Iron Man

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Marvel Comics superhero. For the film featuring this character, see Iron Man (film). For other uses of the term, see Iron Man (disambiguation).

Iron Man
Promotional art for Iron Man Vol. 4, #2 (December, 2004). Art by Adi Granov.
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) Created by Stan Lee Larry Lieber Don Heck Jack Kirby
Characteristics Alter ego Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark Affiliations Avengers Hellfire Club West Coast Avengers Force Works Department of Defense Illuminati Abilities Genius. Brilliant inventor and engineer. Cyberpathic link with powered armor. Skilled hand-to-hand combatant.

Iron Man (Anthony Edward Stark) is a fictional comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Contents 1 Publication history 2 Fictional character history 2.1 Origins 2.2 Changing fortunes 2.3 The Crossing and Heroes Reborn 2.4 The new millennium 2.5 Civil War 3 Powers and abilities 3.1 Armor 3.2 Skills 4 Other versions of Iron Man 4.1 Ultimate Iron Man 4.2 Other 5 Appearances in other media 5.1 Television and direct-to-video 5.2 Film 5.3 Video games 5.4 Toys 5.5 Popular culture 6 Bibliography 6.1 List of Iron Man titles 7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Publication history

Iron Man's premiere was a collaboration among editor and story-plotter Lee, scripter Lieber, story-artist Heck, who would illustrate most of the early Iron Man tales, and Kirby, who provided the cover pencils and designed the first Iron Man armor.^[1] Heck created the look of characters including protagonist Tony Stark and his secretary, Pepper Potts.^[2]

Iron Man starred in generally 13-page but occasionally 18-page adventures, with the rest of Tales of Suspense devoted to anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. After debuting with bulky grey armor, Iron Man was redesigned with similar but golden armor in his second story (issue #40, April 1963), with the first iteration of his familiar, sleek red-and-golden armor appearing in issue #48 (Dec. 1963), drawn by Steve Ditko (though whether he or Kirby, singly or in collaboration, designed it, is uncertain).

Beginning with issue #59 (Nov. 1964), Iron Man began sharing the now "split book" Tales of Suspense with Captain America. After the final issue, #99 (March 1968), the book became Captain America; Iron Man appeared in the one-shot Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1 (April 1968), and then debuted in his own title with Iron Man #1 (May 1968).

Iron Man possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength, virtual invulnerability, flight, and an array of weapons. The armor was invented and, with occasional short-term exceptions, worn by Tony Stark, an American industrialist billionaire and military contractor known not only for his lifestyle, but also for his incredible ingenuity and inventive genius. Other people who have assumed the Iron Man identity include close associates Harold "Happy" Hogan, Eddie March (the first African-American Iron Man), James Rhodes and (briefly) Michael O'Brien.

Iron Man was originally an anti-communist hero. Throughout the character’s comic book series, technological advancement and national defense were constant themes, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism and other personal difficulties.

Writers often portray Iron Man as a symbol of humanity's creativity as well as its frailties. He is often placed in contrast with his close friends Captain America and Thor, the former as a comparison between interventionist and cooperative attitudes, and the latter comparing science and the supernatural. Throughout most of his career, Iron Man has been a member of the superhero team the Avengers, and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic-book series.

[edit] Fictional character history

[edit] Origins

Tony Stark enters the undergraduate engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduates at the top of his class. At the age of 21, he inherits his father's company, Stark Industries, after his parents are killed in a car accident. One of the first things Stark does is to buy out the company that made the faulty brakes on his parent's car and correct the mechanical problem.

While on a visit to Vietnam to see how his new mini-transistors could assist the American war effort, Stark is caught in a booby trap. Captured by a Vietnamese warlord named Wong Chu, and dying from a piece of shrapnel lodged in his heart from the booby trap, Stark is pressed into building weapons for Wong Chu, along with a fellow prisoner, the famed physicist Yin Sen (later called Ho Yinsen). However, Stark and Yin Sen use the workshop to secretly design and construct a suit of powered armor — an iron exoskeleton that gives Stark tremendous strength as well as other abilities — that will not only keep Stark's heart beating, but also allow him to escape. Yin Sen sacrifices himself to buy Stark time to charge the bulky suit of armor, and as Iron Man, Stark makes short work of Wong Chu and his men. On the way back, Iron Man encounters a wounded American Air Force helicopter pilot, Jim Rhodes. Introducing himself as Stark's bodyguard, Iron Man and Rhodes manage to defend themselves against the pursuing North Vietnamese before making it back to American lines. On his return to the US, Stark continues to improve the armor, establishing a dual identity as the adventurer and superhero Iron Man. He also greatly expands his father's company, Stark Industries, eventually renaming it Stark International.

