This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the period during the 1980s when Tony Stark’s latest bout with alcoholism prompted him to let his pilot Jim Rhodes take over as Iron Man.
IRON MAN Vol 1 #169 (Apr 1983)
Title: Blackout
Villains: Magma and Obadiah Stane
Synopsis: Iron Man (Tony Stark) is very drunk but is recklessly flying around New York City. His lapse back into heavy drinking was triggered by a combination of being dumped by his latest love interest Indries Moomji and corporate rival Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges in the movies) outmaneuvering Stark in several business deals recently.
Tony faces trouble from the mayor over minor damage caused by his “employee” Iron Man. NOTE: This was back when Tony kept it a secret that he was Iron Man and claimed the hero was just his high-tech bodyguard to explain why they both often showed up at the same locations at the same time.
At a board meeting, Stark gets more pressure regarding his careless spending and mountains of debt he has run up. Obadiah Stane is trying to talk the angry creditors of Stark International into letting him buy and assume the debts, which would give him very serious leverage over Tony’s business.
Tony’s personal pilot and friend Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, who had been a supporting character in the series for years at this point, catches Tony drinking even more after the meeting. Iron Man’s old supervillain foe Magma, his tank and troops attack Stark’s Long Island HQ.
When Tony proves too drunk to handle his Iron Man armor, Jim Rhodes dons it instead and flies out to face Magma and company. Continue reading
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