Appearing in "The Menace Within!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Mitzi
- Barry Carson (Death)
- Dr. Bart Ainslee (Mentioned)
Locations:
- United States of America
- Paris (Mentioned)
- Brazil (Mentioned)
- Rio de Janeiro (Mentioned)
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Spitfire & a Flying Tiger
Synopsis for "The Menace Within!"
Stark International is attacked by two unmanned World War II planes, but Iron Man destroys them. Almost immediately, a repair crew arrives to fix the damaged decorative arch, while Martinelli informs Stark was injured. Despite being sent to a hospital, a bandaged Dr. Ansilee arrives for his appointment, presenting Stark with new headphones with an attached tape player that he has designed, noting he has taken the liberty of having a few hundred produced and distributed to the staff to consumer test them.
After Mrs. Arbogast informs Stark of his upcoming appointments, Stark witnesses an employee, Barry Carson, crashing his car. He changes into Iron Man and takes Carson to a hospital, not noticing he's wearing the new headphones; unfortunately, however, Carson dies. Later that night, Tony is shot at in the dark in his office; knocking out his assailant, he is shocked to learn it is a headphone-wearing Mrs. Arbogast. Afterward, Martinelli lists a string of accidents and fights that have happened that day.
The next day Stark is attacked by a mob of headphone-wearing employees; after subduing them as Iron Man, he takes a set of the headphones to his lab and figures out that his people have been mind-controlled. As Iron Man he confronts Ainslee and discovers that he is a disguised saboteur called Tattoo, who reveals that there is an imminent broadcast due to make all controlled employees destroy the nearest object and kill the nearest person. With no hope of stopping everyone individually, Iron Man deduces that the controls are coming from the repaired arch, and destroys it. He returns to Tattoo to interrogate him on his employer's identity, but the saboteur dies from poison.
Notes
- It is later revealed that this issue's enemy "Tattoo" is an agent of Obadiah Stane.
- This issue contains a letters page, "Printed Circuits". Letters are published from "T.M. Maple", Kevin C. McConnell, Sheldon A. Wiebe, Karen Wu, and Mike Steiner.