Iron Man Run, Part 12

We pick up with Iron Man #12, where we finally learn Vincent Sandhurst's secret. He had clashed with his brother, an inventive genius, and a resulting accident had effectively made Boris Sandhurst an invalid. Wracked with guilt, Vincent had embezzled significant sums from Janice Cord and her father, in order to help his brother with his experiments. Boris has discovered a way to harness the power of other people to overcome his body's limitations, and is now prepared to break loose.

Meanwhile, Iron Man has quickly gotten control of his Tony Stark robot and convinces the ambulance drivers that he doesn't need to go to the hospital. He decides to retire the robot forever as too risky. He's still planning on buying out Janice Cord's factories, although he senses that Sandhurst is just a little too eager.

However, Vincent has disappeared and Janice and Tony visit his hometown. There, they learn that everybody has been taken control of via a metal disk on their foreheads. The Controller (Boris Sandhurst) attacks and takes control of Janice. Iron Man fights back, but eventually he too is controlled by the metal disk:

In the next issue, the Controller decides to take Manhattan. He commandeers a train, and loads the Absorbatron (by which he harnesses the power of other people) onto it. Will he get to NYC and gain the power of millions?

There is a long battle between Iron Man and the Controller, but in the end, the Big Apple is in sight. Fortunately, during the battle Jasper Sitwell did what was needed:

But afterwards Tony is conflicted about Janice. Can he continue to romance her, knowing that at some point he might have to make a tough decision to save her or to save a city like New York?

He goes off to the Caribbean, to investigate an attack on one of his plants there. He discovers an opponent to his employing the locals, a wheelchair-bound man named Travis Hoyt:

It turns out that Janice is staying with Hoyt. But Hoyt has discovered a fountain of youth-type pool that has restored his ability to walk, and given him great powers, even if it has scarred him horribly.

Hoyt is angry because the pool is drying up due to development on the island. He intends to bathe Janice in the waters, so she will be like him. But Iron Man comes along in time to save the day and Hoyt dies as the pool is sucked into the ground.
In Iron Man #15, we learn that the Unicorn had indeed survived diving off the cliff back in IM #4, and that he has been nursed back to health by the Fantastic Four's old enemy, the Red Ghost. Typical Marvel villain team-up; both of them spend the time insulting each other:

But as the Red Ghost has a formula that will help to keep the Unicorn alive, they reach an uneasy truce. The Ghost wants him to steal another one of Tony's inventions, which will bring about the battle the Unicorn desires with Iron Man.
Meanwhile, Janice Cord has decided after consulting with Tony to reopen her father's plants. They will be in friendly competition with each other. Archie Goodwin (the writer) makes sure to introduce the newest plot development at this point:

It's not hard to guess that Niven will turn out to be a bad apple.

The next day, as Stark and Sitwell are jetting to a test site with Tony's newest invention, the Unicorn strikes. Sitwell pushes Stark out of the plane, but before Iron Man can save the SHIELD agent, the plane crashes. Iron Man battles the Unicorn, but in the meantime, the Red Ghost has used the new invention to give him enhanced powers. Oh, and he was lying about the injections saving the Unicorn's life:

The Red Ghost blows up his own laboratory, trapping Iron Man and the Unicorn inside. As it happens, neither is able to escape on his own, so they have to combine forces:

The Red Ghost has attacked one of SHIELD's laboratories in the African jungle, using his pet apes (who have also gained new powers. Somehow Iron Man and the Unicorn track him down, but the Unicorn behaves in typical Marvel villain fashion, failing to plan. As it happens the apes make fairly easy work of the new allies, and it looks like the Red Ghost will surely succeed. But one of his apes has gained intelligence and rebels. The Unicorn grabs the Ghost and escapes, vowing to make the Soviet scientist find a real cure for his death curse.

