Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man #28 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Tony Stark/Iron Man has invaded the underground city of the Mandarins along with his 'brother' Arno driving the building-sized Iron Metropolitan, Abigail Burns in a new Iron Man suit, and a troop of Trojan Guard AI Iron Men. The Starks used the 4 Rings Iron Man had won to create a Master Ring. Abigail, as the only experienced Ring-Bearer, is wielding it. It enabled her to locate the Mandarins' city, and now lets them all neutralise Rings once the wearers are defeated.
Arno battles a dark energy monster created by Exile (while 1 of Mole Man's real monsters tries to join in). A Trojan Guard looking like Iron Patriot takes out Colin Anderson 60. And Abigail kicks the crap out of Alec Eiffel.
While this is going on Tony confronts the wearer of the Liar Ring, Pepper Potts' fiance Marc Kumar, who holds Pepper hostage. Marc explains that the Ring approached him long after he started dating Pepper, and after he realised how much Stark had done to hurt her. The Ring offered him revenge, for her.
Tony offers to do anything if Marc will let Pepper go. But Marc insists on continuing to use her as a hostage, threatening to kill her. So Iron Man shoots Kumar (non-fatally) through Pepper!
As Pepper literally fades away Tony explains that he knew Marc loved Pepper too much to use her like that. So he'd realised she was an illusion created by the Liar Ring.
Now Iron Metropolitan crushes Exile's dark energy monster, and takes his Ring. That just leaves Mole Man, who throws his Ring away and takes his Moloids out through 1 of many tunnels. The last Ring tries to escape the city but can't (presumably due to the mystic confinement set up by Dark Angel last issue), until Iron Man grabs it.
Now we have a whole load of tying up of loose ends.
Tony, via SHIELD's space arm SWORD, contacts the Rigellians and they come to pick up the body of their rogue Recorder-451. Although the Starks have made good use of the robot's database of alien technology, it turns out to be too dangerous to have around. The Rigellians confirm that the Recorder was 'leaking' and gave the Rings an upgrade that made them operate independently.
This upgrade was supposed to make the Rings manipulate the world into a more favourable state. In this case the Rings saw democratic (and communist) systems as more primitive than the empires and monarchies that were the dominant forces in the galaxy. The Rings set out to do something about it, and the residual effects of the Mandarin made them target Tony Stark in particular.
In London Abigail gets a present from Arno - her original Incandescence Ring. Because she lost her hands to Malekith, Ms Burns wears it as an earring. And sets out to be superheroine Red Peril (without the Iron suit) - her 1st action to stop the firebombing of a mosque.
Pepper visits Marc in hospital to give him her engagement ring back. No matter how Tony treated her sometimes, she can't condone what Marc did.
In Svartalfheim Dark Elf parents use the threat of Iron Man to control their children. And we find out what Terrana's secret mission was in #24 - she kidnapped the Bride of Darkness's demon baby before #26. And now Malekith claims (maybe?) to be the father.
And Tony and Arno fly off together as a pair of Iron Men - Arno in his weaponised mobile iron lung.