Iron Man 250 - Acts of Vengeance

Now we come to a curiosity. As some might have guessed from this issue's non-appearance in the lists of the crossover or the collected editions, this one is actually nothing to do with "Acts of Vengeance". Instead it's the concluding part of another storyline.

Iron Man #250

Plot/Script: David Michelinie
Plot/Act: Bob Layton
Letters: Janice Chiang
Colours: Paul Becton
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The issue is the final issue of the second run by David Michelinie and Bob Layton and, apart from a few special projects, they've not been reassembled. It's also a double-sized issue because of the number, though the use of "anniversary issue" on the opening page ignores the sixty-one previous issues carrying the Iron Man strip before the title was launched. This is as good a reminder as any of how crossovers can often find themselves intruding on a book's own developments and plans. As one of two big number issues to appear during the crossover's run it's reasonable to guess that originally this was assigned to be part of "Acts of Vengeance" then was released because of the anniversary, only for someone in production to not get the memo and slap the "Acts of Vengeance" logo on the cover.

Instead we get the concluding part of a sequel to the "Doomquest" tale from one hundred issues earlier as Iron Man battles Doctor Doom once again with time travel and the involvement King Arthur. However on this occasion they've been transported to the future, in the year 2093, when Arthur has been reincarnated to deal with England's darkest hour in a utopia no longer able to deal with threats. Unfortunately due to embryo freezing, he's in a much younger body than planned. Thus an awakened Merlin recruits Iron Man and Doctor Doom to deal with the threat from old laser satellites. In the process both Iron Man and Doom encounter their counterparts in this time.

It's surprising that Iron Man has barely encountered the Iron Man of 2020 (outside of a What If...? story and a brief cross-time clash) and now that real time is catching up it seems unlikely it will ever happen. So the encounter with the Iron Man of 2093, Andros Stark who uses the armour of his grandfather Arno, is probably the nearest we'll get. Unfortunately it's only a small part of what is quite a packed issue, with Michelinie and Layton going all out to have a grandiose "anniversary" issue, sequel and final outing all at the same time. The result is somewhat over-rushed, leaving limited time to explore the future world or give more time for interactions across the years.

This is a reasonably strong issue of Iron Man in its own right, but it loses points for the unfortunate cover that brings in readers looking for "Acts of Vengeance". Still it's a good one for the much-celebrated team to go out on.

Iron Man #250 has been reprinted in:

• Iron Man vs Doctor Doom (1998 trade paperback)
• Iron Man: Doomquest (2008 Premiere Edition Classic hardcover)
• Iron Man Epic Collection: Doom (2018)