Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Iron Man And The Armor Wars #4 Synopsis by
T Vernon
Tony Stark awakens chained to a wall in a dungeon beneath the streets of Manhattan. He is being watched by General Rostov, the Red Barbarian, plus Darkstar, Omega Red, and…Rhodey? Rostov explains that he wants Tony to be weapons designer for his Neo-Soviets. Tony laughs, finding it ironic that the Soviets’ best plan for defeating the West is through stealing American weapons. After smacking his face, Rostov and company take their leave to allow Tony to think it over….
Congressman Wyndham threatens FBI Director Stone with severe repercussions if they don’t capture Tony Stark. Stone counters that he knows Wyndham opposes Stark because he has been taking illegal contributions from Justin Hammer. Agent Keith Dekker questions the real James Rhodes as to where Tony Stark is. Dekker explains that Ivan Krushki confessed to being part of a Neo-Soviet scheme to kill Tony but needs to discover the enemy headquarters to rescue Tony. Rhodey is skeptical but Dekker, a former Marine whose life Rhodey saved during Desert Storm, convinces him the Bureau’s interests are genuine….
Omega Red is demanding Tony’s Stark’s blood to feed on; Rostov says that was only when killing him was the goal. O-Red goes crazy and clobbers Rostov and the fake Rhodey and heads for the dungeon. Meanwhile, Darkstar, having realized that the Neo-Soviets are not the noble cause Rostov described but an obsession, brings Tony his gauntlets just in time for the two of them to team up to defeat Omega Red. The fake Rhodey runs into Tony, who has the complete current armor on, and believes that he is the real Rhodey who has somehow turned against him. He punches his face and discovers it is a plastic disguise; Darkstar explains that he is a Russian agent called The Actor and Tony can’t believe that he suddenly distrusted his closest friend. Then Rostov shows up in the Hulkbuster armor and a battle begins that soon breaks through into the subway. While Rostov hammers at the hero, Darkstar does what she can to evacuate the station. Hulkbuster has the greater advantage…until Iron Man tricks Rostov into stepping on the third rail whereupon Shellhead lets go with everything he’s got and the villain falls. But Rostov isn’t done and triggers the self-destruct mechanism. Iron Man manages to protect Darkstar behind a force field and they are safe….
Later, Tony Stark addresses the media, apologizing for thinking he could solve the world’s problems by giving up making weapons. He vows to create safer weapons as well as continue with the Peacekeeper project; he announces that Rhodey, assisted by Pepper Potts, will be in charge of Stark Enterprises while he goes back east. In his limo he receives a call from Doctor Doom: the supervillain reveals that he knew about the Red Barbarian’s plot all along and aided Tony simply because when Iron Man is destroyed it will be Doom who does it….