The cover for Iron Man is that he is Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company, Communist opponents such as the Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man as well as independent villains like the Mandarin. Both the Widow and the Dynamo eventually defect to the United States, and even erstwhile villain Hawkeye, originally a pawn of the Widow, reforms and join the Avengers. No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivates an image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast at this point are his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, to both of whom he eventually reveals his dual identity.

The comic took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as opposition rose to the Vietnam War. This change evolved in a series of stories with Stark profoundly reconsidering his political opinions and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the military. Stark, however, has remained essentially conservative both in character and politics, despite his playboy image. He also often shows himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to justify the means with the ends. This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities.

Stark has a vast personal fortune, and is also known as a philanthropist. He donates the use of his boyhood manor as Avengers Mansion, and funds the Avengers' operations through the Maria Stark Foundation, a non-profit organization named after his late mother. The Foundation is not linked to any of Stark's businesses, and has continued to operate even when those businesses have failed. Stark also provides technology to other superheroes, including designing various replacement shields for Captain America, the quinjets used by the Avengers, the image inducers used by the X-Men and Spider-Man's second armored costume.

Eventually, Stark's heart condition is discovered by the public and cured with an artificial heart transplant. However, Stark is also developing a serious dependency on alcohol. The first time it becomes a problem is when Stark discovers that the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. has been buying a controlling interest in his company in order to ensure Stark's continued weapons development for them. At the same time, Stark's business rival Justin Hammer hires several supervillains to attack Stark. At one point, the Iron Man armor is even taken over and used to murder a diplomat. Although Iron Man is not immediately under suspicion, Stark is forced to hand the armor over to the authorities. Eventually Stark and Rhodes, now his personal pilot and confidant, track down and defeat those responsible, although Hammer would return to bedevil Stark again. With the support of his then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, his friends and employees, Stark pulls through these crises and, for the moment, overcomes his dependency on alcohol.

[edit] Changing fortunes

Some time later, a ruthless rival, Obadiah Stane, manipulates him emotionally into a serious relapse. As a result, Stark loses control of Stark International, becomes a homeless vagrant and gives up his armored identity to Rhodes, who becomes the new Iron Man for a lengthy period of time. Eventually, Stark recovers and starts a new company, Circuits Maximus. While Stark concentrates on new technological designs, Rhodes continues to act as Iron Man but steadily grows more aggressive and paranoid. Rhodes's problems are initially thought to be the result of his using armors whose cerebral interfaces are calibrated for Stark's brain, but are later revealed to be purely psychological in nature. Rhodes goes on a rampage, and Stark has to don a prototype suit to stop him. When Circuits Maximus comes under assault from Stane, Stark uses the completed next-generation armor to confront Stane in personal combat. Stark's skill proves superior over Stane's unskilled use of his own variant suit (known as the Iron Monger) and Stark regains his company when Stane commits suicide rather than be captured.

In an attempt to stop other people from misusing his designs, Stark goes about disabling other armored heroes and villains who are using suits based on the Iron Man technology, the designs of which were stolen by his enemy Spymaster. However, these "Armor Wars" have tragic consequences, when he inadvertently causes the death of the Soviet Titanium Man. He also severely hurts his reputation as Iron Man by disabling the armor of the SHIELD operatives known as the Mandroids, disabling the armor of the Guardsmen (the Guardsmen were the guards of the supervillain detention center known as the Vault, and Iron Man's actions led to a small prison breakout), and defeating the government operative known as Stingray in battle. The situation was worsened when Stark realized that Stingray's armor did not incorporate any of his designs.

This also leads to a falling out between Stark and Steve Rogers (who at the time has given up his Captain America identity). Rogers, while agreeing with Stark's motives, disapproves of his high-handed methods, considering them reckless and dangerous. The United States government declares Iron Man a danger when he goes after their Stark-derived Guardsmen suits and Iron Man is hunted down. Stark eventually fakes Iron Man's demise and claims that a new person is in the armor. Stark also patches up his friendship with Steve Rogers.

However, Stark's health continues to deteriorate, and it is discovered that the armor's cybernetic interface is causing irreversible damage to his nervous system. His condition is aggravated by a failed attempt on his life by a mentally unbalanced former lover which injures his spine, paralyzing him. Stark has a nerve chip implanted into his spine to regain his mobility, but this makes his body vulnerable to outside control, even though his mind is unaffected. With Rhodes's help, and using the cybernetically controlled Iron Man armor to move his remotely controlled body, he eventually defeats the villain responsible.

However, Stark's nervous system continues its slide towards failure, and he constructs a "skin" made up of artificial nerve circuitry to assist it. Stark also begins to pilot a remote-controlled Iron Man armor, but when faced with the Masters of Silence, the telepresence suit proves inadequate. Stark then designs a more heavily armed version of the suit to wear, the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit", which becomes known as the War Machine armor.

