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Iron Man #50

Sep 1972
Mike Friedrich, George Tuska

Iron Man #50 cover

Story Name:

Deathplay

Synopsis

Iron Man #50 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 2.5 stars
Iron Man, drained of energy after his battle with the Super-Adaptoid, is dying; he appeals to Marianne Rodgers for help but her visions of the hero’s death cause her to panic and run away. As the clock ticks down, the desperate Tony forces himself out of the clumsy bits of armor and reaches a socket just in time to plug in. Hearing someone coming, Tony manages to put on shirt and pants to cover the chestplate as Jarvis arrives to investigate the reports that Iron Man was fighting a villain on the premises. Tony spins a yarn that the hero has to make a quick exit and he is picking up after him. Tony stores the armor pieces in his briefcase and leaves. Witnessing his departure is a femme fatale who seizes the opportunity to knock at the door of Avengers Mansion in the guise of a delivery person. When Jarvis answers the door, she opens the back of the van and a giant snake leaps out and enwraps the hapless butler—and Princess Python demands to know where Tony Stark went…..
Iron Man flies back to Stark Industries; musing on mortality he decides he has no place for women in his fragile life. In Tony’s office, Marianne agonizes over the curse of her visions. In the park, the Super-Adaptoid frees itself from the rubble it was buried under and flies after its foe—but its powers suddenly fade and the android crashes to the ground in a field on Long Island. Suddenly the scene shifts to a sub-microscopic world, devastated by a nuclear war. There we find two scientists, Tyrr and Jarr, in control of the Super-Adaptoid. One, Jarr, has revived the monster as part of a scheme to rebuild their desolate world and rule over it; Tyrr thinks they should learn the lesson of the past and leave technology alone….
At Stark Enterprises, Tony is giving an interview to a news crew about his company’s transition from weapons manufacture to more beneficial research and industry when he is seized by a giant snake. Princess Python arrives with ransom demands for the release of her billionaire hostage. As she’s backing up the van (how far away did she park?), Tony unleashes a static electric charge from his briefcase, zapping the serpent. Freed, he dashes off into the bushes and emerges as Iron Man. He beats up the snake but the villainess and her pet escape into the plant; atop a catwalk, Iron Man battles the snake and sends it plunging into a vat of acid below. Princess Python, shattered at the loss of her beloved, tries to leap in after but the hero snatches her to safety despite his malfunctioning boot jets. Elsewhere, the Super-Adaptoid evolves into a new form: a cyborg executioner which heads for Stark Industries. Marianne, who has been watching the entire ordeal over the monitors, sees her dark prophecy coming true….

 

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #50 Review by (August 7, 2013)
Review: What’s worse than the Circus of Crime? How about only one member? And when I say that the Circus of Crime is the worst, I don’t mean as a threat to the hero; I mean they are the bottom of the barrel for super-villains. And here Princess Python proves it, hauling a thirty-foot snake around in a van ready to unleash as much havoc as a huge heavy snake can muster. It grabs Jarvis! Why? So Princess P can ask where Tony Stark just went, which is somehow easier than just following him—or even hanging out near the factory, you know, where he works. Then she has the snake grab Tony Stark out in front of his building because the plant has no security guards who can put a bullet in the monster serpent’s head. And her plan for dealing with Iron Man was to get away before the hero showed up—and mind you, the only reason he took so long to get there was that he had to escape as Tony and change in the bushes; otherwise he’d have been there sooner. Maybe she should have planned this for a day when Iron Man was off with the Avengers. And the TV camera crew vanishes within seconds, missing Tony jumping into the bushes and emerging as Iron Man. And why does Iron Man stand by so long and allow Princess and Python to get so far into the factory? How fast can this snake move? And the python gets dipped in chemical that make it impervious to repulsor rays? Anyway, it’s nice that we have the exciting story with the Super-Adaptoid to fall back on. Here we learn that he’s being controlled by two teeny tiny men who appear to be the sole inhabitants of their teeny tiny world—and yet still bicker over politics; one wants to be a social worker, the other wants to be dictator—why did these two get together to control a giant android in our world? If they can do that they must have some other technology that would be more practical for the problems at hand. Dumb fun from an uneven era in Iron Man’s history gets a little too dumb.

Comments: Part two of three.

Iron Man #50 Review by (August 8, 2013)
Roy Thomas takes over as editor from Stan Lee from this issue. For the sake of his reputation let's hope this issue was already planned before he joined. Mind you the immediately following issues aren't much better.

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Elektra

This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting IRON MAN (1968) #26-67 and DAREDEVIL (1964) #73.

Excelsioring your collection:
Marvel Iron Man MARK7 Statue ARTFX 1/6 Statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

George Tuska
Vince Colletta
Unknown
Gil Kane (Cover Penciler)
Frank Giacoia (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer: John Costanza.
Editor: Roy Thomas.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Iron Man
Iron Man
(Anthony Stark)
Jarvis
Jarvis
(Edwin Jarvis)
Super-Adaptoid
Super-Adaptoid
(Super Adaptoid)
Plus: Marianne Rodgers, Princess Python.

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