Tales of Suspense #98
The Warrior and the Whip!
Handed off to the Maggia by his cousin, Morgan Stark, Iron Man finds himself alone against Whiplash. Unfortunately for the Iron Avenger, his batteries have not had a full charge leaving him at the mercy of a foe who can shatter metal with his trademark weapon. With his power levels getting dangerously low, Iron Man begins to feel the strain on his heart. He evades the blows of Whiplash’s weapon as best he can but still sustains damage. With time running out Iron Man decides to use a drastic measure and uses an image reproducer that creates the illusion that there are multiple Iron Men in the room. This confuses Whiplash who then begins trying to figure out which Iron Man is the real one among the duplicates.
Meanwhile, back at Stark Industries, Jasper Sitwell is unable to find Tony Stark and returns to the place where he left an injured Iron Man, only to discover the Avenger is gone.[1] When he learns that security allowed Morgan Stark to remove Iron Man from the property the SHIELD liaison is furious. He then contacts Nick Fury at the SHIELD helicarrier and asks him to pull up whatever the spy agency has on Tony Stark’s cousin. Fury reports back that Morgan Stark is a coward who frequently gets into trouble due to his gambling debts. Ending his communications with Fury, Jasper then has to deal with the arrival of a number of women who have dated Tony Stark in the past who want to know where the wealthy industrialist is. One woman in particular, who is wearing a loud yellow fedora is interested to learn that both Iron Man and Tony Stark are unaccounted for.[2] While back aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, Gabe Jones asks if Fury and Dum Dum Dugan if they should help Jasper out. However, SHIELD is already short-staffed and Dugan suggests they let the novice SHIELD agent figure things out on his own.
Back aboard the Maggia submarine, Iron Man continues to buy himself more time by using his image inducer to move his holographic duplicates around the room between bright flashes of light. Unfortunately, this ruse has no payoff as the image projector runs out of power leaving Iron Man in the same position he was in earlier. That’s when the Big M radios in and tells Whiplash to stop toying with their foe and finish Iron Man off.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Whiplash, Whitney Frost (unidentified), SHIELD (Jasper Sitwell, Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones)
Continuity Notes
Jasper last saw Iron Man when the hero collapsed following a battle with the Grey Gargoyle. See Tales of Suspense #95-96.
This woman is identified as Whitney Frost in Iron Man #1. She is later also revealed to be the Big M in that same issue. There is an issue here. See below.
The Whitney Frost Issue
In this issue, Whitney Frost is interested in knowing that both Iron Man and Tony Stark are missing from Stark Industries. This doesn’t make any sense as she is revealed to be the Big M in Iron Man #1. As such, she would already know where Iron Man is. We also see the Big M communicating to Whiplash from his hiding place in this story. So how could Whitney Frost be in two places at once?
I think this could be chalked up to a change in writers. Tales of Suspense #98 is the last Iron Man story written by Stan Lee. In the following issue, Archie Goodwin takes over as writer for Iron Man and continues when the series moves from Tales of Suspense to its own title. It’s speculation on my part, but I think Stan intended for Whitney to be a separate character from Big M and it was Goodwin who made them the same character. This seems to be the case when you consider that until the reveal in Iron Man #1, the Big M was drawn with male features by artist Gene Colan.
As it is, it doesn’t make much sense for the Big M to leave the ship at the end of last issue just to briefly show up at Stark Industries and then go back to give orders to Whiplash. It just doesn’t work with the narrative pacing.
If I were to hazard a guess, Whitney is either operating a robot or having a male stand-in act as her since nobody seems to notice the Big M is a woman until after the reveal. This would make sense given how, much later, Frost would use go on to use bio-duplicates of herself when she became Madame Masque. See Avengers (vol. 3) #32.
The Claws of the Panther
Captain America has been asked to come to Wakanda by the Black Panther to help deal with a threat that has been tied to him. Along the way, his ship is almost blasted out of the sky by a massive energy burst from space. When the ship lands in a hidden Wakandan air-field, Captain America thinks the Black Panther intentionally attacked him. He then attacks the Black Panther and his guards, the Black Panther fights back until he is suitably impressed with Captain America’s fighting style.[1] The Black Panther then stops the battle and explains that the ray beam Cap encountered in the air was actually from a space station operated by their mutual foe.
Meanwhile, at a remote command center, the mastermind behind this plot chastizes his men for failing to destroy Captain America. He is about to slay the two scientists who help invent the space satellite but they remind their master that they are the only ones that can operate the weapon. They then suggest that they initiate “Plan Red” to eliminate Captain America and send orders to their men in the Wakandan jungles.
Back in Wakanda, Captain America is shown the space satellite through a telescope. When the Black Panther explains that it is controlled from an operations center somewhere in the jungles outside his kingdom the pair go out looking for it. They eventually run into the mercenaries that are out looking for Captain America and are taken down by stun blasts. At that same moment, SHIELD’s Agent 13 has arrived in the region and runs into more of the mercenaries.[2] After defeating the mercenaries in combat she convinces them that she is the spy known as Irma Kruel and they agree to take her to their leader.
Later, Captain America and the Black Panther wake up to find their attackers gone. The Panther figures their foes fled fearing that the pair were playing possum. Pushing their way further into the jungle, the pair fall into trap pit. That’s when they are confronted by the leader of this operation a man who appears to be Captain America’s old foe Baron Zemo.[3]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Black Panther, Sharon Carter (unidentified), Baron Zemo (Gruber)
Continuity Notes
The Black Panther did the exact same thing when he first met the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #52.
Agent 13 is not identified by name in this story. Her name is revealed to be Sharon Carter in Captain America #103.
Captain America can’t believe that this is the Baron Zemo since Zemo died in an avalanche in Avengers #15. Cap’s hunch is right, Captain America #100 reveals that this man is actually Franz Gruber, one of Zemo’s old henchmen. Gruber is unnamed in this story arc. His name is given in the Avengers and Thunderbolts novel published in 1999. Per the Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Iron Man, Captain America, and Avengers all confirm that this name is name is considered part of continuity even if the novel might not be.
