Iron Man (vol. 3) #35

Mar 17

Mar 17 Iron Man (vol. 3) #35

Power, Part 3: The Land

Iron Man had just put a stop to Max Power, a man who threw wild parties that involved drugs that gives users superhuman powers for a short period of time. He did so by forcing Power to take all of his sample of telepathy pills. As a result, Iron Man was subject to a mental jolt that put some of Max’s memories in his head.

In order to figure out what they are about, Iron Man goes to the Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), leader of the Fantastic Four for help. Reed hopes that Max Power’s memories have information about the Ego spores that are spreading somewhere on Earth.[1] They learn that the alien being known as Max Power came from a world where magic was practice and science was outlawed. Caught experimenting with science, Max was exiled from his planet. His ship crash landed near Los Angeles. There, he lived among the city’s homeless.

One day Max witnessed a fight between Rogue and Magneto over the city.[2] The locals explained to him that some people in their society were born with or gain superhuman powers. He learned about superheroes and villains and came to believe these distinctions were arbitrary. He also ended up getting involved in the local rave scene. Seeing the rampant drug use and dancing made him believe that this was some kind of religious ceremony and that people wanted to achieve superhuman powers. Seeing this as a means to an end, the alien later known as Max Power convinced a local drug dealer to let him create a serum that would give people superhuman powers for about 15 minutes. As this wasn’t as destructive as most recreational drugs, it made Max a lot of money and his parties became more and more exclusive over time. Soon his designer drugs were reserved for the upper crust of society.

This doesn’t tell Reed much, but since they now know the spores were used to create his drug, they dig deeper into the memories implanted into his mind. Sure enough, they discover that Max Power was able to use a sensor device to track the Ego spores to a small farmhouse in the town of Littletown, Nebraska. When Iron Man offers to call in the Avengers, Mister Fantastic turns it down, feeling that the Fantastic Four should handle it. Still, Iron Man convinces Reed to at least let him come along. As they take off in the Fantastic Four’s jet, they don’t notice a figure in a trench coat float up to rooftop level and observe them leave.[3]

About an hour latter, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four are standing in the middle of Littletown taking readings with one of Reed’s scanners. Powdering the town with dust particles loaded with nanites, Reed hopes to discover where the spores might be hiding out. While Reed waits for the readings to come back, he suggests that the team — the Thing, Invisible Woman, and Human Torch — and Iron Man ask the locals about anything out of the ordinary they may have witnessed recently. They find the residents of Littletown to be very friendly, even the children are unafraid of the Thing.

Eventually, the readings come back and Reed is horrified to discover that the entire town is made up of the Ego spore. His warning comes too late as the spore begins attacking the Fantastic Four. When the Human Torch gets trapped inside a hardware store, the Thing and Invisible Woman work together to free him. With his team needing more assistance, Reed gives Iron Man a tracking device so he can trace the spore to its source. It is much easier to see the farm house because the Ego spore is not trying to hide it.

Once he goes down into the cellar, he is attacked by the owners. The woman of the house wants to stop Iron Man because she has convinced herself that the spore is her baby. Iron Man easily pushes past them and injects the spore with a device that should, in theory inoculate it. As the spore writhes in agony, Iron Man grabs the two home owners and tries to escape. However, they are soon overwhelmed by huge spore mass and everything goes black.

When Iron Man wakes up gain, he is being revived by the Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, they were too late, the spore had taken root and was too powerful. When Iron Man injected it, all it did was withdraw into the earth and disappear. When Iron Man asks what became of Littletown, Mister Fantastic tells him to see for himself. The entire town no longer exists with only baren land to note that it was ever there to being with. Reed theorizes that he can come up with a way to decompress Ego back into his initial form and remove him from the planet, but that will take some time. He figures that Ego was brought to Earth in a host body to being with.

That’s when the man in the overcoat that observed them leave in New York appears. Thing respond with his fist flying, shattering his rocky outer skin. This reveals that the mystery man is the Silver Surfer, the most likely candidate that could have been used as a carrier for Ego’s spore.

… This story continues in Maximum Security #1.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch), Ego the Living Planet, Silver Surfer, Max Power, (in flashback) Rogue, Magneto

Continuity Notes

The Kree are currently engaged in a plot to turn Earth into a new host for Ego the Living Planet. This part of a larger scheme to quarantine Earth’s solar system by making the planet itself a prison for alien criminals. The plan is to convert the Earth, then siphon off Ego’s energies to power the Kree enough to rebuild their empire. See Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1, Maximum Security #1-3, and Avengers (vol. 3) #35.
According to Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Uncanny X-Men, this flashback takes place between X-Factor #70 and X-Men (vol. 2) #1. Per the Sliding Timescale, Max crash landed on Earth about two years prior to this story.
To date (March, 2023), this is the last we have seen of Max Power. His subsequent fate is unknown. Presumably he was removed from Earth along with all the other alien criminals once its status as a prison planet was lifted at the end of Maximum Security #3.

Topical References

The Thing mistaking believes that fictional nanny Mary Poppins came from Nebraska. Mary Poppins was the titular character of eight children’s books published between 1934 and 1988. It was also the subject of a wildly popular Disney adaptation from 1968.
When seeing that Iron Man was joining them, the Thing makes a job wondering if they are hiring Triple-A players. Sarcastically asking if he is John Rocker. Triple-A is a term used for a baseball team which is considered part of the Major League. At the time of this story, John Rocker had just recently made the majors, as he started playing for the Atlanta Braves in 1998. This should be considered a topical reference as this was relative to the date of publication, Rocker retired from football in 2003. Modern readers could easily slot in a more contemporary player.
When arriving in Littletown, the Thing quips that it looks like Martha Stewart on Ritalin. At the time this issue was published, Martha Stewart was best known for Martha Stewart Living, which focused on home decoration and other related subjects. The series ran from 1993 to 2004. The series ended when Stewart went to prison for insider trading. While she has had a subsequent show upon her release, Stewart hasn’t been on TV since 2012, unless you could the Bic commercials she does with Snoop Dogg these days. Anyway, the reference here is topical as it can be replaced with a more contemporary example.
The Thing hopes one of the children could explain N’Sync to him. This was a boy band which first formed in 1995. At the time this comic was published they were at the height of their popularity. The group would break up in 2002 and only get back together for one off reunion gigs in the subsequent years. This should be considered a topical reference as a more contemporary example could be used in its place.
When discussing what to do with Ego after they have him contained, the Thing quips that they can have the spore do “stupid tricks” on Letterman. The Thing is referring to The Late Show With David Letterman. The show ran from 1993 to 2015. This is another dated pop-culture reference that should be considered topical.