Tony Stark has flown to Wakanda for the dedication of a new Stark Industries facility there, and well...


...he's still Tony Stark, no matter the country.

Meanwhile, Rhodey, who's still just Tony's pilot at this point, is also having some luck with the Wakandan ladies:

He's just sitting there reading a Playboy, and he still attracts the ladies. How badass is that?!?

Meanwhile, Tony's charms are working, too...


But even though the other Wakandans aren't too happy about Tony makin' time with their ladies...

...they have nothing to worry about, because all is not as it seems:

See, Tony is really there to help T'Challa flush out revolutionaries trying to sabotage Wakanda's vibranium supplies. No time for love!!

Oh, and speaking of revolutionaries...


D'oh!! 

Love is never what it seems in Wakanda. And Rhodey will never be quite the ladies' man that Tony is.

BTW, this story featured the Mandarin using the reanimated corpse of Killmonger to try and destroy all of the metal in Africa, Asia and Europe, because COMICS. That had damned well better be the plot of Black Panther II...

From Iron Man Annual #5 (1982)

Let's meet obscure time traveling hero Ace Buckley!

Wait...what was that?!?

Toni Stark?!? What the what?!?

Yes, his companion is named Toni Stark. Let's hop backwards a few issues, to the origin tale...

 Ace builds a time machine...

 ...he shows it off to his childhood friend Toni Stark...

And, "impulsively as always," she sends them on a trip. Oh, Toni...

Anyway, this time out, they're visiting Peru during Simon Bolivar's revolution...


But they get captured, and we witness something that happened pretty much every story:

Toni Stark sheds her clothes!!!

They escape, and decide that they must help ensure the Spaniards' defeat!

The secret to stopping the Spanish?

Blowing them up!! Good thing we have none of those qualms about stepping on butterflies or killing hundreds of soldiers!!

So:



Oh, dynamite, is there nothing you can't make better?!?


Sadly, there were no further adventure of Ace and Toni Stark...

But they're probably public domain now, and with Ace's travels in the space-time continuum, well, there's no reason they couldn't accidentally hop a dimension or two, and end up in Marvel-616, in 2018, right? Absolutely no reason that they couldn't encounter, say, Iron Man, right?!?

And you just know that Tony Stark would hit on Toni Stark. That alone would be worth the price of admission!

And if they found a third character, named Toné, well...

Come on, Marvel--we're waiting!!

From Startling Comics #3 (1940) and #10 (1941)

Spy, or super-hero? That is the question for the Black Widow in this week's Friday Night Fights.

Natasha is using Tony Stark as bait to draw out some terrorist kidnappers (with his permission, natch). They talk over old times...




So, hero or secret agent? We're about to find out, as...





Yes, Natasha, that was totally NOT a "costumed athlete." Not at all.

And the worst part?

Tony was kidnapped while you were jumping around!!

Spacebooger reminds you not to dip your electro-claw in the punch bowl.

100% spycraft and not a jot of jumping around like a costumed athlete from Iron Man #6 (1998), by Kurt Busiek (with "plot assist" by Richard Howell), Patrick Zircher and John Holdredge

Now is the time for you to go and vote for my fight. Why? If my fight gets enough votes, maybe Marvel will give the Black Widow her own movie! So go and vote!!!

Nick Fury has been kidnapped!! Tony Stark has been put in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. combat operations! He's building a giant-ass whajamahoozis!

Where is Fury? The Fixer and Mentallo have him!!

Alright, as death traps go, "welding him to an honest-to-God H-bomb" is a pretty good one, you have to admit.

But did I mention that Tony Stark is on the case?



And...


Yes, Tony Stark invented a device that melts hydrogen bombs! Apparently with no radiation danger!!

Granted, it's not terribly portable, but give Stark a couple of days...he'll miniaturize it! And no one will ever be threatened by nuclear weaponry again!!

From Strange Tales #143 (1966)

Tony Stark is just noodling around, minding his own business in 1968, when he's kidnapped by dickweeds from the future!!



Take that, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs!!

Uh-oh!

[P.S. Sorry, Manchester!]

See!! It isn't just Hank Pym that creates world-destrying artificial intelligences!!

I'm not sure of the scientific explanation for everyone regressing to caveman/gladiator gear...


Well, fortunately, as predicted, Cerebrus detected their time travel energy, and attacks--good job, future dickweeds.

Tony finds a more sympathetic rebel, who helps Tony find a well-preserved suit of armor in a museum. And after some pointless punching and kicking, well, Tony just Kirks the hell out of the damn computer!


Works every time!!

And then Tony travels back to 1968, and doesn't invent Skynet.

What the hell have you done to clean up your mess lately, Pym?!?!

From Iron Man #5 (1968)