On his way to work as CEO of the multi-billion dollar corporation Stark Industries, Tony Stark is being lectured by his good friend Col. James Rhodes about how incredibly dangerous his latest fight with a gigantic death robot was. Rhodey has been trying to get Stark to keep working with an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. on account of the fact that fighting these kinds of threats on a daily basis is hazardous to his health, but Stark refuses citing his company's departure from the weapons manufacturing business. Rhodey persists, trying to persuade him to at least supply the military's Hulkbuster unit with weapons to take down that big green monster but Tony ends the discussion in an incredibly adult manner.
It seems like Tony will be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire when he is met by his assistant Pepper Potts, but he is spared the drudgery of actually running his company when she announces that the criminal organization HYDRA has launched an attack on the United Nations Headquarters. With a S.H.I.E.L.D. reaction team 40 minutes away and a full meeting of the General Assembly in session as they speak, it's up to Iron Man to suit up and rush to the scene. He gets there not a moment too soon, as it turns out, because the UN security detail is getting hammered by HYDRA agents. Iron Man then proceeds to take out their gigantic Cthulhu-esque walker in one shot and offers the remaining enemies a chance to surrender. Needless to say, they are not particularly open to diplomatic efforts...
The hard way is quite painful for everyone involved, including Iron Man when he is confronted by a trio of Dreadnought-class robots that have been upgraded with his proprietary Repulsor technology. Protected against his attacks, the Dreadnoughts proceed to beat down on him for awhile before he is able to gain the upper hand and take them all out. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wearing armor that is suspiciously similar to Stark's own show up to secure the scene before ordering Stark himself to stand down and prepare to be taken into custody. As Iron Man becomes increasingly irate over the second theft of his technology as well as the ungratefulness of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury calls his men off; the last thing they need is to pick a fight with a fellow hero.
This fails to pacify Stark and he storms the Helicarrier, demanding answers. Fury obliges — they simply modified existing technology that they have been purchasing from Stark Industries for years. Stark counters that S.H.I.E.L.D. has allowed the technology to leak to HYDRA and that weapons do not solve problems, but Fury refuses to back down, citing the need to protect innocent people from superpowered threats. The debate ends as it began: with a standoff.
The HYDRA troopers are rounded up and taken to a specially-designed, high security prison called the Vault. Many tech-based supervillains are imprisoned there but there is only one who is of interest to Nick Fury at the moment: Baron von Strucker, the leader of HYDRA. Fury's interrogation seemingly yields little information, but he is able to deduce that HYDRA is planning something, the question is "when?" The answer, it turns out, is "right now" as the cell block is attacked by one of their top agents, the Grim Reaper. He cuts down Fury and his right hand woman, Maria Hill, and frees Strucker. A battle ensues in which the two supervillains are recaptured but Strucker is able to partially absorb Fury's life force, visibly aging him.
Agent Hill is shaken by her experience and asks if the two other supervillain prisons are like this. Fury's ominous answer is a "no". All four are different.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The tie-in comic revealed that the robot Tony fought in the beginning was the EMH version of Ultimo.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Tony Stark/Iron Man, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and Pepper Potts kind of look and sound like their movie counterparts.
- Dropping the Bombshell: Maria Hill never realized that there were four supervillain prisons until Nick told her.
- Ignoring by Singing: How Stark settles his little argument with Rhodey.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Iron Man faces down three HYDRA mechs which are invulnerable to his attacks.
- Mythology Gag:
- This episode's title is taken from the very first story featuring Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39.
- Tony's reaction to HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. harboring his tech? Sounds like the iconic Armor Wars storyline was touched upon.
- No Ontological Inertia: Curiously, after Fury is aged by Strucker's life transfer he permanently retains his grey hair. This is not the case with other characters in later episodes, who have their life force restored after Strucker is defeated.
