Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man (2005 series) #33 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
We start with the Mighty and New Avengers in the Savage Land where Iron Man's armour malfunctions because of the Skrull virus that is disabling StarkTech worldwide. And it's killing Tony Stark. That happened in Secret Invasion #1, and we also see repeated here a SHIELD helicarrier in trouble and security failing at the Raft prison.
In addition we see problems at the Camp Hammond Initiative training centre. War Machine meets up with Yellowjacket leading SHIELD Capekillers. YJ is surprised to see WM's armour still functioning because it presumably uses StarkTech.
Jim Rhodes gets a message from Tony prerecorded for a case of global StarkTech failure, in which case Stark is probably dead. It tells him to trust no-one and follow a preset course to a beacon. Rhodey trusts Tony and so he leaves, ignoring Hank Pym's orders to stay.
When he's gone Pym betrays his Skrullness (and that of the Capekillers) by telling 1 of them to inform Skrull intelligence.
(The above scene is also seen in Avengers: Initiative #16.)
In the air War Machine sees some of the armada of Skrull spaceships. 1 in particular comes after him, and he starts a firefight with it. But it launches a Super-Skrull at him, which WM's computer system identifies as having the powers of Comet Man, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon and Nova. The SS rockets into him like Nova.
Rhodes takes the fight with the Super-Skrull into space. His armour is proof against mental attacks like those of Moondragon (or Comet Man), so the Skrull just attacks with Nova-blasts and Drax's strength. He wears away at WM's defensive force-field. Unable to stop him Jim drops the shield and uses his remaining power to push them back towards the Skrull warship. Then he reverses thrust and watches his foe collide with the spaceship, destroying them both.
Then he limps the rest of the way to his destination, luckily without encountering any more Skrulls. That destination turns out to be an armoured satellite. Once inside he's greeted by Suzi Endo who used to work with him in Force Works. Prerecorded Tony Stark called her here for her cybernetics expertise.
Rhodey asks for a recharge for his iron suit asap, and takes his helmet off because he's running out of oxygen. Suzi sees his ravaged, part-cyborg face, but there's no time for Jim to explain. (We've seen this damage before in Av:I #11 but we don't know what caused it.)
Suzi says Stark has left a message for him which only he can access. It explains that after the accident that left Jim a cyborg Tony created a new War Machine armour for him based on up-to-date cyberware and old StaneTech (from when Obadiah Stane took over Stark International) - with no current StarkTech involved. The same is true of this satellite. He did this in case someone discovered how to neutralise StarkTech, which is all over the equipment use by the military, cops and the intelligence agencies. Lately Stark has also begun to suspect a major infiltration by Skrulls, so Rhodey should trust no-one.
James wonders how the Skrulls knew where to intercept him. He suspects Suzi might be 1 of the shapechangers. He heard that she was arrested as the non-Registered heroine Cybermancer. She counters that it was a mistake and she's been working for Stark in Asia since then.
They square off for a fight (presumably WM's been recharging all the while). But then a load of Skrull warships interrupt them.
Suzi says WM's armour is still too beat-up and low in power to face them. She has another suggestion. While she was up here alone she discovered that the satellite could fight itself, in another mode. She hooks him up to control it.
And the satellite goes Transformer and becomes a very large version of War Machine.
Story #2War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D. Part 1
Writer:
.Penciler:
Sean Chen. Inker:
Sandu Florea. Letterer:
Joe Caramagna.
Synopsis