- —Tami
Appearing in "Chapter One: Hero"
Featured Characters:
- Iron Man (Tony Stark)
- Tony Stark (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- K.A.T.I.E. (Voice only)
Antagonists:
- Tami (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- J. Jonah Jameson (Earth-TRN1161) (Named only)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Reed Richards (Earth-TRN1161) (Named only)
- Stan Lee (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance) (Cameo) (Unnamed)
- Don Heck (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance) (Cameo) (Unnamed)
- Jack Kirby (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance) (Cameo) (Unnamed)
- Larry Lieber (Earth-TRN1161) (First appearance) (Cameo) (Unnamed)
- Tom Brevoort (Earth-TRN1161) (Named only)
- Martin Biro (Earth-TRN1161) (Named only)
- Jerrica Benton (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Tami's great-grandparents (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Earth-TRN1161 (First appearance)
- Earth (First appearance)
- United States of America (First appearance)
- New York (First appearance)
- New York City (First appearance)
- Manhattan (First appearance)
- Midtown (First appearance)
- Times Square (First appearance)
- Midtown (First appearance)
- Manhattan (First appearance)
- New York City (First appearance)
- New York (First appearance)
- United States of America (First appearance)
- Earth (First appearance)
Items:
- Iron Man Armor
- Spider-Man's Suit (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
Synopsis for "Chapter One: Hero"
In the past, Tony Stark puts on his helmet while wearing his first armor. In the present, Iron Man hovers over Times Square, monitoring something through a hologram on his wrist. One of the screens in the intersection is broadcasting breaking news of dangerous cosmic flares discovered by Reed Richards. In the future, an aged unarmored Tony Stark stands alone in the ruins of the same location, buildings ravaged and the air ashen.
Back in the past, Iron Man erupts from beneath the pavement in a busy street, chased by enormous stretching arms made of a clay-like gray substance. As they ensnare him, they turn into faceless humanoid giants. Tony breaks free and mutilates the creatures until the woman controlling them calls him out. She transforms a staff of this clay-like substance wrapped around her torso into a guitar. As she plays it, her minions manifest armored plates and axes. Iron Man lunges at her, but she dodges, and one of her monsters swats him into a building. The woman approaches Tony as he lays crashed into an empty movie theater, gasping for air. She is disappointed at the realization that she is in the era in which the armor was keeping Stark alive. She leaves Tony behind, swearing to return when he has sorted out his heart condition.
In the present, Tony remotely-controls several of his armors to evacuate different locales. He squabbles with an offended patron at a restaurant on the Silver Centurion Armor, he admires the skills of a pole dancer at a nightclub on the Extremis Armor while urging the owner to evacuate, and uses the Endo-Sym Armor to fly a farmer away from her fields. The real Tony hovers over the streets of the city on the Model 70 Armor, using an A.I. named K.A.T.I.E. to pin down the source of a melody. The source of the music moves toward Tony and, before he can react, one of the clay-like humanoids punches him into the ground from above. Tony's remotely-controlled suits fall down as their connection to him is severed. Standing triumphantly on top of her automaton's back, the woman celebrates that she has wrecked Iron Man again. The patrons at a bar somewhere gawk at a TV broadcasting he news of the fight, wondering if Iron Man is dead. One of the patrons points out that he heard it was Stark's birthday today.
In the future, an aged Stark confronts his attacker in the ruins of Times Square. They engage in a hostile but candid confrontation. The woman forms her staff into a guitar, and commands her minions to sprint toward Tony. She commentates, talking up Stark as he leaps into the air on platforms of solid light and manifests a giant hard-light Iron Man suit to destroy the creatures. He turns his attention to his opponent, who identifies herself as Tami. She stabs Tony through his holographic armor from behind with a giant sword. Her celebration is cut short when the real Tony Stark shows himself sitting behind her on a holographic couch, revealing the entire environment to be a construct as well. The giant-sized virtual Iron Man Armor restrains Tami and Tony confiscates her guitar. He explains that, in the past, he tried to save all of New York City from a cosmic flare by shunting it into a pocket dimension, but it collapsed before he could bring them back. Tony grabs Tami's guitar, telling her that it is what he needs. He deduces that the instrument is how she travels across time; Tami is a time-traveler from further into the future. Stark summons holographic guitar amplifiers as Tami surmises that he will use the guitar's final charge to save New York by funneling them just before they were sent to the pocking dimension, saving everyone, including her New Yorker great-grandparents. However, he won't bring his own family back, since he had sent them into the pocket dimension far ahead of the rest of the city. Tami explains that coming to that realization is what mentally broke Tony, which is why she finds no joy in fighting him in her own time. Tony plays the guitar, shedding a tear as raindrops start falling. He asks Tami why wouldn't he bring back his family and damn all of New York instead. She points out that she hasn't faded out of existence, as the people and the city begin to materialize on the ground below them. Tony explains that this is because Tony is their hero. He is Iron Man.
