The Big Bang Theory, Part 2

Iron Man has been developing a new suit of armor using Askew Technologies new SKIN technology.[1] After running a test of his new armor, he is contacted by a mad bomber responsible for blowing up other tech companies.[2] He has turned Iron Man’s new armor into a bomb which will destroy Askew Technologies. With 15 minutes on the clock, Iron Man needs to somewhere to dump the armor where it can explode without harming anyone.

Once outside the building, he is attacked by Mister Hyde, who has been hired to force Iron Man to remain put. Not having time for this, Tony tries to take Hyde out with his built in smart-bomb launcher. Unfortunately, the weapon isn’t working properly and the bomb cluster lands harmlessly at the villain’s feet. His magnetic gloves, force field, and hologram projectors work a lot better. Tony is able to distracted Mister Hyde with a hologram of the Avengers. This allows Iron Man to knock out Mister Hyde with a full power repulsor blast.

With less than five minutes left on the countdown timer, Iron Man races to Avengers Mansion. He radios ahead to Goliath and tells him to prepare a containment field to contain the blasts.[3] Unfortunately, his jet boots begin crapping out with three minutes left on the clock. This forces him to land in the middle of the road in the path of an oncoming truck. It swerves out of the way to avoid him, but puts it on a collision course with a full patio. Iron Man quickly grabs the rear bumper and is able to slow it to a stop.

With only seconds left to go, Iron Man runs the rest of the way to Avengers Mansion. He gets into the containment field and strips off his armor in the nick of time. Leaping out of the field, Tony braces for an explosion, but none happens. Stark realizes that the reading from his armor was a false one created by the bomber and that this was all a ploy to get Iron Man away from Askew Electronics.

At that very moment, a computer virus downloads to one of the Askew computers. Once complete, the virus causes the entire building to explode.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Goliath, Ghost (voice only, unidentified), Mister Hyde, Edwin Jarvis

Continuity Notes

1. SKIN is a nanite-based liquid metal that Askew has been working on since Iron Man (vol. 3) #½. Iron Man started developing his new armor last issue.

2. The identity of the bomber is not revealed here. We’ll learn that it is the corporate terrorist known as the Ghost in Iron Man (vol. 3) #45.

3. Goliath mentions here that the Avengers haven’t heard from Iron Man for days. This story follows the events of Iron Man (vol. 3) #37-40, where Tony was subject to a smear campaign orchestrated by Tiberius Stone. In the following issue he decided to leave his old life behind. Since last issue, he has been working for Askew Electronics under the alias Hogan Potts.

Topical References

• The computer monitors in this story are depicted as CRT models. This should be considered a topical reference as this is an obsolete technology.

• The computer virus that the Ghost uses to blow shit up in this story is called “You Da Man”. This story is based on the ILOVEYOU virus that was e-mailed to potential victims in the early 2000s. The spread of the virus was successful due to the fact that the creator used social engineering dynamics to trick people into downloading and running an attachment that would then infect their computer. This whole plot device is dated, from the virus-through-e-mail extension, the length of time it takes to download (this story was written when internet speeds weren’t that fast), even the phrase “You Da Man” is dated as fuck. Topical reference city. Modern readers, use your imagination to figure out how to view this in a modern context, they don’t pay me enough to do this kind of heavy lifting.