Comments: A so-so run of stories; I liked the two Controller issues, but was bored by the last three issues. Archie Goodwin seems to be having a tough time figuring out what to do about Janice Cord; she's obviously well-suited as a mate for Tony and yet he keeps thinking about the risk that she's in with him. And virtually every storyline starts out with an attack on one of Stark's factories and/or one of his new inventions. Indeed, that's one of the reasons I liked the Controller issues, because Stark had almost nothing to do with the plot.

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Iron Man Run Part 11

Picking up with IM #7, we discover that the Maggia is almost ready to attack Stark's plant, but they've got to figure out a way of dealing with Iron Man. The Gladiator (longtime Daredevil villain) volunteers to handle Shellhead.

Jasper Sitwell is still angry over Iron Man kayoing him in the previous issue (to prevent him from getting killed by the Crusher), so mad that he forgets about security:

Meanwhile, Janice Cord and her lawyer approach Tony Stark about selling off her father's factories. Janice finds Tony charming at first:

Later, as they are touring the Cord facilities, the Gladiator and Big M kidnap Stark, Janice and her lawyer, as a ruse to get Iron Man to come save them, not knowing that with Tony a captive he can't change into his metal suit. This forces Tony to escape even though he's been warned that this will result in the death of Janice and the lawyer:

But Iron Man appears before the Gladiator can kill the pair and they have a good fight. Meanwhile, Big M and the rest of the Maggia attack Stark's plant through the southern wall. But Big M is conflicted by her romance with Jasper Sitwell, and in a flashback we learn how she became the head of the Maggia.

She had been the daughter of a very wealthy financier and lived the jet-set lifestyle among the beautiful people. She had a successful and politically ambitious boyfriend, and the sky seemed to be the limit. But when her supposed father passed away, she learned the truth; that he had been laundering money for the Maggia and, more shockingly, that her real father was Count Nefaria, the head of the mob. She initially refused to become a criminal, but when her boyfriend found out and dumped her as a political liability, she turned to her real father for training, and eventually succeeded him as Big M.

As the battle between Iron Man and the Gladiator has turned into a stalemate, the latter abandons the fight and heads for Stark's plant. Meanwhile, it turns out that Sitwell has been suspicious of Whitney Frost all along, and has prepared a trap for the Maggia. In the end, Iron Man and Sitwell defeat the Gladiator and the Maggia, but Whitney gets away:

In the following issue, a mysterious villain from China has somehow gained control of the Incredible Hulk, and sends him off to kidnap Janice Cord. We also learn that Cord's lawyer, Sandhurst, has reasons of his own for trying to convince Janice to sell her father's plants. This time Tony acts fairly bravely as she's grabbed by ol' Greenskin:

But the Hulk gets away with the girl, with Iron Man in hot pursuit. During the battle which ensues, the Hulk seems quite a bit smarter than he has in the past, using terms like "repulsor ray". In the end we learn why:

Who indeed is behind this? It turns out that the mysterious villain from China is the Mandarin. He has deduced from the fact that Tony Stark vanishes whenever there is danger just before Iron Man appears that the two are one and the same person.
As IM #10 begins, the Mandarin has prepared some phony photos, purporting to show Tony palling around with some communists. As Janice Cord and Tony are out at a nightclub a bunch of reporters and photographers burst in demanding a statement:

Tony quickly discovers that the photos of him with the communist agents were taken at times when he was on missions as Iron Man, and thus he has no alibi that he can present. He's contacted by a Chinese gal named Mei Lin, who advises him to come to her antique shop if he wants to find out why he's being persecuted. When he does so, he discovers the truth:

The Mandarin freezes him with a ray that stalls his circuits. But when he goes to unmask Iron Man, he gets a surprise:

And at the same time, Tony Stark appears on the television at an upstate hunting lodge giving a press conference. The Mandarin stalks off, needing to revise his plans for this new development, leaving Iron Man paralyzed by the rays with Mei Lin.

