Nick and Cap get some help from Iron Man in taking down Hydra.
Only, it’s not Iron Man!
Madame Masque has built a Life Model Decoy who is inside the familiar red-and-gold suit.
And he’s got his own personality due to an electrical accident. He even sleeps with Tony’s lover, Madame Masque.
A rich villain named Midas gets Madame Masque to contact him, and Midas offers to help him replace the real Tony. Only he ends up kidnapping the REAL Stark, not the LMD.
When real Tony confronts the LMD, it’s wearing his red-and-gold armor.
So, Tony Stark has to get back in the older suit that had the little skirt on it.
The heart support in the older suit isn’t as good, so Tony has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital.
He gets a new heart. But here’s the catch: He has to avoid “unusual stress.” Can an Avenger do that? Probably not.
Cap tells the press, and Happy Hogan is sad because he thinks Cap is sadder than him and it would make him happy to love Tony more than Cap does.
When he gets out, we get to see him put on his new armor—and it’s explained how it’s so flexible.
Then, he and Madame Masque team up to take down King Midas. In the end, Masque leaves him and he’s looking at a new life with his new, fragile heart.
Also, he beats up a vulture.
I re-read this post recently and added to it. At the time, I was working my way through the year 2007. It’s funny to be reading a slew of those books and then go back here. I appreciate this story so much more because it’s so different from what I’m reading in 2007. There’s no attempts at human realism in terms of behavior, the emphasis is on ideas rather than story…The ’60s were fun.
I bumped this up to a C+. At some point, I need to start over and re-read everything.
English (US) · 