Iron Man (vol. 3) #½
Amour in Armor
Getting the cold shoulder from his girlfriend, Rumiko Fujikawa, Tony Stark decides to track her down. The search brings him to a rooftop garden in Kyoto, Japan. She is upset with him as he wasn’t present during two recent crisis, leaving her to be saved by Iron Man.[1] When he asks if she thinks he’s a coward, she wonders what else she is supposed to think, that he’s really Iron Man? When he can’t give her an answer, she laughs off the notions and turns to walk away.
No wanting to lose her, Tony goes after Rumiko and kisses her. This helps soften her mood and she decides to forgive him, for now. She then takes Tony on a motorcycle ride across town because there is something she wants him to see.
After ride that has Tony clinging to Rumiko for dear life, they soon arrive at the Japanese branch of Askew Research and Development. There he is shown their latest work at nano-technology. It is an invention called Synth Kinetic Interfacing Nanofluid, or SKIN for short. The lead scientist says that soon they will be able to crack the DNA needed to configure their nanites. They are hoping that Stark Solutions could provide their expertise to help them get over the development hunt. The lead scientist understands that Stark is booked up for the foreseeable future, an admits that she exploited her friendship with Rumiko to get Stark down to see what they were working on. She hopes that Stark can see how SKIN technology could be beneficial to both him and his bodyguard Iron Man. Tony admits that he can see some useful applications for the technology.
That’s when the building begins to shake from what appears to be an earthquake. Tony helps Rumiko and the others reach the escape tubes. in the hopes he can get away to change into Iron Man. That’s when the ceiling collapses on top of him. Summoning his remotely piloted Iron Man armor, Tony is amazed when it is able to slip through the rubble and form around him without very little trouble.
Taking to the air, Iron Man sees a massive airship attacking the city along with a horde of robots that appear to be patterned after his original Iron Man armor. Through a loud speaker aboard the airship, the attackers introduce themselves as the Sons of Yinsen. They tell the people of Kyoto that they are harboring a war criminal by the name of Yokozuna and they will cease their attack if he is turned over to them immediately. Iron Man wonders what this group has to do with Ho Yinsen, the man who helped construct his first suit of Iron Man armor so many years ago.[2]
Iron Man is relieved that the other Iron Men are actually robots, which means he can cut loose. As she shatters the machines, he’s surprised to see the Yinsen mothership obliterating the falling debris before it can hit the ground below, giving credibility to the fact that they don’t mean innocent people any harm. That’s when the army of Iron Men become magnetize, threatening to smother the real Iron Man. In order to get free, Tony uses an electro-magnetic-pulse to shut the robots down. Then kicking his jet boots free, he flies the mass up into space. There, the robots drift off of him and burn up on re-entry.
When Iron Man returns to Kyoto, the Sons of Yinsen and their ship are long gone. Returning to Askew, Rumiko pleads with the hero to save Tony Stark, whom she says is buried alive inside. Tony knows better, but plays along. Racing into the building, he pushes aside some of the debris. He then gets out of his armor and remotely pilots it so it looks like Iron Man saved him from the ruined building.
Tony later relates this story to Jocasta, his AI personal assistant in her newest role, his personal psychologist. Their sessions are held in virtual reality. He tells Jocasta that he has patched things up with Rumiko and that they are going out together on New Years Eve. When asking how these sessions are working, Tony admits that it is hard to talk about his feelings to an artificial intelligence in virtual reality, but he could get used to it. Jocasta points out that it should be easy given Tony’s affinity with both women and machines. When Tony asks for clarification on what Jocasta means, she tells him that their session is now over and she’ll meet with him the same time next week. With a smirk on his face, Tony tells her that she can count on it.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Rumiko Fujikawa, Jocata, Sons of Yinsen
Continuity Notes
At the time of this story, Rumiko is unaware that Tony and Iron Man are one in the same. She is upset for how he bailed during a volcanic eruption on Isla Suerte in Iron Man (vol. 3) #4-5 and the battle with Ultimo in issues #23-25. He will reveal the truth to Rumiko in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.
Ho Yinsen and Tony Stark were both prisoners of the terrorist known as Wong-Chu who forced them to make weapons for him. Instead, they built a suit of armor to save Tony from the shrapnel imbedded in his chest and to help him escape, Yinsen seemingly died in the process, as seen way back in Tales of Suspense #39. It’s later revealed in Iron Man (vol. 3) #32 and Annual 2000 that Yinsen survived long enough to pass along his journals to one of his students Sun Tao. Tao and other students of Yinsen and survivors of Wong-Chu formed a religion around Yinsen. Per the Sliding Timescale, the events of Iron Man’s origins happened about 10 years prior to this one.
Topical References
Tony states that he is celebrating New Years Eve 1999 with Rumiko Fujikawa. This should be considered a topical reference as this date is relative to the date of publication. Modern readers can interpret this to mean they are celebrating New Years, but not a specific date.
