At Stark Industries’ main research plant, Anton Vanko, the former Crimson Dynamo (see issue #46) dons his electrified battle armor and enters his lab. He is working on a laser light and the only way to test it is with a human guinea pig and he hopes to avoid death by wearing the Dynamo suit. Tony Stark, observing through a window in his office, realizes what Vanko is doing and swings down on a rope and pulls the Russian scientist to safety, narrowly avoiding being disintegrated by his invention. Vanko regrets no having a successful test to present to his new country, which took him in when he defected from the Soviet Union….
Meanwhile, in the Kremlin, Premier Khrushchev gains confirmation that Vanko has defected to the West and summons his top two agents, the Black Widow and Boris. The black-clad femme fatale and the giant strongman are assigned to kill Tony Stark and Anton Vanko, and, if necessary, Iron Man….
Shortly thereafter, a pair of foreign science teachers arrives at the Stark plant, asking for a tour of the facility to see the latest American technology. Playboy Stark is smitten with the beauteous Madame Natasha and offers to take her to dinner while Boris tours the plant alone. Once in the building, Boris breaks into Vanko’s lab and kidnaps the defector, planning to return him to Russia alive. Boris then sneaks back into the plant and dons the Crimson Dynamo armor and begins a campaign of sabotage from within. Tony is notified at the swanky nightclub and he and Madame Natasha return to find the plant in flames. Tony sneaks off and puts on his Iron Man armor and enters the burning building. He encounters the Crimson Dynamo and, naturally assuming it’s Vanko in the armor, leaves himself vulnerable to an electrical attack. Boris carries off the unconscious hero and delivers him to the waiting submarine. Left alone, the weakened Iron Man plugs his spare extension cord into a light bulb and recharges. As he escapes, Shellhead encounters the captive Vanko, who explains the situation to him. They return to the plant where Iron Man and the second Crimson Dynamo battle furiously. The Black Widow distracts Iron Man long enough for Boris to spray him with water short-circuiting some of his transistors—but now Iron Man knows Natasha is an enemy too. To give the hero enough time to recover, Vanko fires the unperfected laser light pistol at the enemy and it pierces the Dynamo armor, killing him but Vanko has sacrificed his own life in the explosion. Natasha escapes in the confusion and when we last see her, she is on the run, fleeing her own people, fearing the price of failure….
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