Iron Man Annual #11
The Terminus Factor Part 2: If the Termini Come
This story continues from Captain America Annual #9…
In a remote shed on the outskirts of Seatle, Machine Man is hard at work attempting to revive his long lost over, Jocasta. After Gears Gavin goes out to get some pizza, Machine Man’s other ally Peter Spaulding tries to wrap his head around the idea of two robots being in love.[1]
Suddenly, the shed is attacked by what appears to be a grizzly bear. However when Machine Man attempts to incapacitate the beast, its fur sloughs off revealing a metallic interior.[2][3] In the ensuing battle, Machine Man’s weapons bounce harmlessly off the creature. It then bites off one of his arms and begins eating it. Realizing that the creature has a hunger for titanium alloy, Machine Man takes off with Jocasta’s severed head to save themselves from becoming next on the menu. Peter tries to buy time by tossing a canister of titanium to keep the creature busy long enough to get away. Unfortunately, the monster devours it quickly and then drags Peter back into the shed and murders him in cold blood.[4]
Not far away, Tony Stark is in town to do a tour of Baintronics, Inc. with owner Sunset Bain to see if he wants to partner up with her business.[5] The tour is interrupted when security informs her that their radar grid is picking up something heading toward the factory at a high rate of speed. Sunset leaves to see what this threat might by, asking Tony to see himself out. Instead, Stark finds someplace private to change into Iron Man and confront the bogey directly. As it turns out, the object is Machine Man who is still flying away from the scene of the attack and he crashed at the shore of a nearby lake.[6] Iron Man takes him back to Baintronics, Inc. Iron Man then asks Bain to watch over Machine Man while he goes back to Los Angeles that can help repair the damaged robot.
Bain agrees, and Iron Man takes off, little knowing that Sunset has had past encounters with Machine Man as the criminal Madame Menace. Once the Avenger is gone, she orders her technicians to stop what they are doing and assist her in operating a machine that will create an exact duplicate of Machine Man that she can use to learn his robotic secrets.[7] They quickly use a Duplikatron device to make an exact copy of Machine Man.[8] Moments later, the metallic bear comes crashing into the Baintronics factory and begins eating their supplies of titanium. When security can’t handle this monster, Bain is forced to radio Iron Man to come back and help.
When Iron Man arrives to fight the creature, he discovers that every time it eats titanium it increases in size and strength. Looking int its eyes he also sees the same effect that he and the people of Georgeville, Washington recently experienced when they were infected by some kind of strange virus. Although Captain America cured them all, Iron Man had the name Terminus burned into his mind ever since. At that moment, Machine Man has come back online and despite his missing arm, helps Iron Man fight the monster. The Avenger decides to take a gamble and takes a huge vat of liquid titanium and dumps it on the robotic bear. The gambit pays off as the molten metal liquifies most of the monster, reducing it to a harmless pile of slag.
With the battle over, Iron Man overhears reports of other metallic animals that have been emerging from the Columbia River and causing havoc. Iron Man and Machine Man realize that the danger is far from over and head off to deal with this emerging threat. After they are gone, Sunset Bain pushes forward with her plans to exploit the duplicate of Machine Man she has created, figuring the threat of the Termini is a minor one to concern herself with.
Meanwhile, Iron Man follows Machine Man back to his shed where they discover the authorities removing Peter’s body from the ruins. Gears Gavin had returned and is devastated that their friend was killed while he was out getting pizza. Promising to avenge their friend’s death, Machine Man quickly replaces his damaged arm and he and Iron Man head off to face the growing threat posed by the Termini.
… This story continues in Thor Annual #15.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Machine Man, Termini, Gears Gavin, Sunset Bain
Continuity Notes
Machine Man and Jocasta met and fell in love in Marvel Two-In-One #92-93, it ended in tragedy when Jocasta sacrificed her life to stop Ultron. Jocasta was briefly restored by the High Evolutionary in Avengers Annual #17. From here, poor or Jocasta will remained an inert severed head until her mind is downloaded into Sunset Bain’s computers in Iron Man (vol. 3) #18. She won’t get a new body again until issue #48 of that series.