Solicit Synopsis
Beneath the red and gold armor is a hopeless romantic, a genius inventor, a war hero, a billionaire, an Avenger, a person, TONY STARK. Dynamic Duo Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande (MOON KNIGHT: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD, IRON MAN #25 and AVENGERS UNLIMITED) unite again to journey through the rich history of IRON MAN – telling stories never seen before that are set in iconic eras of ol' Shellhead.
No better way to celebrate Iron Man's 60TH ANNIVERSARY than getting to watch him be the Earth's mightiest hero who we love so much. Kaiju battles under the sea, alien invasions in the desert, a rescue mission in outer space, all that and more are to be expected in this new series – ideal for readers new to Iron Man and longstanding fans of the Golden Avenger.Notes
- This miniseries was released in celebration of Iron Man's 60th anniversary.[1] This issue came out on March 2023, coinciding with the cover date of Tales of Suspense #39, Iron Man's first appearance, which is March 1963.
- The segment that takes place in the past has to be set between Tales of Suspense #39 and #40, since Tony is still wearing his original armor in its gray color. Tony would paint his armor gold at the beginning of Tales of Suspense #40.
- When she fights Iron Man in the past, Tami recognizes that she is in the era when the armor was keeping Tony alive. Tony originally relied on his armor to live until 1969's Avengers #70.
- Iron Man's armor is running with an AI called K.A.T.I.E., who was previously featured in Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande's story "The Kaiju War" in Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #9–13.
Trivia
- Sans the first two sentences, this issue's opening narration ("But this man who seems so fortunate...Who's envied by millions...is soon destined to become the most tragic figure on Earth!") is taken from a panel from Tales of Suspense #39.[2]
- Iron Man's creators, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck, make cameos as bystanders in the panel featuring Stark hovering over Times Square in present-day.[3]
- This issue's editor Tom Brevoort and assistant editor Martin Biro are name-dropped in the news ticker of the Times Square screen broadcasting the news about the discovery of the cosmic flare. The mention of Brevoort is preceded by another name that is cut off and ends with "--chelle." No staff member credited in this issue fits that name.
- The fight between Iron Man and Tami's constructs in past-day was particularly inspired by old Tales of Suspense issues. Similar to his fight against Gargantus in Tales of Suspense #40, in which Tony flings magnets at the robotic villain, in this issue, Tony flicks a marble-like weapon at the construct grabbing him, which explodes into a pink energy blast.[4] This was made to harken back to the way that Tony used to carry external gadgets and weapons.[5] Iron Man erupting out of the ground being chased by Tami's constructs was similarly inspired by Tony drilling his way into Granville in Tales of Suspense #40.[6]
- When Tony remotely-controls the Silver Centurion Armor to evacuate a restaurant, an offended patron accuses Stark of having a habit of "clearing out nice places" so he can have dates in private. This is a reference to Tony doing just that in Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 3) #1.[7]
- At the beginning of the future-day segment, Tony mocks Tami, calling her Jerrica Benton, the main protagonist of the 1980s animated musical television series Jem.
- According to Ayodele, Tony specifically needed Tami's guitar to save New York City because many of his tools would have been caught in the cosmic flare.[8]
- Future-day Tony is depicted wearing a wedding ring. Ayodele was initially going to make Stark's spouse an Eternal, but he changed his mind when rewriting the script. Tami was also supposed to be a human/Eternal descendant of his, her full name being Tami Stark, one who built with biosynthetic materials instead of metal like Tony.[9]
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ The Greatest Battles in Iron Man History Await in 'I Am Iron Man' Marvel.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (February 23, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "I'm always trying to learn from the best. Openin... X. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (March 2, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "Iron Man creators have a little cameo in I AM ... X. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (March 1, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "These are some of the panels in I AM IRON MA... X. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (March 23, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "@MiamisCapitalist Drills, explosives, ... X. Retrieved on April 8, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (March 1, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "We are used to Iron Man showing up in the skies. I... X. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (December 19, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "Tony does have the habit of clearing out nice ... X. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (March 2, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "@MykulMn I'm happy you gave our series a try ... X. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024.
- ↑ Ayodele, Murewa (July 28, 2023) Murewa Ayodele on X: "@ironwaspcomics @ironvell ... X. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024.