Logical exploitation of a shared universe, you say?

[thanekos]

Invincible Iron Man's been liking to do that, and to keep on; post-500's seeing a focus on Stark Resilient's work in rebuilding Broxton post-Siege, which'll most likely continue through Fear Itself.

But that doesn't come calling until #503, so what's Tony to face other than the travails of futurist civil engineering in #501-502?

The former's solicit promises a "..familiar threat [from] other corners of the Marvel Universe.."



..has been for quite a while, and will continue to be.

Interestingly, the two turn up in the same way, on their issue's first page.. but as you can see, the latter meets Tony in a different temporal and relational way:



(I'd make a joke about Ock's mom dressing him, but..)

In between this, Extremis, and Iron Man Legacy #10, I'm starting to wonder about tech conferences in the MU.. as if the genetics ones weren't bad enough.

But that was then, and this is now.. both men have gone through a lot since.

Recently, they've started feeling it in their heads.. but while Tony's overcome his and gone on to reinvent himself as Stark Resilient, Ock's been biding his time.

Or has he?

One night, back in his hotel room after playing talking head in Manhattan, one of Ock's Macrobots fires a shot right up his ass.

Tony bursts out, armored up and remembering ASM #648: " Octavius, I swear I'm going to find you and I'm going to beat you with all four of your moron--"

Ock responds via the bot:



Now what could he want with Tony, when he's busy setting up his master plan in ASM?

Well, back at that conference, they had a real row about building the future versus maintaining the past for government money.

Otto thought Stark had no right to speak so glibly about funding:



And Tony just thought Octavius was a little stuffed:



But that was then, and this is now. Now, when Octavius is dying, and intends to redress ALL wrongs.

" Now you will either FIX ME.. "



And if the threat of the nuke over Manhattan wasn't enough, Ock's also secured a little insurance using one of Tony's men in Broxton:



(choice method of engulfing, Sandman.)

Still, I will give Ock points for guarding the hostage with the two Sixers that could give Iron Man a close run for his money in case he tried something stupid.. though I was hoping for the Six to rampage through Broxton, but I can see how that wouldn't be advisable.

With those two swords over his head, what is Tony's response?

" I'm sorry. "



(I admire Ock's control, that he can be exasperated like that with waldoes.)

Naturally, this sets Tony off; almost every smart guy in Marvel's going through I CAN FIX THIS these days, aren't they?

Still, it's going to be fun seeing how Fraction handles this, having decided not to chicken out in the first half.. perhaps a stopgap, best case?

Or a doublecross, either-or.

Comments

[warpedhand]

The minimum number for a rubik's cube is actually 26, last I heard.

[stubbleupdate]

I loved this issue.

Fraction's Thor, however, was awful this week.

[espanolbot]

I heard 18 or something. It was in Final Crisis.

[darkknightjrk]

"almost every smart guy in Marvel's going through I CAN FIX THIS these days, aren't they?"

Of course--what super-hero with super-intelligence wouldn't at least try to fix things?

[jarodrussell]

No, it's 20.

http://cube20.org/

Metron, a god himself, solved it in 18.

[espanolbot]

Ah yeah, that's where I got 18 from. :)

[icon_uk]

Solving it whilst inside a boom tube probably warps the lows of geometry a bit, making 18 possible.

[jarodrussell]

Well, he was in a dungeon beneath the Dark Side Club at the time, but you may be right, it might have been to indicate the fabric of reality was coming unhinged.

[sianmink]

if Ock really wanted to be fixed, he'd just come to Doom and say, 'I bet Richards could fix me. He's so smart.'

[blackruzsa]

Wait, who's the hostage?

[thanekos]

Triumph Division's former tech guy, snapped up for Resilient.

[blackruzsa]

I KNEW IT.
THANK GOD HE'S STILL IMPORTANT.
*does a little dance*

Seriously, this is my bias. Filipino character, ho yes.

[kamino_neko]

That's as likely to get his neck broke as get help.

[lieut_kettch]

Have they ever adequately explained Sandman's Heel-Face-Heel turn? I liked it when he was a good guy.

[lieut_kettch]

*Reads the panel*

Very timely. The Philippines just had elections a little less than a year ago, and our new president is just a teensy bit too zealous in sweeping away the old administration's legacy-- he reverses policy and government appointments left and right, just because it was a product of the previous administration-- never mind that some of them were actually good ideas. Makes sense that his 616 counterpart would seek to form an all-new Triumph Division with no ties to the previous administration.

[ian_karkull]

"Adequately" is pushing it, but Flint has been trailing the line between Good and Evil for some time now. Recently it's been revealed that he has learned to create sand copies of himself that are able to function independently, allowing him to be in several places at the same time.
Unfortunately, these copies exhibit his more violent tendencies and gained a somewhat independent intelligence, giving him a sort of split personality disorder (if you don't understand how SPD works, like the writer). Then Spider-Man came in and was a completely unreasonable dick to him, so now his "violent persona" has taken over again.
Short version: It's all Spidey's fault.

[blackruzsa]

God, trudat.

I feel like we're on this downward spiral. Our last president may have done a scandalous thing or three but our economy kind of bounced up in good ways. The new regime worries me into thinking that it might be undone.

[ian_karkull]

Yeah, I don't know the whole story (only knowing what I see here) but Otto is right: Science, unfortunately is completely dependant on external sponsorship. Without some corporate or government program that thinks your work worthwhile and supports you, hardly anything would ever get done in the academic field. Nine times out of ten, no money does mean no equipment and thus, no chance to work. Not every genius is a fabulously wealthy millionare playboy like Tony Stark, in fact, I'm sure few of them are. It sucks, sure, but so it goes. Why don't you set up a fund to try and change all that, really give science a chance, instead of being a dick to some guy you've never met before, Mr. Genius McMoneybags?

On the lighter side: Does Max have a Yiddish background or is "schtum" just something he picked up on the streets of NY?

[mistervader]

While the absolute minimum for *any* combination to be solved by is 20 moves, it is always possible to solve *certain* combinations by even less.

After all, if you do the first 19 moves prior to solving a cube, that *particular* combination is only one move away from being solved.

[proteus_lives]

I like see Spidey's villains running around.

[darkblade]

More likely Doom would fix him simply to prove he could and revert him back to his previous state or worse as punishment for questioning Doom.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

All of you keep misspelling "DOOM". Or is it "DOOM!"? I forget.

[lieut_kettch]

Well, this is set before Tony was held hostage IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!, so being a douche to poor-but-deserving-scientists is par for the course for him at this point in time.

[misterbug]

Why isn't anyone saying PLEASE DO IT TONY! ? I'd give anything to have Otto back to his former glory as the magnificently mad Doctor Octopus, as opposed to his current Science Gimp form. If Fraction does this, for once he'll have gotten something right on his otherwise-miserable run on Iron Man.