A historic Marvel first - the one-shot double feature that kicked off Iron Man and Sub-Mariner's very first solo series! While Iron Man must contend with both the scheming Maggia and the evil of A.I.M., Namor must battle to save his underwater realm from the darkness of Destiny!
The Torrent Without -- The Tumult Within!
Continues from Tales Of Suspense #99
Iron Man is a prisoner in The Maggia’s gambling ship which in turn is being torpedoed by A.I.M. Big M, Whiplash and the rest of the Maggia goons head off to fight their attackers leaving Shellhead trapped on a magnetized table and unable to move. With his power completely drained, even the slightest movement can bring about a fatal heart attack to Tony Stark. Nonetheless with great strain Iron Man manages to move one arm and attach the charging cable from his armour to a dislodged cable on the laser overhead. Within moments his transistors are charged completely and The Golden Avenger is able to move once more. Meanwhile The Maggia ship has come to a standstill and A.I.M. assault teams climb on board and enter the gambling parlour where S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jasper Sitwell was working undercover. The A.I.M. agents are attacked by Whiplash and Big M uses the distraction to sneak into a hidden control room. Sitwell meantime does some sneaking of his own as he attempts to find Iron Man who is still trapped in the rapidly flooding torture room below. The Avenger uses his repulsor rays to blast open an elevator door and flies up the shaft to freedom, unaware that his movements are being tracked by A.I.M. who are readying their Vortex Suction Beam to deal with him.
Elsewhere in the hidden control room, Whiplash accuses his boss of being cowardly but Big M uses controls that cause the entire ship to tilt over, saying this will stop the A.I.M. Agents from escaping with The Maggia’s loot. A.I.M. respond by blasting the ship again, this time rendering the controls useless. As Big M submits to defeat, Whiplash decides to make his own escape and using his whip breaks through the control room’s steel doors. Outside he is met by Jasper Sitwell who demands that he surrender but the villain attacks the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent only to be countered by Iron Man. Shellhead easily defeats Whiplash with a point blank blast of repulsor rays only to be sucked right through the floor underneath him! Iron Man is unable to resist the power of the Vortex Suction Beam and is captured by A.I.M.!
Continues in Iron Man #1.
Call Him Destiny...Or Call Him Death!
Continues from Tales To Astonish #101
Inside an icy cave beneath Antarctica, Namor spears himself at his mocking foe only to hit a wall of ice. The Prince of the Blood is baffled by the speed of his enemy who reveals he can read Namor’s thoughts. The man called Destiny commands Namor to rise and the Sub-Mariner recognises his assailant as the phantom from his dreams. The Atlantean is attacked with ice particles beamed from Destiny’s Helmet of Power but brushes the ice off his body with ease. As Namor approaches his target he is suddenly unable to move. Destiny tells Namor this is the second time he has defeated the monarch who can’t remember their first meeting. The villain realises Namor has lost parts of his memory and decides to tell him his origin. A Flashback to decades past shows a young mind reader called Mentallo working in a carnival. Unlike other Mentalists who used cheap parlour tricks, Mentallo really did possess the power of telepathy. He despised being a carny and was unaware of how or why he had these abilities. One day his carnival arrived in a town whose library possessed a book on the history of mind reading, and Mentallo was inexplicably drawn to it. Researching the book revealed the story of a long forgotten race called The Ancients who had perfected telepathy and created a device called The Helmet of Power. The helmet had been lost somewhere in the Antarctic so Mentallo decided he must follow his destiny and booked passage on The Oracle, an ice breaker ship headed towards the Antarctic Circle.
The young Mentallist had convinced the ship’s Captain to aid his quest and Captain Leonard McKenzie and his crew followed Mentallo up an icy mountain trail. On hearing the name of The Oracle’s Captain, Namor realises it was his father and wonders what the story has to do with his own lost years. Back to Destiny’s story, Mentallo and Captain McKenzie arrive at a cave having left the others behind. After making their way through the treacherous labyrinths the explorers reach a giant dynamo that had been built by the Ancients. McKenzie goes back for the others against Mentallo’s wishes but as soon as he leaves Mentallo begins hacking away at the dynamo with his pickaxe. This causes the machine to start up with a great rumble that leads to an avalanche, trapping Mentallo underneath. Thinking himself doomed, the young Mentalist notices the Helmet of Power which was thrown free by the avalanche. An eerie glow draws the injured man towards the helmet and he drags his broken body to it, knowing once worn nothing can harm him. Namor then tells Destiny that he was feigning being frozen to hear his story and will force the rest out of him with might. The Sub-Mariner launches himself at Destiny and realises the helmet has not only increased his mental powers but his physical also. Namor nonetheless overcomes his foe with another attack but the blow launches Destiny backwards towards a sonar canon. However before he can fire Namor lifts the weapon and tosses it away. Unfortunately for the Prince the impact causes the cave’s icy ceiling to fall upon him and while Destiny was protected by his helmet, Namor is trapped underneath. Thus destiny gains his second victory over the Sub-Mariner and vows to destroy any who oppose him!
Continues in Sub-Mariner #1.
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