Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man #515 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
War Machine is fighting the new young Melter and waiting for Iron Man to arrive as backup. But Gen'l Babbage's override mechanism has caused Tony Stark's armour to retract back into his body, and he now relies on Bethany Cabe to get him to the scene by car. So Jim Rhodes is forced to beat Melter by himself, employing stealth/chameleon mode to sneak up on him.
Meanwhile Pepper Potts dons the Rescue armour, for the first time since Fear Itself, and heads for the battle too.
Mandarin, Ezekiel Stane and Justine Hammer are coordinating their plan, as Mandarin and Sasha Hammer arrive at the Pentagon to meet Babbage. The US military is going to switch from Stark Resilient and Iron Man to Mandarin Industries and Detroit Steel.
Melter recovers and destroys one arm of the War Machine suit. Just as Whirlwind, another of Mandarin's gang, arrives to join in the attack. He employs Ghost Tech to get close.
Tony tries to get the override off his chest power source. He consented to wear it last issue assuming he could remove it when the villains showed their hand. But it's booby-trapped and won't come off.
Rhodey is holding his own against Melter and Whirlwind. But Living Laser is also there, using Ghost Tech to stay invisible. He decloaks and attacks, and Rhodey's armour is crippled before he knows what hit him. Rescue gets there, but only in time to see Laser blast the War Machine armour wide open.
The villains leave, Pepper/Rescue huddles over Rhodey's body, and Tony and Bethany arrive too late.
Laser returns at light speed to report to Stane in Mandarin City. Where Stane has finished building the giant 'squid' robot Mandarin wants.
The epilogue reveals that Jim is still alive, because he was wearing a Stark Lifevest, which Bethany was testing in #512. He's going to stay undercover, presumed dead. Stark is going to allow the villains to think they've won. But he's going to turn the tables in the next storyline.
Oh, and Tony also goes to an AA meeting, to remind us that this whole storyline was a consequence of Stark falling off the wagon during Fear itself.