HIDEO SHINODA
of Earth-97082 circa 2015 A.D.
Real Name: Hideo Shinoda
Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-97082) human;
Japanese citizen
Occupation: CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of ESON Development
Group Membership: ESON development,
Affiliations: IM2, Iron Man/Tony Stark,
formerly Hiro Matsui
Enemies: Hiro Matsui and his unidentified cabal seeking to manipulate/takeover Japan;
business rival of Tony Stark;
Known Relatives: Keiko Takimoto (step-daughter), unidentified wife (Keiko's mother)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly ESON Development building, Tokyo, Japan
First Appearance: Iron Man: Crash (April, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: Hideo Shinoda is a skilled businessman, running a technology firm that was one of the planet's largest and most capable.
He is a man of honor and pride.
He may or may not have significant
computer and/or other technology skills; alternatively, he may have
just employed others for that.
He is fluent in Japanese and English.
He may or may not have had any martial arts training, but he could at least hurl a curved short sword (it doesn't look like a tanto, the blade used most commonly in Seppuku, ritualistic suicide; see the top right/main image) perhaps 15' to pass immediately next to someone's face.
Height: Unrevealed (he was never shown standing next to anyone of known height; perhaps 5'7")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 170 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (presumably brown)
Hair: Gray/white (likely formerly black)
History:
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Hideo Shinoda married the mother of Keiko Takimoto.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - At some point Hideo became the CEO of the technology firm ESON development.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) -
Over the years, Hideo worked together with Stark International CEO Tony Stark, though they remained competitors, rather than
friends.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) -
Noticing Keiko's admiration of Tony Stark, Hideo encouraged this,
ultimately wishing Keiko and Stark to fall in love and marry.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to give more to the world, Stark recently agreed to market the Somatic Amplification Vehicle (SAV), a non-weaponized version of his
Iron Man armor.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) -
Considering them the best for mass production of the SAV
with excellent costs and high quality control, Stark chose ESON.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - Stark was enjoying "the
Manhattan techno-paradise" with his girlfriend, Maxie Graham, until he
was pulled away to deal with ESON, leaving Maxie upset with him.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - Stark approved the final contract with ESON.
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) - Stark's production
manager, Mr. Jones, argued in favor of using a domestic
manufacturer. Though Jones pointed out the Chip Wars as an example that
down and dirty competition had escalated and that once the SAV was out
of his hands it was out of his control, Stark felt that he could help
the whole world rather than just one nation, and he ultimately
instructed Jones to design a program for cooperation with ESON's
production team.
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) - Nick Fury futilely tried to convince Stark to
either not deal with ESON or not release the SAV at all.
(Iron Man: Crash (fb) - BTS) - After Stark International shipped the final schematics and the
wire-wrapped prototype, ESON broke contact.
This was presumably under Matsui's direction and without Hideo Shinoda's knowledge.
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) - Stark met up with Maxie in Hawaii, but their dinner was interrupted when Jones reported that ESON had broken contact
after Stark International had shipped everything. As Stark prepared to depart to Tokyo, Maxie
silently walked out of the room.
(Iron Man: Crash) - After arriving in Tokyo, Stark met with his local executive, Keiko
Takimoto, and they met with Hideo Shinoda and his apparent
second-in-command, Hiro Matsui. Hideo indignantly dismissed the
accusation of a breach as a petty interpretation, noting the lack of
communication to
be due to technical difficulties in a new building. He further
dismissed Stark's concerns regarding unauthorized tampering and
distribution of the "SCV" (see comments)
while they were out of touch as ridiculous. Hideo then suggested that
Stark's actions and accusations were an excuse to gain what leverage he
had lost in negotiations.
Hiro advised they not let mistrust to block their
original goal, but Stark insisted on a better explanation for the lack
of communications, as a simple pay-phone call (see comments)
would have sufficed. An angry Hideo argued that it would be imprudent
to trust unsecured systems, which might allow various criminal
organizations to learn of their security system failure. Slamming his
hand upon the table, Hideo noted his resentment of Stark's typical
arrogance that would bring him there uninvited, after which he stood
up, turned away, and declared an end to the meeting.
