Iron Man #65-69/410-414 (2003): Manhunt

Someone is using stolen Iron Man armor to attack the Chinese embassy, and Tony is trying to find out who. That’s why this is called “Manhunt.”

Happy and Pepper are divorced, and Happy is not happy. He’s drinking alone and blaming Tony. Pepper is pregnant. Happy gets accidentally shot by someone trying to stop Tony’s manhunt. Tony is also hit, but manages to put on his armor and get Happy to the hospital before passing out himself.

Tony thinks that the villain is Mandarin’s son, because Mandarin is believed dead and there’s no other Chinese villain worth mentioning, especially one who would want to frame Tony for attacking the Chinese embassy. As Iron Man, he manages to capture one of the assassins, but the guy’s head literally explodes before he can reveal anything.

And of course it is Temugin who is behind it all, taking on his father’s legacy.

It’s all left unresolved, with Temugin standing down but also threatening to return at the same time (huh!?). This arc is full of stuff we’ve seen before and lacks a real ending.

Not good.

This is, thankfully, Mike Grell’s last arc on this series. I like Grell, but he’s not been doing great work here. He must know that himself, since he doesn’t stick around to finish what he started, with Robin Laws writing the final part of this story arc.

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