Bethany Cabe is captured and held as a spy by the East German government, so Tony creates an all-black stealth armor suit to break international law and save her.
This is the first appearance of Stealth Armor. Handy thing about it is it’s also slimming (because it’s black).
We don’t get to see him put it on though. That’s reserved for the regular armor, I guess.
When he arrives to save her, changing into the garb of an East German army general, he learns that Beth got captured on purpose and he’s screwing up her operation. She’s the second redheaded female spy in the Marvel universe, and since we aren’t hearing much from Black Widow, I guess that’s fine. We also learn that she’s known he’s Iron Man for a long time.
In the end, we learn that Bethany was there to look for her husband, who is still alive, so she breaks it off with Tony. Poor little rich boy, always getting his heart broken.
While Iron Man tries to protect her during her exfil, Living Laser shows up. He’s working for East Germany. And he has a new power:
Iron Man puts on his tried-and-true armor to fight him.
Laser is able to temporarily capture Iron Man.
In the end, though, Living Laser’s own power defeats him and he becomes a literal living laser–transformed into a being made only of light.
