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Invincible Iron Man #19

Feb 2014
on-sale: Dec 4, 2013
Kieron Gillen, Joe Bennett

Invincible Iron Man #19 cover

Story Name:

Iron metropolitan part 2


Synopsis

Invincible Iron Man #19 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Tony Stark comes to see CEO Pepper Potts at their company Resilient to apologise for being absent a lot, even after he returned from space. He tells her he's planning to build a futuristic city on the ruins of Mandarin City, on its private island off the coast of China.

We flash back 12 hours to Iron Man flying into the city to root out the Triads that have taken it over. During the action we get a voiceover explaining things. Mandarin acquired the island from the Chinese by mind-control. Since he died at the end of the last series its ownership has been indeterminate, but Stark has now been allowed(?) to use(?) it (that's my best guess at what the waffle means). But the gangs have access to Mandarin's weapons, and Iron Man gets blasted to bits.

At this point we learn that that armour was a drone flown remotely by Arno Stark, along with several others. The real Iron Man now pops up at ground level in a grey armour (reminiscent of War Machine) and tasers the gangs to submission. He announces that he's running the city now.

Back in the present, at Tony's California house, Pepper discovers that the AI in his current armour is called PEPPER, and obviously modelled on herself. At 1st she's indignant, but when she sees how the AI criticises Stark, she quite likes her. However Tony says he's taking the AI out of his armour anyway.

Tony now introduces Pepper to his brother in his iron lung. He explains that Arno is the real son of Howard and Maria Stark, while he himself was adopted. They tell her that Arno had to stay hidden up till now, but they haven't time to explain why (that it was because of Recorder 451).

Tony takes the PEPPER AI to his secret Core installation, and installs her in a lovely big computer there. He renames her HELEN, and says she's going to run Troy.

Stark then takes Pepper on a tour of the construction site that is Mandarin City. She thinks he might have a PR problem in America about rebuilding a Chinese city. Pepper recommends Tony use Resilient's current freelance PR guy, her fiancé Marc from #16.

We next see Tony and Marc at the opening of the Troy Core demonstration unit (which I presume is in Mandarin City). Marc has a warning word with journalist Abigail "Red Peril" Burns, who hates capitalists. Arno is monitoring security from the Troy Information Hub (wherever that is in relation to the demonstration unit and the Core), and can't detect any hostiles.

But when Tony starts to make a speech he is interrupted by a rumble from the ground. Abigail asks the ring she acquired last issue if it caused that. But the Mandarin Seven ring says no, but the Mandarin One ring did it! As a giant earthen fist rises from the ground, wearing a ring.


 

Review / Commentaries


Invincible Iron Man #19 Review by (December 8, 2013)
There are presumably large gaps between some of the scenes in this issue, to allow a lot of work to be done on Mandarin City. I don't believe Mandarin City was shown to be on an island previously. In fact when it was introduced in #510 it was stated to be in Mongolia, which has no coastline. And I don't think that has been contradicted until now. Why is Arno Stark still being kept a secret from the world, even though the threat of Recorder 451 is over? The 2 of Mandarin's rings that appear this issue and last have numbers which may correspond to the properties described in the 2010 IM Annual. The nearest I can connect to Mandarin-One's fist of earth is the Right Thumb ring which was a matter rearranger. And Mandarin-Seven's corona of flame last issue could relate to the Left Index Finger's flame blast. This would indicate a numbering 1-5 Right Thumb to Little Finger, 6-10 Left Thumb to Little Finger. I await future issues to see if this pans out.

Added comment:- When Tony and Pepper are discussing who to use for PR they mention Kate, who unfortunately is no longer available. This is probably Kate Kildare who was PR for The Order in the Initiative period. She also did work for the X-Men, but was killed by Mr Sinister during Avengers vs X-Men sometime before Uncanny X-Men (2012) #20.


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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Joe Bennett
Scott Hanna
Guru-eFX
Paul Rivoche (Cover Penciler)
Paul Rivoche (Cover Inker)
Paul Rivoche (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Joe Caramagna.
Editor: Mark Paniccia.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Pepper Potts
Pepper Potts

(Pepper Hogan)
War Machine
War Machine

(James Rhodes)
Plus: Marc Kumar/Liar, Red Peril.

Thor

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