Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man #23 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
Tony Stark arrives at a research vessel built by Stark-Fujikawa and is greeted by Rumiko Fujikawa and his cousin Morgan Stark. They gleefully tell him that the ship was built atop Ultimo; Tony is shocked and contacts Jocasta to provide a history of the alien robot monster for their benefit, advising them to shut it down. Morgan refuses to consider it, insisting that his tech experts have cracked Ultimo’s code. Rumiko also refuses to listen to Tony and demands he take her to dinner that night instead of playing engineer. Tony helicopters off, miffed and fantasizing about impressing Rumiko by returning as Iron Man and defeating Ultimo in battle. He calls Pepper Potts to make reservations for him….
Pepper, meanwhile, realizes that her ex-husband Happy Hogan is happy overseeing the Stark Foundation and prospects for their reunion seem dim….
Tony goes to Seattle to look in on Carol Danvers, meeting Tracy Burke along the way. He discovers that Carol is drinking again and justifying it by claiming she needs it to write. He tries to advise her but she doesn’t want to hear it. Tony is interrupted by Jocasta relaying a call from Rumiko that the ship is under attack by Sapper and Golden-Blade. Tony dons his armor and Carol adopts her Warbird look to help him but Shellhead knocks her out with a punch so she doesn’t endanger herself and others by superheroing drunk and takes off alone….
At the ship, Sapper is draining the main power terminals and Golden-Blade captures Rumiko; Iron Man arrives and clobbers the two of them, easily fighting off their special attacks. Sapper falls in the water and spies Ultimo and flies up to inform his golden partner, but IM takes them both out and they are locked in special cages. Rumiko thanks Iron Man but tells him to tell Tony she is no longer interested since he didn’t bother to show up….
Later at home, Tony broods over his loss of Rumiko and Pepper arrives to comfort him, comfort that turns into a kiss….