World’s Most Wanted, Conclusion: Into the White (Einstein on the Beach)

Iron Man (Tony Stark) has been on the run from HAMMER and their insane leader Norman Osborn (aka the Iron Patriot). Along the way he has been erasing his memories in order to keep his secrets from falling into the hands of Osborn. As he is on the final stretch of his mission, the Iron Patriot is out to finish him off personally.[1]

Meanwhile, at Avengers Tower, Victoria Hand — Norman’s assistant — has just discovered Madame Masque (Whitney Frost) stashed in a suit of recovered Crimson Dynamo armor. This revelation makes her realize that the woman they thought was Masque was an impostor. When her subordinates ask what they should do, Victoria tells them that they will only tell Director Osborn after they kill the impostor, otherwise he’ll have them all dead.

This impostor was Pepper Potts, who disguised herself as Madame Masque in order to rescue the Black Widow (Natasha Romanov) and Maria Hill, who had been captured. Before they can leave though, they need to recover an important hard drive. Unaware that her cover has been blown, Pepper disguises herself as Madame Masque again in the hopes of getting themselves closer to the drive. As they take the elevator, she checks in with JARVIS the AI aboard her Rescue armor. The suit has been fully charged and has just bricked all of Osborn’s stolen Iron Man suits with a computer virus that will take 750,000 years to crack. That’s when Victoria Hand orders a red alert, causing the elevator to stop. When JARVIS asks if Pepper and her companions wish to be rescued, Pep tells JARVIS to get the drive, as that is more important than anything else.

At this same moment, Norman Osborn is suited up as the Iron Patriot, scouring the Afghani desert for Iron Man. He is given telemetry from Christopher Walsh, a HAMMER operative whose conscious finally caught with him. Rather than lead Osborn to Stark’s location, he has him heading in the opposite direction toward Pakistan. Suspecting something is wrong, Osborn angrily tries to contact Victoria Hand, but she is not in her office to take his call because she is dealing with the crisis back at base. This causes Osborn to completely lose his shit and blast a nearby mountain with his repulsors and reduce it to rubble.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark has landed in Iran wearing his original Iron Man armor. He has to get to Dubai as quickly as possible but has a limited flying range.

By this point, Walsh’s superior officer — Gormley — realizes that he has been screwing with the telemetry and orders the others to arrest him for insubordination. He then informs Director Osborn of the proper course. Norman is so happy that when Victoria Hand calls about the situation at Avengers Tower, he hardly cares because Tony Stark is within his grasp now.

Concurrently, HAMMER soldiers open the elevator door to get at the intruder and her escapees. However, they are unprepared for Pepper unleashing the magnetic force from the Stark reactor built into her chest.[3] This allows her to deflect the bullets fired at them long enough to duck out of their way. That’s when JARVIS has hacked into the systems and reactivates the elevator. The Widow and Pepper go on to recover the hard drive while Pepper rendezvous with her Rescue armor.

In the meantime, the Iron Patriot comes across Iron Man, whose suit can no longer even leap great distances. Tony senses that there is something wrong but is completely overpowered by Norman Osborn’s superior suit of armor. Hearing Stark speaking in primitive fashion, Osborn realizes that he really has succeeded at erasing his mind and begins laying into him even harder.

Back at Avengers Tower, Pepper gets to her armor and suits up. She tells JARVIS to set a course for Tony’s location. As she blasts off as Rescue she tells JARVIS to turn on the news. This is because footage of the battle between the Iron Patriot and Iron Man is being forwarded to every major news organization in the world. At the same time, Maria and the Widow have recovered the hard drive. They are riding an elevator back out of the facility, but are stopped by HAMMER soldier. Natasha suggests that this is Maria’s next moves will determine their fate. Confronting the soldiers, Maria takes a commanding tone with them. She reminds them that they used to be SHIELD and asks if they want to be lapdogs and assassins for Norman Osborn. When asked whose side they are on, the HAMMER troops decide to let the two women leave unharmed.

Meanwhile, the one sided battle between Osborn and Stark continues. Tony has not fought back because he is waiting for the media to show up. Norman can’t understand why his foe isn’t fighting for his life and demands he fight back. When he sees news helicopters arriving on the scene, Tony simply tells Osborn that he has won. That’s when Victoria Hand radios in and pleads with Norman to stop because the media is present and it looks as though he is killing Iron Man in cold blood. That’s when Tony Stark suddenly collapses to the ground. As the news helicopters descend on the scene, Norman Osborn is already trying to spin the situation, reminding viewers that Tony Stark was a wanted criminal and he has succeeded in capturing him.

Tony Stark is rushed to a hospital where he is given immediate medical care. He has been seriously injured, but worse, his mind is in a persistent vegetative state. When the doctors report this to Norman Osborn — that the entirety of Stark’s mind has been erased and he cannot even breath on his own — Osborn orders them to pull the plug. Unfortunately, Norman doesn’t have the authority to make such a request. There are numerous UN and US laws that prevent them from just terminating his life. The only person who can do that is the person listed as Tony Stark’s Power of Attorney in his living will, a man by the name of Doctor Donald Blake.

Blake, who is the mortal alter-ego of Thor, soon receives a call from his hotel room in Broxton, Oklahoma. By his side are Captain America, the Black Widow, Rescue, and Maria Hill. He tells the doctor that he has been expecting his call.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Black Widow, Rescue, Maria Hill, HAMMER (Iron Patriot, Victoria Hand, Christopher Walsh), Madame Masque, Don Blake, Captain America, JARVIS

Continuity Notes

1. This story follows the failed Skrull invasion of Earth. It ended with Norman Osborn killing the Skrull leader and being awarded Directorship of SHIELD, which he rennamed HAMMER, as seen in Secret Invasion #1-8. On his way out, Tony Stark erased sensitive top secret information to prevent Osborn from getting access to it and has been on the run since. See Invincible Iron Man #8-18.

2. 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.

3. Pepper was seriously injured in a suicide bombing and had shrapnel lodged in her chest. In order to save her life, Tony installed an arc reactor in her chest. See Invincible Iron Man #1-6.

Topical References

• Tony Stark’s special hard drive is depicted as the sort of model that was common in 2009 when this comic was first published. While these types of HDD drives are still in use, they are slowly falling out of popular use as Solid State Drives are becoming more affordable. Its depiction here should be considered topical.