Iron Man 2.0 #5: Review

May 2011

Nick Spencer, Ariel Olivetti

Story Name:

Fear Itself, Part 1

Review & Comments

Rating:

Iron Man 2.0 #5 Review by Rob Johnson (January 2, 2013)

As Rhodey notes, the ongoing Palmer Addley story has been interrupted by Fear Itself. We're deep in Iron Fist territory here, as revealed in the Immortal Iron Fist series. K'un Lun was revealed there to be one of the 7 Cities of Heaven, and Iron Fist was one of the Immortal Weapons, each the champion of one of the cities. John Aman, Prince of Orphans, is another of them. The other Immortal Weapons are also mentioned here, except Steel Phoenix who lost his position in the IIF series. During the series it was also revealed that there was an 8th city, which was a prison. Iron Fist and the other Immortal Weapons went on a mission in there, which John Aman refers to here. Since then Iron Fist has joined the New Avengers, and John Aman has worked with the Secret Avengers. This is the 1st appearance of Monkey King. In IIF the 8th city had a different ruler, who got deposed. We'll learn more about Monkey King and his relation to the legendary Chinese original in the Fear Itself: Monkey King 1-shot.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Iron Man 2.0 #5 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

The scene is the 8th City of Heaven, which is a Hell. It is currently ruled by Sun Wukong, the Monkey King (actually human-looking). We see him challenged by Bravest Panda Foot and some allies. Wukong makes short work of them. But then he sees one of the hammers from Fear Itself #2 land in the K'un Lun Mountains, and goes to claim it for himself.

Iron Man 2.0 is in Washington DC where we saw him fighting Sin's invading Nazi battle machines with Ant-Man and Beast in Secret Avengers #13. Here he is joined by another Secret Avenger, John Aman Prince of Orphans. He is one of the Immortal Weapons of the 7 Cities of Heaven, and senses that the gates to the 8th City have been opened.

Aman is summoned by an old pact to close the gates and, for a reason that will become clearer in #7, James Rhodes gets dragged along with him. He expects to see the other Immortal Weapons:- Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, Dog Brother #1, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter and Iron Fist.

Iron Fist is in Beijing facing Titania, transformed by her hammer in FI#2 to Skirn, Breaker of Men, and Absorbing Man who is looking for the hammer in the 8th City.