Trouble in Paradise

Tony Stark is holding a conference to unveil not only the new Stark Solutions website, but also a brand new web browser developed by his company in conjunction with Stark-Fujikawa. He gives a presentation of the browser’s new features and explains how it will make surfing the Internet easier and more efficient. Tony then opens the podium so that Morgan Stark — Tony’s cousin and Stark-Fujikawa’s head of North American operations — can speak on behalf of his company.[1]

The two men are speaking at a high tech convention taking place on Isla Suerte, an island resort town that caters to the ultrarich. It is a veritable playground of hotels and casinos nestled at the foot of a long extinct volcano.

After the conference, Tony takes to the beach and video conferences with Happy Hogan to see how things are holding up back state side. Hap tells him that Baintronics keeps requesting his services. Tony is reluctant to work for them and notes that company owner Sunset Bain is at this convention and intends to duck out on her as much as possible.[2] Tony tells his friend how gorgeous it is on Isla Suerte and offers to fly him and Pepper so they can enjoy a vacation together. That’s when Happy finally informs him that he and Pepper are divorced.

This comes as a shock to Tony and he asks what happened to their marriage. Happy feels that this is his entire fault, recounting that she was the one with all the employable skills — after years as Tony’s executive secretary — however, after they got married Happy kept on taking job that pulled her away from what she did best because he felt threatened by being unable to support a family. The pair adopted two children, but as Hap struggled to find regular work, they had to give up the children as they could no longer afford them. Things got worse after Tony “died” and Pepper tons of job offers while Happy did not. Resenting his wife, Hap spent a lot of his time drinking in bars. Thinking that her husband was cheating on her, Pepper decided to get revenge by hooking up with an old high school friend. When the pair came clean about what was going on, Happy was willing to forgive Pepper with this indiscretion but Pepper was mortified and filed for a divorce. Tony is sorry to hear it and offers to help out any way he can. Hap tells him not to worry about it, it’s old news, and to focus on work instead.[3]

After ending his video conference, Tony becomes aware of an attractive young woman coming out of the ocean. As she walks by she notices that Tony is checking her out and flashes him a smile. Realizing that he has been staring at her for five minutes, Tony is instantly embarrassed for himself not acting very smooth.

Meanwhile, high above the island aboard a flying fortress, a terrorist organization called the Flaming Sword has set their sights on the island. Their leader, Firebrand, gives a rousing speech about how the wealthy are nothing but a cancer on society that needs to be destroyed. However, he is very scatter brained and keeps forgetting that the plan is to wait until nightfall before striking.

That evening Tony is invited to a party being thrown by Stark-Fujikawa and hosted by his cousin Morgan. Tony wants to talk to his friend Jim Rhdoes, but Rhodey is keeping his distance. Before he can find out why, Tony is pulled aside by Morgan to meet his boss, Kenjiro Fujikawa and his granddaughter, Rumiko. As it turns out, Rumiko was the woman that Tony was gawking at on the beach earlier that day and she makes a point to mention his earlier admiration of her in order to get a rise out of her grandfather. Tony apologizes for the earlier incident, saying he was lost in thought at the time. That’s when Sunset Bain interrupts and tries to lure Tony away to talk about hiring him on to consult for Baintronics. Seeing that Tony is trying to avoid this, Rumiko steps in and says Tony had already promised to show her the lagoon this evening and leads him away.

Tony and Rumiko do go for that walk, and Tony spends the time explaining how the government of Isla Suerte makes sure that the locals all profit from the tourism industry. Fujikawa finds it amusing that he would choose economics as a subject for a romantic walk on the beach. She then admits that she insisted on going on this walk to get a rise out of her family who are traditionalists. She believes that her grandfather would be furious if she started dating the Tony Stark.[4] Tony is starting to wonder if Rumiko’s “bubble-headed” attitude is genuine or just a front when, suddenly, the island is attacked by Firebrand. The flaming villain begins raining fireballs down on the resort while also unleashing another screed about how the wealthy must be destroyed. Tony convinces Rumiko to run into town and alert the local authorities, giving him an excuse to run back to his hotel room and change into Iron Man.

