Trust me, Tony is out there alive somewhere, and he’s playing cowboy.
I love this SO FCKING much.
Honestly this just shows the unwavering love and trust that exists in this friendship. Rhodey is one of the few people that a)does not underestimate Tony and b) wholeheartedly loves and supports him. Just like with Afghanistan, Rhodey does not for one second believe ANYONE can outsmart or outmaneuver Tony. He isn’t actually worried his friend might actually be dead.
He is going after the mandarin because that’s the right thing to do, because that’s what Tony would have done too if he wouldn’t have decided to go MIA for a little bit.
It’s just extraordinary to see that confidence that Rhodey has in his friend’s abilities, his resilience and his mind.
I want to thank you for recommending this, anon; it was delightful!
(I haven’t read a lot of 70s comics because even though I tell myself that one day I’m going to sit down and read Avengers/Cap/IM from the beginning that day has not yet come and I have stuck to reading Things I Need To Know About For Fanfic, which in practice means that, of all the 70s stuff, I’ve only read, like, Secret Empire/Nomad and Demon in a Bottle.)
Also, you didn’t mention that this issue opens with Steve working out on the rings, which is one of my favorite training things for Steve to do. Check out that splash page:
I don’t even know what Steve and Tony were fighting about but man do I miss the era of comics when they could just make up and be friends again instantly:
MORE OF THIS, PLEASE, MARVEL. Also, aww, he’s SO CLOSE to telling Steve his secret identity. (”Keep your secrets” is such an odd phrasing from Steve because it… kind of implies that he already knows? Even though we know he doesn’t. I mean, Tony hasn’t even mentioned that he’s telling him a secret; he just says it’s something that he should have told Steve and… somehow Steve knows it’s a secret?)
(Also I have to say that “you lead, I’ll follow” is putting me in mind of Tony’s recent “I can’t say no to Cap when he begs” and all the gentle dom Tony headcanons floating around and this is me looking longingly at my 24,000 words of notes about such a story and shoving it back under the WIP pile. Probably my brain should not even have gone there.)
The actual plot of this issue: Jocasta. I guess this is when Jan finds out that Jocasta is the Sexy Robot version of her? Awkward.
This is going into my “all the Avengers are robot fuckers” file. (I don’t actually keep one of those. I probably should.)
And, aww, Tony catches Steve:
I like how he just assumes Tony’s gonna be there. (This is not the only time he has ever done this, either.) It’s like the deadly version of trust falls.
LemonGrenade 