The Five Nightmares, Part 2: Murder, Inc.

After some high-tech suicide bombers wiped out a market in Tanzia, Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) and SHIELD have tracked down the rogue scientists of Advanced Genocide Mechanics to find out if they were responsible. However, while breaking up their base of operations he determines that they were not. Pepper Potts — who is monitoring remotely — just tipped him off to the fact that the bombers used weaponized repulsor technology. Still, Tony has to shut AGM down since they are responsible for acts of genocide all over Africa. He discovers that AGM’s leader is a Mental Organism Designed Only for Genocide, or MODOG for short. Tony evades MODOG’s heat-seaking missiles. He then grabs the maniac and tosses him into the toposphere.

In the aftermath of the battle, Iron Man contemplates Advanced Genocide Mechanics and notes that the game is changing for the worse. Regardless, he is convinced that AGM is not responsible for the suicide bombing in Tanzia. These were not zealots willing to sacrifice their lives, just rogue scientists with delusions of grandeur. As a Futurist, Tony hates having to wait for the world to catch up with his vision of the future.

Meanwhile, in Manila, the Philippino superhero team known as the Triumph Division is being congratulated for saving the city from a tsunami. Gathered to accept this honor are Triumph members Red Father, St. George, Mighty Mother, Anitun, Fighter One, the Wishing Man, and the Great Mongoose. After a local politician finishes his speech, a group of monks rush up to give the heroes wreaths. Nobody gives this much thought. However, the monks are suicide bombers who have been turned into living explosives using repulsor tech. Once they are close enough to the heroes they activate their explosives killing everyone gathered for the ceremony in a massive explosion.

The carnage is being observed remotely by the man who provided this technology: Zeke Stane. He is showing off the destructive potential of his suicide bombers to another client, a religious zealot who wishes to purchase the tech for his own twisted goals. He is impressed and believes that Zeke is part of some religious prophecy. Zeke is annoyed by this, but decides to let it slide since killing a potential client is bad for business. He explains that his process is cost effective since he has repurposed Iron Man level technology and made it powered by the human body, however what really drives down the price is the fact that everything is single use and requires no upkeep. He muses that this isn’t an evolution of technology, but the product of intelligent design. He then shows off the operating room where the work will be done and says they can convert four people into living bombs a day. The client is disgusted by filthiness of the operating room. However, Zeke explains that they remain in business and undetected by SHIELD because they are a constantly mobile operation.

Later, Iron Man has arrived in the Philippines with Pepper Potts and War Machine (aka Jim Rhodes) to examine the damage done by the suicide bombers. Jim is horrified by the wholesale destruction, but Pepper points out that such tactics are routine with modern terrorist organizations. Iron Man’s scans of the region confirm that the same technology was used here as in Tanzania, only on a much larger scale. Tony fears that whoever is responsible is just getting started and that much larger attacks could follow.

48 hours later, Iron Man goes to a funeral being held for Anitun, one of the members of Triumph Division. Also attending is the thunder god, Thor, who spends the burial service avoiding Tony Stark.[1] When the service is over, Tony tries to talk to Thor. The thunder god is still mad at him and stand-offish. Tony tells Thor that Anitun’s death isn’t about them, nor is it his fault. Thor merely grunts, and raps Tony’s armor with Mjolnir, intentionally chipping it. Thor then takes off, saying that he has business elsewhere. Tony decides to leave it be for now since he is due at a Starkdynamics meeting in Taiwan.

After changing into a tuxedo, Tony heads up to the gala that marks the opening of a competition for inventors to come up with some new innovation, the winning invention being bankrolled by Stark’s company. On the way up, Tony flirts with Pepper, but she politely shoots him down. Later that evening, Tony is hitting on a group of attractive women. When he asks Pep to get them all some champaign, she takes great offense and throws two drinks in Tony’s face before storming off. Realizing he screwed up, Stark tries to go after her but Zeke Stane who insists on meeting and shaking Tony’s hand. This is all to buy time for a bunch of religious extremists armed up with Zeke’s suicide bombs to storm into the room.

By this time, Pepper has managed to reach the lobby and is out looking for her ride. That’s when the top floors of the building explode and she is buried under tons of falling steel and concrete.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Pepper Potts, SHIELD (Maria Hill), War Machine, AGM, Zeke Stane, Thor, Triumph Division (Red Feather, St. George, Mighty Mother, Anitun, Fighter One, Wishing Man, Great Mongoose), Sasha Hammer

Continuity Notes

1. Thor’s anger at Tony Stark is a bit complicated. It all started when Thor seemingly died during Ragnarok in Thor (vol. 2) #80-85. During the Civil War, Tony used Thor’s DNA to create a clone of the thunder god in Civil War #3. When the real Thor returned in Thor (vol. 3) #1, he eventually confronted Iron Man over the unauthorized use of his genetic material in issue #3 of that series.

Topical References

• When Tony is itemizing the many things that his armor is monitoring once he mentions that it is giving a Powerpoint presentation and keeping track of a baseball game, namechecking pitcher Josh Beckett. This should be considered a topical reference as Powerpoint is a real world program, and Josh Beckett retired from baseball in 2014.

• Zeke Stane watches the bombing in Manila on a bank of CRT model televisions. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.

• Pepper states that the previous year Al-Queda was using women with Down’s Syndrome as suicide bombers. This is in reference to a real world incident that was first reported in February, 2008. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an incident that is relative to the date of publication. There are no shortage of more contemporary human atrocities that could be slotted in its place.