Nick Peron

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Iron Man Annual 2000

Nick Peron

The Sons of Yinsen Part 3: The Invisible Iron Man

Credits

Iron Man (Tony Stark) had joined up with the Sons of Yinsen to take down their old foe Wong-Chu and bring him to justice. However, when they stormed the warlord’s fortress they were forced to surrender. This was because Wong-Chu threatened to kill a number of his slaves. After their defeat, Wong-Chu then revealed that the Sons of Yinsen were actually here. Yinsen was the man who helped Tony become Iron Man and liberate himself from Wong-Chu many years earlier, and the man that the Sons of Yinsen worship as a god.[1]

Brought to a dinner table, the Sons of Yinsen are forced to eat slop while Wong-Chu gorges on proper food. He shows Tony how he has branded Sun Tao — the leader of the Sons of Yinsen — with his branding. He then mocks Tony for wearing a smally stuffed animal around his neck, a gift from a little girl he saved before their surrender. He then thanks them all for brining their advanced armor, which Wong-Chu figures will fetch a decent price on the black market. He then muses that after he kills Tony Stark he might make his bones an addition to his throne, which is made the remains of those who have crossed him over the years.

He then brings up how he has Ho Yinsen as his prisoner and that his followers were keeping this from him. While this doesn’t change the fact that Tony would have come to rescue Wong-Chu’s slaves anyway, he does demand answers from Sun Tao. Sun Tao admits that he left some key information when he previously explains the origins of his religious sect. When he and Ho Yinsen were first captured, they were forced to toil outside and do manual labor. That all changed on the day that Tony Stark was captured. It was then that Yinsen was taken from the work yard to assist Stark in creating weapons for him. The two instead conspired to build the first suit of Iron Man armor to fight back against their captor.

Sun Tao heard when Ho Yinsen was shot creating a distraction while Iron Man’s armor charged. As the guards and Wong-Chu went to deal with Iron Man, nobody was around to stop Sun Tao from going for his master. Yinsen was still alive, but was dying. The young student took his master out into the wilderness for a proper burial. Before he passed on, Ho Yinsen passed along his diary to Sun Tao. However, before Sun Tao could bury Yinsen’s body a portal suddenly opened before him. Two men came to collect Yinsen’s body. Their master — his true appearance obscured from the portal’s light —- explained that he is fullfilling a debt that he made some time ago. He also encouraged Sun Tao to flee the camp, and live his life. The mystery man would be in touch and not to worry as he’ll find Sun Tao. The stranger’s final words before the portal closed were that he was a man who turns everything to his advantage.

Wong-Chu continues the tale: That same man, known as Doctor Midas, would later approach Wong-Chu years later and offer him the chance to auction for possession of Ho Yinsen.[2] The Sons of Yinsen were also given the opportunity to bid for their master. However, Wong-Chu won the bid. However, Doctor Midas returned to the Sons of Yinsen and offered to reveal the identity of the buyer for a fee. This all played into Wong-Chu’s hands who had agree to set up the betrayal. He then sends them out to the yard to ponder all of this before he puts them all to death.

When they are out in the yard, Tony Stark says he doesn’t buy the reason why Sun Tao kept Ho Yinsen’s survival a secret. However, Sun Tao insists that they kept it a secret because they didn’t want Tony’s “western baggage” interfering with their mission. Tony say he would have came no matter what, but Sun Tao finds the idea that Stark could have helped them save the revered Ho Yinsen laughable. He points out that Tony never bothered to make sure Yinsen was dead, or what happened to his body. In fact, other than the fact that the scientist helped Tony build his first suit of Iron Man armor, Stark knows almost nothing about him. While Tony went back to America an worked on his wealth, Sun Tao and his followed became devoted to the works of Ho Yinsen. The amassed followers and built a new technologically advanced society together. When they where finished, their flying city rose into the sky and was shielded from the outside with a cloaking device.

However, Sun Tao’s holier than thou attitude is cut short when they are walked past a mass grave of all those who have failed Wong Chu. This stuns him to silence as this is where their lives are going to end. That is, except for the fact that Tony Stark had a plan to try and get them free and was waiting for the right moment. When Wong-Chu is carried out to see them executed, Tony uses his teeth to get into the stuffed animal he has tied around his neck. As it turns out, he wasn’t just carrying it for sentimental reasons. In fact, he was also using it to conceal one of the Son of Yinsen’s cloaking devices. There is a port in the exposed portion of his mechanical heart and Tony is able to drop the device into it.

