Execute Program, Part 6

The son of Ho Yinsen had been hijacking Iron Man’s body to kill the men responsible for the death of his parents.[1] The teen was then killed by a SHIELD sniper, activating his dead man’s switch. This has activated all the suits of Argonaut Armor — robotic Iron Man suits that Tony was building to maintain world peace — suddenly sprung to life. Returning to the SHIELD helicarrier, Stark briefs Nick Fury on the destructive capabilities of the Argonaut units, who have had all their safety protocols disabled.[2] The only way SHIELD is going to shut down these rogue inventions is to release him from custody and let him suit up as Iron Man.

In Saudi Araba, the Fantastic Four have been sent to rescue workers of an oil field from an attacking Argonaut. When the oil beneath their feet is at risk of being spilled into the Persian Gulf, Mister Fantastic tries to call the Sub-Mariner for help. However, Namor has problems of his own as an aquatic Argnoaut attacks him off the coast of Guam. Luckily, Iron Man arrives and trashes the robot and helps Namor to the surface.

Another Argonaut clashes with SHIELD outside of a nuclear plant in Kostroma, Russia. As it is comprised of nearly indestructible armor, Tony tells Fury to keep it distracted while he thinks of a way to defeat it.

Back in the Middle East, the Fantastic Four fail to stop the Argonaut robot from burrowing into the ground. Thankfully, Iron Man was tunneling up from underground and carries the robot into orbit and drops it burned out by re-entry. However, as he is doing so, he is attacked by the stealth unit. With one Argo hurtling to Earth and another trying to actively fry him, Tony has to think fast. Hitting the stealth unit with an electromagnetic bolt, it too begins to fall. While the Human Torch flies up and melts the stealth unit, Iron Man catches up to the first unit and uses his jet boots to slow its fall to prevent a destructive impact with the ground.

That’s when Iron Man gets a distress call from Captain America. The New Avengers are clashing with the Argonaut in New York City but could use his assistance.[3] Tony assures Cap that he’ll get there as soon as he can. He then grabs the burned out Argo unit and flies to that SHIELD is fighting in Russia. Throwing one nearly indestructible robot into the other with sufficient force to destroy them both.

With that out of the way, Iron Man heads to New York he discovers that the Avengers are doing poorly against the robot, which was originally constructed to fight the Hulk. Everyone is down for the count except Captain America who has been able to hold his own. Iron Man arrives and the fight spills into Grand Central Station. Because Iron Man can hold his own against the Hulkbuster Argonaut, it decides to change tactics by grabbing Captain America and threatening to crush his head. Tony has moments to come up with a way to shut down this last suit before it kills Cap. That’s when he remembers that the Argonauts are running from Yinsen’s singal that is coming from his own body. Stop the signal, stop the Hulkbuster. Tony then shoots 10,000 volts into his heart, stopping it. With Tony technically dead, the Hulkbuster Argonaut collapsed.

On day later, Secretary Jack Cooning and Nick Fury are at the hospital where Tony Stark is recuperating. They have been working around the clock to cover up the fact that someone took over Iron Man. When it comes to the girlfriend of Andrei Gorlovich, the only civilian to identify Iron Man as the killer, Fury assures Cooning that she died of a drug overdose. This is because he sent a SHIELD agent to silence her.

Meanwhile, Tony is being visited in the hospital by Sal Kennedy and Maya Hansen. They tell him that the device Yinsen was using to control him was destroyed when he was shot. With the signal turned off, Extremis kicked in and has been purging the implant from his brain. It should be completely purged within a week. Sal thinks this is great news because it eliminates Tony’s fear of becoming a gun that someone else can use. Tony disagrees, the experience has made him realize that every superhero is a potential gun waiting to go off, and just like guns maybe it’s time for them to be registered.[5]

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Nick Fury, Maya Hansen, Sal Kennedy, Argonaut Armors, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch), New Avengers (Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, “Spider-Woman”)m Jack Cooning

Continuity Notes

1. The son of Yinsen blamed Tony and his former captors for the death of his father last issue. This is base around a recent attempt to modernize Iron Man’s origins from the original account told Tales of Suspense #39. There are conflicts with pre-established continuity that, time of this writing (April, 2023) still need to be clarified. I’ve covered theories in my summaries for issues #5, 8, and 9.

2. This is not the real Nick Fury. The real Fury has gone AWOL following Secret War #1-5, when it was revealed that Fury was involved in an unsanctioned invasion of Latveria. As explained in New Avengers #1, SHIELD has been using a Fury Life Model Decoy to hide the fact that he has gone rogue. While everyone believes he fled to escape punishment, in reality, he uncovered a Skrull invasion plot and is working to thwart it, as will be explained in Mighty Avengers #12.

3. The woman who appears to be Spider-Woman is actually a Skrull spy named Veranke. She took Jessica Drew’s place as part of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1. This will all be revealed in New Avengers #40/Secret Invasion #1-8.

4. For more on Tony being transformed by Extremis, Maya Hansen’s creation of the process, and the terrorist that used it to slaughter an FBI field office, see Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6.

5. This will lead to Tony Stark wanting to back superhuman registration. See Amazing Spider-Man #529-531 as well as Civil War #1-7.