| Tony Stark |  You know, being married isn't so bad. This beats being locked away in an armor on a night like this. What about you? You have any family? Should I have asked your father before proposing to you?  |
| "Hazel Kendal" | Anthony, my father was a monster who ruined everyone around him...especially my mother. |
| Tony Stark | Doesn't ring a bell. |
Appearing in "The Mysterium Marauders"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- "Hazel Kendal" (Emma Frost)
- N'Dak (First appearance) (Impersonates Tony Stark)
- V'Chun (First appearance) (Impersonates "Hazel Kendal")
- Starfox (Eros)
- Ironheart (Riri Williams)
- Forge
Antagonists:
- Unnamed Gameworld would-be heisters
- Unnamed Gameworld security
- Unnamed Makluan
Other Characters:
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Mandarin (Mentioned in narration)
- Orchis
- Howard the Duck (Howard Duckson) (Cameo)
- X-Men (Mentioned)
- Hellfire Club
- T'Prag (Invoked)
- Daily Bugle (Named only)
- Winston Frost (Mentioned)
- Hazel Frost (Mentioned)
- Storm (Ororo Munroe) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- Arakko (Mars) (Mentioned in narration)
- Gameworld
Items:
- Stark Sentinels
- Mandarin's Rings (Behind the scenes)
- Ironheart Armor Model 3
- Iron Man's Briefcase
- Iron Man Armor Model Nil
- Mysterium
- Iron Man Armor Model 72 (Mentioned in narration)
- Gateways (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "The Mysterium Marauders"
Tony Stark has taken Emma Frost, in her Kendal Hazel alias, to the Catskill Mountains, explaining his need for a ride into space to secure mysterium. As Emma points out that their absence could be noticed back at the Hellfire Club, an alien ship lands in front of them. Tony's appointment is Skrull mercenaries V'Chun and N'Dak, enlisted by Tony to impersonate himself and Emma. The Skrulls leave the scene as the intermediary who arranged their hiring emerges from the ship, Tony's Avengers colleague Starfox, and they take it to the skies. At the same time, Ironheart uses the Mandarin's rings to cloak herself as she infiltrates Orchis' orbital base, the Bloom, as part of her mission to build ships to carry the mutants from Arakko to Earth for the counter-offensive invasion. She makes an explosion, causing a distraction while she escapes aboard an Orchis space shuttle.
Tony, Starkfox and Emma arrive at Gameworld, and they make their way through the crowds as the latter deflects all of Eros' attempts at flirting. Starfox parts ways to do his part of a plan as Stark and Frost board an elevator. Tony suits up on the Model Nil Armor as Emma assures him that the X-Men's mysterium deposits are in Gameworld, having delivered it to the casino as payment for handling logistics for it. The elevator stops, and Iron Man and Frost step out, only to find themselves in front of a stand-off between Gameworld's security and would-be mysterium thieves. Tony and Emma retreat into the elevator to avoid the subsequent crossfire. Emma uses her telepathy on the pirates not outfitted with psi-blockers to put them to sleep, while Tony fires at a couple of them with stun darts. Frost turns to diamond and exits the elevator. Tony fires his unibeam at her, with her body refracting and splitting it, allowing her to target the remaining combatants and knocking them out simultaneously. A pregnant woman walks into the scene, but it's just Starfox wearing a disguise, its purpose rendered useless with the guards subdued. They enter a storeroom brimming with stacks of mysterium ingots to load them into Starfox's ship. Having returned to the shuttle with the mission completed, Eros guarantees Tony that he will send the metal to the Dwarves of Nidavellir and Ironheart, and uses his teleporter to beam Tony and Emma back to Earth. They arrive at the Hellfire Club to relieve their Skrull impostors. They show Tony and Emma a newspaper photo of themselves embracing at the Rockefeller Center's skating rink as proof of their work, and teleport away. Emma is impressed by their work, lamenting that she always wanted to skate there. Tony takes Emma hand and kisses it, assuring her that they're going to win. She coyly agrees. They then skate at the Rockefeller Center, enjoying themselves, and bond over their shared fatherly issues.
Meanwhile, Riri is playing solitaire on the Orchis ship on her way to rendezvous with the mysterium, when an beeping from the ship brings her attention. She looks out of the window surprised as she establishes contact with Forge of the X-Men, aboard his own spaceship equipped with a sextant that takes him where he needs to be. Riri suits up and approaches his cockpit from outside, using the rings to shield herself from the vacuum of space. They become acquainted, when a Makluan dragon suddenly appears and tears apart Ironheart's ship, exclaiming that it can sense the trapped souls of his brethren inside Riri's rings. Ironheart and Forge prepare to do battle.
Solicit Synopsis
• Iron Man has become the X-Men’s worst nightmare!
• Without a company, without his armory, how can Tony Stark make things right?
• And which mutants are even willing to work with him at this point?Notes
- Like most Marvel comic books released on December 2023, this comic opens with a tribute to Keith Giffen, a writer and artist who died on October 9 at 71 years of age.
- Tony Stark introduces Starfox to Emma Frost as one of his old Avengers teammates. Starfox's primary stint as an Avenger started in Avengers #232. Although Tony had left the team in Avengers #228, he joined the West Coast Avengers in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #1, and his membership in the spin-off team briefly coincided with Starfox's membership in the main team until the latter's departure in Avengers #261. They coincided as direct teammates when Starfox briefly acted as an Avenger in Operation Galactic Storm, Avengers (Vol. 3) #1–4 and Maximum Security. Starfox also assisted the Avengers without being an active member of the team in other assorted instances, like in Avengers #314–318 and A.X.E.: Judgment Day.
- Gameworld was a location previously established by writer Gerry Duggan in X-Men (Vol. 6) #1 and featured throughout the series.
- Ironheart credits Forge with the creation of the Krakoan Gateways and the Treehouse. The latter was established in X-Men (Vol. 6) #1, but the former is not supported by pre-established information. As per Inferno (Vol. 2) #3, the Gateways were created by Krakoa on its own.
- Forge mentions dating Storm. They had a brief initial romance in Uncanny X-Men #185–186. They grew closer together again in Uncanny X-Men #226, but when Forge attempted to pursue a relationship with her, they became estranged in Uncanny X-Men #290.
Trivia
_from_X-Men_Vol_2_25_001.jpg){kind=link}
- Emma Frost's space exoskeleton in this issue's cover is inspired by the exoskeletons worn by the X-Men in X-Men (Vol. 2) #25.[1]
- Howard the Duck makes a cameo at Gameworld as a bystander.
- This issue's stinger caption reads "Next: Here Be Mandarin Rings!" This is a reference to the cartographical phrase "Here Be Dragons", since the Makluan are dragon-like creatures.
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ Ngu, Kael (September 21, 2023) My latest cover for Invincible Iron Man #13 has just been solicited. .... Archived from the original on October 23, 2023.