When Tony plunged into the underground lab beneath his Malibu seaside villa with the 1974 Expo planning model, another drama involving him was quietly unfolding.
The battle at the Monaco racetrack had been broadcast live across the world. Some saw Iron Man's humiliation, some saw Whiplash's madness, and others saw an opportunity.
Hammer sat in his office, the footage from that day replaying on the computer screen before him. Ivan Vanko wielded two electric whips, lashing Tony Stark back and forth and forcing Tony to put on that portable armor in public.
Hammer watched, utterly engrossed.
That bastard Tony Stark had said it himself: "Most countries will take five to ten years to build this thing, while Hammer Industries will need twenty." The remark had infuriated him.
Yet less than a week after Tony said those words, this man had slapped Tony in the face with his actions. That was why he needed him. He needed to use him to shed the label of "incompetent fool."
Justin Hammer's pathetic performance at the hearing had been turned into countless memes and spread wildly across social media worldwide. His dignity, Hammer Industries' dignity—both had been ground into the dirt by that bastard Tony Stark.
But what if he worked with this whip-wielding lunatic?
He had resources, and this whip-wielding lunatic had the technology. With Hammer Industries' current capabilities, he could certainly build an army of iron soldiers in a short time, then lead that army to the closing ceremony of the Stark Industries Expo.
Would the United States military still need to beg Tony Stark then?
Once he displayed his iron army at the Expo's closing ceremony, Hammer Industries would replace Stark Industries as the true number-one arms dealer in the United States. And he, Justin Hammer, would replace Tony Stark as