“Designed Only for Chaos” is the first great action episode of the series.

Rhodey and Pepper barely appear. Khan and Whitney don’t even have cameos. All the character interaction, which has been this series’ strength thus far, is eschewed.

Instead, we have the return of A.I.M., the Living Laser, the Controller, Ghost, Nick Fury and the introduction of MODOC. What we have here is an event episode.

It begins with Tony Stark trying to save the Living Laser, who cannot sustain his present condition. Then, Ghost steals the Laser for A.I.M., so he can be used to power MODOC.

I haven’t often complimented the animation for Iron Man: Armored Adventures; but the scene in which Tony Stark chases Ghost through a plummeting SHIELD helicarrier is brilliant. They race through the equivalent of an MC Escher painting as the floors and walls keep tilting. I can’t imagine storyboarding that monster, but it was all worth it.

The episode only improves when Living Laser and Iron Man square off against MODOC.

There’s more: not one, but two of Iron Man’s enemies learn his secret identity; a villain performs heroics; and Stark shares a touching scene with his proxy mother.

“Designed Only for Chaos” is either the best episode of the series, or the moment when this series took the leap from occasionally good to something memorable. It is too early to say for certain.