Synopsis
Iron Man (2024 series) #8 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Tony Stark has a plan to destabilise Dr Doom's rule (in the One World Under Doom event) by working with the Latverian Patriotic Front. As part of the scheme he's taken Stark Unlimited back into arms manufacture and is arranging a deal to supply Doom's army with advanced weapons which soldiers loyal to the LPF can then use against him.
Commander Hunyadi of the LPF has arrived at a 5-star hotel in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan to meet with Stark's liaison Melinda May. She assures him that the place is secure because Stark bought the building and all the staff are her people. He recognises her as ex-SHIELD but accepts rakiyah (a Balkan brandy) from her, and also accepts that Stark wants him here so she can keep an eye on him. But he asks that Stark do something about the Doom-phones of his soldiers within the Latverian dome so that they can communicate with him secretly. May messages Stark HQ to get the phones upgraded remotely. But then Red Widow, Vanguard and Crimson Dynamo of the Russian Winter Guard (last seen in #6) crash the party.
Tony is in Los Angeles (at the current West Coast Avengers base) with Vishte Taru, the youth he rescued from the LPF (#6 again), playing hoops. Vishte distracts Tony to score and Tony stumbles, still suffering from the hospitalisation in #1. He ignores his phone trilling in his bag at the side of the court in order to score a revenge basket. They end the game and Tony asks Vishte why the LPF wanted him dead. He says they were bigots who couldn't accept that magic might help them fight Doom. He taught himself magic off the Internet and he's got quite good even though it sometimes scars him, but Tony reminds him that Doom is Sorcerer Supreme now.
Stark also reminds him and us that they're only helping the LPF in order to cause Doom problems, they don't want them to win. Vishne's worried what would happen if they did win, but Tony says he believes Doom is much stronger than that. And anyway it will take a while to get the missiles ready. His contact with Doom, Victorious from last issue, wants to see SU's full production capacity before they sign the deal.
He finally checks his phone and sees the text from May asking for an upgrade to the Latverian army phones. He'll delegate that to Vishne, and authorises him to snoop on the LPF's messages while he's at it. At that point his makeshift armour's half-trained AI Iron.GPT contacts him to inform him that the New York State SU missile factory is shut down by a union strike. So he armours up and they both fly there ...
... where Melinda May's STark Reconnaissance, Intelligence and Kinetic-Evasion BRigade for Electronic Attack, Espionage and Ruggedized Solutions (STRIKEBREAKERS) led by their sergeant charge the picket line wielding batons. The Union leader Ramon Vincente (from #1) fights back against the Sarge but other BREAKERS beat him down. Then Iron Man arrives and zaps the Sarge with his big Repulsword. He tells Iron.GPT to call for ambulances and the police - he's going to have the BREAKERS arrested.
Tony takes Ramon aside for a chat. He recognised the Union in #1, but Ramon says no-one's arranged their contract. Stark offers the excuse that he was in hospital for a while and then Doom took over the world, but now he'll sign the contract immediately. But Vincente still won't bring the workers back to work because a lot of them are now injured and he no longer trusts Stark's word until he sees the signed contract (and because in #1 Tony also told *him* they wouldn't be making weapons). Tony tries to explain how vital it is in the fight against Doom, and he makes the mistake of saying he'll automate the factory if he has to. Of course this hardens Ramon's heart and he says the Union's demands will now increase, and they've got a large fighting fund due to some big donations. And Tony thinks he might know who's behind it. So Iron Man excuses himself and flies away ...
... to Midwood, Brooklyn where an old man is pushing his shopping trolley down the street. He sees IM approaching and abandons the trolley, leaps high to swing on an overhead pole, lands on a rooftop and fires wrist blasts at the incoming armour. Black Widow discards her disguise and accuses Tony of lying to her (#6) about becoming an arms dealer to start a war between Doom and the LPF. He responds that she couldn't give him better alternative. She warns him that she and the Avengers will shut him down.
Tony returns to Ramon who's having a coffee with Vishne. It appears that Vincente also wants the Union to have a seat on the board which Stark also promised in #1, and now he's raised it to 3 seats. And after a brief inner consultation with himself Tony agrees with that and they shake hands.
IM and VT fly away again. IronMan.GPT forwards a message it had previously ignored as a Russian phishing attempt. Red Widow has Melinda May and Hunyadi captive. Our duo head to that location.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Melinda May, Vishte Taru.
EnemiesPlus: Crimson Dynamo (
Dmitri Bukharin), Red Widow, Winter Guard.