Ultimately, the damage to his nervous system is too extensive. Faking his death, Stark places himself in suspended animation to heal as Rhodes takes over the running of Stark Enterprises and the mantle of Iron Man using the War Machine armor. Stark ultimately makes a full recovery by using the chip to reprogram himself and reassumes the Iron Man identity. When Rhodes learns that Stark has manipulated his friends by faking his own death, he becomes enraged and the two friends part ways, Rhodes continuing as War Machine in a solo career.

A schism within the Avengers following the events of the Kree-Shi'ar War ("Operation: Galactic Storm") and the later Bloodties (comics) storyline leads to a difference of opinion regarding the future of the Avengers' west coast branch. Iron Man leaves the team and forms a new superhero group, Force Works, funded by Tony Stark and comprised of ex-Avengers. However, tensions within that team soon lead to his resignation from it, and Iron Man attempts a reconciliation with the Avengers.

[edit] The Crossing and Heroes Reborn

It is revealed soon after in a controversial storyline called "The Crossing" that a traitor is among the Avengers' ranks, and it turns out to be none other than Iron Man himself. It appears that the villain Kang the Conqueror has been manipulating Stark for years, using him as a sleeper agent, and causing him to push aside his friends and unconsciously serve Kang. Stark, fully in Kang's thrall, kills Marilla, the nanny of Crystal and Quicksilver's daughter Luna, as well as Rita DeMara, the female Yellowjacket, then an ally of the Avengers.

(It is revealed later, during the Avengers Forever miniseries, that these events are really due to the machinations of a disguised Immortus, not Kang, and the mental control had only gone back for a few months.)

The story continues in "Timeslide". Needing help to defeat both Stark and Kang, the team travel back in time and recruit a teenage Tony Stark from an alternate timeline to assist them. "Teen Tony" steals a suit of Stark's armor to aid the Avengers against his older self, and the sight of his younger self shocks the older Stark enough for him to regain momentary control of his actions, and he sacrifices his life to stop Kang. "Teen Tony" later builds his own suit to become the "new" Iron Man. The teenage Stark remains in the present day and legally regains control of his company.

During the battle with the creature called Onslaught, "Teen Tony" dies, along with many of his teammates and allies from the Avengers and Fantastic Four. However, Franklin Richards preserves these "dead" heroes in the "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe, in which Tony Stark is once again an adult and a hero. The reborn adult Stark, upon returning to the normal Marvel Universe, retains the memories of both the original and teenage Tony Stark, and considers himself to have been both of them. With the aid of law firm Nelson & Murdock, he successfully regains his fortune and sets up a new company (during his "death", Stark Enterprises had been sold), Stark Solutions. He also returns from the pocket universe with a fully-restored living heart. After the Avengers reform, Stark demands that a hearing be convened to look into his actions just prior to the Onslaught incident. Cleared of wrongdoing, he rejoins the Avengers.

[edit] The new millennium

At one point, Tony's armor itself becomes sentient, despite fail-safes to prevent its increasingly sophisticated computer systems from doing so. Stark's safeguards are corrupted accidentally when he uses the armor to download the mind of the android Jocasta to save her. Jocasta is the creation of the rogue android Ultron, and unknown even to her, embedded in all of Ultron's creations is the Ultron Imperative, a command that would compel them to rebuild Ultron whenever he is destroyed. The Ultron Imperative acts like a trojan horse, infecting the armor's on-board systems. Combined with an electrical attack by the villain Whiplash that sent Stark into cardiac arrest, it causes the armor's computer to become self-aware. Initially, Stark welcomes this "living" armor, as it has improved tactical abilities, but soon the armor's behavior begins to grow more aggressive, and it even commits murder. Eventually, the armor reaches the point where it wants to join with Stark and eventually replace him, like Ultron wishes to do with his creator Henry Pym.

Stark finds he cannot defeat the armor, but in the final confrontation on a desert island, Stark suffers another heart attack. To save its creator's life, the armor gives up part of its components to give Stark a new, artificial heart, sacrificing its own existence. The new heart does not have an internal power supply, so Stark becomes once again dependent on periodic recharging.

The sentient armor incident so disturbs Stark that he goes back to using an early model version of his armor for a while. He also dabbles with using liquid metal circuitry known as S.K.I.N. that will form itself into a protective shell around his body, but eventually returns to more conventional hard metal armors.

In the mid-2000s,^{[issue # needed]} Stark publicly reveals his dual identity as Iron Man, not realizing that by doing so, he has invalidated the agreements protecting his armor from government duplication (since those contracts state that the Iron Man armor would be used by an employee of Tony Stark, not by Stark himself). When he discovers that the United States military is again using his technology, Stark, rather than confront them as before, accepts a Presidential appointment as Secretary of Defense. (His predecessor, Dell Rusk, was the Red Skull in disguise). In this way, he hopes to monitor and direct how his designs are used.