When Iron Man arrives on the scene he openly mocks Firebrand’s speech, critiquing it as not being as good as his predacessor’s usual anti-corporate messaging.[5] However, he quickly learns that this Firebrand is deadlier since his entire mechanical body harness can be reconfigured to unleash more powerful blasts of plasma. After a prolonged battle, Iron Man damages Firebrand’s containment suit, threatening to make the villain explode. In order to prevent innocent people from getting hurt, Iron Man shoves his opponent into the ocean hoping the cold waters will extinguish his flames. Losing Firebrand in the super-heated waters, Iron Man returns to Isle Suerte to assist in helping those injured in the attack.

As he does so, he finds and assists Jim Rhodes, who admits that he was avoiding Tony Stark because he was trying to make contacts for his new salvage company. However, something about this makes Tony believe that Jim is lying to his face, but he decides to leave it be for the time being since there are more important things to worry about. As he continues helping with the relief effort, Tony spots Rumiko Fujikawa who has taken a bullhorn and is using it to coordinate people. Seeing that she is a capable leader confirms to Tony that her previous behavior was indeed a cover.

With the fires mostly out, Tony changes out of his armor and holds a meeting with Morgan, Jim, Rumiko and the local authorities. It is determined that Flaming Sword are using a radio dampening field to prevent distress calls from going out and that the airport and all sea worthy ships were destroyed in the attack, effectively making them trapped on the island with no help. As Tony is coming up with a plan and coordinating everyone there is a loud noise outside that draws them all out. There they watch in horror as Firebrand returns and uses his powers to reignite the dormant volcano that is at the heart of the island.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Firebrand, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Rumiko Fujikawa, Morgan Stark, Jim Rhodes, Sunset Bain

Continuity Notes

1. It should be noted that Stark-Fujikawa and Stark Solutions are two independent companies. After Tony died in Avengers #395, his company — Stark Enterprises — was later sold to the Fujikawa Corporation in Iron Man #329. When Tony was resurrected and reappeared in Iron Man (vol. 3) #1, he decided to start up a new company instead of fighting a legal battle to get his old one back, mostly as a favor to his cousin Morgan. Tony will eventually get control back of his old company in Iron Man (vol. 3) #56.

2. This is the first time we hear Tony actively seeking to avoid Sunset Bain. Bain has been trying to secure Tony’s services since Iron Man (vol. 3) #1. The reason why Tony is avoiding her is because, back when he was a younger man, she seduced him in order to steal company secrets from Stark Industries and dumped him after she got what she wanted. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #19 for the details on that.

3. Happy and Pepper’s relationship is a long and complex one. Here are the details:

   • The pair first met when Tony hired Hogan to be his driver and Pepper was his executive assistant, as seen in Tales of Suspense #45. Happy was instantly smitten for her and was a rival to Tony who was also interested in Pep. Potts on the other hand despised Happy at first, but the two eventually fell in love over time and got married in Tales of Suspense #91. They quit working for Stark after getting eloped.

   • Happy mentions here how he resented Pepper’s job skills and that’s why he kept her away. This was on display when Pepper went back to work for Tony even though Hap forbade it, having the antiquated opinion that it is a husband’s job to support his family. He even threatened to divorce her if she didn’t comply. Eventually, Tony forced Hap to see things her way and he slowly accepted her job. However, Pepper eventually decided that continuing to work for Stark was getting increasingly dangerous for her and Happy and quit. See Iron Man #59-88.

   • Happy mentions his failed career paths: being a rent-a-cop (which he did after he left Stark Industries), a horse rancher (starting in Iron Man #112), and a fighting promoter (beginning in Iron Man #210)

   • Happy and Pepper were depicted as having children in Iron Man #165. However it wasn’t until issue #210 that it was revealed that they were adopted.

4. In case anyone is wondering, Rumiko states that she is 27 years old here. Per the Sliding Timescale she was born 17 years prior to the start of the Modern Age. Per International Iron Man #6, Tony is six years her senior at about 33 years old at the time of this story.

5. Iron Man references the original Firebrand, Gary Gilbert. Who had been a recurring antagonist to Tony since Iron Man #27. His whole schtick was also about bringing down the capitalist system and the rich. At the time of this story, Gilbert is deceased after being murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld in Captain America #319. He will be resurrected again in Punisher (vol. 8) #5. This Firebrand is identified as Richard Dennison next issue.

Topical References

• A lot of the features of the Stark Solutions web browser are presented as brand new innovations. However a lot of these features, such as downloading a web page for offline viewing are now common if not standard features on all modern browsers. Modern readers should keep in mind that this story was written while the Internet was still in its infancy. References to these features being brand new should be considered topical.