Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #263 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
The Chinese army is dispatched to investigate eerie rumors in a remote part of the country. They are attacked and wiped out by the revived Fin Fang Foom. This tableau is observed by the Mandarin and Chen Hsu, the former impatient at the lessons the wizard is trying to draw for him. Pausing briefly to turn a refugee to glass, Mandarin sees FFF return from his romp to menace Mandy and Chen Hsu—who blows a mouthful of smoke into the dragon's face, putting him to sleep once more until they are ready to use him to create a new dynasty in China....
Tony Stark, his body controlled remotely by bad guys, is getting used to overriding that control by a mentally activated Iron Man armor. Elsewhere, Kearson DeWitt demands of his staff that they regain control of Stark's body, or else. When James Rhodes (“Rhodey”) removes the armor's right arm for examination, the baddies take control of Tony's real arm and use it punch Rhodey in the head. Tony and Rhodey quickly force the metal arm back on and regain control. Then an alarm goes off, indicating that the Living Laser has returned (he left in #260) to kill his arch-enemy. Iron Man faces him but his servos are too slow and LL fuses the repulsor circuits in one of his gloves. Shellhead is quickly at the villain's mercy when Wonder Man and Hank Pym arrive, summoned by Rhodey, and snatch the hero away. Wonder Man attacks the villain wielding a mirrored shield and the two mix it up for a couple of pages. Then Iron Man returns and uses his working repulsor to break the Laser up into particles and diffuse them through the universe, not killing him but slowing him down for a few issues. He thanks Wonder Man and Hank Pym and they head back to West Coast Avengers HQ, leaving Iron Man to wonder when he can safely appear in public again....
Characters:
Plus: Chen Hsu, Kearson DeWitt.