Stark continues to act as Iron Man while carrying out his government duties, until being forced to resign after a seemingly drunken tirade against the Latverian Ambassador at the United Nations. The tirade is actually induced by the Scarlet Witch, who has gone insane (see Avengers Disassembled). This incident is part of a series of events culminating in the deaths of three Avengers, the destruction of Avengers Mansion, and the disbanding of the Avengers themselves. In the aftermath, Stark claims publicly he will stand down as Iron Man, although adding, there will "always be an Iron Man".

The "new" Iron Man remains Stark, but the catastrophic events that preceded this, combined with Stark's assertion, convinces the public that Iron Man and Stark are now different people. Stark leaves the wreckage of Avengers Mansion as it is, and unveils Stark Tower, a state-of-the-art office building that becomes headquarters for the new Avengers team, of which he is a member.

In the "Extremis" story arc by writer Warren Ellis (Iron Man Vol. 4, #1-6), Stark is working on a way to improve the armor's response speed when he is called upon to track Mallen, a terrorist who has ingested the powerful "Extremis" techno-organic virus. This virus turns Mallen into an almost indestructible living weapon, and he subsequently goes on a deadly rampage. After being beaten nearly to death trying to stop him, Stark himself ingests a modified version of Extremis in an effort to save his own life, merging with and directly integrating the armor into his biological systems (see below).

The miniseries Iron Man: The Inevitable openly addresses the fact that since the new millennium began, Iron Man has not clashed with any of his classic "supervillain" enemies, and reintroduces the Ghost, the Living Laser and Spymaster. Presenting the change in status quo — the focus of Iron Man stories shifting from superheroism to political and industrial tales — as Iron Man having elevated himself to a new place in his life where he is "beyond" apprehending supervillains, the miniseries sees a resentful Spymaster conspire to drag Iron Man back to that plebian level.

[edit] Civil War

In New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (June 2006), it is revealed that years before, in the wake of the Kree-Skrull War, Stark initiates a meeting in Wakanda with Professor X, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Namor to form a clandestine, unnamed group to devise strategy and policy regarding overarching menaces (the "Illuminati"). Stark's original goal is to create a governing body for all superheroes in the world to answer to (with him most likely being the head of that group by his mannerism during the meeting). However, the different beliefs and philosophies, besides the fact that many heroes choose to conceal their real identities, makes Stark's plan impractical. Despite this, the group agrees to share vital information.

Learning of the government's plans to instigate a Super-human Registration Act that would force costumed, super-powered individuals to reveal their identities to the government and sign on as licensed agents, Iron Man at first seeks to defeat the proposal, even going to such lengths as to hire the Titanium Man to attack the hearing on the act as he testifies in order to manipulate opinion in his favor. However, at some point, Tony Stark's opinion of the Act changes, seeing it as a new means to achieve the goal that he had sought in forming the "Illuminati", and to tie the knots of friendship between humans and superheroes. He attempts to convince the other members of the clandestine group to support the new Act, stating that their input could prevent the Act from becoming too restrictive of superhuman activities, but all except Mister Fantastic reject the idea of registration.

In Civil War #1, tragedy strikes in the city of Stamford, Connecticut; in a battle between the New Warriors and several supervillains, the criminal Nitro's use of his ability to detonate his body causes a massive explosion on the grounds of a public school, resulting in the deaths of several hundred innocent bystanders, including sixty schoolchildren, as well as all participants of the battle except for Nitro and the Warrior Speedball. This disaster turns public opinion against superhumans and fast-tracks the Act into law. Stark comes out publicly in support of the Act, but the new law splits the hero community in two. All of Stark's planning and maniuplation comes to fruition as Stark then becomes the representative and leader of the pro-registration side, placed in opposition to the anti-registration advocates. In his first major public action as a supporter of registration, Stark again unmasks as Iron Man (Civil War: Front Line #1).

Prior to the events of Civil War, Stark assists fellow Avenger Spider-Man and his family. Spider-Man comes to regard Stark as a mentor, becomes his assistant, and accepts a new technologically-enhanced costume from him. Stark also convinces Spider-Man to unmask and go public with his identity as well. However, Spider-Man's feelings of being manipulated and unease about the rightness of Stark's cause grow until Stark reveals a prison for superhumans he and Mister Fantastic have built in the Negative Zone. When Spider-Man attempts to escape from the Stark Tower, along with his family, in order to join the Resistance, he is attacked by Stark. However, due to Spider-Man's override of the suit given to him by Stark and some unexpected intervention by the Punisher, the web-slinger manages to escape with his family and is now considered a traitor by Stark and the Pro-Registration side.

