Iron Man (vol. 2) #3
Misconceptions
Following a gamma bomb explosion at a Stark International facility in Buffalo, Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four has insisted on investigating the scene as the government owes him a favor.[1][2] They are particularly interested in learning more about the gamma-spawned creature dubbed the Hulk, who was last seen in a titanic battle with the new armored hero Iron Man.[3] Reed Richards is very concerned for the well being of his old university friend, Tony Stark, who has gone missing in the all of this — even though they have been estranged for some time.[4]
Over in Eastcaster, New York, Pepper Potts — Tony’s recently fired secretary — has finished bleaching her hair blonde.[5] She is impressed by her new look when she suddenly hears a crash coming from her garage and goes to investigate the source of the noise. Opening the door, she finds a weakened Iron Man inside begging her for help. Hearing his voice, Pepper instantly recognizes the man in the armor as her former boss, Tony Stark. He weakly explains that his armor is almost out of power and he needs to recharge it before his injuries cause his heart to stop.[6] When Iron Man collapses to the floor, Pepper decides to take a gamble by hooking up a car battery to the armor using jumper cables. This gamble works and the armor is recharged. Having watched Iron Man’s battle with the Hulk and now knowing his secret identity, Pepper asks the boss to fill in the blanks.
Meanwhile, at Hydra’s headquarters, Madame Hydra is furious that the man she has recently hired is late. However, moments later the assassin Whirlwind arrives, showing off his ability to generate powerful winds by scattering Madame Hydra’s foot soldiers about the room. Whirlwind apologizes for being late, apparently he had written down the wrong time in his date book. Now that he is here however, Whirlwind’s tardiness is forgotten as Madame Hydra has a job for him.
By this time, Pepper Potts has stuffed Iron Man into the back seat of her compact car and driven him back to Stark International headquarters. Banking on the fact that the security staff doesn’t know she’s been fired, Pepper tells the guard at the front gate that she needs to get inside the facility. He finds it suspicious that Potts is coming to work in the middle of night as security is on high alert after the Buffalo incident. Pepper explains that she has been asked to go into Tony’s office and get some compromising photos of Stark and pair of twin supermodels. Fearing that he might be out of a job if a scandal comes out of those photos, the security guard lets Pepper past the front gate. Pepper tells Tony that they probably have a few minutes before the guard learns that Stark recently fired her and calls security. Reminded about how he shit-canned Pepper just the day before, Tony realizes now how stupid of an idea that was.
Elsewhere upstate, Arthur Parks is furious about how Tony Stark’s business dealings have had a negative economic impact on his home town. His wife Amy tries to convince him not to do anything drastic, but Arthur refuses to let this injustice go unpunished.
Back at Stark International, Pepper helps Tony make repairs and rechange his armor. As they are working, Stark admits to her that he finally feels the old excitement again — something that has been absent since the death of his best friend, Rebel O’Reilly[7] — and wants to turn over a new leaf and start helping the world again both as Iron Man and Tony Stark. Pepper is glad to have the old Tony back, but she tells him that he’s going to have to come up with an explanation for his absence since the Hulk attack since he is still considered among the missing.
That’s when the Thing comes crashing in through the wall. As it turns out, the Fantastic Four were able to track Iron Man’s energy signature back to Stark International and have come to get answers regarding his battle with the Hulk and the disappearance of Tony Stark. After a brief tussle with the Thing, Mister Fantastic breaks up the fight. Iron Man is shocked to discover that this is his old university chum, Reed Richards. As Stark decides if he is going to reveal his true identity to Reed or not, Pepper steps in and gives a convincing story as to how Iron Man is actually Tony Stark’s bodyguard and Stark is perfectly safe. This allows Tony to slip away into a back room and change out of his armor. When he returns he confirms Pepper’s cover story and tells Reed how he’s turning his life around. Richards is happy to hear that Tony is turning over a new leaf.
Meanwhile, back upstate, Arthur Parks returns to his former business, Parks Fiberoptics. The place has been abandoned since it was purchased and shut down by Stark International. Vowing to get revenge on Tony Stark, Arthur straps himself to a wall so he can be bombarded by a new experimental laser beam. Bathed in its energies, Arthur Parks begins transforming into something more than human.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Hydra (Madame Hydra, Whirlwind), Pepper Potts, Jasper Sitwell, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing)
Continuity Notes
It should be noted that this is a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save the lives of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. As such, only Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk are the original characters in this story. Everyone else featured here is actually a construct created by Franklin to populate his imaginary Earth. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for more details on that.
SHIELD owed the Fantastic Four a favor after the team saved New York City from an attack by an invading army of Atlanteans led by the Sub-Mariner. See Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #2-3.
The battle between Iron Man and the Hulk happened last issue of course. The Hulk was created when Hydra detonated a gamma bomb in issue #1.
It was established in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1 and Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #5 that Reed and Tony went to State University together. However, these are false memories implanted in the minds of everyone to sell the illusion that Franklin’s Counter-Earth has existed longer than it actually has. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, again.
Pepper was fired by Tony in issue #1 after calling him out for being such a dick after winning a course case against his workers.
Tony was injured by shrapnel when the Hulk caused his helicopter to crash. He was forced to put on his experimental Promethean Armor in order to avoid dying from blood loss. This also happened in issue #1.
Rebel died running an early test on the Promethean Armor. However, O’Reilly sucks at staying dead, he’ll be brought back to life and turn up again in Iron Man (vol. 2) #7.
Topical References
Pepper is depicted driving a 1980s model Volkswagen Beetle. Since this is probably to signify she doesn’t make enough money to afford a new vehicle, we can assume that its appearance here is topical since there are not a lot of these vehicles on the road anymore.
When Pepper is making up the story about the twin supermodels she refers to them as being Yugoslavian. This is was a topical reference even by this comic books standards since the former Yugoslavia dissolved five years prior to its publication in 1997. That region has been unstable for decades but as of this writing (September, 2022) there are seven distinct countries that have come out of all of this. Modern readers should presume that these supermodels come from one of those successor countries. Take your pick since it doesn’t really matter one way or the other.
