Trapped By The Red Barbarian!

Tales of Suspense 042

The Communist master of disguise known only as The Actor infiltrates Stark Industries and learns the secret of Stark's double life as Iron Man!

Notes:

• At this stage of the character's development, Iron Man is very much the Cold Warrior. As Stark, he is an enthusiastic member of the military-industrial complex, producing weapons of mass destruction for the US military such as this issue's disintegrator ray. As Iron Man, he is involved in F.B.I. counterespionage operations against the "commies".
• Iron Man's "commie" rogue's gallery increases in size with the introduction of The Actor and The Red Barbarian, a brutal but dim-witted spymaster for a "Red satellite country". Impersonating Stark to steal the plans for the disintegrator ray, The Actor discovers "various metal spare parts" in a filing cabinet in Stark's lab, from which he deduces that Stark must be Iron Man. However, the confused Red Barbarian executes him for losing the plans before he can reveal Tony's secret. Say hello to Wong-Chu in Commie Hell, you Red sneak!

This issue is another Lee/Berns story with solo Heck artwork. Undistinguished in almost every way.