Other incidents in which Stark is directly involved is the death of Goliath after being struck down by a clone of Thor, utilizing the Thunderbolts and other super-villains as a task force to hunt down unregistered heroes and even using the Green Goblin as a weapon against them. Unknown to Stark, the Green Goblin is no longer under his control and is seeking his own agenda. In New Avengers #24 he went to the moon where the Sentry is visiting the Inhumans. He personally invited the Sentry to join his team, telling him that Stark may not be around to see the end of the Civil War and he will need some stronger heroes to be there if this were to happen. The Sentry followed Iron Man back to Earth, where he supposedly joins his side. In New Avengers #25 Maria Hill suggests that Tony might become the next acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. She cites his higher qualification than her, and the fact that it would "piss the right people off."

[edit] Powers and abilities

[edit] Armor

See also: Iron Man's armor

A notable element of the character is, unlike other superheroes, his appearance and abilities are continually in flux as Stark continually modifies and upgrades his equipment. This is most obvious with the regularly changing appearance of his armor. The Iron Man armor was originally grey, but Stark found that this appearance frightened the public, so he spray-painted it gold (Tales of Suspense #40). This bulky armor was changed in Tales of Suspense #48 into a more-form fitting design, sporting a red and gold color scheme that it has mostly retained since. One notable exception is the "Silver Centurion" armor, with a red and silver color scheme, created for use against Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger suit and retained until the end of the first Armor Wars.

Iron Man's powers and abilities derive from the advanced powered armor that he wears. The armor has evolved from a bulky iron suit to a molecularly aligned matrix of crystallized iron enhanced by magnetic fields over layers of other metals like titanium, creating a shell that is pliable, yet capable of great resilience and protection. The suit grants him superhuman strength and flight capabilities, and is powered by a combination of solar converters, electrical batteries and an on-board generator that uses beta particle absorption as a fuel source. The suit is also able to convert nearby energy sources, such as heat or kinetic energy into electricity, or even drain electrical energy directly into the batteries for recharge. The suit can be completely sealed for operations in vacuum or underwater, providing its own life support, and is shielded against radiation.

The onboard systems of the armor are controlled by Iron Man's brain patterns, read from a cybernetic interface in his helmet. Sophisticated computers with an artificially intelligent operating system of Stark's own design provide tactical information as well as constant feedback on the suit's status, using internal and external sensors. As noted above, Stark has tried to put safeguards in to make sure that the systems do not actually achieve sentience, although these were once circumvented.

The weapons systems of the suit have evolved over the years, but Iron Man's standard offensive weapon has always been the repulsor beams that are fired from the palms of his gauntlets. Other weapons built into various incarnations of the armor include the unibeam projector in its chest; pulse bolts that pick up kinetic energy along the way, so that they hit harder the further they have to travel; an electromagnetic pulse generator and an energy shield. Other capabilities include generation of ultra-freon, creating and manipulating of magnetic fields, sonic blasts and a holographic generator to create decoys.

In addition to the general purpose model he wears, Stark has developed several specialized suits for space travel, deep-sea diving, stealth and other situations. Stark has modified suits like the "Hulkbuster" heavy armor, composed of add-ons to his so-called modular armor, designed to enhance its strength and durability to allow it to take on the Incredible Hulk. A later model designed for use against Thor is modelled on the Destroyer and uses a mystical power source. Stark also developed an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when attached to armors that use Stark technology, will burn out those components and render the suit useless. This pack is ineffective on later models, however.

After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injects his nervous system with a modified techno-organic virus that not only saves his life, but also fuses Stark's armor to his body. This allows him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses. He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved.

[edit] Skills

Quite apart from the powers granted him by the suit, Stark is an inventive genius, constantly creating new technology and looking for ways to improve it. Furthermore, this extends to his remarkable ingenuity dealing with difficult situations such as difficult foes and deathtraps where he is capable of using his available tools like his suit in unorthodox and effective ways. He is also extremely well-respected in the business world, able to command people's attentions when he speaks on economic matters by virtue of the fact that he is savvy enough to have, over the years, built up several multi-million dollar companies from virtually nothing. He is known for the loyalty he commands from and returns to those who work for him, as well as his impeccable business ethics. He also strives to be environmentally responsible in his businesses, and in one case, immediately fired an employee who made profitable (but illegal) sales to Doctor Doom.

When Stark was unable to use his armor for a period of time, he asked for some combat training from Captain America and has become quite physically formidable on his own when the situation demands it. As evidenced by his two serious bouts with alcoholism and subsequent recovery, Stark is possessed of tremendous strength of will, never giving up and often emerging from defeat even stronger. It is therefore arguable that the true "Iron Man" is not the suit, but Stark himself.