IM goads Mei Lin into anger by telling her that the Mandarin doesn't really love her. She leaves in a rage, slamming the door and propelling a lamp into the path of the paralyzing rays. Now free, Tony removes the mask which made him look like someone else, and reveals that the Tony on the TV was actually a robot.

IM flies to the upstate lodge where the robot Tony gave his press conference, arriving just in time to prevent the Mandarin from discovering that it's not really Stark. They have a classic battle. The reporters outside, hearing the sounds of a struggle, manage to record the Mandarin admitting that the photos of Tony with the communists were faked.

His plot foiled, the Mandarin grabs Janice Cord as a hostage and summons Mei Lin with his flying escape craft. But as Iron Man tries to rescue her, the Mandarin makes a fatal mistake:

Mei Lin, realizing that the Mandarin doesn't really feel the emotion of love, steps in the way of a blast intended for Janice. As IM and the Mandarin battle, the plane they're in careens out of control and:

The plane crashes apparently killing the Mandarin (Mei Lin had already died from the Mandarin's blast.

However, as Iron Man and Janice return to the hunting lodge, they discover that an ambulance has arrived for Tony and he's being taken away. Will he be revealed as a robot?

Comments: Solid set of stories here, with good continuing characterization. I like that Sitwell figured out that Whitney Frost was up to no good although it does make me question then why he was so upset with Iron Man for knocking him out. Janice Cord's conflict over Tony is realistically portrayed, and her heroic plea for Iron Man not to let the Mandarin go on her account is impressive.

Although I was not initially impressed with Tuska's art, as you see see here he was experimenting with page layouts and the effect is quite pleasing to the eye.

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Iron Man Run Part 10

We pick up again with Iron Man #4. Tony helps the Freak become Happy again, and Hogan and Pepper again depart the scene. Meanwhile, behind the Iron Curtain, Soviet scientists are working on making the Unicorn (last seen in an IM story way back in Tales of Suspense #56) stronger and more powerful, although they acknowledge that the treatments they are giving him will shorten his lifespan. But as usual, there's no honor among commies:



The Unicorn decides to attack a meeting of scientists from all over the world, in the hopes that they will be able to save him from the shortened lifespan that his treatments have guaranteed. Meanwhile, Tony's been noodling and wonders if he should reveal the secret of Iron Man:



But before he can act on that idea, the Unicorn bursts in. Tony finds himself separated from his armor-carrying attache case, and each time he tries to recover it, the Unicorn blasts him. But the third effort succeeds and shortly Iron Man and the Unicorn are battling it out on the snow-slopes outside the convention hotel. The Unicorn uses his heat ray to try to melt Iron Man's armor, but now the thermal coupling that Tony put into the suit does its job, recharging him. He is able to destroy the Unicorn's power belt, and tosses it off a cliff. The commie rat dives off the cliff after it and vanishes into a lake below. And Tony realizes that he's got to maintain his Iron Man identity, no matter what the personal cost.

In IM #5, Tony finds himself transported into the future, where the humans want to kill him. It seems he created a computer called Cerebrus, which gradually grew and grew in power and responsibility, until eventually it decided to take over. Now the humans are forced underground, rebelling against their silicon overlord. They have decided that by eliminating Tony, they will prevent Cerebrus from ever being built.

But before they can carry out his execution, Cerebrus attacks. Tony gets away, aided by this gal:



Krylla leads him to an old museum, where one of his suits of armor is on display. Tony dons the costume and starts his quest towards the master computer complex, the source of Cerebrus' power. He battles a few robots along the way, and eventually faces a manifestation of the computer itself:



It looks like Cerebrus is too powerful for Iron Man, but Tony has a brilliant idea:



This causes Cerebrus to hesitate just long enough to allow Krylla to throw a blast pellet into the master computer complex, destroying him. And there's a tender moment as she sends Tony back into the past:



And as the story closes, Tony muses, "... [N]o matter what challendges I meet in this age, a part of me will always be in the future... with her!"

