Iron Man (vol. 3) #47
The Frankenstein Syndrome, Part 2
The Sons of Yinsen have made themselves known to the public and opened a new church. Their former High Priest, Sun Tao attacked Askew Electronics, a subsidiary of Stark Enterprises. After Iron Man (Tony Stark) stopped him, he learned that someone stole a supply of SKIN, a nanite based liquid metal. When the Sons of Yinsen came for Sun Tao, they revealed that they have apparently brought the disembodied brain of Ho Yinsen back to life in a suit of sentient Iron Man armor.[1]
When Stark refused to hand Sun Tao over until he got some answers, the man caliming to be Ho Yinsen ordered his followers to attack him. Although Iron Man’s armor is more advanced than those used by the Sons if Yinsen, they have the advantage of outnumbering him.
Watching from inside is Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts, who are also looking over Sun Tao. That’s when the former High Priest wakes up. Sun Tao needs to get up and help fight against his former people, telling Hap and Pep that Tony has no idea what he is really facing. He explains how after their last encounter, the Sons of Yinsen continued their mission to bring their master back to life. They thought they found it when they recovered the suit of sentient Iron Man armor that Tony had buried. Restoring it to operation and implanting Yinsen’s brain inside, it seemed as though they succeeded in bringing him back from the dead. However, Sun Tao began to notice that there was something amiss about "Ho Yinsen”. Particularly, when he ordered the Sons to abandon their ceremonial armor for replica suits designed from the sentient armor itself.
Unfortunately, Sun Tao was the only one who saw this and eventually he was excommunicated. His former followers then subjected him to torture and brainwashed him. Then, after the Sons of Yinsen revealed themselves to the public, they put Sun Tao in a suit of armor and brainwashed him into attacking Askew Electronics. Sun Tao doesn’t know what’s going on, but he knows one thing for sure. They didn’t bring Ho Yinsen back to life, instead they created the “Great Devil”, the embodiment of evil warned about in their faith.
Meanwhile, back outside, Iron Man is still on the defensive but he won’t be able to keep up with the pace of his attackers for much longer. Changing tactics, Iron Man grabs one of the Sons of Yinsen and uses his magnetic gauntlets to turn his opponents armor into a electro-magnet. He manages to pull all the other Sons of Yinsen together into a massive ball. However, “Ho Yinsen” comes up behind Tony and is somehow able to cause him pain remotely. Grabbing Tony, the man claiming to be Iron Man’s co-creator is able to fry the circuits in Tony’s armor with a single touch. With Tony incapacitated, “Yinsen” orders his followers to beat him senseless. With Stark no longer a threat, “Ho” tells his people to bring him what they have come for.
The Sons of Yinsen force their way into Tony’s lab, there Sun Tao’s replacement, Tyger Minn orders him to surrender. However, Sun Tao refuses to go down without a fight. He is quickly overpowered and defeated. Pleased, “Ho Yinsen” tells Tyger Minn to prepare Sun Tao for a ceremony.
At that moment, Jocasta — Tony’s personal AI — comes back online and uses the armor’s systems to revive Tony. Freeing himself from the rubble Tony asks why Jocasta suddenly shut herself down upon seeing the sentient armor again. She admits to him that she was frightened of it, explaining that while Tony was away it tortured her and took great pleasure in doing so. She tried to fight back but the armor was too sophisticated and it tortured her over and over again. Tony is horrified to learn about this and promises her that he’ll make the sentient armor pay for what it has done to her.
By this time, the Sons of Yinsen have returned to their floating city of New Timbetpal. There, Tyger Minn was charged with heading the sacrificial ceremony that will end Sun Tao’s life.[2] Observing the proceedings are the individual claiming to be Ho Yinsen and a strange girl with green skin.[3] Before Minn can plunge a dagger into Sun Tao’s chest, Iron Man arrives and strikes him with a respulsor blast. Tyger Minn orders the followers in armor to activate their cloaking devices to fight Iron Man. Tony was anticipating this and built a device that would short them out if they used the cloaking device. This also takes out those that are wearing nothing but robes. Stark decides to get the innocent followers out of there. However, when he goes to pick up one of them he is horrified to discover that they have been coated in SKIN.
The SKIN coated followers then get up and use the liquid metal to form weapons out of their hands. Not wanting to hurt anyone and outnumbered, Tony decides the best thing to do is to grab Sun Tao and make run for it. As they leave, Sun Tao points to the fact that “Yinsen” hasn’t moved an inch since the fight broke out, he also raises the question of the mysterious green skinned girl that is with him. Before Tony can get away, his mechanical heart suddenly stops, causing him extreme agony. That’s when “Yinsen” reveals that — through its connection with Tony’s sentient armor — can control the mechanical heart with a thought and uses to torment his foe.
Tony is certain this isn’t really Ho Yinsen and demands to know his attacker’s true identity. “Yinsen” decides to oblige. Removing the armor’s helmet, the being gets a second head from the green skinned girl. Putting it on, “Ho Yinsen” reveals that he is actually Ultron.[4]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Ultron, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Sun Tao, Jocasta, Sons of Yinsen (Tyger Minn), Antigone
Continuity Notes
There is a lot going on off the top, so let me explain what’s happening here:
First things first, Iron Man experienced a suit of his armor becoming sentient. It became obsessed with Tony loving it and later seemingly sacrificed its life to save Tony from a fatal heart attack. Tony later buried it in the ground. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #26-30. As we’ll learn next issue, the armor was infected with the Ultron Imperative, a program that goes about recreating Ultron in the event he was destroyed.
The Sons of Yinsen are a religious sect that worship Ho Yinsen, the scientist who helped Tony build his first suit of Iron Man armor while they were both prisoners of Wong-Chu. The group have recently recovered the disembodied brain of Yinsen and believed it would one day be restroed to life. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #½,, 31-32, and Annual 2000.
Tyger Minn reveals here was that he was the follower who killed Wong-Chu by machete to the head, as seen in Iron Man Annual 2000.
The girl with green skin is not clearly identified or explained in this story. They are a synethezoid named Antigone. They were created by Alkhema, a creation of Ultron, in Avengers: The Ultron Imperative #1.
Ultron is revived here after his body was destroyed in Avengers (vol. 3) #19-22.
