Iron Man #127
A Man’s Home is His Battlefield…
Framed for murder and a prisoner of Justin Hammer, Iron Man finds himself surrounded by an army of super-villains. Iron Man vows that once he’s done with these villains he is coming after Hammer next. Although each of these villains have high tech weapons of their own, they are no match for the technological marvels of Iron Man’s armor. As Iron Man begins taking down Stilleto, Discus and the Beetle, it becomes apparent to some that this is not going to be an easy win. When Justin Hammer orders Water Wizard to do something, the villain wisely decides that it is better to flee than get his ass handed to him by Iron Man. With his minions falling left and right, Hammer orders Spymaster to begin organizing their escape.
By this time, Iron Man has taken down both Melter and Blizzard. Then, he uses his ability to project holographic duplicates of himself to confuse Man-Killer and toss Constrictor into her. Next comes the Porcupine who boasts about his suits built in weapons. However, before he can fire his grenade launcher, Iron Man snaps the trap door shut causing an implosion that renders Porcupine powerless. By this time, Justin Hammer has organized his private army and orders them to attack Iron Man.
That’s when the police arrive with Jim Rhodes, who tells Hammer to surrender as his floating home is being surrounded. With his plan falling apart, Justin Hammer jettisons the flotation foils from his home in order to move it out to international waters where the Moroccan police have no authority. Iron Man chases after the floating mansion and smashes through its foundation, cracking it in half. He then rescues Phillip Barnett, the man who Hammer had used to hack into Iron Man’s armor and frame him for murder.[1] As Iron Man pulls Barnett from the waters, he agrees to flip on Justin Hammer. Although Iron Man manages to get the evidence he needs to clear his name, Justin Hammer managed to escape in the confusion.
Returning to the United States, Iron Man gives a televised interview where he presents the evidence that clears his name. Despite the fact that the Avenger is found innocent, he is still haunted by the death of Sergei Kotznin. Leaving the TV station, Iron Man finds a crowd gathered outside. When a little girl drops her doll, the hero tries to return it to her but she is afraid of Iron Man. This doesn’t sit well with Tony Stark who decides to try and let off some steam by going out for drinks. Later that evening he gets a call from Bethany Cabe who asks to meet up with Tony so they can make up for their earlier argument. Tony is so drunk that he writes down the wrong address. Unaware of this, Tony gets annoyed when he shows up at the wrong place and believes that Bethany is blowing him off and storms off. When Tony is a no show, Bethany worries that Tony is slowly destroying himself like Alex did, and wonders if she can stop it from happening.[2]
Later that evening, at Avengers Mansion, Jarvis is doing dishes when he hears a commotion out in the living room. Going to see what is going on, Jarvis is shocked to see Tony Stark drunk out of his mind with some strange woman. When Jarvis questions Tony about this, Stark angrily reprimands Jarvis, reminding him that he’s just the hired help.[3] Hurt by this comment, Jarvis leaves without further word. The next morning, Tony wakes up at his office with a massive hangover just as Ms. Arbogast calls to tell him that Jarvis has come to see him.[4] Jarvis has come to hand over his resignation, as Tony’s behavior toward him the night before the was final straw and walks out after making the delivery. Realizing what he had done the night before, Tony Stark realizes that he couldn’t blame what happened on Iron Man and prays to God for help.[4]
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Justin Hammer, Melter, Blizzard, Whiplash, Beetle, Spymaster, Leap-Frog, Water Wizard, Stiletto, Discus, Man-Killer, Porcupine, Constrictor, Bethany Cabe, Jim Rhodes, Artemus Pithins, Edwin Jarvis, Philip Barnett, Bambi Arbogast (voice)
Continuity Notes
Barnett hacked into Iron Man’s armor multiple times starting in Iron Man #118. Later in issue #124, this was used to assassinate the Ambassador of Carnila as part of a scheme to prevent Stark International from securing a lucrative government contract.
“Alex” is Alex Van Tilborg, Bethany’s former husband who abused drugs, as we’ll learn next issue.
Ms. Arbogast’s full name is not given here. It’s identified as Bambi in Iron Man #137.
Chief among Jarvis’ concerns is Tony’s blatant breach of security and how Henry Gyrich will react. At the time of this story, Gyrich was the government liaison to the Avengers and was keeping the group on a tight leash after a number of security breaches. See Avengers #168-181 for all the details.
This resignation letter is somewhat infamous because it is an altered version of the resignation letter that was Dave Cockrum wrote when he quit at Marvel Comics, only with references to the company replaced with the Avengers. This was such a dick move that writer David Micheline wrote an apology for it in issue #130. To date nobody knows who slotted in Cockrum’s resignation in the place of the one intended for the story. It’s interesting to note that despite this, the Cockrum inspired letter remains intact even in reprints.
Topical References
Some of Justin Hammer’s computers are depicted as having reel-to-reel recorders as data storage. This is such an obsolete technology I shouldn’t need to explain why this is a topical reference.
The mayor of New York City is depicted as Abe Koch here. He was NYC’s mayor from 1978 to 1989. His appearance here should be topical, particularly since Koch died in 2013.
Iron Man gives an interview to CBS News at the end of this story. This should be considered a topical reference as CBS is a real world television network.
Tony compares the size of his hang-over to Adrienne Barbeau’s breasts. This comic was written in 1978 when Barbeau was at the height of her acting career. Perverts of the time knew her for her ample breasts. This should be considered a topical reference since Barbeau (at the time of this writing in July 2021) is 76 years old and not quite the sex symbol now as she was in the 70s.
