Invincible Iron Man #12
World’s Most Wanted, Part 5: The High-End Technology of Ultramodern Destruction
Pepper Potts has been outfitted with a brand new suit of armor that was designed for her by Tony Stark. With the help of JARVIS, the suits onboard AI, she is able to save that students at Cascade School for Music in the Cascade Mountains when an the region is struck with an earthquake. As she uses the suit and familiarizes herself with its magnetic devices, she discovers that the suit has no weapons, every tool is defensive or protective.
Her acts of heroism don’t go unnoticed, and soon Norman Osborn — the Director of HAMMER — is aware of her. Since he is trying to hunt down Pepper’s former boss, Tony Stark, he tells his men to continue monitoring her activities. He learns from his staff that the suit has no defensive weapons. Deciding to look into this some more, Norman orders a commercial airliner near Pepper’s location to be shot down, saying that there are Skrull subversives on board.[1] Pepper is alerted of the imperiled commercial airliner and heads to its location. JARVIS encourages her on, telling her that she can save the passengers, but Pep isn’t so sure.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark is on the run from Norman Osborn, who is after top secret information that only Tony has. Stark has been traveling to his various caches of Iron Man armor to use their repulsor generators to wipe his mind of all its secrets.[2] He is currently at his deep sea laboratory located in the Red Sea. As he is purging memories from his mind he works on getting his suit of deep sea armor up to snuff.[3] He is upgrading the armor because his scrap with War Machine taught him that using older suits aren’t going to be cut it unless they are upgraded. However, this task is becoming difficult because the memory purge is starting to effect his knowledge. He manages to finish up just as he begins hearing loud pounding against the hull of the undersea lab. Tony manages to unplug himself from the reactor and suit up just as the Sub-Mariner — enlisted by Norman Osborn to kill Stark — comes smashing in through the wall.
At Futurepharm, in Austin, Texas, Maria Hill has been looking for a hard drive for Tony.[4] Her search has uncovered the Controller who has turned the facility into his hideout. Seeing that he has kidnapped area residents and made them his slaves, Maria decides that her mission can wait while she tries to save these people. She decides that the easiest way to do this is to cut the power supply. However, as she makes her way to ward it her presence is detected by the Controller. He orders his slaves to wake up and deal with the intruder.
While in the air over Washington state, Pepper Potts is on a collision course with the downed airliner. With the aid of JARVIS she is able to generate a force field that stops the plane in mid-air.
Back below the sea, Tony has suited up in his Iron Man armor so he can fend off the Atlantean warriors that Namor has brought with him. However, it is growing harder for Stark to think. Namor on the other hand isn’t so easily defeated. The Atlantean ruler is able to shrug off the full force of Iron Man’s repulsor rays and uni-beam. Once close enough, Namor hits Tony with enough force to give him a concussion as well crack an observation window, causing even more flooding.
In Texas, Maria Hill is swarmed by the Controller’s slaves. They then carry her to their master so he can implant one of his slave discs on the back of her neck.
At the same time, Pepper Potts uses her suits magnetic powers to help the aircraft safely lands it at a nearby airport. As emergency crews and the media arrive on the scene, Pepper is surrounded by HAMMER agents who put her under arrest.
In the meantime, Iron Man is still fighting a losing battle against Namor. That is until he remembers that the Sub-Mariner gets his strength from water and is vulnerable to pollution. He quickly uses his repulsors to blast a open a wastepipe. The polluted water instantly begins to weaken Namor, allowing Iron Man to choke him into unconsciousness. With the immediate threat over, Tony finally suits up in his undersea armor and makes his escape.
When Namor reports this back to Norman Osborn later, Osborn isn’t the least bit angry. He thanks him for his help because he at least gave Stark a drubbing he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. After ending the call he meets with the Hood and Madame Masque. He shows them a large sum of gold. He tells them that any villain who brings him the head of Tony Stark will be greatly rewarded.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Rescue, Maria Hill, HAMMER (Iron Patriot, Victoria Hand), Sub-Mariner, The Hood, Controller, Madame Masque, JARVIS
Continuity Notes
This story follows a failed Skrull invasion of Earth. Norman Osborn was the one who killed the Skrull queen, leading to his being named the new director of SHIELD, which he renamed HAMMER. See Secret Invasion #1-8.
Norman Osborn is seeking to get the Super-Human Registration Act records among other secrets that Stark wiped from SHIELD’s computers. See Invincible Iron Man #8-11.
This is the deep sea armor that Tony first built back in Iron Man #218. Tony is also wearing his Model 16 suit that was first built in Iron Man (vol. 3) #1.
This hard drive is a back-up of Tony Stark’s mind which will be integral to restoring him back to normal following his mind wipe. See Invincible Iron Man #20-24.
Topical References
While contemplating his diminished intelligence, Tony is reminded of the plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference because it is considered a classic film.
The total value of the gold that Norman Osborn offers the Hood is said to be one billion euros. Adjusting for inflation it would be worth 1.3 billion euros in 2023 money.
