Invincible Iron Man #116: Review

Nov 1978

David Michelinie, John Romita Jr.

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Story Name:

Anguish, Once Removed!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #116 Review by T Vernon (December 3, 2014)

Review: As noted, David Michelinie takes over as writer this issue and the first thing he does is to get rid of Madame Masque after Bill Mantlo went through all the trouble of bringing her back. And as for Happy and Pepper teased in ish #112, she won’t be seen again until #165 and then both of them in #199! At least Spymaster sort of gets some closure next issue. Since the main thing Michelinie is doing is closing Mantlo’s plots, we won’t ask how easy it was for the baddie to plant a bomb in the penthouse of Tony Stark, the most security-conscious guy this side of Nick Fury and just sit back an enjoy another issue that is better than it had a right to be. Thanks guys, for some nice scenes of the annoying Ani-Men being beaten to a pulp. Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best.

Comments: David Michelinie takes over as writer this issue for what will be a celebrated run. Nefaria returns as a zombie in AVENGERS #353-354 and then in an ionic humanoid form in IRON MAN ANNUAL ’99. Last appearance of the real Madame Masque until AVENGERS (1998 series) #32; a bio-duplicate (the first of six!) will show up in issue #138 and hang around for years. For the next appearance of the Ani-Men (DAREDEVIL #157-158) they are new men wearing the costumes so we can assume these guys all died in the explosion, thus concealing Iron Man’s identity once more.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #116 Synopsis by T Vernon

The Ani-Men overwhelm Tony Stark while Count Nefaria explains how he escaped from Avengers Mansion during their fight with Arsenal (issue #114), enlisted the beastly quartet, and forced his daughter Madame Masque to aid him. Across the street, the mystery assassin, here revealed to be Spymaster, activates a bomb previously planted. Tony manages to reach his briefcase and suit up as Iron Man in front of the villains—after that he makes short work of the Ani-Men. But Ape-Man hurls Shellhead off the balcony just as the bomb goes off. His jet-boots damaged in the fall, a worried Iron Man races up the stairs in search of his traitorous love but can’t find her. A guard saw Masque taking her father out of the building before the blast went off so Tony dashes to the Stark lab (the only place nearby with the technology to help Nefaria) only to be attacked by his LMD who is a match for him in speed and strength; IM electrocutes his duplicate and moves on to the lab. There he tells Whitney that her father will be rejuvenated at Avengers Mansion where the heroes can keep an eye on the process. Whitney objects and uses his Jupiter Landing Vehicle to fight him. Iron Man smashes his giant toy into pieces—and then discovers that in the brawl, Nefaria’s life support machinery was also destroyed. Seeing as her lover has killed her father, Madame Masque tells Tony she is going away for a long time to sort out her feelings….

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