Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #46 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
Things are going badly for Simon Gilbert in his bid to take over Stark Industries since his new corporate superhero the Guardian seriously injured four protesters. Now even the Daily Bugle is denouncing the company. Gilbert plans to spin this against Tony Stark to force his resignation….
Tony meanwhile, is relaxing at home with Marianne Rodgers, worried about how Kevin O’Brien has become unhinged since he became the Guardsman. He receives a call that the demonstrators are rioting down at the plant so he and Marianne head there. In the boardroom, Gilbert demands that Kevin clear out the protestors; instead Kevin, sickened by his violent reaction the day before, refuses to do Gilbert’s dirty work and begins to trash the room (and some board members) to underline his point. Tony and Marianne arrive at this point, jerking Kevin’s mind back to the delusion that Tony had stolen Marianne from him so he reverses himself and heads out to deal with the demonstrators—to Gilbert’s amusement. Tony punches Gilbert in the face and rushes to don his Iron Man armor to try to prevent the disaster which Marianne is sensing. Outside, the Guardsman arrives on the scene to be greeted with a hail of garbage and bottles; he strikes back with his fists—then Iron Man appears, trying to talk sense into the rioters. It does no good since they are convinced violence is the only answer. Seeing Marianne watching from the office window, Kevin tries to impress her by attacking the Armored Avenger and the battle is on. The protestors find the sight of two heroes fighting to be very comical, unaware it’s their lives at stake. The fight is brutal, especially when Guardsman hurls a barrel of napalm at his foe and sets it aflame. While Iron Man is dousing the flames with his built-in extinguisher, Kevin heads to the garage where the latest Stark weapon, the Aero-Tank, is housed. The renegade hero returns in the vehicle, deadly cannon blazing. Iron Man fires back, intending to disable the steering mechanism but ends up igniting the fuel tank. The tank explodes and the mortally wounded Kevin asks Tony to tell Marianne he loved her. Tony is shattered—and Simon Gilbert sees victory, since Iron Man has just committed murder….
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