Iron Man (vol. 3) #27
The Mask in the Iron Man, Part 2: The Dream Machine
Knocked out during a fight with Whiplash, Tony Stark wakes up in a hospital bed surrounded by Jim Rhodes, Pepper Potts, and Happy Hogan. That’s when his girlfriend, Rumiko Fujikawa, comes barging in demanding to know why Tony has been keeping secrets from her. In answer, she tosses a newspaper on his bed. The front page story outs Tony as Iron Man, as his helmet was lifted up when he was knocked out.[1] With his identity now public knowledge, Pepper wonders if Tony will erase everyone’s memories all over again.[2] Rumiko says that won’t be necessary for her as she has already forgotten Tony Stark and storms out of the room.
When Tony is released from the hospital, clients seeking his consultation have all cut ties with Tony. Having a psychology session with Jocasta, his AI personal assistant, he tells her how nobody wants to work with Iron Man out of fear that one of his foes might attack their business. Fearing for the safety of his friends, Tony has also isolated himself and it is starting to get to him. When Jocasta starts pressing him with questions about his relationship with Rumiko Fujikawa, he ends the session.
Going upstairs, Tony feels the temptation to start drinking again after years of sobriety.[3] As he nurses a glass of scotch, Tony gets a recorded message from the Avengers. They have been trying to get ahold of him for days. Without an answer, the team was forced to vote unanimously to cut ties with Iron Man. Angry, Tony throws his scotch glass across the room and starts drinking straight from the bottle. He tries to call Rumiko, but a guy named Kurt answers her phone. Hearing that Ru has moved on to someone else angers Tony.
Pepper tries to contact Tony through video conferencing to voice her concerns. The isolation can’t be healthy. She pleads with Tony to answer, but he cuts the conversation. That’s when Warbird (aka Carol Danvers) comes to help Tony in his time of need. That’s the least she could do after he made her recognize that she too was an alcoholic and get help.[4] Tony says he doesn’t see her help, and seeing how he has given in to his own alcoholism, she takes offense that he won’t accept her kindness and storms out.
That’s when Jocasta appears on his computer screen and says that she has detected reports about out-of-the-ordinary incidents involving Tony’s loved ones and family. She offers her condolences before playing recordings of deaths of those he previously knew, both past and present. Sunset Bain, Bethany Cabe, Roxanne Gilbert, Joanna Nivena, Kris Degann, his cousin Morgan, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Jim Rhodes, and Rumiko Fujikawa, are all dead.[5] In the case of the last four, they were murdered with their killer writing the phrase “Axion Karr” in the victims blood.[6]
Tony runs to his Iron Man armor and tries to put it on, but he is too drunk to do it. He ends up passing out on the floor where he has a nightmare about Wong-Chu, the tyrant who was responsible for the creation of Iron Man.[7] Tony wakes up from this dream to the sound something banging against the wall. It eventually blows open, revealing the Mandarin. He was the one who killed all of Tony Stark’s friends and loved ones. He now demands that Stark fight him as Iron Man. Tony suits up, but he can barely stand up straight because he is still pissed drunk. The Mandarin finds this pathetic and begins slapping Iron Man around reminding him of all the people he killed in an effort to enrage the hero enough to fight back.
When he reminds Tony of Rumiko, this is what finally makes him crack. Tony fights back and eventually defeats the Mandarin by slamming both of his hands on either side of the villain’s neck. Suddenly, Tony begins suffering a heart attack. As he collapses to the ground he reaches for his bottle of scotch. That’s when his armor speaks again, pleading to Tony for help as it is dying.[8]
That’s when Tony Stark wakes up and realizes that everything that he just experienced was a dream. It has been mere seconds since his battle with Whiplash sent him crashing to the ground. He manages to get up before a kid can flip off the face screen on his helmet and flies away. The voice, the one pleading for help, continues to speak and Tony can’t figure out who it is. When he asks who they are, the voice responds that they are Iron Man. The voice, as it turns out, is coming from his armor, which has somehow become sentient!
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Ultron, Jocasta
Continuity Notes
This is a fake out, next issue we’ll learn that this is all just a dream. However, this nightmare takes place in Reality-29134 per the Unofficial Appendix. I don’t think it’s been mentioned anywhere in any official capacity and could be subject to change.
In Iron Man Annual 1998, Tony decided that too many people knew his secret identity and used a machine to erase that knowledge. He did share his secret with those he trusted most, including Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey.
Tony Stark is a recovering alcoholic, an aspect of his personality was first explored in Iron Man #128. At the time of this story, Tony was last depicted drinking in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1. In his own defense, he didn’t have memory that he was an alcoholic at the time.
Carol has been struggling with alcoholism since Avengers (vol. 3) #4. Tony eventually got her to see the truth in Iron Man (vol. 3) #25.
This is a running tally of nearly everyone that Tony has been involved with in one way or another. They include:
Sunset Bain: As per Iron Man (vol. 3) #19, Sunset Bain once seduced Tony Stark as a young man. This was in order to steal secrets from Stark Industries, this allowed her to start up her own tech company.
Bethany Cabe: A private security consultant, Bethany was first seen in Iron Man #117. She dated Tony until Iron Man #152-153 when she discovered her husband was still alive and left to care for him until he died of a drug overdose in Iron Man #211. Tony and Beth briefly got back together in Iron Man #319. She was last seen in Iron Man #329, we won’t see her again until War Machine (vol. 2) #1.
Roxanne Gilbert: An activist, Roxanne entered Tony Stark’s life in Iron Man #52.She had a short lived relationship with Tony that ended in Iron Man #89. She was last seen attending Tony’s funeral in Iron Man #297 when Tony had faked his death. Time of this writing (March, 2023) she hasn’t been seen since.
Joanna Nivena: As revealed in Iron Man #244, Joanna was engaged to marry Tony Stark before he became Iron Man. After the fact, Tony broke off their engagement because an injury to his heart forced him to wear his armored chest plate 24/7. Since then, she has only appeared in flashbacks tim of this writing. Here current whereabouts and activities are unknown.
Kris Degann: Was friends with a time displaced teenaged version of Tony Stark between Iron Man #326 to 331. What happened to her after “Teen Tony” ceased to exist is unknown, time of this writing.
Morgan Stark: Is Tony’s cousin, he was first seen in Tales of Suspense #68.
Axonn-Karr is a member of the Makluan race that crash landed on Earth centuries ago. This was the ship that was discovered by the Mandarin who stole its power supply which became his Ten Rings of Power. See Tales of Suspense #62.
Tony dreams about his fight with Wong Chu from way back in Tales of Suspense #39.
Tony’s armor began speaking to him last issue. It’s later revealed in Iron Man (vol. 3) #48 that it was made sentient by the “Ultron Imperative” program that was installed on it by Jocasta when he rescued her from Sunset Bain and began using her as his personal AI, in Iron Man (vol. 3) #18-20.
Topical References
The date on the newspaper revealing Tony Stark’s secret identity is dated January 1, 2000. This date should be considered topical as it is relative to the date of publication.
Tony’s cell phone is depicted as a flip phone with physical buttons and an antenna to pick up signals. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.