Hiro apologized somewhat, noting that Hideo had
developed a deep understanding of the Western business world at the
price of sometimes indulging in that world's more unpleasant excesses.
Hiro then suggested they leave the matter for their lawyers to address.
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) - While Stark worried that delays wou
ld
allow greater
damage if his designs had been compromised, Keiko assured him that
Hideo was an honorable man. After Keiko slew a man sent by agents of
Hiro to kill Stark, SHIELD leader Nick Fury had Stark put into a plane
headed back to the USA.
Stark donned a suit of Iron Man armor hidden in
his luggage, and flew back. With technological support from Keiko, Iron
Man located a cyborg Dreadnought, whose systems he hacked, finding
evidence that Shinoda had altered the Stark programs and further
evidence of a SCV samurai project. Keiko subsequently delivered to
Stark the IM2 robot, which he activated to help him take down
ESON. Before Stark left, Keiko confessed that Shinoda was her
stepfather and that he had wanted them to fall in love and marry. She
further insisted that while Shinoda was tough and aggressive, that he
was not a thief or a killer.
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) - As
Iron Man and IM2
infiltrated ESON, Hiro informed Hideo how he had framed Hideo for his
own crimes and that his warriors would allow Japan to take the lead in
military might; he recommended Hideo commit seppuku (suicide) to avoid
the dishonor and shoved a short sword down the long table to him. Hideo
asked what kind of victory Hiro had won with pirated technology, after
which he commented that rather than honoring ESON and Japan, Matsui had
disgraced them. Insisting he was not samurai enough to believe he
should die for Matsui's disgrace, Hideo hurled the short sword Matsui
had offered him, lodging it in the chair immediately to the left of
Matsui's face.
As Hiro prepared to have Hideo killed,
Iron Man burst in and took out Hiro's men (apparently fatally),
allowing Hideo to flee. 
(Iron Man: Crash - BTS) -
Iron Man and IM2 ultimately destroyed the SCV samurai, and Hiro did
something that apparently granted IM2 independence from Stark's control
before destroying at least the top of the ESON building, apparently
killing himself in the process.
Hideo Shinoda's fate was not revealed.
Comments: Created by Michael Saenz
Crash was billed as "The First
Computer Generated Graphic Novel." That was a big deal back in 1988.
There's an extensive feature on how they did it at the back of the
book. Buy it, and read it!
Much like Earth-8410, the "future"
of 2020 A.D., this is a reality where Stark was active from the
mid-60's forward, with no sliding timescale. With the graphic novel
published in 1988, the main story in 2015 AD was meant to take place 27 years in
the future.
The terms SAV and SCV were used somewhat
interchangeably in the story, but the SAV was a non-weaponized version,
while the SCV was the combat version. Iron Man's armor was a SCV, but
he de-weaponized it into a SAV, which is what he distributed to ESON.
Hiro weaponized the SAV
technology to make his SCV Samurai.
ESON was always in all capitals, and so I would
assume it is an acronym, but we were never given any further
description of the name.
As the story was written in the 80's it wasn't
suspected that pay phones would be largely obsolete within a few
decades.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Hideo Shinoda should be distinguished from:
- other "Hideo" or "Shinoda" characters
images: (without ads)
Iron Man: Crash graphic novel, pg. 27, panel 2 (face, close, blurry);
pg. 45, panel 7 (face, close-up, with blade);
pg. 46, panel 4 (lateral, throwing blade);
pg. 47, panel 8 (full profile, very distant)
Appearances:
Iron Man: Crash graphic novel (April, 1988) - Mike Saenz (writer, artist), William Bates (producer/programmer), Archie Goodwin (editor)
First posted: 11/27/2020
Last updated: 11/27/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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