[edit] Other versions of Iron Man

The Marvel Multiverse contains a number of alternative continuities beyond the main Marvel Universe (known as Earth-616). Many of these have versions of Anthony Stark and/or Iron Man.

[edit] Ultimate Iron Man

See also: Ultimate Iron Man for information on the two Ultimate Iron Man miniseries.

The Ultimate Marvel version of Iron Man first appears in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mike Allred. He later appeared in the Ultimates and often appears in the same titles they do. In the Ultimate Universe, Antonio "Tony" Stark is a wealthy business tycoon and inventor who created the Iron Man power armor. Like his mainstream counterpart, Tony has a drinking problem and life-threatening affliction; in this case an inoperable brain tumor which will kill him anytime between six months and five years, which he explains is the reason he has become a philanthropist and superhero. Stark's early life and origins are explored in the Ultimate Iron Man miniseries.

Stark's genius is attributed to the fact that he was infected with a regenerative virus while in his mother's womb, which facilitated the spread of undifferentiated neural tissue throughout his body, in effect making his entire body part of his brain. However, this brings with it an overstimulation of his neural cells, causing excruciating pain whenever his skin comes into contact with anything, even dust. To save the infant Tony's life, his father Howard Stark applied an experimental bacterial coating all over his body, which protects Tony and grants him near-invulnerablity. However, it is unable to prevent the chronic, constant pain within his body, and the coating can be washed off. Tony eventually discovered alcohol to be the only effective method of removing the pain, resulting in a dependancy. It's because of Tony's desire to create an armor that doesn't wash off that inspired him to create the Iron Man armor. The other side-effect of the virus is an incredible healing factor. Tony can lose entire limbs and grow them back in a matter of minutes simply by eating and drinking.

Stark's dual identity as Iron Man is public knowledge. The Ultimate Iron Man armor is more finicky and requires a considerably larger crew to operate than that found in the regular Marvel Universe. It's also noticeably bulkier and serves as Stark International's corporate mascot. Despite his public image as a thrill-seeking playboy, Stark is an inventive genius and among the smartest people in the Ultimate universe.

When Stark heard Nick Fury was putting together a team of super-heroes, Tony volunteered his services. After helping defeat the Hulk, Tony developed a friendship with Thor and Steve Rogers. He has since captured the Rhino, battled Chitauri spaceships, stole aboard a Kree spacecraft, and decapitated a Silver Surfer as a member of the Ultimates.

Stark fell in love with and proposed to Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. She accepted, and he presented her with a black suit of armor as an engagement present. When the Liberators invade America, the Widow shoots Jarvis and then tries to get Stark, at gunpoint, to transfer much of his fortune to her. However, Stark has ultimate control of the nanites in her bloodstream that allows her to interface with her armor. Using these nanites, Stark incapacitates Romanova and retrieves the enemy plans from her mind with the intention of fighting back against the Liberators. He takes Iron Man 6, a massive helicarrer-sized ship armed with dozens of laser cannons and machine guns, and wipes out the air force of the Liberators in Washington, D.C. and then heads to New York to aid the heroes there.

[edit] Other

• In Marvel Zombies, Tony Stark has been infected by the zombie virus. Alongside a horde of starving superhuman zombies, Iron Man attacks the Silver Surfer. The attack is successful, but one of the Surfer's energy bolts hits Iron Man's lower torso, cutting him in half. The zombie 'survives' this wound and later gains cosmic powers (including flight) by eating part of the Surfer's corpse.
• In the sword and sorcery world of the Avataars: Covenant of the Shield miniseries, Iron Man's counterpart is Ironheart, one of the Champions of the Realm. A powerful warrior, he wears a huge suit of grey armour.
• In the continuity of Earth-691, Tony Stark is devastated by the horrors of the Martian invasion and jettisons his technology into space. It is found by a primitive alien race who use it to become an interstellar menace calling themselves the Stark, who subsequently clash with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 31st century.
• In the continuity of Earth-2122, the home of Crusader X, where the British won the American Revolution and still control North America, Anthony Stark is a member of the Sons of Liberty.
• In Amalgam Comics, Tony Stark is a weapons designer for S.H.I.E.L.D. that was crippled by the Green Skull. Hal Stark is Iron Lantern.
• In the alternate future of MC2, Tony Stark retired after the loss of many heroes in battle, but eventually created the armored computer program Mainframe, which joined the next generation Avengers team.
• In the alternative reality of Earth X, Tony Stark built a headquarters that protected himself from the plague. Afterwards, he built the Iron Avengers. Later, his headquarters was revealed to be the old Godzilla fighting mecha, the Red Ronin, which he used to delay the Celestial attack until the coming of Galactus, sacrificing his life in the process. He later became part of the angelic Avenging Host of Mar-vell's "Paradise", with an Iron Man motif.
• In the Age of Apocalypse, Tony Stark is an agent of the Human High Council. The injury that compromised his heart was caused by the attack of a mutant.
• In Exiles, an alternate villainous Iron Man of Earth-2020 is a member of Weapon X, the more ruthless team of reality fixers. He joins the Exiles but is eventually exposed and sent back to his own timeline where he is arrested by the Army.^{[citation needed]}
• In Exiles #23-25 an Tony Stark has become the absolute ruler of the entire planet Earth, and killed many of that Earth's heroes and mutants. Weapon X arrives on this reality to help him conquer Attilan, though their true purpose is to cause his downfall. Tony eventually gets killed by Susan Storm.
• In the first arc of the 2006 Marvel Team-Up series, another Iron Man somehow arrives in the mainstream Marvel Universe wearing the trappings of Doctor Doom. He clashes with Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, and seems to believe that Mister Fantastic is an evil lunatic. He is apparently revealed as coming from an alternate future Earth devastated by a war with the villain Titannus and rechristens himself the "Iron Maniac".
• 1602: New World features a 17th century Spanish Iron Man named Lord Iron.
• House of M Iron Man
• Machine Man 2020 features Arno Stark in the red and gold armor, acting as a mercenary in the employ of Sunset Bain.
• Other alternate Iron Men include several seen in issues of What If, a comic featuring tales of alternate realities.

