Demon in a Bottle is a nine-issue Iron Man story arc from the comic book series Iron Man (1968), published from issues #120 to #128 (March 1979 to November 1979) by Marvel Comics. The story was written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton and illustrated by John Romita, Jr., Bob Layton, and Carmine Infantino. The story deals with Tony Stark's slow descent into alcoholism
During a rough point in his life, Tony gives up the Iron Man suit and wallows in booze and despair for a while. Fortunatly, with the help of his friends, Tony beats his addictions and returns to the mantle of Iron Man.
Demon in a Bottle contains examples of:
- 10-Minute Retirement:
- After Tony's encounter with Justin Hammer, he is left shaken to the point where he considers giving up being Tony Stark and just be Iron Man full-time. But when a train rescue operation goes awry thanks to his "intervention", he decides he can't do anything right and is poised to drink himself into oblivion, before his friends intervene and convince him that he doesn't have to go through his problems alone, starting him on the path to sobriety.
- As the result of a drunken Tony snapping at him, and his not liking the direction things have been going of late, Edwin Jarvis opts to resign his position as Tony's butler. Right afterward, Jarvis finds out his mother needs medical care, and to pay for it, he hocks his two shares of Stark International stock - right at a time when S.H.I.E.L.D. is buying up every piece of stock in order to force Stark to start building weapons for them again. Tony convinces Jarvis to come back and then tries to get the stock back from the loan shark, only to find out that S.H.I.E.L.D. already bought itnote . This actually leads to a rather epic Ten Minute Retirement for most of the entire company, due to the loyalty Stark had fostered, leaving Nick Fury with a useless asset. The two men come to terms, returning control of the company back to Stark.
- The Alcoholic: While Tony always drank, the story delves into his struggle with drinking and addiction.
- Big Bad: Justin Hammer.
- Combination Attack: Melter and Blizzard pair their fire and ice attacks to break through Iron Man's defenses. Timely intervention by Bethany Cabe was the only thing that kept them from finishing him off.
- Descent into Addiction: The story deals with Stark's slow descent into alcoholism. Although he managed to seemingly beat the addiction by the end of the arc, it returned later to further ruin his life, and has been a major defining element for the character ever since.
- Diabolical Mastermind: During his initial appearances, Hammer stayed in the shadows, operating from a personal ship off the coast of Monaco. He operated entirely through proxies, and even his business concerns were all shell corporations that could not be traced back to him.
- The Dragon: Whiplash becomes one to Justin Hammer, holding the position for the remainder of Michelinie/Layton run.
- Flaw Exploitation: Hammer is the first villain to try and exploit Stark's alcoholism, beating Obadiah Stane to it by years.
- Frame-Up: Justin Hammer frames Iron Man for murder
- He's Back!: When Justin Hammer remote-hacked Iron Man's armor, resulting in the death of a foreign ambassador, Iron Man was framed for it. Although Iron Man was ultimately absolved of wrongdoing, Tony nearly crawled into the bottle to stay because of this, until his friends snapped him out of it (just in time, too, since SHIELD was in the process of assuming control of Stark International).
- Jobber: Blizzard officially becomes this, as he is relatively useless without Whiplash supervising his actions. Ironically enough, what made Shapanka so effective in his earliest appearances was that he worked alone. He nearly killed Iron Man by spamming him with a powerful ice storm attack. Once he started working as part of a team, he could no longer use this attack, since he had to worry about allies or mooks getting hurt by Splash Damage.
- The Sponsor: When Tony gives up the Iron Man suit and wallowed in booze and despair for a while. Fortunately, his then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, picked him up and got him back in the game.
- Terrible Trio: Blizzard, Whiplash, and Melter form one to take out Iron Man.
