Synopsis
The contents page for this 1st issue summarises the position succinctly for us. At the end of the Tony Stark: Iron Man series Tony Stark revealed that he is an AI mind in an artificial body, and the real Tony died a while ago. His brother Arno Stark conspired with Sunset Bain to take over Stark Unlimited and make it part of Baintronics. And Arno has replaced Tony as Iron Man.
The last 2 pages of the issue give a more comprehensive background.
In the Secret Origin Of Tony Stark arc in Iron Man (2012) Tony learned that he is adopted, and Arno is the real child of Howard Stark and Maria Stark. Flashbacks told us that Arno was genetically modified in the womb by Rigellian Recorder 451 to be the genius defender of Earth against alien threats. But he was born needing an iron lung to survive and was hidden from the Recorder by his parents. The Recorder believed Tony was the result of his work.
In the World's Most Wanted arc in Iron Man (2008) Tony wiped his own brain to keep the Superhero Registration Act database out of the hands of Norman Osborn. Later his mind was reloaded form an old backup copy.
In the Secret Origin arc the Recorder gave Tony a cosmic Godkiller armour to defend Earth with, but since Tony's not Arno it wouldn't obey him. The Recorder committed robot suicide and then Tony located Arno and brought him safely out of hiding. In International Iron Man Tony found his birth mother Amanda Armstrong.
In Civil War II Tony was severely injured by Captain Marvel and went into a coma due to changes he'd made to his body over the years. (So we don't *actually* know that original Tony is dead.) In Iron Man (2016) he left Riri Williams an AI version of himself to be a mentor and run *her* Iron Man armour.
In the Iron Man Legacy issues some version of Tony returned. Later Arno claimed that he created the body and downloaded a Tony AI into it.
In the Tony Stark: Iron Man series Tony hired Andy Bhang and the robot Jocasta, and created Dr Shapiro the talking cat scientist. Arno used his technology to create bodies for his dead parents and downloaded their stored brain patterns into them. Then when Tony admitted to being an AI he lost his human rights which enabled Arno to inherit all his stuff.
Arno Stark has a nightmare of facing an alien being called the Extinction Entity without any weapons. He awakes and we learn that somehow he has known 'for all his life' that this Entity will arrive on Earth in 2020. (Does this mean that *this* is what Recorder 451 created him to fight?) And now the Stark satellites detect the faint trace of its approach. He must rally a defence of the Earth.
But 1st he must have breakfast with his parents. Howard and Maria are happy that their son brought them back to life, but they're chafing at his restrictions - he won't let them leave the Baintronics building. Arno guilt-trips them about keeping *him* locked away for years in a private hospital. Then he ends the discussion when Sunset Bain calls to tell him some more robots are rebelling.
Arno dons his Iron Man 2020 armour and jets off to deal with the situation. A bunch of LMDs of the original Nick Fury are holding prisoner the human supervisor of a robot work gang on a high-rise project while they convince the workers to join the robot revolution. Iron Man blasts in the head the Fury holding the human and tells the others to surrender. But the other LMDs usher the constructo-bots into a large lift that takes them down the outside of the building - until IM blasts *that* to pieces.
A reporter asks Arno where Tony Stark is. Arno insists his brother is long-dead and the version they've seen lately was just an AI robot. We see other reporters asking the same question of others. Tony's girlfriend Janet Van Dyne (Wasp) insists that recent-Tony is as human as anyone, but she hasn't seen him since his revelation. War Machine (Tony's friend Col James Rhodes) is leading a new Force Works team (including Gauntlet, Baintronics' (ex?) security chief) putting down a group of Dreadnought robots in Delvadia - he says he doesn't know where Tony is but he wouldn't tell them if he did. Amateur footage is aired of Stark buying booze (at the end of 'last' issue he *was* contemplating giving into 'his' alcoholism). Sunset tells them to forget about the Tony clone - the real spirit of Tony Stark is here in the Stark Unlimited division of Baintronics.
She enters that building to supervise what is kept and what gets junked. She is accosted by Andy Bhang and Dr Shapiro who agreed to stay on as long as they get to look after their friend Jocasta (whose robot body was heavily damaged by Ultron in TSIM). Ms Bain says Jocasta's body is Stark property so she can do what she wants with it. (The robot body was built by Tony for the Friday AI. Jocasta's AI was created by Ultron, who in turn was created by Henry Pym. So *it* doesn't belong to SU, but Sunset doesn't believe AI's are sentient.) Then she turns to the cat and removes its collar - which *is* SU property. She claims that the Dr Shapiro AI is in the collar (and the now-speechless cat *does* start acting like a normal feline).
Iron Man's next stop is the Uncanny Valley robot bar being raided by the EXE (whatever that stands for?). Iron Man arrives and stops a runner. But he was just a diversion and the rest have disappeared. It seems that the wreckage of the the lift earlier contained no robot parts so *they* escaped too. Arno tries to get the 1 robot they do have to tell them who's leading the robot army but he won't squeal.
We however can see their base where we find Machine Man/Aaron Stack and 2 Fury LMDs (1 of which is headless courtesy of Iron Man but still functioning). MM gives the assembled 'bots a stirring speech, and the headless LMD says Mark can give him a new head. Aaron knows that he personally is fighting to get his lover Jocasta back. Then Quasimodo takes him to Machinesmith to see a news report where Sunset and Arno have bought a robotics/AI factory Robowerx - and they destroy it to stop the robo-terrorists getting potential new recruits. After the cameras stop rolling Arno explains to his partner that it was worth the cost to make the rebels angry so they'll make mistakes.
2 days later he gets the reaction - a very large bomb attached to the outside of the Windsor-Smith Hospital (Barry W-S presumably donated a lot of money to the place). A hologram of Machine Man tells the bomb squad that he'll allow them to evacuate all floors but the maternity wing before he detonates it. If the meatbags want to cut off supplies of new robots then they'll cut off supplies of new humans. The squad send in an AI bomb disposal robot but MM appears in person to talk the little 'bot out of it. Then Iron Man arrives and tries to persuade Aaron Stack to convince his troops to aid IM in fighting a greater menace (the Extinction Entity). But Stack ignores him and triggers the bomb. IM has 2 minutes to take it to explode harmlessly in space.
When Arno returns he is told that Machine Man casually took the bomb disposal robot into the hospital. IM detects that they took an elevator but now can't scan them anywhere. The 2 'bots stopped at Floor 13 (which doesn't exist) and exited through a portal into the secret base called the 13th Floor. Aaron explains that it is composed of solid light, and humans can't detect it or find it. (Is it in another universe?)
The bdr recognises some of the robots/androids present:- the Awesome Android, Albert and HERBIE. I also recognise M-11/the Human Robot, a Sentinel and the Wild Bill robot from Strange Tales (SHIELD) #142. Stack takes the little 'bot to meet the real leader Mark, who created this place and keeps it running. Mark is wearing the original bulky grey Iron Man armour, and tells the 'bot to call him Mark 1. The voice is Tony Stark's but he says he's not Tony, just an echo of him. He takes off his helmet and we see a long-haired bearded face (looking rather like current Sub-Mariner, or even the Mandarin). He proclaims himself fully-AI and promises to lead them into their destined future.