The Frankenstein Syndrome, Part 1

Three Weeks Ago

The Sons of Yinsen have appeared over Washington, DC. Their leader tells them that the time has come to make their presence known. Deactivating their cloaking device, the floating city of New Timbetpal materializes right over the White House.

Now

Tony Stark is back, after a few weeks of living as “Hogan Potts”, Tony come back to his old life. He is wealthy again and he has a brand new iteration of Stark Enterprises to run. He’s even brown back his facial hair.[1]

He meets with Henry Pym — aka his fellow Avenger, Goliath — who has been examining Tony’s new mechanical heart. Not only has it replaced Tony’s damaged heart, it has since linked itself to and is regulating all his other organs. To surgically remove the device would kill Tony instantly.[2] That’s when Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts come back from their information gathering mission on Tony’s former company, Stark-Fujikawa. Unfortunately, nothing short of a hostile take over will allow him to get the company back.[3][4] When Happy makes a comment about not going after the Church of Yinsen next. This is the first Tony has heard about this since he has been too busy setting up his new company to pay much attention to the news. Hap and Pep tell him that the Sons of Yinsen resurfaced a few weeks back and started up a new religion of the United States.

Hearing about the Sons again reminds him of how they worshiped Ho Yinsen, the man who helped him build his first suit of Iron Man armor and escape from the clutched of a terrorist named Wong-Chu.[5] For years, Tony believed Yinsen was dead until he uncovered their followers who worshiped him. Captured by Wong-Chu again, Iron Man learned that Yinsen was still alive and the reason why the Sons were so interested in capturing the villain. In the end, they succeeded, but it was only then that Tony learned that Yinsen’s brain was being kept in a jar and claims that he was somehow still alive were highly dubious.[6] Happy puts on the TV and to an interview with Tyger Minn, the new high priest of the Church of Yinsen. He explains how his people had decided to come out of hiding after years of isolation. As their previous High Priest — Sun-Tao — did not agree with them and he was excommunicated.

The interview is interrupted by Jocasta — Tony’s AI assistant — who apologizes for interrupting the broadcast. She tells him that Askew Electronics — the company he just purchased — is currently under attack. After suiting up, Iron Man races to the company and inside he discovers the intruder is his old suit of armor that became sentient. Seeing the sentient armor, Jocasta freaks out and goes offline for some reason. That’s when the sentient suit attacks him. The two fight it out, but eventually Tony Stark proves the victor. Removing its helmet, Tony is shocked to discover he wasn’t fighting the sentient armor after all, but Sun Tao. Sun Tao is in some kind of trace and is repeating the phrase “The Devil” over and over. That’s when Calista Hancock — the former CEO of Askew — comes out and tells Iron Man that someone stole their supply of SKIN — a new nanite controlled liquid metal the company had been developing.

Tony takes Sun Tao and his armor back to Stark Enterprises where he has Pepper and Happy help him examine it. The process is much slower without Jocasta around to help them out. Still, Tony is able to determine or sure that this isn’t the sentient suit of armor, but a near identical replica. Meaning someone must have found its grave and dug it up to find a new one. That’s when members of the Sons of Yinsen arrive outside the front gate to collect Sun Tao. When Tony confirms that he has Sun Tao in his protection, they blast the front gate open. That’s when their leader — clad in a grey suit of armor — appears. Iron Man scans this newcomer and determines that he is the one wearing the sentient armor. He also detects that Ho Yinsen’s brain is inside the helmet. As impossible as it may seem, the Sons of Yinsen have somehow managed to return the man they worship to life.[7]

“Yinsen” orders Iron Man to hand over Sun Tao to them for treatment as he has gone mad. Tony gets over the shock of the apparent resurrection of Ho Yinsen, and now he doesn’t buy it. He feels as though this is all connected to the theft of SKIN from Askew Electronics, but refuses to relase Sun Tao to the Church of Yinsen over his dead body. “Yinsen” is more than happy to oblige and tells his followers to attack.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Ultron, Jocasta, Goliath, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Calista Hancock Sons of Yinsen (Tyger Mynn Sun Tao)

Continuity Notes

1. Following a battle with Tiberius Stone in Dreamvision — a nanite driven augmented reality device — in Iron Man (vol. 3) #40, Tony was fed a subliminal message that convinced him to give up his fortune and toil in the 9-to-5 world under an assumed alias in the following issue. He was snapped out of this when he received the last will of Trevor Donahue, a mutual enemy of Ty Stone, last issue. Trevor revealed the truth, and left Tony his company and fortune so he could fight back against Stone.

2. Tony’s biological heart was injured way back in Tales of Suspense #39. Although it was healed during surgery in Iron Man #19, it has been subject to health complications on and off for years. Tony began suffering from heart failure starting in Iron Man (vol. 3) #26, around the time one of his suits of armor became sentient. When Tony was suffering a fatal heart attack, the armor ripped out its own power supply and implanted it in Tony’s chest, saving his life while sacrificing its own as seen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #30. This device has since assimilated and replaced his organic heart, forcing Tony to constantly recharge it to keep it operating.

3. The original Stark Enterprises was sold off in Iron Man #329 to the Fujikawa corporation. This happened during a period where Tony Stark was believed dead. He technically was, but through the magic of plot contrivances was brought back to life. See Avengers #395, Iron Man (vol. 2) #1, Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, and Avengers Annual 2001 for that whole complicated turn of events. Rumiko Fujikawa will give Tony the 2% stock he needs to retake control of his former company in Iron Man (vol. 3) # 56.

4. Happy mentions Tony’s recent bout of technophobia. This came from the aforementioned sentient armor incident. From Iron Man (vol. 3) #31 to 41, Tony wore older, less advanced armors. Eventually, he came to realize that he needed something top of the line to be effective as Iron Man. His newest suit was built over the course of Iron Man (vol. 3) #42-45.

5. This of course recounts Iron Man’s origins from Tales of Suspense #39.

6. Tony first encountered the Sons of Yinsen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #½. Tony later assisted them in liberating the brain of Hi Yinsen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #31-32 and Annual 2000.

7. It does turn out to be impossible, as we’ll learn next issue. It’s not Yinsen controlling the sentient armor, but Ultron. This was all part of the Ultron Imperative program that ensures that Ultron will always be rebuilt somehow. This is what caused the armor to become sentient in Iron Man (vol. 3) #26. Ultron is rebuilding himself following his destruction in Avengers (vol 3) #22 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative #1.

Supplementary Information

• This issue also includes reprints of “Long Time Gone” from Iron Man #78, “The Use of Deadly Force” from Iron Man #140, and the “Caribbean Connection” from Iron Man #141.