Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #4: Review

Feb 2008

Joe Casey, Eric Canete

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:

Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #4 Review by Rob Johnson (April 10, 2013)

This issue starts with totally new material immediately following on from the end of last issue (after Tales of Suspense #53). It then segues into a version of the beginning of ToS#54. I don't think Agents Sands and Burroughs have been mentioned anywhere else. On the other hand there a cameo by Maria Hill. This is rated as almost her 1st chronological appearance, only beaten by some flashbacks in Iron Man (2008) #13. In this issue I assume Stark defends the satellite from the SHIELD helicarrier. But it doesn't actually say so. The same is true of the meeting between Iron Man and SHIELD in #1. In ToS#54 it is the Pentagon rather than SHIELD which calls Stark in. And they are concerned about Stark missiles in Vietnam that Mandarin is causing to go off course and disappear. A small additional point is that Tony has created his new armour before being called on by the military. The new armour has removed the pointy bits of the facemask above the eyes. But it isn't exactly as seen in ToS#54. As shown here it doesn't have the rivets on the facemask. And it has gained the hip pods which wouldn't turn up until a few issues later. Amnesiac Temugin goes back to the monastery, which is where he is found in Iron Man (1998) #53. At that time Mandarin was supposed dead since IM(1998)#10. Mandarin's servant Po brings Mandarin's rings to Temugin im #53, and Temugin is the next Mandarin in several issues between then and #89. The original Mandarin returned in the IM: Director of SHIELD series. But Temugin is still around. He's been in the Super-Villain Team-Up/MODOK's 11 limited series. And he will turn up in the Agents of Atlas series on the side of the good guys.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #4 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Last issue Mandarin's son Temugin, under his father's hypnotic control, shot Tony Stark. Now he realises that Stark has survived because of his chestplate. And he also makes the connection - Stark is Iron Man!

As Temugin fires again, Stark uses the uni-beam on his chest to blind him. Temugin lashes out with some karate moves. But Stark escapes with the briefcase containing his armour. His opponent follows him into a liftshaft and they wind up fighting hanging from the lift support cables. The fight ends as Temugin falls down the shaft. But he shoots Stark's briefcase out of his hand as he falls, and the pieces of Iron Man armour fall out.

Temugin grabs the cables further down. Stark sends a remote command for the armour to self-destruct. He leaps onto the top of a lift car to avoid the blast. When the smoke clears he can't see Temugin. And his security team can't find any trace of the guy later.

Immediately afterwards Tony gets called to see SHIELD Agents Sands and Burroughs. They are concerned about Mandarin stealing weapons that the CIA were supplying to various Asian rebels (as seen last issue). But even more problematic is that they have detected attempts to take control of a SHIELD orbital platform that Stark designed.

Tony tries to counter the takeover attempt remotely from a SHIELD computer. But Mandarin's tech guys beat him.

Stark returns to base to build a new better Iron Man armour.

Meanwhile a heavily-bandaged Temugin has been taken home to face Mandarin in disgrace. He deliberately provokes his father, and Mandarin wipes out his memory of this adventure. Temugin consoles himself that he is losing the knowledge that Tony Stark is Iron Man - knowledge that his father would love to know. Mandarin sends him back to the Tibetan monastery.