Iron Man #263
Armor Wars II Part 6: Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make
In the Valley of the Dragon, the Mandarin and his ally Chen Hsu have awoken the ancient dragon Fin Fang Foom. In response, the Chinese sends an army to try and stop the monster but they are quickly crushed. The Mandarin is in awe over the dragon’s might, and Chen Hsu tells him that this is not the first time Fin Fang Foom has terrorized the world.[1] When one of the surviving soldiers tries to get away, the Mandarin uses one of his power rings to kill him. After Fin Fang Foom has finished off the soldiers he threatens the Mandarin and Chen Hsu. The old wizard is unphased by the threat and quickly blows smoke from his pipe into the monster’s face, causing him to fall back into slumber. With the dragon completely under his control, the Mandarin begins planning to restore the Chinese dynasties of old.
Meanwhile, at Stark Industries in California, Tony Stark tests his mentally controlled armor, which he is forced to wear to counteract whoever has been hacking the bio-chip in his spine and controlling his body.[2] However, this has come at a cost as Tony can no longer feel his body and fears that he might be causing irreparable damage to his nervous system.
Elsewhere, Kearson DeWitt is furious that they lost control of Tony Stark and demands his team of scientists to regain control. He reminds them that if they fail they will feel the wrath of Desmond and Phoebe Marrs, the twin billionaires that are funding their operation. That’s when they detect that Stark’s right arm is able to be controlled again.
This is because Tony has Jim has removed the armor from Tony’s arm to make adjustments. The moment he does, Stark involuntarily punches him, prompting Tony to restrain his rogue limb until Jim can put the armor back on. To make matters worse, the alarms begin going off, signaling the return of the Living Laser. Jim thinks it is a bad idea to fight the Laser, but Tony points out that he is the only one who can do it. As Stark heads off to face the Laser, Jim contemplates wearing the Iron Man armor again, but realizes he still can’t bring himself to do it.[3]
When Iron Man goes out to fight the Living Laser, the villain tries to use his powers to fuse all the circuits in his armor.[4] Luckily, Jim has called in help from the Avengers West Coast who have dispatched Wonder Man and Hank Pym to help. They arrive just in time to pull Iron Man to safety. Armed with a reflective shield, Wonder Man is able to distract the Living Laser long enough for Iron Man to recover. The armored Avenger manages to rip up his repuslors with a beam that causes the Living Laser to dissipate. However, Iron Man tells the others that the Living Laser cannot be killed in his current energy form and it will only be a matter of time before he reforms himself.[5] With the battle over, Simon and Hank head back to Avengers Compound, telling Iron Man to come by sometime and lend them a hand. Tony promises that he will if there ever comes a time when he can safely appear in public again.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Living Laser, Jim Rhodes, Wonder Man, Hank Pym, Mandarin, Chen Hsu, Fin Fang Foom, Kearson DeWitt
Continuity Notes
It’s later revealed in Iron Man #274 that Fin Fang Foom was one of a crew of Makluans that crashed landed on Earth thousands of years earlier. While most of his fellow crewmen assumed human guises (such as Chen Hsu), he maintained his true form and terrorize humanity on many other occasions. See Strange Tales #89.
Recently, Tony was shot through the spine by a jilted love named Kathy Dare in Iron Man #242. This left him confined to a wheelchair until he had an experimental bio-chip implanted in his spine to repair the damage in issue #248. He has been stricken with bouts of phantom pains since Iron Man #256. As we’ll find out between this issue and Iron Man #266 that this bio-chip was a trap set by the Marrs twins — rivals in business — to replace Tony’s nervous system with one that they can used to remotely control his body. Even after this plot is foiled, Tony will suffer lasting effects from it until he is fully cured in Iron Man #290.
Jim once spent an extended period as Iron Man during a period where Tony was spiraling deep into alcoholism. His primary tenure lasted from Iron Man #169 through 200 when Tony got well enough to resume the mantle. Following this, Jim would occasionally wear Iron Man’s armor until an incident where he nearly burned up on re-entery through Earth’s atmosphere in Iron Man #215 put a fear in him that has prevented Rhodes from putting the armor on again. He’ll be over this by Iron Man #270.
The Living Laser mentions the last time he and Iron Man fought. That was in issue #259-260.
Stark’s not wrong as the Living Laser will turn up again in Iron Man #289.
