Public Enemy No. 1

**Public Enemy No. 1** is the third episode of the first season of NBC's *Iron Man*. It premiered on October 10, 2011. It was directed by Jesse Bochco and written by Andrew Chambliss & Ian Goldberg. It was also the third episode of *Iron Man* overall.

## Synopsis

Tony  is forced to reveal his secret to a close friend to get help. Pepper and Olivia  work together to stop Stane. In flashbacks, Tony and Yinsen are forced to build a missile.

## Plot

### Flashbacks

Yinsen is ordered to fix Tony due to his heart condition. As the shrapnel nears Tony's heart, which would kill him, Yinsen realizes that he can build an Arc Reactor, which would stabilize his condition and protect his heart, though he does not have the means to take the shrapnel out. Yinsen builds the Arc Reactor and places it in Tony's chest. Raza's insurgents then order the two to rebuild the missile Tony was planning on testing in Arabia, the reason he was in the country in the first place. The two decide to build the missile, but without being able to be activated, and then use the distraction as means to escape.

### Present Day

Tony lies in a pool of blood in his suit. A car pulls up and Rhodey jumps out of the driver's seat. Rhodey realizes Tony is the Iron Man and gets him into the back of his car. Rhodey tries to take him to a hospital but Tony does not let him, telling him to take him to the underground level of Stark Industries, Tony's base of operations. Pepper goes to work and finds Olivia, who is worried because Tony is answering his phone. The two ladies see on a newscast that another man in an iron suit attacked Iron Man and defeated him. As they watch Stane is the only happy one in the room, because he hates the Iron Man. Olivia realizes Stane returned just after Iron Man was defeated and the two becomes convinced Stane is the other iron man. Tony guides Rhodey through stitching him up, learning it from Yinsen. After he recovers, Tony calls Olivia and lies to her that he was really busy, buried in work. Rhodey wants to go to the police with Iron Man's identity, but Tony convinces him to work with Tony instead. Olivia and Pepper watch Stane having odd behavior before finally seeing him eating on his lunch break, which they were convinced was his time to attack, while the man in the suit is out. Pepper and Olivia realize Stane is just a strange man. However, Stane is revealed to be working for the man in the suit. Meanwhile, Rhodey tries to call Christine, who doesn't answer repeatedly. Finally, he learns from Tony's doctor that Christine was brought in with an energy blast to the chest and was pronounced dead almost immediately. The public fears Iron Man was the culprit until they see the man in the suit on the news, announcing himself as Christine's killer.

## Cast

### Starring

* Rupert Friend as Tony Stark/Iron Man
* Kate McKinnon as Pepper Potts
* Edi Gathegi as James Rhodes
* Sarah Hyland as Olivia Stark
* Maxwell Caulfield as Edwin Jarvis
* Dave Legeno as Obadiah Stane

### Guest Starring

* Jason Ritter as Happy Hogan
* Naveen Andrews as Ho Yinsen

## Trivia

* This episode takes place on February 1 and October 3 and 4.
* This episode achieved 13.26 million U.S. live viewers.
* The episode received generally good reviews. It scored 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, and an 6.4/10 on IGN.
* This episode is rated TV-14 for L.