Invincible Iron Man #314: Review

Mar 1995

Len Kaminski, Tom Morgan

Story Name:

Heroic Intervention

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #314 Review by T Vernon (April 9, 2019)

Comments: First appearance of Theodore Slaght/Slag. Story takes place during the “Fighting Chance” arc in CAPTAIN AMERICA #425-436.

Review: Interesting tale inspired by the sci-fi semi-classic FANTASTIC VOYAGE recalls “A Journey to the Center of the Android” from AVENGERS #93 and can hold its own against that classic. Tom Morgan's art has improved and the “inside” scenes are very well done, creating an exotic locale for the adventure. Oddly, his drawing of Cap's face is rather substandard, actually fitting with Cap's odd characterization as a man who has always rejected artificial improvements. Really? Cap's whole career was built on an artificial improvement and he knows it. An insecure and clueless Cap deserves the weird face Morgan gives him. Otherwise, a very interesting issue for its brave new world feel.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #314 Synopsis by T Vernon

A holographic Iron Man takes a party of representatives of the United Nations on a virtual multimedia tour of Stark Enterprises which ends with their meeting Tony Stark himself; once he assures them that the controversial War Machine no longer has any ties to the company, they are happy to do business with him. Later, Tony meets with Peter Corbeau, head of Starcore, the UN space agency, who is confident that the UN will hire Stark as its main contractor. Tony then tells Corbeau that he will be going to Russia for the opening of the first Stark plant in the former enemy nation....

Meanwhile in Russia, Titanium Man escapes from his closely guarded quarters....

But Tony has an even bigger task ahead of him: Captain America is dying from the effects of the Super-Soldier Serum in his body. Tony has created an armor for Cap that will overcome his paralysis, once a biochip is installed in his spine. So Iron Man, under the guidance of Hank Pym and Erica Sondheim, is miniaturized and injected into Cap's body to place the chip in its correct position. Upon entry the hero heads for the blood/brain barrier but encounters leukocytes which are tougher than Tony expected and therefore not accounted for in the strict timetable for the procedure. Erica stops Cap's heart so Shellhead must travel extra quickly to implant the chip lest Cap suffer brain damage. IM is able to install the chip in time but the electrical shock to restart Cap's heart catches him unguarded and he is knocked unconscious. Hank is able to locate him by ultrasound and extract him to return to normal size. Cap asks to speak to Tony: Steve has always prided himself on staying in peak shape on his own and rejected use of artificial aids; Tony reassures him that this won't diminish him one bit....

The next day, as Tony is making arrangements for his trip to Russia, he receives a call from his old mentor Theodore Slaght. Slaght is in trouble and needs Tony's help: an experiment has gotten out of hand and a mass of molten metal is about to explode in the lab....