Invincible Iron Man #125: Review

Aug 1979

David Michelinie, John Romita Jr.

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Story Name:

The Monaco Prelude

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #125 Review by T Vernon (March 10, 2015)

Comments: Part six of the “Demon in a Bottle” story arc. First cover appearance for James Rhodes; first cover where no one is wearing the Iron Man armor. The events of this issue are referenced in IRON MAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA: CASUALTIES OF WAR. In addition to Captain America, the Avengers in the story are the Beast, Vision, Wasp, Ms. Marvel and the Falcon. Real-life New York Mayor Ed Koch makes an appearance. Whiplash swears by the name of Judith H. Crist (a euphemism), longtime movie critic for the New Yorker but then Rhodey uses the phrase “mother-lovin’” at one point, also to keep this book suitable for children. .

Review: The fireworks continue! Iron Man is on the run, guest stars Captain America and Ant-Man play pretty significant roles and the climax turns into a James Bond adventure (nicely matching the cover). And the best part is Tony’s call to Princess Grace—one of the things that makes Tony Stark different from all other heroes (except for Bruce Wayne).

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #125 Synopsis by T Vernon

The situation is tense at the United Nations Plaza: moments earlier, Iron Man murdered the Carnelian ambassador in front of a horrified crowd (his repulsor rays were being controlled remotely by Justin Hammer, in a scheme to bring down Tony Stark). Iron Man refuses to surrender to the police and they reluctantly allow him to leave on condition that his armor be turned over to them later. Bethany Cabe objects but the police would be helpless against Shellhead. One hour later Tony Stark appears at City Hall to deliver Iron Man’s armor and vouch for his “employee’s” innocence. Bethany again raises questions about Iron Man’s integrity and Tony threatens her to get her to drop the matter….
The following day, Tony shocks Mrs. Arbogast by showing up at work drunk and locking himself in the office. At Avengers Mansion that afternoon, Captain America is proposing to his teammates that with Iron Man under suspicion of murder he (Cap) should become acting chairman. Tony arrives at this point and asks Cap to give him a crash course in self-defense, which he does. That evening, following up Whiplash’s earlier reference to “Hammer,” Tony contacts staff member Scott Lang for information about Ryker’s Island. Scott volunteers for the mission, and visiting the prison in his Ant-Man guise, he questions Whiplash about “Hammer” and delivers a full report to Tony the next morning. Tony then flies to Europe with Jim Rhodes, though the pilot is a bit dismayed at his boss’ drinking. Landing in Monaco where Whiplash said Justin Hammer had his villa, Tony phones Princess Grace for directions. He is directed to an import office where he and Rhodey are attacked by uniformed soldiers. The heroes manage to make their getaway in a wild car chase through the streets of the resort city until they crash onto the beach…and come face-to-face with an entire army of Hammer’s paramilitary thugs….

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