One day when Iron Man is flying through the city on an unspecified mission, he spots a crook holding up the box office of a theater. He pursues the hood into the theater where and escape artist billed as the Uncanny Umberto is doing his act. Umberto, who is also a contortionist, rolls into a ball and bowls over the fleeing robber and Iron Man thanks him for the assist. This gives Umberto the idea to turn his special abilities to criminal purposes as the world’s greatest burglar. He steals a scarecrow outfit from a costumer and filches the trained crows of another vaudevillain and teaches them to obey his commands. And to kick off his nefarious career, he plans to rob millionaire playboy Anthony Stark….
At Tony Stark’s office, his glamorous girlfriend Veronica Vogue arrives to see him, but Pepper Potts lies, telling Veronica that Tony is out of town. Enraged at Tony’s “rudeness,” Veronica storms off. When Tony arrives, he figures out what went on but doesn’t mind (!). At the end of the working day, Happy Hogan drives Tony home, where they catch the Scarecrow in the act of burglary. The villain’s acrobatic ability enables him to make short work of Happy but it gives Tony enough time to don his Iron Man armor. Scarecrow’s crows wrap the hero in drapery and when he frees himself he follows the fleeing villain out the window—but it was a trick. Scarecrow was hidden in the apartment and rifles Tony’s safe at his leisure then escapes Happy by having his birds fly him to the ground….
At home, the Scarecrow realizes he has the plans for some new weapons designed by Tony Stark and calls Tony with an offer to sell them back. Tony plants a mysterious device in the briefcase full of money and meets the villain at the rendezvous. Scarecrow takes the cash but keeps the plans and heads to Cuba in his speedboat. Meeting up with a Cuban gunboat, Scarecrow hands the briefcase with the plans over to the captain; Iron Man appears and snatches the case away by the magnet he had placed inside earlier. He then sinks the boat with a hand drill but the villain is pulled away to Cuba by his crows. Iron Man can’t follow as his jets are out of power (he needs to design better batteries). Tony returns to the office where he produces the Broadway tickets he bought for Veronica Vogue—and he gives them to Happy to take Pepper. Meanwhile, the Scarecrow broods in exile….
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