Nice sentiments, but by the next issue Krylla's apparently forgotten, as Tony's wooing another gal:



We learn that the reason Janice Cord is not replying to the flood of flowers is because she's still conflicted over Tony being indirectly responsible for her father's death. This was a frequent plot point used by Marvel in the 1960s and 1970s; Betty Brant blamed Spiderman for her brother's death, just as Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborne blamed him for the deaths of their fathers, and Professor Warren and Ned Leeds would blame him for the death of Gwen.

Meanwhile, the Crusher, whom Iron Man had made so heavy in Tales of Suspense #91 that he sank down into the Earth, has managed to return to the surface. He is consumed with the desire to avenge himself on Shellhead. At the time I reviewed TOS #91, I speculated that he would next turn up in a Mole Man story, but as it happens he fell into the cavern of Moley's worst enemy, Tyrannus (who had amnesia and was not around at the time). The strength of the potion he'd been given eventually wore off, as did the excess weight. He was able to formulate a new potion that would not be susceptible to Tony's centrifugal force ray, and then clawed his way to the outer world again.

Whitney Frost, the leader of the Maggia, has been pursuing her seduction of Jasper Sitwell. Arriving at Stark Industries shortly after the Crusher attacks, she discovers the factory being abandoned, and takes the opportunity to try to steal one of Tony's weapons. She gets caught in the middle of the battle and the Crusher seizes the opportunity to use her as a hostage:



Iron Man has to kayo Sitwell to prevent him from committing suicide by Crusher. Then he agrees to turn over the centrifugal force ray and submit to being bathed in it. But:



Iron Man then lifts the Crusher into the air, but he breaks free and falls into the waters off Long Island, apparently to drown (just like the Unicorn in IM #4). As the story closes, Sitwell is furious with Iron Man.

Comments: A solid series of stories, marred only by the flighty emotions of Tony Stark from IM #5 to IM #6. The situation with Whitney Frost looks to be building to a climax. George Tuska took over on pencils with #5, although Johnny Craig remained the inker.

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Iron Man Run, Part 9

Having shared a magazine with Captain America for the last 40 months, Iron Man found himself in the oddball situation of sharing a magazine with the Sub-Mariner for one month, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1. I assume that with all the changes going on at Marvel--Captain America, the Hulk, Dr Strange and Nick Fury all graduating to their own magazines from being 1/2 of a comic prior to that month, Stan and company found themselves stretched pretty thin and put the Iron Man and Subby stories into this one-shot.

When we last saw Iron Man, he was trapped in a secret compartment underneath a Maggia ship that was under fire from the forces of AIM. Iron Man breaks free and is able to recharge before being grabbed by a "vortex suction beam" that delivers him to AIM's submarine.

Meanwhile, Jasper Sitwell has rescued one of Tony Stark's female admirers from the sinking gambling ship, and she shows her appreciation:



But it quickly turns out her affections are simply a ruse; she is actually Big M, the leader of the Maggia, trying to subvert Sitwell to her side. There was a long history of the noble guys falling in love with an evil woman in the Marvel Universe starting with Hawkeye and the Black Widow (before she switched sides) and Balder and Karnilla, queen of the Norns.

Iron Man is subdued by gas and delivered by the agents of AIM to Mordius, their new leader, who plans to survey his armor completely and duplicate it. He creates three new suits which he gives to his men. Iron Man breaks free (he was just faking being gassed) and battles his three dupes. They find it surprisingly difficult to control the weapons in the armor, but Tony knows it's because his armor refracted Mordius' X-rays.

Mordius reveals himself to be quite cold-blooded, aiming a rocket cannon at the four Iron Men, since he now cannot tell them apart. The other three are destroyed, but Iron Man escapes, and Mordius's laboratory explodes:



Um, isn't that sort of a violation of the Avenger Code? Seems pretty obvious that the indication there is that IM caused an explosion that killed Mordius and several members of AIM.

