Tales of Suspense #56
The Uncanny Unicorn
Iron Man has grown sick of not being able to live a normal life after getting shrapnel in his heart.[1] He vents his frustrations by trashing his office. Pepper and Happy hear the racket from outside and ask him if everything is okay. Tony tells her he’s fine and then decides enough is enough, he is going to stop being Iron Man and start living it up. Changing out of his armor, Tony emerges from his office and tells Pepper to fetch his little black book so he can make a date. That’s when a call comes in from the Avengers, the Wasp is calling to ask Iron Man to look into a new threat because she and Giant-Man and Thor are busy with other duties. Tony asks Pepper to inform his fellow Avengers that he sent Iron Man on a long vacation. Stark dismisses the Avengers’ concern for a new foe calling himself the Unicorn, unaware that the villain is plotting to attack Stark Industries.[2]
While Tony is off on a date, the Unicorn attacks, and the only person willing to stand up against the attacker is Happy Hogan. Despite his bravery, Happy is no match for the Unicorn and is left in serious condition after being struck by a beam fired from the Unicorn’s helmet. Pepper manages to call the facility doctor before she is kidnapped by the Unicorn in order to draw out Iron Man. When Happy is rushed to a hospital, Tony Stark’s dinner date is interrupted when he receives a call telling him the bad news. Rushing to the hospital, Tony checks with Happy’s doctor and learns that he is in critical condition. Blaming himself for not being there when his friends need him, Tony hopes he can save Pepper before something happens to her.
Meanwhile, at a private estate on Long Island, the Unicorn keeps Pepper prisoner. He tells her that he is a Russian operative and his Unicorn helmet was created by Ivan Vanko, aka the Crimson Dynamo, before he defected to the United States.[3] He brags about his “horns” various capabilities such as the ability to magnetically lift objects, fire concussive blasts. He also has a belt capable of generating a force field. Meanwhile, Tony has returned to Stark Industries and changes into Iron Man. He then uses a black-light device to track the Unicorn back to his hideout. Iron Man then ambushes the Unicorn, knocking him down long enough to grab Pepper and flee.
Tony is unaware that the Unicorn has a jetpack of his own and is secretly following him back to Stark Industries. There, the Unicorn plants a time bomb and challenges Iron Man to a battle. With time running out, the Unicorn forces Iron Man to promise to surrender in exchange for the bomb being disarmed. With no other choice, Iron Man agrees. The iron Avenger is quickly smuggled to a waiting Russian aircraft to take Iron Man back to their country. However, once they are in the air, Iron Man is no longer bound to his promise and punches holes in the cabin to de-pressurize the plane. Iron Man watches as the majority of the spies bail-out but — still unaware that the Unicorn has a jetpack — loses track of his foe.
Changing out of his armor, Tony Stark returns to Stark Industries where Pepper tells him that Happy has been taken off the critical list. The pair go to the hospital to visit Happy who is back to his complaining self. Seeing Pepper cry over Happy’s recovery makes Tony wonder if she truly has feelings for Hogan, or if she is trying to make him feel jealous. Tony resigns to this possibility, having decided that he can’t have a normal life when menace like the Unicorn are still out there.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Unicorn, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Avengers (Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp), Crimson Dynamo (flashback)
Continuity Notes
Tony Stark blundered into a tripwire that exploded in his face. He has been forced to wear a chest plate that keeps the shrapnel from his heart since Tales of Suspense #39. He will remain with this limitation until Iron Man #19.
The Unicorn’s real name is not revealed in this story. He is identified as Milos Masaryk in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #11.
Vanko the original Crimson Dynamo defected after he clashed with Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #46. Vanko worked for Stark until he sacrificed his life preventing the Black Widow and Boris Turginov in issue #52.
Topical References
The phones in Tony’s office are depicted as rotary phones.
Likewise, another dated reference is Tony Stark having a phone brought to his table to answer a call from Stark Industries. Fancy restaurants used to offer phone service to their clients, but this has become obsolete now that cell phones are ubiquitous in society.
This story features a lot of dated Cold War terminology, such as referring to Russians as “Reds” and Russia being called the “Iron Curtain”.
The Watcher’s Sacrifice
The Watcher has taken time away from observing the Earth to witness a mass of anti-matter creates an exact copy of a planet. After his enhanced senses detect danger elsewhere in the galaxy and decides to investigate. Transforming into pure energy, the Watcher travels the distance between worlds at the speed of thought. Arriving at the planet in peril, the Watcher sends his astral form down to the planet's surface to observe what is happening.
He sees royal guards clashing with a horde of barbarians. Observing this battle is a blond-haired queen.[1] Uatu can’t help but fall in love with the woman, who is the most beautiful creature he has ever seen in all of the universes. With the barbarians winning the battle, Uatu finds himself conflicted with the Watcher’s vow of non-interference.[2] When the leader of the barbarians approaches the queen, Uatu appears before them and frightens the barbarians away.
The queen is impressed and introduces herself Kalthea, and invites Uatu to stay and rule her kingdom beside her. However, the Watchers have also vowed to never marry so they are free to roam and observe the universe.[3] With no other choice, Uatu acts like this offer is an insult and gloats over his power. This makes Kalthea hate the Watcher, allowing him to leave the planet knowing that she will move on with her life and find the love that is denied to him. As the Watcher resumes his post on Earth’s moon, he observes that he is the subject of conversation among the members of the Fantastic Four. The Human Torch is going over photos of their adventures and comes upon pictures of the Watcher. The Torch quips that the Watcher must have the cushiest job in the universe since — according to Johnny — he doesn’t have to do anything.
Recurring Characters
The Watcher, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, Thing)
Continuity Notes
The alien race seen here is identified as the Quist per the appendix on alien races in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5.
After the Watchers accidentally taught a race of aliens how to wipe themselves out with nuclear weapons, they decided to do nothing but watch other races. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.
It’s interesting to note that Uatu states that Watchers are not allowed to get married. However, sometime after this, we are introduced to Ulana in FF (vol. 2) #13. Ulana identifies herself as Uatu’s wife. Since she too is a Watcher, I suppose we can assume that what Uatu actually meant was that Watchers are forbidden to marry outside of their race since that would interfere with their vow of non-interference, or perhaps the laws on marriage had changed between this story and FF (vol. 2).
