Tony gets Stane fired as CEO of Stark International, Stane loses it when he discovers Iron Man's identity, and Titanium Man gets in on the brawl, leading to an all-out armor war on the roof of Stark Tower.
Tropes
- 10-Minute Retirement: Tony attempts this in the episode. Tired of Stane and Hammer using his inventions as weapons, Tony wants to no only stop being Iron Man but destroy all his armors to keep anyone else from misusing them, this includes the War Machine armor, much to Rhodey's dismay. Luckily at the end of the episode, he changes his mind.
- Bittersweet Ending: Stane is finally outed as a Corrupt Corporate Executive and ousted from his CEO position by the Reasonable Authority Figures on the Stark International Board of Directors. However, as a result Stane goes temporarily nuts, figures out Tony is Iron Man, steals the Iron Monger suit and tries to call him out to a final battle by kidnapping Pepper. It gets worse, for just when Stane has had a change of heart thanks to the love of his daughter, Hammer shows up, hacks Iron Monger's systems and causes it to go on a rampage, which Stane is blamed for. In the effort to stop the Monger suit from the inside, Stane causes the suit to plummet off a building, while Tony and Rhodey are unable to save him. End result, Stane is in a coma, Whitney blames Tony for everything and swears revenge, and Hammer, though momentarily disabled, avoids all blame and is poised to become even more powerful than he already is.
- Deducing the Secret Identity: As Stane is fired from his position of CEO at Stark International, he finally figures out Tony and Iron Man are the same person as they both used the term "manufactured evil" when they confronted Stane.
- Just in Time: Tony manages to get Stane fired less than a minute after the board had ruled to block Tony's eventual takeover of the company. If he had come any later, they might have started on the paperwork and really screwed him over.
- Near-Villain Victory: Stane managed to almost convince the board to make him the permanent CEO of Stark International after successfully selling the Iron Monger to General Ross. But then Tony enters with evidence that Stane collided with the Ghost, resulting in the board firing Stane to avoid associating with supervillains.
- Shout-Out: Pepper lampshades this when Iron Monger captures her and climbs up a tall building.Pepper: Yeah, real original. What are you going to do now? Make ape sounds and knock planes out of the sky?
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Stane, recently fired from Stark International, is able to walk in and steal an Iron Monger suit while facing basically no resistance. He only had to take out two guards with a long-range taser, and they made very little effort to stop him.
- Sympathy for the Devil: When Stane is left in a coma at the episode, Tony and the others feel sorry for him.