This bear was infected with the Terminus virus in Captain America Annual #9. As explained in Thor Annual #15, Terminus created this and unleashed it upon the Earth to spawn another version of himself. The virus replicates by turning host bodies into bio-mechanical monstrosities that will eventually merge into a new Terminus entity.
A footnote here states that this story takes place prior to Iron Man #258, which was the start of the 9 part Armor Wars II storyline. Since I’ve put my index entry for this issue in the spot where it takes place chronologically you don’t have to worry your pretty head about it.
Peter Spaulding will later turn up alive again in X-51 #6, however his survival goes unexplained for years. In Marvel Comics #1001, Machine Man states that the Spaulding who was killed here was nothing more than an impostor. Who this impostor really was and what he was attempting to accomplish has (as of this writing in August, 2022) not been explained.
Here Sunset claims that she gave her name to herself, no explanation has been given to explain what she means by this. She and Tony are acting as thought they are meeting for the first time here. However, they have had a long history in the past. As detailed in Iron Man (vol. 3) #19, Sunset seduced Tony when he attended MIT and use this relationship to steal secrets from Stark Industries to form her own company. She ended their romance soon after she got what she wanted. The pair now pretend as though every time they meet it is like they haven’t met before. It’s a little game they play.
Iron Man recalls encountering Machine Man in the past, saying that those were “darker days”. He is referring to the events of Iron Man #168. During that time, Tony was relapsing into alcoholism. See Iron Man #167-182.
Sunset Bain previously clashed with Machine Man as Madame Menace in Machine Man #17-18. Her obsession with the robot dates back to the time she allegedly met his creator, Able Stack, as a little girl as will be revealed in Marvel Comics Presents (vol. 2) #12.
This is speculation on my part, but later on a Machine Man impostor would appear during a period when the real X-51 was off planet. This impostor was active in starting in Nextwave #1. The fact that he was an impostor was stated (again) in Marvel Comics #1001. I wonder if the duplicate created here was the impostor? It’s an interesting coincidence that this Iron Man annual was referenced in that story.
Topical References
When Sunset Bain is listing off humanoid robots featured in popular culture, she mentions C3P0 from Star Wars and Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet. The Star Wars would not be considered a topical reference since Disney now owns both Marvel and Lucasfilm. On the other hand, the reference to Robby could be topical. Robbie was once synonymously associated to the idea of robotics among the Baby Boomer generation. If I needed to explain to you who Robby the Robot is, that’s why it’s likely a topical reference now.
Media Watch
KSNN Eyewitness News out of Seatle reports on the damage done by Iron Man and Machine Man’s battle with the Termini.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Machine Man, Termini, Gears Gavin, Peter Spaulding
Mobility
James Clay is part of an advocacy group trying to pressure the Silverhound bus company into following the Americans with Disabilities Act. So far, their efforts have been stonewalled so he has called a meeting with his group to organize a protest against the company. However, he has one last thing to talk about before they get to work on their protest banners.
The following day, around noon, Tony Stark is going over paperwork in his office. His thoughts of business are interrupted by a news report about the Silverhound protest and how James Clay and his protestors are blocking busses at a nearby terminal. Empathizing for Clay and his people as, until recently, he too was disabled Tony decides to head out as Iron Man to make sure that things don’t turn violent.[1]
When Iron Man arrives on the scene James and another protestor have chained themselves to the drivers seat and the rear axel of one of the busses. As Iron Man keeps the peace, the bus with the protesters chained to it suddenly starts up and begins rolling toward a bridge. Iron Man makes a harrowing rescue with the help of Clay who is able to help despite his limitations. Clay is then interviewed by the media and gets his message out. The FBI also begins investigating as they discovered that someone at Silverhound intentionally tampered with the bus to sabotage it. However, the company announced that it will be doing more to make their busses more accessible to those with disabilities.
Watching the news later, Jim notes that Clay didn’t even thank Iron Man for saving his life. Tony is fine with that, saying that James was busy fighting for disabled rights and that he is the real hero.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Jim Rhodes
Continuity Notes
This is a reference to the fact that Tony was shot through the spine by a jilted lover named Kathy Dare in Iron Man #242 and was confined to a wheelchair until his spine was repaired with a new experimental bio-chip in issue #248.
Topical References
This story focuses on the issue of disability rights in America and is framed around the way the laws were at the time this story was first published. The American with Disabilities Act was first proposed in 1986 and wasn’t put into law until July, 1990, around the same time this story was published.
