WARNING: The following contains spoilers for 2020 iWolverine #1, by Larry Hama, Roland Boschi, Andres Mossa and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
The Fastball Special is the most beloved tag-team move in the Marvel Universe. It's been a go-to move for the X-Men and Marvel's other superhero teams since Colossus first used Wolverine as a projectile in 1976's X-Men #100, by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum.
Since then, everyone from Spider-Man to She-Hulk has been involved in their own version of the Fastball Special. And now, an Iron Man 2020 tie-in introduced one in a way fans would have never expected. 2020 iWolverine #1 reintroduced readers to Wolverine's android double, Albert, and his companion Elsie Dee, a walking bomb that looks like a 5-year-old girl. The pair returned in a story written by their co-creator, Larry Hama, who introduced the pair with Marc Silvestri in 1991's Wolverine #37.
While Elsie'srobot body is currently broken up for parts, Albert just put a slightly macabre spin on the move by using Elsie's head as a projectile to ward off their attacks.
Years ago, Albert and Elsie were built by Reavers leader Donald Pierce in an attempt to kill Wolverine. Due to Elsie's exceptional artificial intelligence, they overcame their programming, with Elsie upgrading her previously primitive companion's intelligence beyond hers (hence the name Albert, after Einstein.)
After becoming allies of Wolverine, they have made sporadic appearances over the years. That includes an appearance on the all-Wolverine team in an infamous issue of Exiles. Elsie even made an appearance in the Wolverine: Adamantium Rage video game.
Albert recently resurfaced as part of a machine uprising in the Iron Man 2020 crossover, where the Marvel Universe's A.I.s and robots are rising up for their rights. However, iWolverine #1 sees him pursuing his own agenda apart from the revolution. Albert is searching for a missing Elsie in Wolverine's old stomping grounds, Madripoor, following up on a plot thread from Albert's appearance in the Hunt for Wolverine: Weapon Lost mini-series.
After being directed to Pierce's operation in Madripoor by Wolverine's old ally Tyger Tyger, Albert meets his maker, looking for answers. Pierce reveals that she had come to him, but because he considered her his property, he decided to sell her off in pieces. After Pierce finds himself at the mercy of Albert's claws, he reveals where each piece of Elsie wound up.
Albert's first stop is to pick up Elsie's head from a yakuza boss named Kimura. Kimura sent assassins after Albert at the beginning of the issue, after he confused surveillance footage of the doppelganger for the actual Wolverine. Kimura wanted to avenge his yakuza "elder brother" Dai Kumo, whose death Wolverine was caused during the Hama/Silvestri run.
After Albert clawed his way through Kimura's men, the yakuza seemed happy to relinquish Elsie's head, in spite of the fact that her "creative accounting" skills were a considerable help to their illicit dealings. With Elsie free from crunching Kimura's numbers, the reunited pair set off in search of the rest of her body.
Elsie's arms were attached to a robot that was part of the assembly line at a Jade Dragon Triad owned factory. The robot was helping the Triad's labor force assemble knockoff chibi Iron Man dolls when Albert and Elsie retrieved her arms from it. When the Triad objected to their "theft," Albert and Elsie executed their spin on the Fastball Special. In a first for the move, Albert tossed her disembodied head at a member of the Triad. She took a bite out of his ear, admonishing him for his pandering and human trafficking.
While it lacks the literal punch of the usual version of the move, it's still effective. The duo was able to escape from the Triad and ultimately retrieve her body after one more stop at a club owned by Russian mobsters named the Karamazov Brothers. Albert reassembles her, but the reunited duo hasn't earned a happy ending just yet.
The end of the issue sees members of all the factions they've crossed, including a newly earless member of the Triad, heading after the duo. Now, they're going to have to fight their way out of Madripoor in the second part of the story, and these two cyborgs will need to use every trick in their sleeve to make it out in one piece.
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