Invincible Iron Man #33: Review

Nov 2008

Christos N. Gage, Sean Chen

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::

Story Name:

War Machine weapon of SHIELD part 1

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #33 Review by Rob Johnson (August 16, 2016)

It's all change for the creators since last issue. Christos Gage takes of the writing from Stuart Moore. And Sean Chen/Sandu Florea/Jay David Ramos are the new art team. But we still have Adi Granov doing the cover.

The helicarrier seen in trouble in Secret Invasion #1 was over New York. This 1 is ditched in the ocean, and in SI#3 it will be in the Bermuda triangle. New Warriors (2007) #15 will say that there is more than 1 helicarrier in operation at this time, so the craft in SI#1 and SI#3 could be different ones. But both have Maria Hill on board. However Mighty Avengers #18 will say that Hill uses LMD duplicates at this time, so they could still be separate helicarriers.

The Skrulls have found a way to make completely undetectable replacements for people for this Invasion, including duplicating their powers. They are also able to create Super-Skrulls with various combinations of duplicated powers.

Comet Man had his own mini-series in 1987, but made only a few appearances since then. Jim Rhodes doesn't know much about him. He had some mental powers and teleportation.

Suzi Endo worked for Stark International and was transferred to work with Force Works. However she was replaced by her future self who operated as Cybermancer. Eventually the present-day Suzi wound up with the Cybermancer super-suit.
Her arrest for non-Registration in a flashback in Civil War: Front Line #8 is the only published example before now of her operating as Cybermancer herself. And CW Battle Damage Report said that as a Hong Kong citizen she was deported back there.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #33 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

We start with the Mighty and New Avengers in the Savage Land where Iron Man's armour malfunctions because of the Skrull virus that is disabling StarkTech worldwide. And it's killing Tony Stark. That happened in Secret Invasion #1, and we also see repeated here a SHIELD helicarrier in trouble and security failing at the Raft prison.

In addition we see problems at the Camp Hammond Initiative training centre. War Machine meets up with Yellowjacket leading SHIELD Capekillers. YJ is surprised to see WM's armour still functioning because it presumably uses StarkTech.

Jim Rhodes gets a message from Tony prerecorded for a case of global StarkTech failure, in which case Stark is probably dead. It tells him to trust no-one and follow a preset course to a beacon. Rhodey trusts Tony and so he leaves, ignoring Hank Pym's orders to stay.

When he's gone Pym betrays his Skrullness (and that of the Capekillers) by telling 1 of them to inform Skrull intelligence.

(The above scene is also seen in Avengers: Initiative #16.)

In the air War Machine sees some of the armada of Skrull spaceships. 1 in particular comes after him, and he starts a firefight with it. But it launches a Super-Skrull at him, which WM's computer system identifies as having the powers of Comet Man, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon and Nova. The SS rockets into him like Nova.

Rhodes takes the fight with the Super-Skrull into space. His armour is proof against mental attacks like those of Moondragon (or Comet Man), so the Skrull just attacks with Nova-blasts and Drax's strength. He wears away at WM's defensive force-field. Unable to stop him Jim drops the shield and uses his remaining power to push them back towards the Skrull warship. Then he reverses thrust and watches his foe collide with the spaceship, destroying them both.

Then he limps the rest of the way to his destination, luckily without encountering any more Skrulls. That destination turns out to be an armoured satellite. Once inside he's greeted by Suzi Endo who used to work with him in Force Works. Prerecorded Tony Stark called her here for her cybernetics expertise.

Rhodey asks for a recharge for his iron suit asap, and takes his helmet off because he's running out of oxygen. Suzi sees his ravaged, part-cyborg face, but there's no time for Jim to explain. (We've seen this damage before in Av:I #11 but we don't know what caused it.)

Suzi says Stark has left a message for him which only he can access. It explains that after the accident that left Jim a cyborg Tony created a new War Machine armour for him based on up-to-date cyberware and old StaneTech (from when Obadiah Stane took over Stark International) - with no current StarkTech involved. The same is true of this satellite. He did this in case someone discovered how to neutralise StarkTech, which is all over the equipment use by the military, cops and the intelligence agencies. Lately Stark has also begun to suspect a major infiltration by Skrulls, so Rhodey should trust no-one.

James wonders how the Skrulls knew where to intercept him. He suspects Suzi might be 1 of the shapechangers. He heard that she was arrested as the non-Registered heroine Cybermancer. She counters that it was a mistake and she's been working for Stark in Asia since then.

They square off for a fight (presumably WM's been recharging all the while). But then a load of Skrull warships interrupt them.

Suzi says WM's armour is still too beat-up and low in power to face them. She has another suggestion. While she was up here alone she discovered that the satellite could fight itself, in another mode. She hooks him up to control it.

And the satellite goes Transformer and becomes a very large version of War Machine.

Story #2