CHAPTER 22

Tony decided Iron Man was going to be a part of whatever he did from here on out. He’d revealed the truth and he didn’t try to keep his Iron Man suit a secret. Anytime someone needed him to help keep the peace, he was there. Over the next six months, he rescued hostages, defused standoffs, and twice brought small countries back from the brink of war—all that in just the first six months after the big Iron Monger fight and press conference revealing he was Iron Man.

Then it was time to put Iron Man to a different kind of use: kicking off the Stark Expo. It was one of the world’s biggest gatherings of geniuses and inventors, where they all got together to showcase their new ideas.

For the opening ceremony, the crowd poured into the Tent of Tomorrow. They had already been treated to a montage on the giant video screens of Iron Man’s recent exploits: an aerial tango with a barrage of shoulder-fired missiles, a lightning raid on a pirate ship off the Horn of Africa, a head-on collision with an air-to-air missile whose explosion coming over the Expo sound system was loud enough to register on nearby seismometers. The crowd loved it. They loved it even more when the real Iron Man rocketed down and landed at the center of the stage.

Robot arms unlocked the invisible joints on the Mark IV suit and took it apart. From the crowd’s perspective, it appeared that Iron Man had been disassembled and a tuxedo-clad Tony Stark constructed in his place. The whole procedure took only seconds.

“It’s good to be back!” he called out. He paused for a moment to get his breath. Six months earlier, when he’d turned himself into the armored Super Hero, he hadn’t known what a physical toll it would take. Between the explosions, the late nights, and some troubles with the Arc Reactor, Tony Stark was worn down. But he had a show to put on.

“Blow something up!” a guy called from the crowd.

“Blow something up?” Tony echoed. “I already did that. I’m not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me. I’m not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater Phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I’m not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sippin’ on an iced tea, because I haven’t come across anyone who’s man enough to go toe to toe with me on my best day… Please… It’s not about me. It’s not about… you… It’s not even about us; it’s about legacy. It’s about what we choose to leave behind for future generations and that’s why, for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision to leave behind a brighter future. It’s not about us! Therefore what I am saying, if I’m saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo! And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond, to tell you what it’s all about. Please welcome my father, Howard.”

Tony stepped offstage as Howard Stark appeared on the screen, shown in his workshop sometime around 1970.

“Everything is achievable through technology,” Howard Stark said in the old film footage. “Better living, robust health, and—for the first time in human history—the possibility of world peace!” He gave the camera a nervous smile as he walked to a scale model of that first Expo.

Applause from the crowd swelled as the lights cut out and the music picked up, booming through the darkness as the crowd went nuts all over again. The Stark Expo, bigger and better than ever, was under way.