When Tony suddenly vanishes from sight it creates the distraction for the Sons of Yinsen to attack and subdue their guards. While they are doing this, Tony is making his way back to Wong-Chu’s citadel. As he becomes visible again, Sun Tao calls out to him and tells him to remember the day he first liberated himself from Wong-Chu’s captivity. Tony wonders what Sun Tao means by this until he recovers his armor. Getting a closer look at the cloaking device he notices some kind of keypad. Entering the date he freed himself all those years ago, Iron Man is surprised when the entire fortress beings to shake from the sudden sounds of battle. Racing outside, the hero is surprised to see that the code summoned the Son of Yinsen’s army of Iron Men robots.

Iron Man then returns to the mass grave where, by this time, more of Wong-Chu’s men have arrived and have the Sons of Yinsen surrounded. Using the cloaking device again, Iron Man gets the drop on Wong-Chu. However, while he is using his repulsors to free the Sons of Yinsen from their shackles, Wong-Chu manages to steal Iron Man’s cloaking device. Deducing that the war criminal is going to head back to his fortress and kill Ho Yinsen, Iron Man races back. As he reaches the structure, Wong-Chu ambushes him. With the cloak he is neary impossible to see. Tony figures out a way to reveal his location though. When a squad of Iron Man drones pass overhead, Iron Man blasts them to pieces. When the debris bounces off Wong-Chu’s invisible body, it allows the hero to fire a blast that disables the cloaking device. He then begins slapping Wong-Chu around, but Sun Tao stops him before he can kill their foe.

When one of the Sons of Yinsen tries to enter the building where Ho Yinsen is being held, they trigger sensor that sets off an explosion, killing them instantly. Wong-Chu laughs about this prompting one of the Sons of Yinsen (disguised in one of the drone suits of armor) to pick up a machete and charge at him. Unfortunately, Tony Stark is unable to stop them as his mechanical heart runs out of power causing him to black out.[3]

When Tony wakes up he is back in New Timbetpal with his heart fully recharged. Standing by his bedside of Sun Tao who explains that his people were eventually able to recover Ho Yinsen from Wong-Chu’s fortress and return him home. When Tony asks to see him Sun Tao leads him to the chamber where Yinsen is being worship. Tony is in for a shock because rather than seeing the elderly scientist, he instead finds his disembodied brain inside some kind of jar placed in the hands of a massive statue of the scientist. Sun Tao then reveals one last secret that he had kept about Ho Yinsen. Many years ago, Yinsen — already a brilliant scientist — had made a deal with Doctor Midas. In exchange for money to fund his experiments, Yinsen agreed to have his brain removed and preserved upon his death. To the Sons of Yinsen, the return of their master’s brain is the fulfillment of a prophecy. Tony isn’t sure how he feels about Yinsen’s brain being kept as a holy relic, or if this squares things for Yinsen’s earlier sacrifice.

Regardless, Iron Man is given the highest honor among the Sons of Yinsen who now considers him a brother among them and he can stay with them whenever he’d like. Tony thanks Sun Tao for the honor and says he may just take them up on the offer some day. After Iron Man heads for home, the man who killed Wong-Chu is brought before the members of twelve original students of Yinsen. Rather than being punished, Sun Tao commends him for killing their foe. As it turns out, it was his sister who was killed in the explosion. The man is given a piece of her armor and membership as one of the twelve.

After days of meditation, Sun Tao tells his people that they have arrived at their destination. Through science their master will live again and a new dawn of the Iron Man will begin. The floating city of New Tembetpal has arrived off shore from an island in the Pacific Ocean. On the beach stands a grave marker that reads “Here lies Iron Man. Avenger”.[4]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Wong-Chu, Sons of Yinsen (Sun Tao, Tyger Minn (unidentified)), (in flashback) Ho Yinsen, Doctor Midas

Continuity Notes

  1. For more on the origins of the Sons of Yinsen see Iron Man (vol. 3) #32. Tony Stark was a prisoner of Wong-Chu and became Iron Man thanks to the help and sacrifice of Yinsen in Tales of Suspense #39.

  2. A footnote here tells readers if they want to know more about Doctor Midas to read Marvel Boy (vol. 2) #1. You might as well read all six issues, it’s a brisk read.

  3. Time of this writing (March, 2023), Wong-Chu is still considered to be among the deceased. I’d be surprised to hear how Marvel would have him survive a machete to the head though if I were being honest. His killer goes unnamed here, but Iron Man (vol. 3) #47 reveals that his name is Tyger Minn.

  4. This is where Tony Stark buried his sentient armor after it sacrificed its life to save him from a fatal heart attack. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #26-30. This is setting up the storyline where Ultron uses the sentient armor and Yinsen’s brain to trick the Sons of Yinsen into following him. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #46-48.

Supplement Materia

This issue features two pin-ups: