:

   • Iron Man’s first battle with the massive robot in Tales of Suspense #76-78. This was also the time the Mandarin claimed to have created the robot himself.

   • He fought Ultimo a second time alongside the Avengers in Avengers Annual #1.

   • Ultimo resurfaced and fought Iron Man solo again in Iron Man #70, and a fourth time in issue #95-96.

   • He also mentions the last battle he had with Ultimo which he took on with the so-called “Iron Legion”, consisting of Iron Man allies wearing various previous suits of Iron Man armor. This was the first time it was acknowledge that Ultimo was alien in origin. See Iron Man #299-300.

   • Ultimo’s true origins are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. They are explored further in Iron Man (vol. 3) #24 and (vol. 6) #10. It was presumed that it was one of many such robots created centuries earlier by an unknown alien race. It has been theorized that the Ultimos destroyed their masters and that the Ultimo is apparently the only one left in the known universe. It’s explained that Ultimo ended up stranded on Earth after its ship crash landed on the planet following a clash with the alien race known as the Rajakians.

   • As for the Mandarin lying about creating Ultimo, it’s later revealed that the Mandarin is full of shit and made up a lot of his accomplishments and his background. In reality, he stumbled into discoveries that he later took credit for. See Invincible Iron Man Annual #1.

2. Tony’s old company was sold off and merged with the Fujikawa Coporation in Iron Man #329. This will remain the status quo until Tony regains control of his old company in Iron Man (vol. 3) #56.

3. Tony recalls how he became Iron Man out of necessity as the suit’s chest plate kept shrapnel in his chest from reaching his heart as seen back in Tales of Suspense #39. He recounts that he continued being Iron Man even after his heart was healed, which happened in Iron Man #19. He also recounts how he had another opportunity to retire when it was learned that the energy field created by his armor was having an adverse effect on his health. That was in Iron Man (vol. 3) #11. He built new armor to counteract this problem by issue #14.

4. Tony also makes mention of his past history of alcohol abuse. See Iron Man #120-128 and 167-182. He also mentions Carol Danvers current drinking problems. Carol was revealed to be an alcoholic in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. Tony has been trying to help her get sober since Iron Man (vol. 3) #7.

5. Pepper and Happy first met in Tales of Suspense #45. Although she despised Hogan at first the two eventually fell in love and got married in issue #91 of that series. The wedded bliss did not last very long and eventually the pair got divorced, as we learned in Iron Man (vol. 3) #4.

6. Jim and Cap’s unsuccessful interventions happened in Iron Man #169 and 172 respectively.

7. Carol’s rivalry with Golden-Blade and Sapper dates back to Ms. Marvel #13. She and Iron Man last fought the duo in Iron Man (vol. 3) #18.

8. Tony met Janice Cord back in Iron Man #2 and instantly fell in love with her. The two dated for a time, but it was a rocky one as Tony’s double life had a negative impact on their romance. He was considering giving up being Iron Man until she was tragically killed in a battle between Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo in Iron Man #22.

Topical References

• Tony asks Pepper to book him a reservation at Chez Shea. This should be considered a topical reference as the iconic Seattle restaurant closed its doors in 2012.

• Carol Danvers is depicted working at a computer that uses a CRT style monitor. This should be considered topical as these types of displays are now obsolete.