Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #11 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
Trapped beneath the neutralizer beam, Iron Man is at the mercy of the Mandarin! The villain blasts his helmet off to see—not Tony Stark but a rugged blond-haired man! This stranger mocks the Mandarin’s assumption that a seriously ill man like Tony Stark could be Iron Man, and tells the villain to turn on the television. There Tony Stark is at his cabin in the Adirondack Mountains telling reporters he will conduct a full press conference about the allegations of treason made against him when the rest of the media reps arrive. Mandarin teleports to the mountains to further his scheme of revenge, leaving the hero in the custody of his servitor Mei Ling. Iron Man plays on her psychology when he learns that she is betrothed to the villain, ridiculing him until in anger she storms out, slamming the door behind her. This causes a lamp to topple into the path of the rays, short-circuiting them. Tony removes his disguise and jets as fast as he can to the mountains, helpfully filling us in that the other Tony Stark is a Life Model Decoy (LMD) which he assembled while hiding at the Cord lab (last issue). Now he must remove the android before its power runs out….
At the cabin, the Mandarin captures “Tony,” unaware that it is a machine, and attempts to hypnotize it to do his bidding. Iron Man arrives to distract the villain from the malfunctioning LMD and a battle breaks out. Mandarin summons a trio of fighting robots but the hero makes short work of them in a battle that attracts the attention of the reporters waiting outside, who see the villain and realize that Tony Stark is the victim of a comic book scheme. Janice Cord rushes in to see if Tony is all right and is taken hostage by the Mandarin who jets upward to his escape craft which is piloted by Mei Ling. Iron Man crashes though the craft’s floor and the villain threatens to kill Janice, mocking her affection for Tony. At this, Mei Ling realizes what a monster her betrothed master is and throws herself in front to the deadly beam. Iron Man beats up his enemy but in the process wrecks the control panel. Shellhead escapes with Janice and the ship crashes into a mountain. They return to the cabin and Iron Man gets a shock: the powerless Tony Stark LMD was found in the house and, without a heartbeat, is assumed to be near death. Iron Man can only watch helplessly while “Stark” is rushed to the hospital, where his secret will be discovered.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Janice Cord, Tony Stark LMD.