In the second issue, Drexel Cord is a weapons manufacturer who has been driven mad by losing important contracts to Tony Stark. He designs a robot called the Demolisher that will attack Iron Man by tracking his power supply. In this regard he seems something of an amalgam of The Mysterious Melter, who was also a Stark competitor, and Smythe, the inventor of the Spider Slayer.

His daughter, Janice Cord, is aware of his intentions and departs for Stark's factory, where she encounters Jasper Sitwell. Together they head back for her father's plant. Meanwhile Iron Man is taking a terrific beating and as usual, is running short on power.

Cord deliberately destroys the computer controlling the Demolisher, rather than let Sitwell take over and save Iron Man. However, the Demolisher now doesn't differentiate between targets, and Cord is appalled to discover that his machine is threatening his daughter. He saves her by attacking the robot, but is killed in the process, just before Iron Man finishes off the Demolisher.

Johnny Craig had been inking the last few issues and he took over on pencils with Iron Man #2. Craig was a terrific artist in the Golden Age, but his Iron Man seems a little stiff compared to Colan. In addition, Archie Goodwin took over the scripting chores. The introduction of Janice Cord is important, as Tony Stark had been lacking a love interest since Happy and Pepper's marriage. Speaking of that couple, they have not been seen in almost a year at this point.

Well, it turns out there's a reason for that:



Say what? I didn't see anything about them quitting.

In the story, Tony's heart is weakened again (as Iron Man he had held up a missile that was about to fall on some workers), and he cannot even build up enough of a charge to do anything, so he has to hide in his office, refusing all appointments. Happy and Pepper come to see him. As Happy knows his secret he allows him to enter his office. Tony needs an upgrade to integrated circuits and he has a helmet that Happy can wear while receiving instructions on what to do. Happy responds a little inappropriately for a newlywed:



At a crucial point in the process, however, Tony's heart begins to give out. Happy goes against orders and gives the new integrated circuit costume an extra blast of cobalt radiation to give it the ability to absorb power from heat or cold, but after getting the suit to his boss in the nick of time, he begins to feel strange.

Yep, he's turning back into the Freak again. He kidnaps Pepper, and Iron Man and he have a fight on a skyscraper that's under construction. Tony realizes that he's protecting Pepper and so he jets her away, with the Freak in pursuit. Iron Man and Pepper trap Happy in a sealed truck and pump it full of gas to kayo him. By this point, Pepper has realized that Happy himself is the Freak, and so Tony tortures himself a little bit at the end:



Comments: Overall the stories establish plot points for the future (particularly Janice Cord, and Sitwell and the Big M), but are pretty much standard Marvel plots. Villains who only come back to reality when their daughter/son is threatened by their schemes?

And the "I'm almost out of power" dodge is getting old; indeed Goodwin indicates at one point that perhaps he will be dropping it with the new suit, which will now be able to draw power from heat and cold. It was interesting to see the switch from the long-running transistors to integrated circuits; I suppose some letter-writer from Cal Tech or MIT had alerted Stan or Archie to the newest technology.

This is an aside, but transistors were really hot in the early 1960s. I remember getting a "transistor radio" for my ninth birthday, and while it didn't freak me out, a lot of the adults expressed astonishment at such a small radio. It was quite common for manufacturers back then to pack transistors in to their plastic boxes so they could claim to be an "8-Transistor" radio, but if you analyzed the circuits, you'd find that four or five of them weren't even functioning.

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Iron Man Run Part 7--End of the Tales of Suspense Issues

As ToS #95 begins, an intruder has gotten into Stark's main plant. Tony's response?



My response would be more along the lines of "An intruder within those walls? What is this, like the 50th time that's happened?" I haven't kept track of it, but I pointed out that between ToS #52 and #63, the only issues that didn't feature an attack on Stark's facilities or one of his weapons were #58 and #62.

We discover who the intruder is here:



Sitwell was an amusing character. On the one hand you can see him as a poke by Lee at the DC Boy Scout heroes, but on the other hand, who was he really mimicking but Stan himself with the "Don't yield! Back SHIELD!" boosterism?

