Iron Man Faces The Crimson Dynamo!

Tales Of Suspense 046

It's Iron Man vs. Iron Curtain when the armored hero clashes with his opposite number from Russia, The Crimson Dynamo.

Notes:

• Another recurring nemesis makes his first appearance in this issue. Professor Vanko's combination of genius and ambition insipres awe and fear in Khrushchev, who plans to liquidate him after the completion of his mission to ruin Tony Stark and destroy Iron Man. Vanko, in the best tradition of the mad scientist, has experimented on himself to gain complete mastery of electricty. It is unclear from the story whether this ability is now natural or conferred or amplified by the Crimson Dynamo armor.
• The Crimson Dynamo's campaign of sabotage against SI defense plants is quite successful and results in withdrawn defense contracts and even suspicion in Congress that Stark himself is intentionally crippling national defense. Of course, when he tries to cook the spam in the Iron Man can, he is defeated but not before establishing himself as the strip's most formidable foe to date--even though Khrushchev says his armor looks "ridiculous" (true) and it electrocutes its wearer when wet.
• Vanko reforms at the end of the story, denouncing the "savage, double-dealing" Commie system and agreeing to work for Stark. I guess the departure of "Jack Frost" Shapanka left a vacancy for a shady foreign professor at Stark Industries.