[edit] Appearances in other media

[edit] Television and direct-to-video

Iron Man has appeared in many animated television series, including his own in 1966 (the 1966 series, Marvel Super Heroes featured John Vernon as the voice of Iron Man) and 1994. In 1981, Iron Man appeared in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (William H. Marshall provided Iron Man's voice). In the 1990s, he also appeared in the Avengers and Spider-Man animated series on Fox and the Hulk animated series on UPN.

The 1994 Iron Man animated series (starring Robert Hays as the voice of Iron Man) was part of the Marvel Action Hour, which packaged several animated versions of Marvel series, including the Fantastic Four, with two half-hour episodes from different series. Iron Man's origin was changed for this series. Instead of a shrapnel near his heart, Stark had multiple slivers near his spine, threatening paralysis. Also, instead of Wong Chu, Stark and Yisen were held captive by the Mandarin, who had been altered by his rings to have green skin and greater physical strength. The Mandarin led a group of villains, consisting of Dreadknight, Hypnotia, Blizzard, Blacklash, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind, M.O.D.O.K. and Justin Hammer against Iron Man and his team, based on Force Works.

Iron Man is also featured in Ultimate Avengers (2006), an animated straight-to-video adaptation of the Ultimates produced by Marvel Entertainment and Lion's Gate Films. Although based on Ultimate Iron Man, the animated version's identity is not a matter of public record, and, as in main Marvel Universe continuity, he is inflicted with a heart condition not a brain tumor. Marvel/Lion's Gate released Ultimate Avengers II on August 8, 2006 and "The Invincible Iron Man" for release on January 23rd, 2007. Voiced by Marc Worden, the same voice actor that voiced Iron Man in the Ultimate Avengers films, it's probably the same version of Iron Man.

Iron Man has been confirmed to appear in the 2006 Fantastic Four cartoon series where he is voiced by David Kaye.

[edit] Film

New Line Cinema indicated it was producing an Iron Man film originally scheduled for release November 2005, then rescheduled to 2006 and then to 2007. The studio's rights eventually expired and reverted to Marvel. Nick Cassavetes would have directed the film.

Marvel Studios announced in April 2006 that it is producing the Iron Man movie in-house with director Jon Favreau and a script by Arthur Marcum and Matt Holloway with a planned release date of May 2, 2008. Favreau has begun a MySpace group, entitled "Iron Man Movie Group",in order to hear from fans about their preferences. The film will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.^[3]

On July 22, 2006 at the San Diego Comic-Con, Favreau confirmed that the villain for the upcoming film would be the Mandarin. He also announced that, "The suit will be more like a weapons platform than a flying suit – more of a War Machine-feel to it."^[4]

On September 28, 2006, the website Ain't It Cool News reported Iron Man would be played by Robert Downey Jr. ^[5] Terrence Howard has also signed on to play Jim Rhodes, who later becomes War Machine.

[edit] Video games

• Iron Man is featured in several video games. He is one of four selectable heroes in Captain America & The Avengers (1991), as well as Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes - War of the Gems and subsequent Marvel vs. Capcom series.

• He also appears in Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal for the PC, PlayStation, the Game Boy, Saturn and Game Gear.

• The Invincible Iron Man came out on the Game Boy Advance in late 2002.

