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Iron Man Vol 7 3

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I'm just looking at the fundamentals here. Yeah, you achieved scale. You're just seeing what that means all wrong. Your kind of scale brings you a me problem. Maybe an Avengers problem. Definitely a me problem. You're about to dominate the energy markets, the arms markets, and now, apparently, the soul-poison markets. You made yourself a global threat. The kind I always stop. And I told you I would stop you.

—Iron Man

Appearing in "The Stark-Roxxon War - Part Three: Organized Crime"

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Synopsis for "The Stark-Roxxon War - Part Three: Organized Crime"

Iron Man wields his new sword to battle Force at A.I.M.'s Aspen laboratory. In a voice-over, Justine Hammer celebrates Roxxon's imminent acquisition of Stark Unlimited with its Board of Directors. After deflecting a blast from Force into the ceiling, causing it to collapse, Tony rushes to Stark Tower and crashes through the boardroom window to say his piece. Plugging his armor into a charging station, Tony delivers a final plea to halt the merger, vowing to take down Roxxon and A.I.M. even if he can't prevent the acquisition. His words agitate the board, but Justine delivers her closing statement, revealing that Roxxon has a "silent partner" from a higher plane of existence, the one who brought her back from the dead. She further entices the board by promising rewards from these beings for facilitating the launch of a groundbreaking product in the mortal market. Realizing the majority of the board is resolute despite the red flags, Tony calls for a vote. Only he and Melinda May oppose the merger.

Tony walks away from the celebrating board, promising legal action, but Monica Rappaccini demands he surrender his armor, arguing it now belongs to them. Justine activates her Iron Monger Armor, bursting through the ceiling, and Iron Man tackles her out of the building. As they fly over Manhattan, Justine tosses Tony into Washington Square Park. After safely catching a car that the Iron Monger flings at him with its passengers still inside, Tony unsheathes his sword and delivers two powerful repulsor-enhanced attacks. The Iron Monger recovers and lunges at him, but Tony blocks her fists with the sword, channeling a repulsor blast through her armor that knocks her down. As Justine gloats that his victory is meaningless, Dr. Druid appears, conjuring a portal on behalf of Roxxon's "silent partner" that transports Iron Man, the Iron Monger and the Board of Directors to Limbo. They are greeted by Belasco, the demon in turn acting on behalf of Roxxon's mysterious benefactors. Belasco seats his guests at a table, and Justine takes off her armor to elaborate on her benefactors' plans: to introduce a pharmaceutical that would allegedly allow humans to transcend their mortality, and the board would gain exclusive access to it. Melinda May draws a concealed gun to shoot Justine, but Tony stops her, warning that such an approach won't work. The board remains enthralled by Hammer's offer, and she extends an olive branch to Tony, inviting him to join the board.

Iron Man takes a seat but raises an issue with the merger: scale. He argues that Roxxon and A.I.M. have achieved a level of global threat that he and the Avengers would be committed to stop. Belasco scoffs at Tony's forewarning until Stark asks Druid to scry with the benefactors. Citing prediction markets, Tony highlights that Roxxon and A.I.M. are historically proven losers, making their achieved scale unsustainable. This revelation prompts Belasco's clients to withdraw from the deal. In exchange, Belasco threatens to claim the souls of the board members, much to their horror. Removing his helmet, Tony proposes a deal: the board must annul the merger, resign, and divest from the company within sixty seconds. In return, the benefactors can keep the Mysterium Justine stole from him. Under pressure, the board relents. Belasco expresses that the entities wish to keep the conversation open, so they don't extricate Tony from the magical malware, while he imbues Hammer's brooch with some of their signature magic. Tony remarks to Justine that while she was correct about his inability to "Iron Man" his way out of the merger, she underestimated Tony Stark himself. Dr. Druid transports Tony and Justine back to Stark Tower while Stark asks him to send the board members home. Before parting ways, Hammer leaves Tony her brooch and cautions him that pulling Stark Unlimited from the arms trade will not be easy, walking away as she warns him that he is the Iron Monger now.

Solicit Synopsis

IRON MAN GOES MEDIEVAL!

It’s the Iron Swordsman vs. the Iron Monger! Desperate to keep Stark Unlimited out of the hands of Roxxon and A.I.M., Tony’s stopped pulling punches. But sabotage attacks are getting him nowhere while the board vote proceeds full speed. And when he finds out who’s REALLY behind the acquisition efforts, all hell’s gonna break loose. The Iron Monger’s dark secret will be revealed in the final chapter of “the Stark-Roxxon War”!

Notes

  • When Iron Man leaps at the Iron Monger and slashes her with his sword, he exclaims, "Have at thee!!!" while his inner monologue states that he is borrowing "a friend's trick." He is making an allusion to Thor, Tony's exclamation being one of his catchphrases.
  • Iron Man mentions that the X-Men told him about Belasco. He is a character with a notable tie to the X-Men via Magik. Belasco abducted her to Limbo as a child and made her his apprentice.

Trivia

  • Tony Stark's specific remark that Stark Unlimited doesn't use acquisitions as a means to grow reflects writer Spencer Ackerman's observation that real-life technology conglomerates mostly grow through acquisition rather than innovation and manufacturing.[1]
  • One of the bystanders reacting to Iron Man fighting the Iron Monger expresses, "--like if Iron Man was into Amebix--" Amebix was an English crust punk band. Ackerman has cited crust punk as one of the Improvised Armor's earliest inspirations.[2] Amebix lead vocalist and bass player Rob Miller is a swordsmith.

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ Brooke, David (August 25, 2024) AIPT Comics Podcast Episode 290: Iron Man vs. a hostile acquisition: Writer Spencer Ackerman talks Tony Stark's next era AIPT. Retrieved on December 28, 2024.

    Spencer Ackerman (01:12:06): "Among the things that we see tech giants in particular do over the last fifteen years–you can go a little further back, but certainly over the last fifteen years–is not so much innovate, necessarily, anymore, but grow through acquisition. Think of Meta purchasing WhatsApp. Think of Google purchasing YouTube. Think of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter and turning it into X. Things like that. The way that they would grow would be through acquisition rather than innovation, rather than manufacturing."
  2. ↑ Brooke, David (August 25, 2024) AIPT Comics Podcast Episode 290: Iron Man vs. a hostile acquisition: Writer Spencer Ackerman talks Tony Stark's next era (2) AIPT. Retrieved on December 28, 2024.

    Spencer Ackerman (58:46): "There were a lot of different iterations of [the Improvised Armor]. I had been going a little bit more crust punk in the way that I had described it. Julius came back with steampunk. And everyone involved as just like, 'That's better. That's a much better idea.'"
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