Invincible Iron Man #295: Review

Aug 1993

Len Kaminski, Kev Hopgood

Story Name:

Into the Void

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #295 Review by T Vernon (October 9, 2018)

Comments: “An Infinity Crusade crossover.” Part two of two parts. Rhodey's decision for Stark Enterprises to get out of the nuclear industries came during his short stint as CEO in issue #288.

Review: A bit existential here. The Technovore struggles with its lack of self awareness and so does Tony despite thinking he knows everything. And Marvel's multiplicity of gods and demigods makes any theological statements pretty absurd though Tony comes to see some responsibility of his own in keeping technology from running amok. The telling bit is Tony's using the term “evangelical” as a negative quality; I thought Marvel didn't become anti-Christian until the 2010s? Oh well, Omega Red and A.I.M. are on deck, so we'll see where this goes.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #295 Synopsis by T Vernon

Aboard the space station, the newly-evolved Technovore prepares to assimilate the remote controlled Iron Man, who fights back with his weaponry. But with every blow, the monsters repairs and enlarges itself. Shellhead senses trouble....

For a little respite we see Felix Alvarez swamped with work as the new Vice President of Operations with Mrs. Arbogast scolding him about the long hours he's keeping. Then we see she's plotting something....

The Technovore seizes Iron Man who responds with a massive electrical discharge and flees the station. The monster then assimilates the wreckage of the space station, using it to become obscenely large. To keep it from falling to Earth, Iron Man lures it out into deeper space then turns and smashes the metal monster to pieces. It engulfs the hero in its cables and Shellhead prepares to set off his self-destruct protocol but the monster gets into Tony's mind, and he can see that it is feeding to keep from thinking about its lack of selfhood; Tony's mind is still trapped when the explosion occurs destroying everything including the Iron Man remote—but the Goddess (see last issue) snatches him to safety. She again appeals to Tony to join her Infinity Crusade but he again refuses even though he admits to himself that she was nearly correct about the limitations of science and its inherent dangers. Back home Tony ponders her warning and wonders if anyone—human, goddess or otherwise—is all that different from the Technovore....

Tony is undergoing his therapy in a pool with Veronica Benning and getting turned on when Felix rushes in with an emergency. Tony learns from Felix that Rhodey's decision to take Stark Enterprises out of the nuclear power industry led to all of SE's nuclear materials being sold to A.I.M....

Epilogue: In Siberia the villain Omega Red learns that Barankova has defected to the West and joined A.I.M....