| Tony Stark |  Then I'll see you next Saturday night...that is, unless you stand me up!  |
| Marion | Any girl who'd stand you up, darling, would have to be stark, raving ma-a-ad! |
Appearing in "Iron Man Versus Gargantus!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Marion (Tony Stark's girlfriend) (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Unnamed gangsters
- Professor Ford (First appearance)
- Escaped circus felines
- Gargantus (First appearance; destruction)
- Unidentified Aliens
Other Characters:
- United States Army
- Unnamed United States Army General
- Unnamed soldiers
- Jeanne (First appearance)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Sol
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Long Island
- Queens
- Flushing (First appearance)
- Stark Industries (First appearance; unnamed)
- Flushing (First appearance)
- Queens
- Long Island
- New York City
- Granville (First appearance)
- New York
- Hollywood, Los Angeles, California (Mentioned)
- United States of America
- Europe
- Switzerland (First appearance)
- Geneva (First appearance)
- Monaco (First appearance)
- Monte Carlo (First appearance)
- Rome, Italy (Mentioned)
- Switzerland (First appearance)
- Africa (Referenced)
- North America
- Earth
Items:
- Jet-Powered Roller Skates (First appearance)
- Iron Man Armor Model 1 (First time painted gold)
- Iron Man's Briefcase (First appearance)
Vehicles:
- Unidentified Alien Saucer Ship
Synopsis for "Iron Man Versus Gargantus!"
Tony Stark travels the world, collecting awards for his scientific achievement, impressing military brass with his new inventions, and wowing the ladies with his wealth and good looks. However, he has to constantly remove himself from social situations in order to privately recharge his iron chest plate, which keeps the shrapnel lodged in his chest away from his heart. While taking Marion, one of his girlfriends, on a date to the circus, several big cats break loose and start terrorizing the crowd. Tony steals away into a private corner and changes into his Iron Man armor. Iron Man’s hulking, gray, armored figure saunters into the big top arena, corrals the cats into a group and shocks them into submission.
Iron Man quickly changes back into Tony Stark and returns to Marion, who tells him that Iron Man would be much less terrifying looking if he didn’t wear such dull, gray armor. She suggests he would look more like a "knight in shining armor" if he wore gold armor. This inspires Tony to change the color of Iron Man's armor from gray to shiny gold. While Marion leaves on a short trip to Granville, Tony takes the opportunity to change the color of his armor. The following Saturday night, when he goes to pick Marion up at the airport, he discovers that she is not on the airplane when it arrives. He's informed that the whole city of Granville is shut down and locked up tight, and that nobody knows why.
As Iron Man, Stark heads to Granville and learns that a wall has been built around the entire city limits and has armed guards posted on top. The local National Guard cannot bust in because "the town has the legal right to put up a wall." Iron Man decides to take matters into his own hands and tunnels underneath the wall. Inside the wall, he addresses some townspeople, who warn him that they cannot speak to him for fear of disobeying Gargantus! In fact, the people are in such fear that they throw cans and bottles at Iron Man to shoo him away from the city. Iron Man leaves the scene, and when he turns the corner he sees townspeople erecting a massive statue of what appears to be a large Neanderthal man. They are all bowing to him in prayer. The crowd sees Iron Man and begins to chase him again. Believing he needs to shock them from the spell they must be under, Iron Man pushes a ten-ton truck into the statue, busting it into pieces, yet the people continue to worship the rubble.
Iron Man flies away from the marauding townspeople and lands on the top of a tall building. He plays a challenge to Gargantus through the tiny public address speakers in his belt. Within seconds, the giant Neanderthal appears wielding a club. He stares down Iron Man with brightly glowing eyes that looked as if they were "mirrors reflecting the sun." Strangely, Iron Man notices there is a thick, dark cloud hovering nearby in the sky. He grabs a flag and holds it up in the air, watching it ripple in the breeze. Iron Man thinks to himself that he has finally solved the mystery of Gargantus, and instead of facing him directly in combat, lures him down to street level.
In the street, Iron Man spots his girlfriend Marion while moving towards the city square with Gargantus remaining in hot pursuit. Now, with plenty of room to move, Iron Man launches three transistor-powered magnets which surround Gargantus and begin to use their extraordinary power to pull him completely apart. Gargantus disintegrates into a pile of gears, tubes and motors, revealing that he was a robot! Iron Man shines a search light from his chest plate skyward, penetrating the dark cloud and revealing a hovering flying saucer. A citizen of Granville, now free from his hypnotic state, tells Iron Man that he remembers the flying saucer appearing over the city, and then Gargantus dropped from the saucer and began
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hypnotizing everyone. Iron Man reveals that he suspected things were not as they seemed when the monster's eyes appeared to be reflecting the sunlight, when there was no sun to reflect! Furthermore, a dark cloud overhead remained in place despite the blowing wind which would have blown any normal cloud out of the way!
Iron Man hurls his magnets towards the flying saucer, which retreats into space. The alien occupants are upset that the planet Earth has changed since their ancestors explored it 80,000 years ago, when it was inhabited by Neanderthal people like Gargantus! Their plan to dominate the Neanderthal men with a "super-Neanderthal" had been foiled. Back in New York, Tony Stark greets Marion at the airport and acts oblivious to the excitement that had occurred in Granville.
Appearing in "Work of Art"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Hendrick Rammp
- Borger (artist)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Work of Art"
- Synopsis not yet written
Appearing in "Prophet of Doom"
Featured Characters:
- Unnamed time-traveler
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- 2 bank robbers
- 2 police officers (Joe named)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Prophet of Doom"
A man future arrives in the present day in order to set himself up as ruler. He attempts to extort 100 million dollars from the Secretary General of the United Nations only to be shocked when the Secretary reveals that he too is from the future and that there are agents planted in every era in order to apprehend criminals who may attempt to alter the course of events.
Notes
- This issue features the first time we see Tony Stark recharging his armor's chest plate.
- This issue features the first time Iron Man uses his armor's boring tools, loudspeaker, monobeam searchlight and miniature magnets.
- Iron Man changes the color of his armor gold for the first time.
Trivia
- Unhappy with colorist Stan Goldberg's lead-grey armor, Stan Lee ordered it changed to gold for Iron Man's second appearance.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- A dream version of Gargantus created by Count Nefaria appears in Tales of Suspense #67.
- The same aliens send another group of robots to Earth, which encounter Iron Man and Captain America in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5.