Continuing the big “World’s Most Wanted” story, Tony Stark has downloaded the only copy of the secret identities of all unregistered superheroes and is storing it in his brain. Osborn, thus, literally wants Tony’s head. Tony is erasing his own mind, so that Osborn can never get the information stored therein.
Osborn also wants all of Tony’s tech, so Tony and his crew have been going around the world destroying his hidden bases. Pepper has donned “Rescue” armor, and Osborn has told her that if she continues he will arrest her.
She’s not impressed.
Norman sends Madame Masque to capture Stark, who is donning all sorts of armor while on the run–including that of Crimson Dynamo.
Masque eventually manages to snare both Pepper and Tony, which leads to an interesting scene.
Masque is Stark’s former lover.
She tries to torture Potts to death–just because she’s jealous.
While Masque is basically raping Tony, Pepper gets control of her armor back and engineers Tony’s escape, leaving Masque and Potts to duke it out. We’re led to believe that Masque kills Potts and gets her armor, which pleases Osborn.
As for Tony: A result of his increasing mental impairment, Tony ends up being shot down over Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Maria Hill also has some sought-after data, which Tony asked her to deliver to Bucky Captain America. Black Widow helps her, not knowing she’s under the influence of Controller.
Hill ends up betraying Natasha–again, because of Controller–and the two are caught.
Widow’s not very forgiving. But Pepper saves them. It seems she was the one who won the fight, and simply donned Masque’s mask to make Osborn think she was Whitney Frost. Potts has a code to plant a virus in all of Tony’s stolen armor, sitting in Avengers Tower. While her Rescue armor does just that, the women fight their way out of Avengers Tower. Actually, they don’t just fight…
Hill used to be the Director of SHIELD. Throughout this story, Fraction plants little bits showing how most of Osborn’s troops are unhappy working for a man who has complete disregard for the law and their mission. In the end, Hill picks up on that and re-takes command of her people.
In Afghanistan, we get a new “stuck in a cave building armor” scenario. Tony rebuilds his old-style stuff.
Osborn finally catches Tony, who is now severely impaired by his “brain data destruction,” and beats the snot out of him.
But it’s too late. Tony’s mind is gone. Osborn nevertheless decides to kill him. But Pepper broadcasts the beating to the world, which responds by liking Stark and hating Osborn.
Osborn stops, and instead captures–not kills–Tony Stark. Soon after, at a medical facility, Tony slips into a coma and Osborn orders the doctor to pull the plug. The doctor, however, says that Stark has appointed a power of attorney to decide whether he should be allowed to live on life support.
Don Blake.
An excellent ending for a most excellent story. This is an incredibly detailed set of issues, with lots of plot twists and excellent character moments–a summary like this can only hit the highlights. I highly recommend reading this yourself.
English (US) · 