Iron Man (vol. 3) #40
Remote Control, Part 4
Tony Stark has just discovered that his old school chum, Tiberius Stone, has been using his media empire to ruin Tony’s life. When he confronts Stone about it, his former friend injects him with nanites plunging him into Dreamvision, an augmented reality media service.
Tony is then made to relive moments from his life. The first, is of the Avengers first battle together.[1] The team wonders why Tony Stark is there and Iron Man says he can help his employer. When Iron Man removes his mask, he reveals himself to be Tiberius Stone. Stone, explains that their minds are linked in Dreamvision and he knows all of Tony’s secrets, including the fact that he is Iron Man.
He then shifts reality to a scene out of Alice in Wonderland to demonstrate the control he has over the Dreamvision landscape. He then shows Tony a peak into the real world to show him how their minds are linked together. When Tony grabs at Stone, he shifts reality again. Tony now finds himself being chased down the street being shot at by recreations of classic film actors James Cagney, Humphry Bogart, George Raft, and Edward G. Robinson.
After fleeing from these characters for a bit until Tony realizes that he can alter things in Dreamvision. Tony suddenly wills himself to be in his Iron Man armor and leaves his pursuers in the dust. Searching for Tiberius Stone, Tony narrows it down to a building with the words “The World and Everything in It” written on the side. Tony enters and goes up the elevator. However, it make a number of stops on the way up to the penthouse. Each stop opening to a tragic scene from Tony’s life.
The first stop, is the day that Tony found out that his parents died.[2] When the Tony Stark of memory begins to cry upon hearing the news, the real Tony Stark begins to cry as well. He’s not just a casual observer of these memories, he’s feeling them. The next stop on this elevator ride through hell is the moment when Tony Stark hit rock bottom. Spiraling into alcoholism following the lost of his family business, the hero was reduced to living in an alley.[3] Reliving this moment again, Tony feels drunk and disorientated and is violently ill. The scene changes again to just after Tony was shot by Kathy Dare and he was getting the news that he will never walk again. The present day Tony suddenly becomes immobilized and keels over.[4] The last stop is a replay of when Tony’s armor became sentient and killed Whiplash.[5]
Tony has had enough and when the elevator stops again he barges through the door. He ends up walking in on the iconic scene from the Godfather where Marlon Brando’s character makes the famous “a Sicilian cannot turn down a request on his daughter’s wedding day” line. Tony had had enough of Ty’s games and unloads on the “Godfather” with all of his armor’s onboard weaponry, shattering the illusion. Tiberius appears to get injured in the blast. Tony then takes what he thinks is a control device and crushes it. However, the scene shifts again and Tiberius is fine. The control was only for effect as Stone is actually altering everything with a thought. He then attacks Tony with a swarm of pink elephants, then dinosaurs, and then insects.
When he thinks Tony is sufficiently softened up he changes the scene to a gladiatorial arena where he will finish Stark off to a cheering crowd. With multiple swings of the sword, Ty strips off Tony armor. However, when he goes in for the killing strike, the sword stops inches away from Tony’s chest. Stark has realized that its not a physical fight but a match of wills. In a battle of the minds, Tony knows that he doesn’t need to be Iron Man to win it. Sure enough, Tony’s will power wins over Tiberius, freeing him from Dreamvision and leaving Tiberius in a catatonic state.
A few weeks later, Tiberius Stone is appearing on the newsmagazine program 20 Vision. There he is answering to all of the accusations that Tony Stark has made about him since their battle. He denies all the accusations, and wonders how such a close friend could say such awful things about him. Ty blames this all on Trevor Donahue, who had died in the days leading up to this interview. He gets the full sympathy from the audience for his sob story, and the fact that he is doing it in a wheelchair doesn’t hurt either.
Tony Stark is waiting for him back stage when the interview is over. Tony warns Tiberius that while he managed to get away with this, it’s not over. “If you say so” is Ty’s only response. He then wheels out to his limo where his bodyguard — the Radioactive Man — and Tony’s ex-girlfriend Rumiko Fujikawa are waiting for him.[6] Tony wonders to himself about why he still feels like a loser even though he won.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Tiberius Stone, Radioactive Man, Rumiko Fujikawa
Continuity Notes
This would have been right after they dumped Loki in Avengers #1.
The people referred to as Tony’s parents were actually his adopted parents, as revealed in Iron Man (vol. 5) #17. His birthparents were actually Amanda Armstrong and a man known only as Jude as revealed in International Iron Man #5-7. It was explained in Iron Man #288, Howard and Maria Stark died in a car accident. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 suggested that their death may have been faked. However, as of this writing (March, 2023), this has yet to be independently verified.
Tony went rock bottom between Iron Man #167 and 182. During that time, he lost Stark International to Obadiah Stane in Iron Man #173. Tony would eventually buy it back in Iron Man #283.
Tony was shot through the spine by Kathy Dare in Iron Man #242. Although Tony was said to be crippled for life, he managed to escape this fate by having a new experimental bio-chip installed in his spine in Iron Man #248.
For the whole saga about Iron Man’s sentient armor and Whiplash’s death, see Iron Man (vol. 3) #26-30.
Tony is surprised to see that Radioactive Man is still kicking after he seemingly perished in an explosion in Iron Man (vol. 3) #38. Rumiko dumped tony the previous issue.
Topical References
Dreamvision is full of anachronisms and dated pop-culture references. Since Tiberius Stone is a medial mogul who appears to enjoy classic cinema, these references would not be considered topical.
