Invincible Iron Man #283: Review

Aug 1992

Len Kaminski, Kev Hopgood

Story Name:

Put the Hammer Down!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #283 Review by T Vernon (July 10, 2018)

Comments: Part three of three parts. The cover has “War Machine” painted over the Iron Man logo. Title is trucker slang for driving at full speed but has a more literal meaning in this context. The Masters of Silence will return in Annual #14.

Review: There is something oddly satisfying in seeing a great deal of damage done to property, especially when the damager is a superhero. Here, Tony Stark gets back at his fairly colorless enemy Justin Hammer (he started out so cool, when did he become “generic evil businessman”?) and soundly threatens him. Not as cool as the previous issue with the ninjas and simulations—the Masters don't have as much to do here—but still cool. Things should get very interesting next time around....

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #283 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man in his new War Machine armor leads the Masters of Silence in an attack on Justin Hammer's artificial island stronghold. Hammer's forces fire on Rhodey in his helicopter but Rhodey evades the missiles and fires a couple of his own at the target. Iron Man enters the main building, accompanied by the invisible Masters, easily taking out armed minions from Hydra and other criminal groups. While the Masters deal with the front line troops, Shellhead heads for the command center; Hammer calls out the Mandroids. The angry Avenger walks through automated guns, rips through the Mandroids, tears open an impregnable door, smacks down human guards to confront Justin Hammer. But Hammer is gone. Shellhead pursues him through the building until the villain runs into the Masters of Silence. Iron Man dictates terms: Hammer must exonerate Tony Stark of the fraud charges; he must repay Akane the defrauded company; he must sell his Stane holdings back to Stark for a dollar—and if he reneges, he will be turned over to the Masters of Silence. Rhodey picks up his boss, the Masters vanish without a world, and Tony is quite ill....

Dr Erica Sondheim berates Tony for using up what little time he had left. He spends hours dictating last minute details to various subordinates and does not feel the comfort he was expecting....

Epilogue: The villainous cabal, now without Justin Hammer, moves ahead in their plot against Tony Stark....