Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #40 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
After Iron Man’s plummet from the sky at the end of last issue, Kevin O’Brian takes the injured Tony Stark to a place of safety (which looks like a basement storeroom) while cursing the fate that made a millionaire superhero his responsibility….
No far away, the lovely Marianne Rodgers (previously seen in issue #36-37) awakens with a chill: she has had a premonition that someone she cares about is in danger. Realizing it is Tony Stark she is thinking of she phones his office and asks for him, but is brushed off by Kevin. Meanwhile, Tony’s hallucinations (not previously mentioned) are getting worse: he recalls everything that he has experienced since his car crash as taking place in a nightmare world of monsters. Kevin tries to snap him out of it, and Tony asks him to contact Nick Fury….
Aboard his submarine beneath the East River, the evil White Dragon gloats over his discovery that Tony Stark is Iron Man and how this will be his ticket back into the good graces of the Council of Nine. We learn however that the villain’s lover, Shara-Lee, has been planted by his side by her sinister father to manipulate the White Dragon into being a pawn of the Council. If the Dragon fails he will take the blame, if he succeeds, he will be eliminated. The duped villain spies on Stark and overhears his conversation with Nick Fury. Tony is refusing to deliver the main address at the UN on peaceful uses of science, which angers the SHIELD Director. Meanwhile, Tony is puzzled that his company is building a new type of weapon he supposedly designed but he knows nothing about it. To investigate the gaps in his memory he decides to return to the site of his crash in the East River….
Beneath the waters, the White Dragon’s bickering minions Kreol and Davina are setting up a nuclear weapon outside the United Nations Building. When White Dragon is informed that Tony Stark will not be attending the conference, he has a moment of disorientation before altering his plans (prompted by Shara-Lee) to having Iron Man detonate the bomb and destroy half of Manhattan. He tries to trigger the implant in Tony’s skull but nothing happens: assuming the batteries are low on the device (instead of the signal being blocked by Iron Man’s helmet), he orders his men to draw the hero/pawn closer to the power source. A team of armored enemies shoots out of the river, guns blazing at Shellhead. In an aerial battle Iron Man dispatches his foes (while a little boy witnesses the action—and his mother doesn’t believe him). Descending to the river bottom, Iron Man searches for clues to the mystery and is attacked by a mini-sub, piloted by Kreol and Davina. The two bickering minions start fighting, giving Shellhead the opportunity to blast their sub to bits. As they see the Armored Avenger approaching the master ship, Shara-Lee orders White Dragon to detonate the nuclear device, but he refuses—and the ship is rocked by Iron Man’s assault. Shara-Lee, enraged, reveals the entire plan to the hero (it involved blaming Tony Stark for the UN bombing which would discredit all his weapons systems, leading to the fall of the west). On the video screen the image of Stark Industries exploding compels Iron Man to head to the scene of that disaster. The White Dragon, having heard all the contempt Shara-Lee poured on him as a dupe of the Council, chooses to regain face by pressing the self-destruct switch, sending himself and his manipulative moll to their deaths…
Marianne Rodgers breathes easier, knowing Tony is now out of danger…
When he arrives at Stark Industries, Iron Man is surprised the find the facility intact. Kevin O’Brian explains that he faked the film of the disaster to throw the enemies off the track…
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Kevin O'Brien, Marianne Rodgers.