Tales of Suspense #93
The Golden Gladiator and the Giant!
Iron Man has been deployed in Vietnam to take down Half-Face, a scientific genius that has allied himself with enemy combatants in the region. Inside Half-Face’s castle, Iron Man suddenly finds himself faced with his foe’s secret weapon, the Titanium Man. This is a shock to the Avenger as he heard that his old foe was lost at sea following their last encounter.[1] Iron Man quickly discovers that his enemy is now faster and more powerful than ever before. Still, his titanic size makes the Titanium Man slow. This becomes even more apparent when Iron Man deploys his boot skates and literally runs loops around the Titanium Man in the cylindrical tunnel they are fighting in.
Watching the battle from his lab, Half-Face gleefully anticipates his eventual victory over Iron Man and figures it will be made him more famous than the Mandarin. He then begins reflecting on his past and remembers how he was hired by the enemy for his scientific skill just prior to the invasion of Vietnam. He pledged his loyalty to the invaders, seeing his alliance as something more important than his own family. He thinks about how he left his wife and infant son in their village to go and work for the army. Tragedy struck when the scientist mixed volatile chemicals that then exploded in his face. Now forced to wear a metal brace around his neck, the scientist completely abandoned his past and adopting the name Half-Face, fully devoted his life to the war.[2] Down below, Iron Man’s armor begins losing power and when Titanium Man finally grabs him, he is forced to feign defeat in order to bide himself more time.
Meanwhile, at Stark Industries, a strange man has approached the front gate and asks to see Tony Stark. The security guard tells him that Mr. Stark is away on business and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. This mystery man then tells the guard that he’ll come back later.[3]
Back in Vietnam, Half-Face congratulates the Titanium Man for his victory over their mutual enemy. He then gives Titanium Man his next set of instructions: A squad of American fighter jets are scheduled to pass over the area and he wants a nearby village annihilated so that the Americans get the blame. Hearing all of this, Iron Man wonders how he will muster the strength to prevent this from happening.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Titanium Man, Half-Face, Jasper Sitwell (unidentified), Lý Chiêu Tuan (unidentified), Kiem Tuan (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
Titanium Man was abandoned by his Russian handlers after he was defeated by Iron Man for a second time and was left to die at sea. Iron Man’s previous battles with the Titanium Man were chronicled in Tales of Suspense #69-71 and 81-83.
Half-Face’s real name is not identified in this story. He is later identified as Trung Tuan in Iron Manual Mark 3 #1. His wife and child are identified as Lý Chiêu Tuan and Kiem Tuan in the same publication. While this story states that Trung is working for the Viet Cong, per History of the Marvel Universe #2 this has since changed to the Sin-Cong army. (see below)
This mystery man is revealed to be Jasper Sitwell, an agent of SHIELD, in Tales of Suspense #95.
Topical Reference
This story is framed as taking place during the Vietnam War and featured a lot of dated references to that conflict. The enemy army is called the Viet Cong, Reds, and other Cold War terms. Per the Sliding Timescale, all Modern Age references to the Vietnam War made in the present tense have been changed to the Sin-Cong Conflict. See this for more information.
Into the Jaws… of A.I.M.!
With Agent 13 captured by AIM, Captain America is deployed by SHIELD to mount a rescue mission.[1] Using a special one-man submarine, Captain America attempts to get into AIM’s massive submarine base. However, he is spotted by his attempt, and the rogue scientists fire a strange projectile at him. This projectile pierces the airtight seal of his submersible and fills it with a disorientating gas while Captain America is teleported on board the sub.
Stuck to a magnetic table, Captain America is powerless until Agent 13 rushes up to him in an apparent and desperate romantic gesture. In reality, her cover-alls are rigged to de-magnetize the surface so Captain America can get free. The couple then take out the guards and go looking for where they have taken Captain America’s shield.
In an adjacent lab, the AIM scientists are conducting tests to see how durable the weapon is. No matter what they have done, nothing seems to damage or destroy the shield as it is made out of an alloy they have never encountered before.[2] Captain America and Agent 13 soon storm this lab and recover his shield. As AIM begins mobilizing their shock troops the couple takes cover. Captain America tries to convince Agent 13 that it is too dangerous for her to stay, but she refuses to run from the fight. Meanwhile, the scientist of AIM fearfully checks in with their master, an entity they call MODOK.[3]
The AIM agents quickly find Agent 13 and Captain America. After they stun Cap with a paralysis beam, they quickly strong-arm the woman. Through his communication screen, MODOK orders them to deliver the woman to him for punishment. Placed on a special platform, Agent 13 suddenly starts sinking into the floor into the MODOK’s chamber below. unable to do anything, Captain America fears that Agent 13 will suffer the same fate as his partner Bucky decades earlier.[4] With Agent 13 dealt with, one of the AIM agents aims his gun at Captain America and prepares to fire.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sharon Carter (unidentified), AIM, MODOK (voice only)
Continuity Notes
Agent 13’s name is not revealed here. She is identified as Sharon Carter in Captain America #103.
The AIM scientists theorize here that the shield must be made of some kind of extra-terrestrial alloy. This theory is very, very wrong. It is revealed in Captain America #303 that the shield was created by Doctor Myron MacLain who created the shield using what has been dubbed “Proto-Adamantium” and Wakandan Vibranium.
The AIM scientists here mention how MODOK was created to serve them but in turn took over the organization. His origins are told in Captain America #120 and 133. He was once a technician named George Tarleton who joined up with AIM. They experimented on him and turned him into a cyborg they called the Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing, or MODOC for short. Tarleton proved to have a stronger will and took over AIM instead changing his name to MODOK, the K standing for “Killing”.
At the time of this story, Captain America believes that Bucky died in 1945 trying to disarm a bomb on a drone, per Avengers #4. Years later he will learn that Bucky survived and was brainwashed by the Russians into becoming the assassin known as Winter Solider. See Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
