Execute Program, Part 1

In London, a young man leaves the Underground and goes to an internet cafe in Piccadilly Circus. There, he access the wifi and connects an external device that is designed like to resemble an ancient Chinese coin. It brings up a list with seven names: Andrei Gorlovich, Dennis Kellard, Ara Tanzarian, Zakim Karzai, Aftaab Lemar, and Karim Mahwash Najeeb. The porgram selects Gorlovich’s name and asks the young man if he wants to execute the program.

When he pushes “y” on his laptop, it activates something that begins tracking Andrei Gorlovich in the town of Sofia, Bulgaria. Gorlovich is buying drugs for his girlfriend, Plemina. As she goes to the bathroom to get high, Andrei sits on the touch to watch TV. That’s when the power guts out. Seconds later, someone comes crashing in through the wall and slaughters Andrei for “not finishing the job”.[1] When the police arrive at the scene, they take Plemina in for questioning. When they ask her who killed Andrei, she tells them that it was the “American man of iron.”

Meanwhile, in New York City, Iron Man (Tony Stark) is clashing with someone trying to rob a bank in a suit of Crimson Dynamo armor.[2] However, this isn’t the only thing that Tony is doing. Now that he has been upgraded by Extremis he can multitask thanks to his ability to connect his mind to any machine electronically. On top of fighting the Crimson Dynamo, Tony Stark is also overseeing a hostile take over of FuturePharm, the testing of a new cooling system being designed by Stark Enterprises, and bidding on an auction for an ancient Cuirass breastplate.[3] When the Crimson Dynamo grabs a hostage from a nearby construction site, Iron Man hits him with a repulsor blast in the chest that stops his heart. After getting the hostage to safety, Iron Man sends an electrical jolt through the Dynamo’s armor to restart his heart. When the New Avengers arrive on the scene, Captain America (Steve Rogers) is unhappy with how Iron Man ended the fight.[4] Iron Man doesn’t appreciate the criticism and he takes off because he has another appointment. When Luke Cage suggests that Iron Man could use a good ass kicking, Captain America tells him to keep his mouth shut because Tony can still hear him.

Elsewhere, at the SHIELD helicarrier, Dum Dum Dugan expressing his concerns about Tony Stark after his transformation by Extremis. Nick Fury doesn’t see what the big deal is, but Dugan points out that they don’t know the effect it may have had on his mind.[4] That’s when Tony Stark arrives, Fury dismisses Dugan, and asks if Tony heard all what they were discussing. Stark admits he heard some of it, but wants to get to the business at hand: the security detail of a global peace summit that will include 163 international delegates. Tony has it well under hand, but Fury asks if that’s Stark talking or Extremis. This annoys, Tony, who questions why everyone keeps ragging on him about how Extremis has made him smarter and more efficient. Tony is committed to world peace and this summit could be the start of that.

That’s when Fury asks him what Project Argonaut is, but Stark plays dumb. Which is interesting since Fury knows that Stark has dumped tons of money into the project. Even though Fury has him under surveillance, Tony still lies and says he has no idea what he is talking about. When Iron Man returns to Stark Industries to freshen up and get back to work, he wonders why he lied to Fury, if there is anyone he could trust with the truth it would be the SHIELD Director. However, Stark thinks they’ve all changed, fighting wars that they cannot win instead of focusing on solving the problems they can. That’s the point of Project Argonaut, a squad of robots based on Iron Man tech that will maintain world peace.

Back in London, the young man goes to a movie theater, but not to see a film. Instead, he goes to the men’s room where he accesses the free wi-fi and uses his program to eliminate his next target, Dennis Kellard. At that very moment, Kellard is boarding a plane at Charles De Gaulle International Airport in France.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, New Avengers (Captain America, Luke Cage, “Spider-Woman”), SHIELD (“Nick Fury”, Dum Dum Dugan), Crimson Dynamo, Dennis Kellard, Son of Yinsen (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

1. The identity of the young man, his killer, and the purpose of this hitlist is all explained in Iron Man (vol. 4) #11. The young man claims to be the son of Ho Yinsen and he is using Iron Man to murder the people involved in the capture and death of his father. As of this writing (April, 2023), the name of Yinsen’s son has yet to be revealed.

2. Given that the person wearing this Crimson Dynamo armor is robbing a bank, this is not one of the previous wearers of the armor, since nearly every past Dynamo was a Russian loyalist. Bank robberies wouldn’t be their MO. Official Index of the Marvel Universe: Iron Man confirms that this is someone who hasn’t worn the armor in the past. This Dynamo will turn up again in Daredevil/Punisher #3-4.

3. FuturePharm was the company where Extremis was being developed. Tony is purchasing it after the creator of Extremis — Maya Hansen — intentionally allowed her creation to end up in the hands of a terrorist. See Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6.

4. 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.

5. Speaking of impostors, 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 the Skrull invasion plot and is working to thwart is, as will be explained in Mighty Avengers #12.

Topical References

• When Tony asks where they would be if world peace would be achieve. Fury quips they’d be in Disneyland. A reference like this would usually be considered topical, however now that Marvel is owned by Disney, this sort of brand synergy wouldn’t be considered topical.

• Fury states that Tony dumped 1.27 billion dollars into Project Argonaut. Adjusting for inflation this would be closer to 1.9 billion in 2023 money.

• The theater that the son of Yinsen goes to in London is screening the movies Oldboy (2003), My Life as a Dog (1985), The Wages of Fear (1953), and The Third Man (1949) among other films. Since this appears to be a theater was features foreign films this wouldn’t necessarily be considered topical.

Translations

• The disk that the son of Yinsen uses as a reproduction of a 5 li coin that was used during the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912). I couldn’t tell you what kind of significance his having it would have.

• When the son of Yinsen goes to the theater, the movie that is playing is in Korean and the dialogue is untranslated. Here’s what it says: