Invincible Iron Man #77: Review

Aug 1975

Mike Friedrich, Arvell Jones

Story Name:

I Cry: Revenge!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #77 Review by T Vernon (February 18, 2014)

Review: The War of the Super-Villains is over? Well, that was fast. A total of seven issues and five villains. I was mightily disappointed when I first read these issues back in 1975, especially when it leads into the bizarre sci-fi epic to follow (after an interval of two unrelated issues). A great idea for a company-wide crossover, it ended up being much smaller than promised. And it wraps up in the overly chatty battle issue with the hyperactive layouts and awkward art. Maybe that accounts for why Iron Man seems totally cheesed off though the entire issue.

Comments: Part three of a three part story which leads into another two-part tale in issues #80-81. Compare the cover to issue #74; Iron Man is first and last casualty of the Super-Villain War, thus emphasizing how rushed it all was.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #77 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man takes on the Mad Thinker, overcoming his fighting android and his other weapons, and works off his annoyance by trashing the lab. Meanwhile, Firebrand arrives, hoping to team with the Thinker against Shellhead. Instead he witnesses the Black Lama and the Yellow Claw teleporting in for the next round of the Super-Villain War. The Claw fires a gel at Iron Man which quickly hardens; the hero uses his knowledge of physics to avoid damage when the villain fires a missile which cracks open the gel. Totally ticked off, Iron Man plows into the Claw who has donned an exoskeleton battle suit. Shellhead whips him so soundly the Asian baddie takes off, leaving his chance for the Golden Globe behind. The vengeful Firebrand now steps out off the shadows to challenge the exhausted Shellhead; the fight is furious and Iron Man, tired from fighting four foes in succession without a break, falls beneath his enemy’s armored fists. The Black Lama then steps out of hiding to offer the surprising victor the Golden Globe of Power. He wins over the skeptical Firebrand with a fictionalized tale that he is a king from an alternate dimension who set up the Supervillains War because he was bored. Firebrand accepts the Globe—and is suddenly pulled through a portal between dimensions. Iron Man, recovering, leaps through the portal before it closes, determined to rescue his enemy for his sister Roxanne’s sake….