The villain for the issue is the Grey Gargoyle, an old Thor foe who can fly and turn people into stone for one hour. But when he turns Iron Man to stone he decides to kill him by tossing him off the roof of the factory.

In the next issue, we find that Sitwell, despite his rah-rah attitude, knows what to do in an emergency and saves Iron Man by driving a convenient nearby truck filled with sand under him to break the fall. In a crucial battle, Sitwell intentionally touches the Gargoyle, having seen that the building was about to collapse and he would die if he was not turned into stone. It's a nice little bit of characterization for Sitwell. Iron Man short-circuits the Grey Gargoyle's abilities, even though this incapacitates him.

And Sitwell behaves a little nutty, trying to blow Iron Man's helmet off:



Meanwhile, Morgan Stark is in trouble with the gamblers once again. But after learning that Iron Man is incapacitated, Morgan realizes that he can pay off his debts by delivering Shell-Head to the leader of the Maggia. He bluffs his way into the factory by pretending to be on a mission from Tony, and with some help from the guards gets Iron Man into his car. Fortunately, it's a car with a cigarette lighter in the back seat that Tony uses to charge himself up a bit while being delivered to the Maggia's waiting ship.

Tony tries to capture the hoodlums, but he gets caught behind a sliding door with a new villain called Whiplash. I know, how can a guy with a mere whip beat Iron Man? But it turned out this is a special kind of whip:



Meanwhile Sitwell has finally discovered that Iron Man has been kidnapped by Morgan Stark. He also finds himself confronted by a bevy of Stark's girlfriends, which flusters him. Sitwell eventually tracks down Morgan and learns that Iron Man is on the Maggia's ship (which doubles as a gambling casino. So Sitwell pretends to be a gambler to get on board.

Iron Man manages to defeat Whiplash, but he has run out of power and his heart is giving out again. As the head of the Maggia (Big M) prepares to examine his suit of armor, the ship is attacked by AIM, another criminal syndicate that had battled SHIELD in the past. Water is rushing in and Iron Man is stuck to a magnetic table. How can he survive?

After Tales of Suspense #99, the magazine was changed to Captain America. The story here is continued in Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1, a stop-gap issue before Iron Man #1. But since this is the final TOS issue, it's a good breaking point.

Comments: Having married off Pepper and Happy, Stan apparently forgot about them; they last appeared in TOS #91. An extended honeymoon? They did eventually return, but eight months is a pretty long absence. It is also around this point that the Marvel Universe really began to interlock. There'd always been connections between the various characters and villain crossovers, but now it became more difficult to read a single Marvel character without being familiar with the other series.

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Trivia Quiz #26: Iron Man

1. Name Tony Stark's two alliterative assistants.

2. Name Tony Stark's ne'er-do-well cousin.

3. Which of Iron Man's villains reformed and ended up working for Stark Industries?

4. Which of the following villains was never on the communist payroll: the Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo, Hawkeye, or the Titanium Man?

5. Why did Tony Stark paint his Iron Man costume yellow (later adding the red bits)?

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Iron Man Run Part 5

Picking back up again with Tales of Suspense #79, Tony Stark is wanted by the police for failing to appear before Senator Byrd's committee (because he was teleported to the Mandarin's palace instead). Now that he's back he's weak and needs a recharge, but neither Pepper nor Happy are at their homes. But in the meantime, Warlord Krang and Lady Dorma (who have lost their blue skin) appear in a nearby submarine.



Iron Man manages to drive them away, but ironically this enrages the Sub-Mariner, who had been trailing them but is unable to catch up with Warlord Krang's ship. So they have the obligatory Marvel hero fight:



Fortunately for Iron Man, Subby never read any of the Br'er Rabbit stories. Iron Man beats the Sub-Mariner for now, but the latter goes back to water to recharge his powers and:



Say what? A crossover into the Sub-Mariner feature in TTA? Arrgggghhh! Okay, I'm going to assume that they had some more battling to do but eventually kissed and made up.