• Iron Man, Tony Stark and Stark Enterprises make an appearance in the 2005 Punisher video game. An inside joke alludes to Stark's alcoholism: After viewing the destruction left by the Punisher, Stark sighs and says, "I need a drink."

• He is an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and Tony Hawk's Underground. The version of Iron Man that appeares in X-Men Legends II is probably the same version of Iron Man that would later appeare in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

• Iron Man is one of the main characters in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

• An old woman wrongly believed that Spider-Man was chasing Iron Man in the Ultimate Spider-Man (video game) while the webslinger was actually chasing the Beetle. Stark himself doesn't appear in the game, and only his codename gets mentioned.

• Iron Man is a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. His costumes include his New Avenger armor, his Classic armor, the War Machine armor, and his Ultimate armor. Iron Man is one of the main characters in game, Stark Tower is even the base of the team in the game.

[edit] Toys

Toy Biz has produced Iron Man figures based on the 1994 Iron Man cartoon, all with vac-metallized, detachable armor parts. This line reached its fourth assortment before being cancelled due to the expensive production of the detachable parts and their persistent chippings, leading to several dissatisfied customers.^{[citation needed]} A fifth assortment, which never became openly available, appears on the collectibles market.

Since 2002, Toy Biz has produced Iron Man figures in the company's Marvel Legends line. Iron Man Legends figures include his Classic Armor (Gold variant) and stealth armor in Series One, the Silver Centurion Armor in Series Seven, the Modern Armor in Series Eight, War Machine (with James Rhodes) in Series Nine, the massive Hulkbuster Armor in Series Eleven, the Origin Armor in Series Fourteen (Gold variant), and the Thorbuster Armor in Series Fifteen. The Modular Armor is set to appear in the second series of Face-Offs, the House of M Armor will appear in the House of M box-set, and the Ultimate Armor will appear in Hasbro's first Marvel Legends series. Several smaller Iron Man figures include Marvel Legends Showdown (3½ inches), Marvel Figure Factory (2 inches) figure, and a Bandai Marvel Heroes Series Four gashapon (2½ inch). A larger version of the Modern Armor appeared in the first series of Marvel Legends Icons, including a Gold variant.

The Marvel Minimates action-figure line features four Iron Man armors.

[edit] Popular culture

The rapper Ghostface Killah, a member of Wu-Tang Clan, titled his 1996 debut solo album Ironman, and has since continued to use lyrics related to the Iron Man comics and samples from the animated TV shows on his records. He has also adopted the nickname Tony Starks (cq) as one of his numerous alter-egos, and the title of his 2004 release The Pretty Toney Album is believed to come from a stylization of this.

One episode of Seinfeld featured an offscreen debate between Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza about whether or not Iron Man wore underwear, to which George responded "and I still say he's naked under there!" A subsequent issue #1 (third volume) of Iron Man had Tony Stark mentally running through a list the people he had to contact and thinking, "I really have to drop him (Jerry) a note about that underwear thing".

Reports vary^{[citation needed]} on whether or not the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man", about a superpowered madman who "kills the people he once saved", was inspired by the hero.

Paul McCartney's song "Magneto and Titanium Man" was inspired by the X-Men's arch-nemesis and the original version of the Iron Man villain. Another Iron Man villain, the Crimson Dynamo, is mentioned in the lyrics to this song.

Forbes.com has listed him as #8 on its list of most-wealthy fictional characters.^[6]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] List of Iron Man titles

• Tales of Suspense Issues 39-99
• Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner (1968)
• Iron Man Vol. 1, #1-332 (May 1968 - Sept. 1996)
• Iron Man Annual #1-15 (1970-1994)
• Iron Man Annual '98-2001
• Giant-Size Iron Man (1975)
• Iron Man: Crash (1988)
• Iron Manual (1993)
• Iron Man 2020 (Aug. 1994)
• Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man (Feb. 1996)
• Iron Man Vol. 2, #1-13 (Nov. 1996 - Nov. 1997)
• Iron Man Vol. 3, #1-89 (Feb. 1998 - Oct. 2004)
• Iron Man: The Iron Age #1-2 (Aug.-Sept. 1998)
• Iron Man: Bad Blood #1-4 (Sept.-Dec. 2000)
• Iron Man Vol. 4, #1-  (Nov. 2004 -  )
• Iron Man: The Inevitable #1-6 (Feb. 2006 -  )

[edit] See also

• Iron Man 2020

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• MDP: Iron Man (Tony Stark) - Marvel Database Project
• Marvel's Iron Man bio
• Iron Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Iron Man: The Animated Series (1994-5) @ Marvel Animation Age
• Iron Man Figure Archive @ toymania.com
• The Iron Man Armory

[edit] External links

• Advanced Iron - Iron Man fanSite