Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Tony Stark wiped his own brain clean to stop Norman Osborn getting access to his repulsor power secrets and the Superhero Registration Database. Also he now needed a repulsor power source to run his body.
A gathering of his allies have followed a recorded plan to reboot him. Dr Lisk and Dr Blake (Thor) have transferred the last working repulsor power source from Pepper Potts' chest to his. They've uploaded an old copy of Tony's brain pattern. And they used Thor's power to kickstart him.
Tony jerked awake briefly, but it didn't last.
But his dreams have changed. He's no longer in the desert, and now has an Iron Man chestplate. But it hurts if he wears it. And he's still with his long-dead parents, whom he doesn't recognise, hiding from mechanical monsters of his own creation.
Thor and the 2 Captain America's leave. Steve Rogers Cap says he's going to get someone who can help. Maria Hill and Black Widow stay to help Dr Lisk look after Tony and Pepper. (We don't see Jim Rhodes after the opening scenes. But it turns out next issue he's still around.)
Pepper wakes up, and learns how the operation went.
Meanwhile Ghost has phased himself down a phone line to kill Stark on orders from Madame Masque. Now he's threatening the hotel owner Elizabeth Sooner to get her to tell him where Stark is. Maria overhears this and tries to shoot Ghost. But he turns invisible, and probably intangible.
Maria and Liz run back to Stark's room. They find Pepper just about ambulatory. They round up Dr Lisk, and go on the run, carrying Stark on a bed sheet, and with Pepper in a wheelchair.
They make it to the storm cellar of the local school, when Cap (Steve Rogers) returns with Dr Strange. (The people there don't know who he is.)
Strange casts a complicated spell to enter Stark's mind, but gets drawn into Tony's dream. The mechanoids have taken Tony's parents. But Strange offers to help him escape.