Iron Man (1968) #20

Cover by George Tuska

Cover Date: December 1969

On-Sale Date: September 1969

Brief Synopsis: Lucifer tries to escape from dimensional exile by possessing a depressed Stark employee, but Iron Man and the employee's wife stop him.

Proposed Placement: XY 3, June

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 5

Hey, remember Lucifer?  You know, the ultra-important X-Men villain who put Professor X in a wheelchair?  He's back!  In an issue of Iron Man for some reason!

Lucifer's an odd duck in the X-Men rogues' gallery.  As the guy who crippled the team's leader he should be one of their most significant villains, but the honest truth is that he sucks, and nearly every writer who's touched the franchise since the 1960s has ignored his existence.  Sure, he shows up here in Iron Man, and I think in some Captain America stories as well, but I don't think he appears in an actual X-Men story again until 2019.  This probably raises the question of why I'm bothering to cover the guy's appearances, and for that the answer is twofold: 1) he's made very few appearances so tracking him isn't a bother, and 2) it makes today's post really quick to write up.

Anyway, Lucifer tries to get out of the nameless dimension he was exiled into in X-Men (1963) #21, he fails, the end.  See you in five years, Lucifer!

Page 6, panel 3

Lucifer was supposedly being exiled into an empty void at the end of X-Men (1963) #21, but apparently not because he was able to use his time there to cobble together a dimensional transmitter.  I guess the masters of his race use this dimension to throw out their old computers as well as to exile their failed conquerors.

Page 7, panels 1 to 3

Lucifer's people supposedly used the power of ionic energy to conquer galaxies.  Previously it had been established that they made their conquests using the mind-controlling Dominus computer, but I suppose there's no reason they couldn't have used both.  Lucifer's statement that he had to "rebuild" and "redevelop" these powers makes me think that maybe these are powers his people once had but then lost.  Certainly he never displayed them before, as most of his abilities came from technology in his previous appearances.

Lucifer notes that he has been in exile for years.  This fits with my timeline: I have X-Men (1963) #21 in June of XY 1, and this issue two years later in June of XY 3.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This issue takes place entirely in one day.  It was released circa X-Men (1963) #62, but given how interconnected X-Men #54-66 are I'm placing it after #66.