Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #15
The Initiative, Part 1
The Initiative event continues from Black Panther (vol. 4) 30….
Following the end of the superhero civil war, Tony Stark has taken over as Director of SHIELD.[1] Not long after, senior SHIELD officer Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan goes to the Pentagon to complain about Stark to Secretary of Defense Jack Cooning.[2] Dugan says his problem isn’t regarding Stark’s results, but how he achieves them.
He relates to a hostage situation in Australia a few days earlier. The terrorist group known as Islamist extremist group that hostages at the Sydney Opera. Stark had developed a new type of nano-camera that allowed them to get eyes on what was going on inside. Tony had also armored up a trio of SHIELD agents dubbed Alpha Team. As Iron Man, Stark led Alpha Team into battle. Smashing in through the roof, they got between the terrorists and their hostages. However, while neutralizing the threat, they were unable to stop the enemy from arming the dirty bomb in their possession. With less than 2 minutes before it blows, Iron Man grabbed the explosive and flew out to sea where a deep sea exploration ship is located. He then tossed the bomb into the ship’s air tight pressure chamber where it harmlessly exploded. Before leaving Iron Man orders the crew not to open the chamber until a SHIELD hazmat unit arrives.
Hearing this story, Kooning doesn’t see what was wrong, the mission was a complete success. Dugan explains that the mission’s success was only possible thanks to the direct involvement of Iron Man. To work as an agency, they can’t send their Director into every battle.
Dugan also has issue with how Stark is changing the way they do things, running SHIELD more like a corporation, because it goes against the chain of command. These changes include a suggestion box, hiring an executive chef to prepare meals, and having casual Fridays. The worst was that the officer’s club was shut down and replaced with a daycare center for agents who have young children. When Dugan complained about this, Tony referred him to his new Executive Officer, Sal Kennedy. However, the laidback Kennedy suggests that Dugan go with the flow.
Kooning thinks that Dum Dum should follow this advice, bringing up a report that shows that since Stark took over SHIELD, he has lowered operational costs by millions, which is impressive given the uptick in terrorist activities. He then has Dugan confirm that every mission has been a success with no casualties.
Dugan then expresses his displeasure with the fact that Stark has also brought Maya Hansen along with him, given her criminal past. This is particularly troubling since she is now in a romantic relationship with Stark, and is pressing him to allow her to continue her work on Extremis.[3] Kooning isn’t that worried about her, saying that the only difference between what they do and what she did, is that she was convicted.
Kooning is more concern about the growing number of terror related incidents. It seems that something has kicked up the hornets nest from street gangs, to militant environmentalists, Neo-Nazi groups, and religious extremists. It’s even worse overseas. The weird thing is that it is all splinter groups suddenly getting their hands on high tech and its made them unpredictable. Even Stark, Sal Kennedy, and Maria Hill conclude that someone must be funding them all, but they wonder who would be funding all of these groups. The only thing Dugan can figure is that this all started when allegedly reformed terrorist Karim Mahwash Najeeb disappeared in China a few months ago.
What nobody knows is that Najeeb had his people search for someone in China for a while now. The trail had led them to the Hu Po State Psychiatric Facility in Nei Monggol Province. They were given access to the facility under the pretense that they were there on a humanitarian mission to ensure the patients on the facility were being treated humanely. Once they are inside, Karim forced their guide to take them down to the sub-basement where the most psychotic patients were kept. Najeeb was interested in a man who was locked up some time ago, a man they claim has remained in a meditative state without food or drink the entire time and is somehow still alive.[4]
Dugan figures that Najeeb was at least keeping the peace between these groups, but not for world peace like he claims, but something more nefarious. Kooning then has to go to a State Dinner, and asks Dugan to wrap things up. The last thing Dum Dum wants to talk about is the main reason he came: To hand deliver his written resignation. Jack tells Dugan that he cannot accept him, Tony Stark needs him. Besides, Kooning wants someone on the inside he can trust.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, SHIELD (“Dum Dum Dugan”, Maria Hill, Sal Kennedy, Agent Bubba), Maya Hansen, Karim Najeeb, Jack Cooning
Continuity Notes
Following the Stamford disaster, that killed hundreds, the government enacted the Super-Human Registration Act. It required heroes to register with the government. It divided the community in half. Iron Man supported the law and after winning the war he was appointed SHIELD director. For the core story check out Civil War #1-7.
The man who appears to be Dum Dum Dugan is actually a Skrull spy who has infiltrated SHIELD as part of a planned invasion of Earth. This will be revealed in Secret Invasion: Prologue #1. The core events of this invasion is chronicled in Secret Invasion #1-8.
Maya Hansen was arrested after it was discovered that she intentionally gave Extremis to some homegrown terrorists. See Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6.
This mystery man, as we’ll next issue, is the Mandarin. The villain has been MIA since he was defeated in Iron Man (vol. 3) #9-10. Najeeb says that the Mandarin was incarcerated “some years ago”. Per the Sliding Timescale he has been missing for about 3 years.
Topical References
The terrorists that take hostages in Australia are identified as Jemmah Islamyah, who have existed since 1993. They were most active during the United States’ War on Terror, which itself was in response to a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. As this story was written around the early days of this conflict, references to Jemmah Islamyah should be considered topical.
SHEILD deploys a team in a Northrop Grunman B-2 Stealth Bomber. The last of these bombers was finished in the year 2000. Its appearance should be considered a topical reference as the bomber still in service will eventually be retired.
Sal tells Dugan to “Chillax”, this is a portmanteau of the words “chill” and “relax”. This should be considered topical because only dated douche bags tell people to chillax.
Kooning states that he misses al-Queda. Again, this is another topical reference because the United States was actively clashing with the group at the time this story was published.
The Initiative Reading Order
Civil War: The Initiative #1, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Thunderbolts #112, 113, 114, 115, Omega Flight #1-5, Moon Knight (vol. 3) #13, Captain America (vol. 5) #26, 27, 28, 29, 30, New Avengers #27, 28, 29, 30, 31, New Warriors (vol. 4) #1-8, Black Panther (vol. 4) #27, 28, 29, 30, Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD #15, 16, 17, 18, Avengers: The Initiative #1, 2, 3, Fantastic Four #547, 548, 549, 550, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #6-11, Mighty Avengers #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Sub-Mariner (vol. 2) #1-6, The Order (vol. 2) 1-4, Penance: Relentless #1, 2, 3, 4, 5