Tales of Suspense #67
Where Walks the Villains!
Pepper Potts is deeply upset that Happy Hogan has quit his job at Stark Industries. Pepper blames Iron Man for taking the job of piloting a submarine as the reason for Happy quitting. Iron Man points out that the submarine exploded and that could have killed Happy in the process.[1] With his batteries running low, Iron Man then retires to Tony Stark’s office to recharge, leaving Pepper to think Iron Man doesn’t care about Happy. Meanwhile, Happy has arrived at JFK International Airport where he buys a ticket to Ireland, having decided to leave his old life far behind.[2]
Meanwhile, at an abandoned Nazi bunker off the coast of Norway, Count Neferia is hatching a new scheme to get revenge against the Avengers.[3] Having left the Maggia, Neferia has built a device that can create lethal dreams. Now calling himself the Dream Master, Neferia plots to kill the Avengers one-by-one. His first target is Iron Man, and when the hero dozes off while recharging his armor, he becomes a victim to the Dream Master’s machine. Iron Man suddenly finds himself on the Brooklyn Bridge where he is confronted by both the Unicorn and the Crimson Dynamo. The Golden Avenger is caught off guard but is easily able to fend off his attackers.[4] He suddenly wakes up back in his lab and realizes that it was all a dream. This was all a test for the Dream Master, confirming to him that his device works and he begins plotting his next attack.
When Iron Man leaves his office, he discovers that someone sent Pepper flowers. They came from Happy, who has included a note telling her that he had gone to Ireland to live with his grandfather. Seeing how upset Pepper is, Iron Man decides to head to Ireland to convince Happy to come back home. After hitching a ride on a commercial airliner, Iron Man arrives at the Hogan farm and tries to convince Happy to come back. However, Hogan refuses to go back and asks his grandfather to show him around the farm. Sitting down on a bench, Iron Man tries to think of a way to convince Happy to come back and begins to doze off.
The Dream Master reactivates his machine and this time, Iron Man is attacked by the Crimson Dynamo, Jack Frost, and Gargantus.[5] Tony is confused to see these three vanquished foes working together and finds himself in a fight for his life. Knocked off a cliff, Iron Man grabs onto the ledge for dear life. When he is attacked by the Melter, Iron Man quickly takes down the villain before he can use his melting device on his armor. He is then attacked by the Black Knight.[6] Obscuring the Knight with a smokescreen, Iron Man then tosses him into the path of Jack Frost’s freeze ray. Even though this is a dream, Iron Man has a sense that he should keep fighting.
Seeing his dream army being defeated, the Dream Master cranks up the power of his machine, causing it to overload and blow up in his face. With the dream abruptly ended, Iron Man wakes up and goes into the kitchen. There he sees that Happy has gotten a call from Pepper and she has convinced him to come home, making his trip to Ireland unnecessary.[7]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Dream Master, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts
Continuity Notes
Happy quit last issue when Tony refused to let him pilot a submarine. Iron Man later destroyed the sub in order to destroy a weapon created by Attuma.
Happy recalls how he was hired as Tony’s chauffeur after he saved Tony’s life. That happened in Tales of Suspense #45.
Reference is made of Neferia’s last battle with the Avengers. This took place in Avengers #13.
Tony is confused by the Crimson Dynamo being present since Ivan Vanko was both an ally and dead. When Iron Man first battled Vanko in Tales of Suspense #46, he convinced the Russian scientist to defect and work for him. Vanko later sacrificed his life to stop Boris Turgenov from using the Dynamo armor against Iron Man in issue #52.
References are made to Iron Man’s past battles with Gargantus and Jack Frost. These conflicts took place in Tales of Suspense #40 and 45 respectfully.
Iron Man mentions how the Black Knight was arrested recently. That was in Avengers #16.
The story ends with an image of the Dream Master laying face down in the wreckage of his dream machine, implying he was killed in the blast. However, he survives and ditches the Dream Master identity, as we’ll see next issue.
Topical References
Passengers boarding a plane at JFK Airport are depicted walking to the plane on the tarmak. This is no longer the case as JFK (like most international airports) now has concourses that bring passengers to the plane without having to go outside.
Happy states that he saved Tony’s life “a few years” ago. Likewise, Tony states that he fought both Jack Forst and Gargantus “a few years ago”. These should be considered topical references as they denote the passage of time between publications. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, only a few months have passed between each of these events.
Lest Tyranny Triumph!
Captain America has been enslaved by the Red Skull, who intends to use his foe to assassinate the supreme commander of the Allied Forces. After going through a training session, the Red Skull is convinced that Captain America will be able to carry out the assassination without trouble.
Meanwhile, Bucky has also been captured by the Nazis. He and other prisoners are put against a wall for a firing squad. However, the squad fires blanks as they wish to break the spirits of their prisoners before killing them. Having anticipated this, Bucky leads the other prisoners in a revolt.
At that same moment, the Red Skull presents Captain America to Adolf Hitler himself. The Fuehrer is impressed to see Cap under the Skull’s control. However, when Hitler tries to sucker punch Captain America, the hero still raises his shield to block the attack. As Captain America is taken to a plane that will airdrop Nazi operatives into London, Bucky disguises himself as one of the Nazi’s and gets on the plane.
They successfully parachute into London and storm the Allied headquarters. There, Bucky decides to make his move and tries to get Captain America to snap out of it. With his cover blown, Bucky is quickly overpowered and is unable to stop his friend from carrying out his programming. When Cap enters the office of the supreme commander, one of the Nazis orders him to shoot, but when Captain America begins resisting his brainwashing, the Nazi in charge grabs his hand and forces him to pull the trigger.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Red Skull, Nazis (Adolf Hitler)