This story is a commentary on how Greyhound Lines, a busing company, had refused to provide accessibility options on their busses for individuals in wheelchairs. It took until 1998 before Greyhound could be compelled by the government to provide accommodations for people with disabilities. This hasn’t solve the problem as Greyhound continues to get in trouble for their accommodation issues in both 2016 and 2020. In a sane world this would become a topical reference and if that ever happens your guess is as good as mine as to how this story could be recontextualized into a more generalized manner.
James Clay puts on his slideshow with an old fashioned slide projector that uses film slides. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
The disabled people protesting Silverhound chant a slogan that goes “No Tickee! No Ridee!” This is based on the phrase “No Tickee! No Washee!” Which was a based on the stereotype around laundry services run by Chinese immigrants in North America. When you turned in clothes to get dry cleaned you would get a ticket that had a number that corresponded with one stapled onto a tag on the clothing getting cleaned. The phrase derives from a strict term that clothes would not be released to the owner unless they had the corresponding ticket. I presume that this was a method to avoid liability by preventing someone from coming and claiming clothes that wasn’t theirs. The term plays on a stereotype that Chinese immigrants speak English in a certain way. This is very racist by todays standards and its an odd choice for a group that is fighting for equality.
The Awesome Origin of Mrs. Arbogast
Bambi Arbogast is applying for a job at Stark International,[1] when she arrives for her interview she sees that all the other candidates are much younger women and worries that she won’t be chosen for the job. When its time for Bambi’s interview, she is told that Mr. Stark has stepped out for a moment and will be right back.
What she doesn’t know is that Tony Stark had to leave to change into Iron Man and stop Whirlwind who is attacking the facility. When the two come crashing in through the office window, Bambi rushes to keep the papers on Tony’s desk in their proper order and take phone calls as the battle is raging inches away from her.
Seeing Arbogast as a potential hostage, Whirlwind tries to grab her. That’s when she tells him that the phone is for him. Not thinking, Whirlwind answers the phone, distracting him long enough for Iron Man to knock him out. As the Avenger carries his foe away, he tells Mrs. Arbogast that he’ll put in a good word with his “boss”, Tony Stark.
Moments later, when Tony returns to his office, he tells her that he “heard” about what she did during Iron Man’s battle and has decided that she has what it takes to work for him and hires her on the spot.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Whirlwind, Bambi Arbogast
Continuity Notes
This story takes place in the past when Tony Stark ran Stark International and not Stark Enterprises. Tony lost Stark International in Iron Man #173 in a hostile take over initiated by Obadiah Stane. Sometime later, Tony would start up a brand new company, Stark Enterprises in Iron Man #217. When Stark lost his first company, Bambi quit her job and then took on her old position when Stark’s new venture opened to the public in issue #222.
The Devil’s Playground
A dumb story about a dumb kid who pretends to be Iron Man and plays superheroes with his friends.
Continuity Notes
You might remember this kid from the equally stupid story in Iron Man #178.
Correspondence
A series of letters between Stark Enterprises and Damage Control. Stark is unhappy with the work that Damage Control has done for their company. Due to misunderstandings and administrative mix-ups the communications escalate through the chain of management. Eventually, Tony has to write a complaint to Anne Marie Hoag — the former owner of the company who is now a part of Powerpac, a public interest committee in Washington. When Anne Marie promises to straighten things out for Tony, he sends her a cheque as a donation.[1]
Recurring Characters
Tony Stark, Bambi Arbogast, Damage Control (Bart Rozum, Eugene Strausser, John Porter, Robin Chapel), Ann Marie Hoag
Continuity Notes
This correspondence takes place during the events of Damage Control (vol. 2) #1-4 when Stark Enterprises devested their interests in Damage Control and Ann Marie Hoag went on to form the Powerpac.
Topical References
Some of the correspondence in this story was sent via fax machine. This should be considered a topical reference as this technology has become increasingly obsolete due to the adoption and proliferation of electronic communication methods such as e-mail.
Tony writes a cheque to the Powerpac for $10,000. This amount should be considered a topical reference due to inflation. $10k would be the equivalent to over $22k in 2022 money.
