Iron Man (vol. 3) #83
Heavy Metal Genocide
Iron Man (Tony Stark) wakes up in his armor dizzy and confused with no idea where he is and how he got there.[1] He hopes he hasn’t fallen off the wagon when he suddenly pulls off his helmet to throw up. That’s when he discovers that the floor is magnetized and that he is wearing his high-gravity suit. Looking around this strange ship, he comes upon two strange looking chairs. As he tries to figure out their purpose, the Titanium Man enters the room.
Iron Man attacks his old foe, remembering how he recently attacked one of Tony’s satellite.[2] Titanium Man tries to convince Tony that he is on his side. However, Stark keeps fighting until they end up on the bridge of the ship. There he sees they are in deep space and are heading toward a comet.
That’s when a video kicks in, it is of Tony Stark and addressed to himself. He quickly explains how they are on a space mission to divert a rogue comet that is going to collide with the Earth. Iron Man is aboard a Stark Enterprise shuttle that has to travel at speeds that increase the gravity to 50 times that of Earth. In order to survive, they needed a crew with armor that can withstand that titanic pressure. Stark concludes that he recording was made as a side effect of the launch was possible memory loss. They must reach their destination and initiate the firing sequence within the time limit or else the Earth is doomed.
Turning to the Titanium Man, Iron Man asks if this is all true. Titanium Man remove his helmet and confirms it. He introduces himself Andy Stockwell, from Bude, Mississippi. He admits that he was the one who attacked Stark’s satellite, but not for Russia, but because he was originally hired by one of Stark’s competitors, who built this suit of Titanium Man armor from specs stolen from the Russians. He was enticed by the money they were offering but was filled with remorse after the fact and turned himself in to the feds shortly thereafter. He was left sitting on his hands until this crisis came up and he was tapped to join Stark on this mission.
As they are reaching their destination, Tony begins to feel faint and disorientated. This forces Stockwell to try and man the controls based on Iron Man’s instructions. While the Titanium Man reads off the labels on the controls, Iron Man begins to notice that Stockwell struggles pronouncing some words. As they are getting close to the time to fire, Iron Man stops Andy from preparing to fire. This is because Stark realizes that the speed they were travelling at would be shrinking time for them and that the timer they’re following is programmed for time on Earth. They have been gaining 15 milliseconds for every minute they’ve travelled. They will need to readjust their firing time to match that of their shuttle, otherwise they will fail at diverting the comet.
At the appointed time, Iron Man fires the weapon and, as planned, the comet is split in two. However, before he can blast the smaller chunk to pieces, Iron Man is attacked by Titanium Man. As it turns out, he is really a Russian operative that is trying to prevent the laser from firing its second shot. This is so the fragments of the comet strike the northern hemisphere of Earth and wipe out the United States. Titanium Man has delusions that this will allow the Soviet Union to reform and conquer what is left of the world. However, Iron Man was already on to Titanium Man from the moment he noticed his accent slipping. He has removed the key that will allow them to reprogram the laser and the weapon is already charging up for the next shot.
When Titanium Man tries to get the key from him, Iron Man evades, causing Titanium Man to wreck the laser control panel. With no way to shut down the laser, Titanium Man smashes his way outside the ship and tries to destroy the laser cannon directly. Unfortunately for him, he is too slow and the laser goes off anyway. The force of the blast causes Titanium Man to lose his grip and he is lost in space before Iron Man can get to him.[3]
The following day, Tony has splashed down back on Earth. When the Navy picks him up his friend Stuart Conrad, Chief of Staff. Stu doesn’t know how Titanium Man managed to infiltrate the mission. However, there won’t be an investigation because they don’t want to panic the public by letting the world know how close they came to utter annihilation. This also means Tony won’t be commended for saving the world. When Tony tries to wrap his head around all of this, Stu reminds him “heavy is the head”, when it comes to life working in the government.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Titanium Man, Stuart Conrad
Continuity Notes
Tony’s concern about being drunk is because he has struggled with alcoholism his entire life. This was first explored in Iron Man #128.
This was back in Iron Man (vol. 3) #49. A certain poorly researched crowd sourced website thinks this is a new Titanium Man and not the original. However, if anyone over there (especially it’s so called “Iron Man expert” bureaucrat) bothered researching All-New Iron Manual #1, they’d know this is indeed Boris Bullski, the original Titanium Man. Kind of embarassing, guys.
Although lost in space, Titanium Man will somehow manage to get back and will be seen again in Amazing Spider-Man #530-531.
Topical References
When talking about waiting for the bends to pass, he jokes that Weight Watchers could start a franchise in space. Weight Watchers is a brand of weight loss solutions. It should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand.