In TOS #81, Tony is prepared to go to Washington to appear before Senator Byrd's committee and reveal his secret identity. Here's a reminder how much things have changed since 9-11:



I can remember showing up at airports with ten minutes to spare and still making the flight. Anyway, Tony decides to fly to Washington as Iron Man, rather than taking a plane. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, the communists have modified the Titanium Man's armor to make it stronger and more powerful. So TM decides to take this opportunity to attack Iron Man. He is sent to the US in a missile that arrives just as Iron Man reaches DC and:



The battle takes place in the next two issues. At first Titanium Man has the upper hand but when Pepper and Happy arrive in Washington, TM realizes that Pepper means something to him, and threatens her:



Well, that ticks Iron Man off royally and (after rescuing Pepper), he fights with renewed determination. Meanwhile, elsewhere, folks are watching on TV:



Reading from Left to Right, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Oddball tidbit: McNamara's middle name was "Strange" (his mother's maiden name). Iron Man defeats the Titanium Man, who hopes to get away in a Soviet sub, but learns there is no room for second place among the commies:



Happy recovers his memory during the battle, but Pepper apparently loses hers:



Say what? Tony's absence during the first Titanium Man's battle with Iron Man was a big part of what turned Pepper off on him, and there's been no reconciliation since, but he misses the second battle and suddenly Pepper's all lovey-dovey towards him? What happened to her affection for Iron Man?

Comments: A solid series of issues with only a few missteps. I do wish that Stan had been more consistent with the Pepper/Tony relationship.

Next: Tony Stark testifies before Congress!

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Iron Man Run, Part 3

The last post took us up through Tales of Suspense #64, so we'll pick up with #65. This is a battle between the old Iron Man and the new Iron Man, as a crook manages to steal Tony Stark's new armor, forcing him back into the old suit.

After another one-off against Sub-Mariner foe Attuma, Tony faces the former Count Nefaria, known now as the Dream-Maker, because he can project his enemies into dangerous nightmares, like this one:



His dreams can be deadly as well. So Iron Man faces a gantlet of many of his old foes, even Gargantus, the robot from outer space. In the next issue, Count Nefaria blackmails Tony's ne'er-do-well cousin Morgan into attempting to drive Stark mad with hallucinations, but Iron Man again saves the day.

ToS #69 begins a longer tale involving another communist version of Iron Man, this time called Titanium Man. His origin is very similar to the Crimson Dynamo; he's an aggressive communist who dreams of taking over the reins of the Soviet Union after defeating Iron Man. He issues a challenge for a battle in a neutral country, to be televised worldwide. Tony's initially reluctant as his heart's been giving him problems, but Senator Byrd puts pressure on his to accept the challenge.

One oddity; Tony agrees to go along to the foreign country, bringing Happy and Pepper with him. But this seems to be a boneheaded mistake as they of course spend a good deal of time while watching the battle remarking on how Tony's not around to see the main event.

Iron Man soon realizes that he needs more power to defeat the Titanium Man. There's a transistor back at his hotel room, where he quickly flees after the first round of the battle is over. Unfortunately, an old flame named the Countess has stolen it from him:



Iron Man tells Happy Hogan to track down the Countess and get back the transistor. He does so, but not before the battle begins again. Happy is not willing to wait for the round to end, so he ventures onto the battlefield and gets hit by a ricochet.



As you can see, he's also figured out that Tony Stark is Iron Man. With the extra transistor power he makes short work of Titanium Man. Meanwhile Happy is undergoing emergency surgery and (not surprising), Pepper's quite frosted that Tony is not there to maintain a vigil at his side (as he has to recharge after the battle).

This creates an oddball situation in that now Pepper respects Iron Man, but not Tony Stark, especially when he explains his absence:

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