This is a fairly bland arc that introduces Tyberius “Ty” Stone, Tony Stark’s boyhood rival and yet-another tech company rival who tries to bring Tony down. He’s “important” enough to warrant a tag–he’s on the level of Obidiah Stane.
Anyway, the short version of this story is that Ty bangs Tony’s girlfriend and tries to take over Stark International. Tony’s girlfriend, Rumiko, is part of the family that bought Stark out when he disappeared after Onslaught.
Along the way, there are familiar characters working for Stone: Radioactive Man is Ty’s bodyguard. Kingpin, Sebastian Shaw, the Pyms, and others have cameos.
There’s nothing really bad here, but there’s nothing particularly good, either. Other than the tactic of sleeping with his partner, Ty doesn’t really do anything different than what several others have done in the past. Oh. Except this:
Yes, it’s an hallucination. But it’s worth noting that when he puts Tony Stark in a dress, Ty Stone manages to both cuckold and gender-swap his enemy in one story.
Issue #41 has the “aftermath” of this arc. Stone (who has a sniveling assistant named Smithers) gets buried in his own AI, Iron Man rounds up Blizzard, and Tony Stark disbands his tech company and goes into voluntary poverty—giving his fortune to The Avengers—because he’s tired of being a target.
Note: Issue #41 is also issue #386, as the legacy numbering returns.