Manhunt, Part 3

Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) is having a bad week. One of his old weapons was allegedly used by the North Koreans to blow up the Chiense embassy in Washington, DC. Afterwards, both he and Happy Hogan were shot by hired assassins. To Tony, everything points to a frame job orchestrated by Temugin, the son of the Mandarin.

While recovering in the hospital, an assassin enters Tony’s hospital room and injects his IV bag with a deadly poison. This shocks Tony awake and while the poison causes him pain, he somehow still has the strength to fight back. Thanks to the element of surprise, Stark is able to beat his assassin into unconsciousness and prevent her from biting down on a cyanide capsule hidden in a false tooth.

Tony blacks out and when he wakes up again it’s already the end of the afternoon. His doctor is examining him again. He reports thatt Tony’s mechanical heart has somehow metabolized potassium nitrate. Tony explains that he was trying to create a filtration system that would fully metabolize alcohol in case he ever fell off the wagon again.[1] While this has made him immune to other toxins, he still can’t filter out alcohol.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury is at FBI headquarters interrogating the woman who tried to assassinate Nick Fury. Fury has run her prints and learned that she is Senka Grdic who is wanted for war crimes. When Fury asks her to talk, Grdic tells him what the evidence points to: Stark sold the weapon used on the Chinese embassy to the North Koreans. North Korea attacked the embassy in the hopes the United States would be blamed. Since Stark knows the truth, she was hired to silence him. While Fury doesn’t buy this, Neil Streitch — the FBI agent leading the investigation — thinks its pretty straight forward and that Fury is over thinking it. Hoping to find more proof, Streitch checks in on his forensic accountant who has been examining the finances of Stark Enterprises. She has determined that after Stark entered an energy deal with North Korea, Kang-Ho Seok — the man who helped broker the deal — dumped millions into a little used Stark bank account when the company stock was crashing. Sure enough, Tony Stark made an announcement the boosted its value. This makes it look like Tony sold the weapon to the North Koreans to save his company.

The following morning, Nick Fury has gone to the hospital to take Tony Stark into protective custody. Before leaving, Tony tries to apologize to Pepper for telling Happy the truth about how she lost her baby.[2] However, because Tony betrayed her trust, Pepper doesn’t know who she can trust anymore. Fury then loads Tony into an unmarked car and they leave the hospital. Rumiko arrives too late to stop them. As they ride to the secret location, they learn about how the forensic accounting resuts were leaked to the media. That’s when a black, unmarked military helicopter lowers from the sky and fires missiles at the SHIELD car.

Tony quickly changes into Iron Man and helps Stark and the driver get out of the burning vehicle. He fights back against the chopper, even though he is still recovering from being shot. Although his armor can shrug off a direct hit from a missile, it opens his stiches and causes Tony to start bleeding again. Iron Man easily trashes the helicopter, dumping it in the East River. This incident convinces Tony that the only thing that can protect him now is his armor, and flees the scene. He flies to the home of Kang-Ho Soek and tries to get the truth out of him, believing that a mole within his organization is trying to frame them both. When Soek claims no such person exists, Iron Man uses his scanners to search the mansion. He picks up the heat signatures of three people in a hidden room. When the FBI burst in to try and arrest the hero, Iron Man smashes into the secret room, revealing two of the men are torturing the third. Stark grabs the man being tortured and flees from the mansion.

In response to Tony Stark going rogue, Agent Streitch takes Pepper Potts in for questioning. He lays out the case against Tony Stark and how her boss has gone AWOL. He then threatens to arrest both her and Happy — who is still comatose in the hospital — unless she cooperates. This is enough for Pepper to turn on Tony.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, SHIELD (Nick Fury), Neil Streitch, Pepper Potts, Kang-Ho Seok

Continuity Notes

1. Tony’s failing heart was replaced with a mechanical on in Iron Man (vol. 3) #30. Tony has struggled with alcoholism his entire life. This was first explored in Iron Man #128.

2. Pepper and Happy were struggling to conceive a child. When Pepper finally got pregnant she was attacked by one of Tony’s enemies and suffered a miscarriage in Iron Man (vol. 3) #54. Pepper decided not to tell Happy about this and swore Tony to secrecy. This drove a wedge between Happy and Pepper, causing Hap to turn to alcohol to cope. Not wanting to see his friend spiral into alcoholism, Tony confronted Happy with the truth in Iron Man (vol. 3) #65. Happy and Tony got shot moments later and Hap has been in a coma ever since. Tony admitted to Pepper that he told Happy the truth last issue.

Topical References

• When talking about trying to make his mechanical heart filter alcohol, Tony quips that it was in case he “ever accidentally slip and fall back into a glass of ‘95 Montrachet.” This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand of high end wine.

• Senka Grdic is stated as being wanted for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War (1992-1995). This should be considered a topical reference. As the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward, Grdic will be unnaturally aged.

• The forensic accountant states that Tony received a bribe of $500 million dollars. This would be closer to $820 million in 2023 money.

• Neil Streitch likens Tony’s “bribe” to Enron and Worldcom. Enron was a privately run utility company that went bankrupt in 2001 due to the shady actions of its executives. It was the largest bankruptcy in American history at the time and led to a number of regulatory changes. The Enron scandal was eclipsed by the Worldcom scandal. A telephone line company, executives attempted to manipulate the stock price of the company in 2002. They too got caught and it became the biggest case of fraud in American history at the time. This should be considered a topical reference as there are certainly no shortage of more contemporary examples that can be used in their place.