Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man #15 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
Iron Man is testing out the new armor he designed which should eliminate the electrical problems that have been plaguing him since issue #12; the test takes the form of playing Tag with a barrage of smart missiles. He heads back to Seattle, unaware that on the street below is the villain Nitro, who blows open a paperbox to steal a newspaper informing him that Tony Stark will be at the reception for the new youth center. Back at the base, Tony is given a clean bill of health by Jane Foster and Hank Pym. He tries to call Carol Danvers to see how she is doing but she isn’t home. He needs a date for the reception but doesn’t think Rumiko Fujikawa wants to hear from him; Ramona Napier can’t make it either. Pepper Potts eagerly volunteers….
In London, James Rhodes is shot at by a gunman on a bicycle; he is wounded but a struggle for the gun leaves the hit man dead. He drags himself to the home of old friend Dr. Glenda Sandoval….
At the reception, there are some problems: the caterer is late with the refreshments, the proposed design of the youth center is criticized and Tony himself attracts some hostility from the crowd. Outside, Nitro blows up Tony’s limo; the sound makes him rush out to investigate while Happy Hogan has to calm the unruly crowd. Tony dons the new armor (stored in the car’s trunk but it can fly out to meet Tony on command) and faces the bad guy. Nitro surprises Shellhead by blowing up and reforming; he’s been hired to kill Tony Stark. Iron Man mentions that Nitro is the one who killed Captain Marvel; the villain didn’t know this and he’s pleased to find out. Nitro keeps the hero off balance by blowing up the buildings around him—until Shellhead detects a frequency pulse a split-second before each explosion. By duplicating that signal, he is able to trigger Nitro’s blasts against the bad guy’s wishes, knocking him around and finally knocking him out. Tony returns to the reception to find everyone gone, evacuated by the police when the violence started. But Happy was able to win the crowd over with a persuasive speech….
Epilogue: In an Asian curio store, Billy Yuan has his eye on a jade dragon statue—unaware that a sleeping Fin Fang Foom has his eye on him….