Iron Man (vol. 3) #56
Sympathy for the Devil, Part 1
Tony Stark has revealed to the world that he has been posing as Iron Man for years.[1] In the aftermath of this bombshell revelation, Tony and his girlfriend Rumiko Fujikawa have been trying to make amends.[2] He explains that he kept his double-life a secret for years out of fear that his enemies would target those closest to him. When Ru asks what has changed, Tony explains that the world has. The villains are more brutal and resorting to more brutal tactics that having a secret identity doesn’t really matter anymore. As if to punctuate this point, the pair stop and pay their respects at a temporary memorial wall that has been set up to commemorate the lives lost in a recent terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, Tiberus Stone’s company Viastone has hired NASA to assist with the deployment of a new communications satellite. However, something overrides the retro-burners causing them to incinerate the astronaut setting up the satellite. The force from the blast also knocks the satellite back into Earth’s atmosphere causing it to begin planet fall. NASA scrambles to figure out where the impact zone is out of fear the satellite might crash in a populated area.
Back in Manhattan, Tony Stark steps in an stops two punks from mugging an old woman. Although he stopped them from robbing her, the old lady isn’t less than grateful. However, Tony feels exhilarated to help someone without running off to change into Iron Man first. When Rumiko refers to Tony as her lover, she admits that sleeping with Tiberius Stone wasn’t a smart idea. She was just so frustrated with Tony putting up walls and keeping secrets that she wanted him to hurt like he had hurt her. She doesn’t want any obstacles between them anymore. As a gesture of good will, she has convinced her grandfather sell back 49% of the shares of Stark-Fujikawa, while he retains the other 49%. Rumiko retains the final 2%. As she calls for a cab, Rumiko hands Tony her shares. Telling him that it is either an apology or a going away present. Tony stops her from getting into the cab, and kisses her.
By this time, NASA has triangulated the satellite’s descent and determine that it is going to crash in the middle of Manhattan. The head of mission control gets on the phone and demands to speak to the President.
When Tony and Rumiko return to Stark Tower, they are swarmed by members of the press who bombard them both with questions. Rumiko tells Tony to keep a clear head, but she is the one who loses it when someone brings up Tony’s past troubles with alcoholism.[3] When they get inside, they are greeted by Happy and Pepper who have been fielding calls all day since Tony revealed his identity. Pepper is unhappy to see that Tony and Rumiko are back together, but she gets right down to business. After giving him the most important messages — from the President, the media, and the Federal Trade Commission — she says that Friday (Tony’s personal AI) also has a message for his eyes only. When Tony goes to see what the message is, Pepper warns Rumiko that not to hurt Tony again.
As Tony is learning about the satellite that is hurtling down to Earth, the Air Force has scrambled fighters to try and blow it out of the sky. When the pilot fails to strike the meteor with a missile, he tries to crash his fighter into it, in the hopes of destroying it. Luckily, Iron Man arrives and tells the pilot to disengage while he tries to stop the falling satellite. With his jet boots at full power, he braces against the falling satellite, slowing it down long enough for him to annihilate it with his repulsor rays. Low on power, Tony has the pilot give him a lift back down to Manhattan.
When Tony returns to his penthouse apartment, Rumiko is waiting for him in the hot tub. He tells her that he’ll join her in a moment. He then goes into his room to recharge his mechanical heart. When he returns and gets into the tub it’s not Rumiko that’s waiting for him but Pepper Potts. As the two make out, another Tony Stark is still in his room recharging his heart, his eyes rolled up into his head.[4]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Rumiko Fujikawa, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Friday, Tiberius Stone
Continuity Notes
Tony revealed his identity to the public last issue. He will trick the world into thinking he retired as Iron Man in issue #89. This will only last until Civil War #1, when he publicly reveals his identity for good.
Tony and Rumiko have been dating pretty much from the moment they met in Iron Man (vol. 3) #4. However, Tony’s secret double life was a source of conflict since he couldn’t tell her where he was while out as Iron Man. Fed up with Tony’s secrets, Rumiko briefly broke up with him starting in Iron Man (vol. 3) #37.
Tony has struggled with alcoholism his entire life. This was first explored in Iron Man #128.
As we’ll learn next issue, Tony was infected with Dreamvision nanites by Tiberius Stone. For more on Dreamvision see Iron Man (vol. 3) #37-40.
Topical References
Tony Stark and Rumiko Fujikawa are depicted paying their respects to the make-shift memorial that was set up outside “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. This happened on September 11, 2001. Eventually, the area was rebuilt, with the brand new Freedom Tower. It includes an underground museum/memorial in commemorating the victims of the attack. As such, this scene should be considered a topical reference. Modern readers should interpret this to be a terrorist attack that is not associated with 9/11, perhaps even one unique to the fiction as opposed to a real life event.
NASA is depicted using Space Shuttles. These were the common mode of space travel from 1981 to 2011. In fact, the astronaut refers to the shuttle by its name, Columbia. That’s an unfortunate choice, since the Columbia as it disintegrated upon re-entry from a mission in 2003, killing everyone on board. Given the destruction of Columbia and the retirement of the rest of the fleet, this depiction should be considered topical.
Rumiko figures that people will leave Tony alone once Brittney Spears announces who her new boyfriend is. Brittney Spears was a popular pop-singer who was at the height of her popularity at the time of this story. Prior to this story’s publication, there was a lot of speculation surrounding who Spears might have been dating. Brittney’s personal life was the subject of a lot of spilled tea for about 2 decades. Things kind of cooled off after all the media attention surrounding her life caused her to suffer a melt down and she was forced to sign a conservatorship with her father. Brittney was only recently remained in place until September 2021. At any rate, Brittney has openly dated a lot of people and has been married three times. Nobody really cares about her romance life anymore. Considering how dated this reference is, I shouldn’t have to tell you why it’s topical, but I just wrote a paragraph about Britney’s romance life. :/
Pepper states that Barbara Walters want Tony to appear on The View. The View is a daytime talk show that began broadcasting in 1997. Barbara Walters was a prolific journalist even prior to becoming one of the original hosts of The View. This should be considered a topical reference for three reasons: Walters retired from The View in 2014, she then died in 2022, and The View is a real-world TV program.
The fighter plane depicted here is an McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle. While these fighter jets are still in use, they will eventually be retired as more advanced fighter jets become more available.
