Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the last 2 issues, on his space trek, Iron Man saved the Voldi Tear spaceship/world from robot space pirates, but was then sentenced to death by the Voldi for killing one of their gods, the Phoenix Force (in Avengers vs X-Men). Rigellian Recorder 451 advised him to opt for trial by combat. Tony Stark defeated a series of Voldi champions (using moves taught him by Captain America among others), while the Recorder went in search of the Iron Man armour. But then the Voldi played their trump card, Death's Head the 30ft robot bounty hunter. And the Recorder went after the Voldi Heart, which we have learnt protected the Voldi from cosmic beings, rather than the armour.
Unarmoured Stark spends the latest bout barely managing to dodge his opponent. He tries complaining that the Voldi have cheated, because his opponents were supposed to be unenhanced (and Tony couldn't use his armour). Death's Head reasonably points out he's not using any of his weaponry, but his 30ft metal body is him.
Recorder 451 is about to leave in his spaceship with the stolen Heart. But before he goes he activates Stark's armour and tells its PEPPER AI to rescue Tony. The armour breaks into the combat arena, blasts Death's Head, enclothes its master and they make their escape.
Iron Man heads back to his mobile armoury, followed by Voldi Mechanohoplite robots. Tony messages ahead to tell it to ready the warp-homer gun. On arrival Stark adds the gun to his armour, and starts potting the robots.
Meanwhile the Voldi Tear gets a visit from Celestials, who they know as Star Giants. Normally this would be a time of joy, but this time the Celestials attack the spaceship. The Voldi Supreme Justicar goes to check on the Heart, which should be protecting them, and of course finds it's not there.
At the same time the remaining Mechanohoplites stop dead, and PEPPER tells Tony she detects an attack on the Tear. Despite the fact they wanted to excute him, hero Iron Man heads back to help the Voldi. But a message from the Recorder warns him not to bother.
We learnt last issue that the Voldi drain energy from powerful beings like the Celestials. 451 makes clear that the Heart kept such beings from noticing. Now that he has taken the Heart, the Celestials can sense what the Voldi are doing. The Recorder likens them to a parasite such as a leech. The parasite may well honour its host as a providing god. (The Phoenix Force was another of the Voldi's energy sources.) But the Celestials are now squashing the parasite.
By the time Iron Man reaches the site there are no survivors and the Celestials are gone.
Recorder 451 explains that this whole 3-issue story was engineered by himself to get hold of the Heart to use as a cloaking device. He arranged for the robot pirate attack to get Iron Man into the Voldi ship. Then he told the Voldi about the death of the Phoenix Force, to use the trial-by-combat as a distraction.
He reminds Stark that this Recorder has pledged to act rather than just record, to combat evil. The Heart will enable him to be much more effective. The death of the Voldi was justified by the good he will do.
Recorder 451 takes his leave. But Iron Man swears to get justice for the Voldi. (But not, I think, in the storyline starting next issue.)