In a small Asian curio shop in Seattle, a young man is fascinated by a dragon idol on display. As he stares at the object, the realization hits him that the dragon is both speaking to him and asking for his name. “I am Billy Yuan,” the man replies. “I played guitar in a band. We might have been great, given time. My sister thought so. Annie was the only one who ever believed in me.”
When Annie got caught up in the underground music scene of the late 1990s, she became addicted to smack and overdosed. Although she survived, she has been in a coma ever since. Billy did everything he could – even selling his guitar to help pay the medical bills – but it was all to no avail, and now finds himself lost without his sister. “You wish to help her?” the dragon idol asks. It then instructs Billy Yuan to grab the statue and run from the store, after which all of his wishes will be granted.
Billy Yuan does as instructed but soon questions why he stole the idol, concluding that it must have been to sell it and then use the cash to help his sister. The dragon once again speaks, at that point, declaring that “mortal riches are meaningless” and that it alone is the “bestower of true power.” Suddenly realizing the dragon idol is alive, Billy Yuan tries to fight free as it grows and draws blood from him. “Giving you the means to more easily deal with your petty concerns,” the dragon replies when asked what it is doing. “Spare yourself further pain. Give in to the power.”
Thus begins issue sixteen of The Invincible Iron Man, published in May 1999. Tony Stark – the Invincible Iron Man – was a resident of the state of Washington at that time, living in a newly constructed mansion on Evergreen Island near Seattle. On this particular evening, the famed industrialist is enjoying a quiet dinner in the restaurant located on top of the Space Needle with Ramona Napier, an attractive volcanologist he recently met. Their meal is cut short, however, when a special news bulletin announces that a “large creature” is “rampaging through the Pike Place district.” Tony Stark excuses himself, makes his way to his car and dons the armor of his alter ego before heading towards the scene.
Upon his arrival, Iron Man finds so much destruction that at first he wonders if the Hulk is in town. Instead he discovers something even bigger – Billy Yuan has been transformed into a human-dragon hybrid that is ripping apart ATM machines and stealing the cash from them. Seeing Iron Man, the creature shoots flames of napalm in his direction, then returns to its task of collecting money to help sister Annie. “Yuan!” the dragon idol now living inside Billy shouts. “Turn around, you young fool! The armored one cannot be so easily beaten!”
After warning Billy Yuan to step away from the ATM machine, Iron Man shoots a repulsor blast and knocks him into a nearby dumpster. When Billy yells “You can’t just trash me!” in response, Iron Man notes that the voice sounds like an angry kid and that the creature doesn’t possess any fine-tuned fighting skills. When the dragon within likewise realizes the limited abilities of Billy Yuan, it fully takes control of the young man’s body and fights back itself, sending Iron Man into the sewers beneath the city. Before he is able to recover, Iron Man notices that the rats in the sewer are morphing into small lizards.
“Yes!” the dragon tells Yuan. “Let the power flow from the idol! We need more of our kind! Let the power flow within you, Billy Yuan! You are my conduit! You must fulfill your final destiny! Our destiny!”
Sprouting wings, the human-dragon hybrid attempts to fly way, but Iron Man quickly knocks it back onto the street. Grabbing its tail, Iron Man then slams the creature into unconsciousness. Once the police have the hybrid safely barricaded, however, thousands of small lizards stream from the sewers and swarm over Yuan’s body. In the blink of an eye, Billy Yuan transforms once again – this time into the extraterrestrial dragon known as Fin Fang Foom.
“Fifteen stories of fire breathing dragon,” Iron Man says to himself in the following issue of The Invincible Iron Man. “By rights, he should be dead. I saw him die – atomized – when I linked my armor’s systems with Mandarin’s power rings. How do I stop him now? And can I do it before he levels Seattle?”
Iron Man initially attempts to disorient Fin Fang Foo with a blast of high-frequency ultrasonics, but that only annoys the creature and causes him to swing his tail in retaliation and slam the superhero into a nearby building. Iron Man then taunts Fin Fang Foom into following him to Puget Sound and away from the city. While the dragon physically takes the bait, an internal struggle erupts within the creature when Billy Yuan regains consciousness despite no longer having a body.
“Have you already forgotten the idol through which we became one?” Fin Fang Foom asks the confused Yuan. “I gave you power, transformed you. Now your body is mine, and your psyche but a fleeting memory within my own.”
While Fin Fang Foom and Billy Yuan converse on the inside, Iron Man notices that the dragon’s body is motionless on the outside. Taking advantage of the development, Iron Man attempts to fly into Fin Fang Foom’s mouth but is shot back out by the creature’s fiery breath. Iron Man next tries to confuse Fin Fang Foom by creating numerous holographic Iron Mans. Instead of fighting them, the dragon flees into the watery depths of Puget Sound.
Now hidden within the seabed below, Fin Fang Foom again turns his attention to Billy Yuan, who makes a startling discover as the dragon attempts to slay him. “I’m not hurt,” he tells the creature. “You can’t kill me, can you? You’ve taken over my body, but you can’t destroy my mind!”
While Iron Man uses the brief reprieve from the battle to survey the damage that Fin Fang Foom has inflicted on Seattle, the dragon reemerges from the water and makes his way to the hospital in which Billy Yuan’s sister lies in a coma. Yuan attempts to fight the dragon, intent on keeping Fin Fang Foom from hurting Annie. Fin Fang Foom embraces the confrontation, believing it is the only way to rid himself of Billy Yuan, but Iron Man arrives on the scene to renew their own battle. “Iron Man!” Fin Fang Foom shouts. “I shall deal with you first! No mortal will ever again thwart me!”
Iron Man is able to once again maneuver Fin Fang Foom away from the city and into Puget Sound. Turning and blasting pulse bolts at his attacker, Iron Man momentarily stuns the dragon while likewise surrounding him with more holographic Iron Mans. This time, however, Fin Fang Foom sees through the illusion. Realizing he needs more firepower, Iron Man spots a Navy battleship in the vicinity and declares an “Avengers Priority” as he “borrows” their surface-to-air missiles.
Billy Yuan, meanwhile, resumes his own internal fight with Fin Fang Foom, a fight that he is slowly losing. Unwilling to give in, he musters enough control over Fin Fang Foom to freeze the creature in place – arms open wide as if to embrace the missiles that Iron Man has sent towards the creature. Fin Fang Foom can only watch in horror as the missiles hit, and with one final pulse bolt blast from Iron Man, is finally subdued.
“Arrogant insect!” the dragon screams at Yuan as he falls into unconsciousness. “I shall not be defeated by the sacrifice of one lone mortal.” While the words are confusing to Iron Man, they are prophetic for young Billy Yuan, who has indeed defeated the extraterrestrial being that had stolen his life.
Anthony Letizia