I'm tagging the "Winter Soldier: The Bitter March" series here, because we learn (or, at least, I do) that Ran Shen is the Iron Nail. I'm going to read some back issues* to see if I've known that all this time, or if Remender just made it clear in this issue. He certainly dropped the hint in "Winter Soldier: The Bitter March" #2 when Ran contacted Dr. Mindbubble for help fleeing the Winter Soldier. But, it obviously opens up all sorts of questions. Why does Ran turn against S.H.I.E.L.D.? How does he go on the journey to become the Iron Nail? It's hard to believe that the young man that we see seducing a Nazi scientist over champagne and political philosophy while on the run from the Winter Soldier becomes the Iron Nail. If you're not reading the Winter Soldier mini-series, I highly recommend it, because the questions surrounding Ran definitely make this arc much, much more interesting. Otherwise, it's pretty normal. Steve is outraged by a villain's ability to commit mass atrocities, and he rallies past his emotional baggage from the loss of Ian and Sharon to confront him. Besides Ran, the most interesting development is Dr. Mindbubble taking over Steve's mind, making you wonder what damage he and the Iron Nail could accomplish with Steve -- not to mention Gungnir the Super-Helicarrier -- on their side.
* OK, the back-issue search makes it pretty clear that Ran is the Iron Nail from the start. In issue #13, Ran returns to S.H.I.E.L.D. after going silent for the two years that he spent undercover infiltrating Mao Zedong's inner circle. Mao apparently expelled him from the party after he formed his own communist group, the Shaolin Scientist Squad, and pissed off the Soviets. Fury is surprised that Ran didn't think that he'd have discovered the truth. However, Ran isn't there to return to S.H.I.E.L.D.: he's there to bust out Dr. Mindbubble from the Weapon-Minus facility. Unfortunately, he's stopped by the Winter Soldier, presumably there because of the pissed-off Soviets. So, I don't necessarily have the answers to any of the questions that I raised in the preceding paragraph as a result of re-reading issues #12-#18, but they do help clarify that we always knew that Ran was the Iron Nail. (We just didn't know Ran.)
*** (three of five stars)
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