Synopsis
Iron Man (2024 series) #9 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Tony Stark's plan to use the Latverian Patriotic Front and weapons he supplies to Dr Doom's army to destabilise Doom's global rule is falling apart. The Russian Winter Guard have kidnapped the LPF's leader Commander Hunyadi and Melinda May, Stark's liaison with them. Now Iron Man flies to the rescue leaving behind Vishte Taru, the Latverian youth he rescued, and he mentions that his plan depends on a certain female cooperating.
Vishte remembers back in Symkaria many years ago when his parents revealed that they weren't really a Symkarian family and their names weren't what he thought they were. They were really Latverian spies and Vishtu's real name was Artem, and his parents were Radu and Anna. Now they've been exposed and they're all being deported back home as part of a spy swap. And Artem must realise that Victor Von Doom isn't the bad guy that they've had to pretend he is.
Doom welcomes them home effusively but then sends the parents to be debriefed by General Lokot, whose nickname is Hunyadi. Victor then confronts Artem and upbraids him for giving up the name Vishtu he has grown up with. Vishtu isn't a Latverian name like Artem but a true Latverian would be true to himself and insist on keeping it. Doom blames the parents.
Meanwhile in the now Vishtu uses his magic abilities to break through into a dimension ruled by someone who is probably Belasco.
The Winter Guard have Hunyadi and Melinda May in a safe house in Baku in Azerbaijan. May is tied to a chair refusing the offer of refreshments from the leader Red Widow. Hunyadi isn't restrained and drinking rakiyah (possibly). Ursa Major (Mikhail Ursus) is snoring in bear form. Widow (still unnamed) is as always in costume but Crimson Dynamo (Dmitri Bukharin) and Vanguard (Nikolai Krylenko) are in civvies.
RW reveals that she intends to ransom May back to Tony Stark and use the money to finance the LPF to free them from their dependency on Stark. May tells Hunyadi he can't trust the Widow who'll just use him to get concessions from Doom. The LPF still needs Stark's missiles because the Russians have very few left after their problem with Ukraine. Hunyadi suggests that no missiles will be of any use against Sorcerer Supreme Doom. RW says the Winter Guard will aid him, and they know how to destabilise governments from the shadows. She reminds him that Stark couldn't even get the Avengers to help, and anyway Doom's already defeated *them* (sort-of in One World Under Doom #3).
Bukharin would prefer they treated May with professional courtesy, but RW just sends Krylenko out for some food (which wakes Ursus up) and a perimeter sweep. However they are being watched by Black Widow and Winter Soldier from their rooftop, and Bucky Barnes jumps down onto Krylenko knocking him out. Meanwhile Natasha Romanoff swings in through and window and kicks Ursa Major back to sleep. Red Widow and Black Widow are both products of Russian Red Room training, and RW is glad to face the traitor. May and her chair are lying on their sides on the floor and she vociferously demands that BW untie her. Bukharin starts to put on his Crimson Dynamo armour but WS kicks the door in and the falling door knocks him out.
Then Hunyadi gets a phone call from Colonel Vasilescu, his ally inside Latveria. Neither of them can understand how the call made it through Doom's technomagic dome but Vasilescu tells him that Doom must have discovered their conspiracy because dark magic his killing his people, including his own family. Hunyadi shows everyone the scene unfolding on his mobile's screen, with explosions all over Latveria. Red Widow automatically blames Stark's missiles. Black Widow says it was Doom's magic. Hunyadi suspects the software updates that he asked May to send to the Latverian Army's (Stark) phones, but still-tied-up Melinda points out that some of the targets didn't have such phones.
Hunyadi is devastated by the destruction of his plans and his country. RW still insists it must be Stark's doing, and BW accuses her of trying to turn the tragedy to her advantage. Drunken Major Ursus wakes up again and accuses BW of slander, but Crimson Dynamo KO's him with 1 punch. However Dmitri is still on the floor and it's Winter Soldier who's wearing his armour, dubbing himself Winter Dynamo. RW swears to kill them all including May who's still demanding to be freed. But then there's an explosion ...
... caused by Dr Doom's right hand woman Victorius accompanied by Iron Man, with his makeshift armour and big sword, and Vishte Taru wielding his magic. Victorius accuses Red Widow of causing the deaths in Latveria. Iron Man told her that she was conspiring with Hunyadi and so she used her Power Cosmic to transport the 3 of them here. Tony is surprised to see Nat here, and even more surprised to find Bucky in the CD armour. Melinda May plays her part by confirming the RW/Hunyadi deal. So RW cuts her losses by taking Hunyadi with her out of the broken window. And May asks *anyone* to untie her.
Victorious orders Iron Man and Winter Dynamo after RW. Tony has a plan to stop Doom taking revenge on Russia. He will film Russian hero 'Crimson Dynamo' taking down RW and circulate it on social media. To ensure the success he sends parts of his armour that used to be bits of his mysterium armour (which Justine Hammer used as her Iron Monger armour in #1, infused with dark magic from ancient beings that were working through Belasco). Winter Dynamo catches Red Widow but a rage causes him to blast her into submission then prepare to kill her. But Iron Man stops him in time.
Meanwhile Hunyadi/Lokot has fled in a different direction but Vishte finds him and blasts him with magic. Vishte rails against Hunyadi's bigotry against magic-users like himself, and his failure to successfully oppose Doom. And then he beheads him ...
... and delivers the head to Victorious. She now has all the Winter Guard captive and takes them away. She's not sure Stark was completely blameless in this affair but she says she'll return later with Doom's answer to his proposal to provide Latveria with missiles.
Natasha also suspects that the Latverian deaths were caused by Tony. And Bucky is horrified that Stark is planning to supply arms to the man who nuked his home town Shelbyville and blamed it on him (Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1). Stark denies causing the deaths and says he hasn't armed Doom, yet. His original plan was to set up the LPF for a long drawn out war with Doom, and his arms would be used by Hunyadi's allies in the Latverian military. But when the Winter Guard kidnapped Hunyadi and Melinda he had to change plans. He contacted Victorious to end the LPF and blame Red Widow. Now he'll modify his plan and give Doom weapons corrupted by the Iron Monger's magic malware. Bucky now realises that it was that malware that caused his murderous anger.
Vishte now interrupts to say that he detects the dark magic infecting the mysterium armour. Stark admits that he knew it was dangerous but believed that if he only incorporated *bits* of it into his own cobbled-together armour he could keep it under control. And he knew his makeshift armour alone wouldn't be enough to defeat Doom. Taru now says he'll save Stark, and he takes the dark magic Iron Monger add-ons to magically fashion an armour for *himself*. He claims that he now has enough power to defeat Doom, and take the Latverian throne for himself! And he reveals that *he* was behind the magic attack on Latverians.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Melinda May, Victorious (
Zora Vukavic), Vishte Taru.
EnemiesPlus: Crimson Dynamo (
Dmitri Bukharin), Red Widow, Winter Guard.