"World's Most Wanted": Denouement

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Four scans from Invincible Iron Man #19.

First, having repossessed that drive (which we still don't know the nature of; this is even called attention to when Natasha asks Hill what's on it, and Hill says she never asked), Black Widow and Maria Hill make their way out of Stark Tower (why hasn't Norman renamed that?).  However, some guys turn out to be blocking their way.



Elsewhere, after his tech support attempts to redirect him to Pakistan while Tony flies to Dubai, Norman finally catches up and beats the shit out of him.  However, the news media is alerted to this, which means Norman doesn't get to murder him, to his disappointment.





Given how cavalier Norman has been throughout this arc about breaking the laws, I at first wasn't sure why he'd be expected to follow it in this case, but since they've just had a Stark-related PR disaster, I suppose it wouldn't do to have him mysteriously die in custody (and, also, Fraction's been building a lot on the idea that most of HAMMER's infrastructure is residual from SHIELD, and thus not just a bunch of evil minions).

A decent finale, overall, to an arc that had a lot of good parts but suffered from being at least a third longer than it needed to be.

Comments

[thandrak.insanejournal.com]

We know what's on the hard drive. That's trivial!

It's time for a little hypervelocity.

[thandrak.insanejournal.com]

Oh, and finally, we get to say it.

Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind? Can he walk at all, or if he moves, will he fall? Is he alive or dead? Has he thoughts within his head?

[va1tyr.insanejournal.com]

All right, I've hated this whole arc, but I cackled at 'Doctor Donald Blake'. Oh Tony. That's - oh man. That's totally in character for Tony.

Also I like the photo background behind the Helicarrier.

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

"Who the hell is Dr. Donald Blake?"

Oh, no, Norman. That is a question you do not want answered. The answer make come to you in terrible Thunder.

I guess this sets up Seige.

[jeyl.insanejournal.com]

*Looking at the First Page with Maria Hill*

Hmm. I'll take "What you'll never see in Star Trek ever again" for $300.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Yeah! It was much better when you were clowns for her!

[brandiweed.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Norman seems incongruously pretty.

[thokstar.insanejournal.com]

That deaf, dumb, and blind Tony sure plays some real hardball.

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

Okay, Fraction has been shit thus far, but "Who the Hell is "Doctor Donald Blake"?!"

I think that's the first CMOA of the title.

Can Larroca leave the title now?

[jazzypom.insanejournal.com]

Yes, I agree, the arc went on at least three issues too long. But hey, Fraction and co won an Eisner ¬_¬. What do we know? ¬_¬

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Tony Stark isn't Bruce Wayne, but he almost always has a plan. If there's some way he could go through all this and (a) come out alive and whole and (b) keep the secret IDs safe from Norman, he would have done it. Even Matt Fraction said there was a reason Tony hadn't thrown himself into a volcano (IIRC).

Stark Tower (why hasn't Norman renamed that?).

This might sound odd, but maybe Norman had some respect or admiration for Howard Stark, which is why he didn't rename Stark Tower. Before he went "Goblin Formula Gonzo," Howard Stark was Norman's role model in business. Just an idea.

Finally, the SHRA Database is gone? This isn't exactly "handwaving" CIVIL WAR, but it's close.

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

I'm kind of confused as to why Norman Osborne expected to know who Tony's physician was.

[kd_the_movie.insanejournal.com]

SOOOOO GLAD I DROPPED THIS BOOK.

What a shitty ending. No fulfilling conclusion at all. Ties directly into Stark Disassembled (which is probably going to be a six parter) meaning you have to get 18 issues just to get any significant progression from The Five Nightmares.

[cygna_hime.insanejournal.com]

Oh, Tony. Figures you have to be brain dead to get your character back. Because of course you'd give Thor the ultimate authority over whether the plug gets pulled or not, no matter how much he hates you right now.

However, I have a feeling Tony's supposed to have a plan beyond "my most complete and dramatic self-destruction yet", and this does not quite fly for me. This is Tony we're talking about. Plan A is almost always "dramatic heroic suicide", followed by a quickly-improvised Plan B if and only if Plan A fails or is shot down by his friends. Since Plan A seems to have gone off without a hitch, I look on the existence of Plan B with suspicion.

Thank the fates it's over at last.

[pensive1.insanejournal.com]

And we all know, as Henry Hellrung famously said, "Tony's always loved Thor."

[lieut_kettch.insanejournal.com]

Now shall Norman Osborne feel the booted foot of the Odinson rammed up his fundament!

[01d55.insanejournal.com]

So it seems pretty obvious that the mysterious hard drive is a back up to restore Tony's brain.

My take on the plan isn't that it's a Xanatos gambit so much as it is a gamble - Tony didn't actually know that Osborn wouldn't just kill his vegetative body but it was worth a shot.