Armor Wars

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The Armor Wars was a Marvel Comics storyline which ran in the Iron Man comic book.

While "Armor Wars" is the popular name for the storyline and is the name used for the trade paperback collection, the actual story is referred to as "Stark Wars" within the issues themselves.

[edit] Summary

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.