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Invincible Iron Man #27

Apr 2000
Joe Quesada, Sean Chen

Invincible Iron Man #27 cover

Story Name:

The Mask in the Iron Man Part Two: The Dream Machine


Synopsis

Invincible Iron Man #27 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4.5 stars
After the air battle with Whiplash (last issue), Tony Stark awakens in the hospital, surrounded by his friends, Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. His secret identity as Iron Man has been revealed and Rumiko, who confessed she was in love with him last issue, is angry that he never told her and dashes out….

Tony sits down with his AI therapist, Jocasta, and reveals he has sent Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and his cousin Morgan into exile to protect them from his enemies. He is also concerned that the revelation of his identity will lead to the collapse of his business as no one would want to hire him, knowing that he can be attacked by a villain at any time. When Jocasta brings up Rumiko’s confession, Tony shuts her down and heads for his liquor cabinet. He is contacted by the Avengers who are dismissing him from the team as his open identity has made him a liability. He calls Rumiko but a man answers so he hangs up. Pepper calls, worried about her safety. Warbird arrives to help Tony through his alcoholic relapse just as he had helped her and he gets angry and orders her out. Then Jocasta brings him news reports of the deaths of everyone who has ever been close to him so he drinks himself into a stupor. The Mandarin crashes in, confessing to the murders of everyone Tony Stark has loved. He forces the helpless hero into the Iron Man armor and goads him into attacking with his repulsor rays. Mandarin responds with the powers of all ten rings; Iron Man straightens up and breaks Mandy’s neck. He collapses and reaches for the bottle—and then hears someone calling for help…

…which awakens him on a Miami street where he has been hallucinating about his troubles. Some kids try to take off his visor but the call for help in his head compels him to stand and fly into the sky to find the one calling. The caller then reveals himself to be Iron Man….

Later he talks to Jocasta bout this and she reveals that the Armor has becomes sentient, likely when he was struck by lightning in the battle with Whiplash. She also says that downloading the sentience into another vessel will kill it. Plus, Tony had a heart attack last night….


 

Review / Commentaries


Invincible Iron Man #27 Review by (April 24, 2020)
Comments: Technically the only characters in this story are Tony, Iron Man, and Jocasta; the rest are revealed to be hallucinations. People mentioned in Tony’s warning are Sunset Bain, Bethany Cabe, Roxanne Gilbert (appeared in Vol. 1 between #59-89), Joanna Nivena (Tony’s first fiancée seen only in issue #244), Kris Degann (girlfriend of Teen Tony in #326-331). Tony’s doctor is named A.L. Keyhole, which can be pronounced “alcohol.”

Review: Every so often, a superhero’s secret identity is revealed or in danger of being revealed. Then there is a lot of fussing and panic and, if the identity is revealed, some attempts at damage control—and in the more entertaining comics, a baddie goes after the hero’s girlfriend, leading to a nice battle scene. Here, it’s Tony’s face on the line (with huge bandage in the center) and all the bad stuff follows in a cascading series of disasters and the hero crawls into the bottle and the villain has to drag him out. And then it’s all a hallucination as Iron Man lies wounded in the street. So, it’s not a case of “identity revealed” especially since Iron Man’s identity is being exposed all the time and none of this stuff usually happens: Tony Stark’s identity has been known in the comics for a long time and it’s an integral part of the MCU. So what do we have? It’s a psychological study of what goes through Tony’s head when he thinks his identity is about to be compromised. And it’s crazy. Wish we could tell him that Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t let this stuff bother him but brooding works a lot better in the comics. The real revelation of the issue is that the armor is sentient and this will get way out of hand over subsequent issues.



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Invincible Iron Man #27 cover

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Sean Chen
Rob Hunter
Steve Oliff
Joe Quesada (Cover Penciler)
Tim Townsend (Cover Inker)
Richard Isanove (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Richard Starkings.
Editor: Bobbie Chase. Editor-in-chief: Bob Harras.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Jocasta
Jocasta

(Jocasta Pym)
Plus: Sentient Iron Man Armour.

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