Writer: Dana Schwartz

Artists: Jacen Burrows, Scott Hanna, & Pete Pantazis

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2020

Rescue 2020, a name everyone is familiar with but does anyone actually care? Outside of 2019’s Avengers Endgame, were Pepper Potts fans really yearning for a Rescue book? Or did Marvel just think they could ride off of the old flames of the MCU debut of the Iron Heroine?

Pepper Potts has been tasked with a mission that never should have taken two issues to complete, let alone it’s own title. A 50-page giant would have sufficed. But nonetheless, this Iron Man 2020 event felt the need to give Pepper something to do. Dana Schwartz starts the issue with a very questionable story plot. Potts has already received Tony Stark’s mother’s DNA and is attempting to get a hold of his father’s DNA. In order to do so, Potts must infiltrate a Hydra base. How did she do? Well, poor protocol through Hydra of course! Now, I know they’re bad guys, but they also took over the country at one point. You can only make them stupid to a certain point for so long.

Schwartz really tries to lay in on the sexism of Hydra with making remarks like Potts is basically invisible, and officers in power disregarding that she may be something more than an assistant or secretary. This is very much a topic in today’s climate and could be expanded upon, especially in terms of making Pepper more than just Stark’s right hand. In this issue, because of the events leading up, it almost just felt eye-rolling in nature. There was no example of punishment for the individual belittling her and he simply made his remarks while the issue moved forward. There was no satisfying, “He got what he deserved” moment.

Additionally, what good is a secret identity if everyone knows who you are? Or better yet, how does everyone know who Rescue is? Tony’s father “might” know it, roughly based on the fact that he is Tony’s father. But Dana writes these moments of characters speaking to Rescue and then realizing that it’s Pepper Potts underneath the armor. How? Why? In the grand scheme of things, how big is Pepper Potts to the average Joe Hydra agent? And either Dana needs to stop watching the 90’s action flicks, or just give Pepper better dialogue because jeez, those “RESCUE” lines made me want to close the issue and never read it again.

The big theme of course is the Robot Revolution, simply put as an obstacle course for Rescue to get a pass in order to complete her objective. Simple, boring, and seemed to not even be a threat in the issue. With no challenge for Pepper, this series has no character development, she can’t grow as a person or a hero in this quest, which again begs the question, why make this series in the first place? The art did not wow me but I, unfortunately, believe the story turned me off to the art. However, I liked the color pallet but there were some early panel layout choices that simply didn’t work in the stories favor.

Final Thoughts:

Rescue seems like a cool character, a character to be explored through a series, with character development and growth. In this series, Pepper Potts is simply an armored assistant sitting in the shadow of her boss. This Iron Man 2020 event continues to let me down. I just hope Marvel can learn from the mistakes of this event, but we all know that is wishful thinking.