Iron Man

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

Template:Superherobox Iron Man (Tony Stark) is a superhero from Marvel Comics. He was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Contents

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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.Template:Fn "He designed the costume", Heck recalled, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like Tony Stark and his secretary Pepper Potts".Template:Fn

Iron Man starred in generally 13-page but occasionally 18-page adventures, with the rest of Tales of Suspense devoted to anthological science fiction and supernatural stories. He received his bulky golden armor, replacing the original grey affair, in issue #40 (April 1963), and the first iteration of his familiar, sleek red-and-golden armor in #48 (Dec. 1963). Beginning with issue #59 (Nov. 1964), Iron Man began sharing the now "split book" Tales of Suspense with the feature "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.

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Character history

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Origins

Stark entered the undergraduate electrical engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduated at the top of his class. When he was 21, he inherited his father's company, Stark Industries, after his parents were killed in a car accident. One of the first things Stark did was 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, Tony Stark was 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 was pressed into building weapons for Wong Chu, along with a fellow prisoner, the famed physicist Yin Sen (later spelled Ho Yinsen). However, Stark and Yin Sen used the workshop to secretly design and construct a suit of powered armor — an iron exoskeleton that gave Stark tremendous strength as well as other abilities — that would not only keep Stark's heart beating, but also allow him to escape. Yin Sen sacrificed himself to buy Stark time to charge the bulky suit of armor, and as Iron Man, Stark made short work of Wong Chu and his men. On the way back, Iron Man encountered a wounded American Air Force helicopter pilot, Jim Rhodes. Introducing himself as Stark's bodyguard, Iron Man and Rhodes managed to defend themselves against the pursuing North Vietnamese before making it back to American lines. On his return to the US, Stark continued to improve the armor, establishing a dual identity as the adventurer and superhero Iron Man. He also greatly expanded his father's company, Stark Industries, eventually renaming it Stark International.

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The cover for Iron Man was that he was Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fought 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 would eventually defect to the United States, and even erstwhile villain Hawkeye, originally a pawn of the Widow, would reform and join the Avengers. No one suspected Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivated his image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast were his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Patricia "Pepper" Potts, to whom he eventually revealed 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 has also often shown himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to justify the means with the ends. This has led 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 donated the use of his boyhood manor as Avengers Mansion, and funded 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, and the image inducers used by the X-Men.

Eventually, Stark's heart condition was discovered by the public and cured with an artificial heart transplant. However, Stark was also developing a serious dependency on alcohol. The first time it became a problem was when Stark discovered that the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. had 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 hired several supervillains to attack Stark. At one point, the Iron Man armor was even taken over and used to murder a diplomat. Although Iron Man was not immediately under suspicion, Stark was forced to hand the armor over to the authorities. Eventually Stark and his personal pilot and confidant Jim Rhodes tracked down those responsible, although Hammer would return to bedevil Stark again. With the support of his then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, his friends and employees, Stark pulled through these crises and, for the moment, overcame his dependency on alcohol.

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Changing fortunes

Image:Ironman1.jpg Some time later, a ruthless rival, Obadiah Stane, manipulated him emotionally into a serious relapse. As a result, Stark lost control of Stark International, became a homeless vagrant and gave up his armored identity to Rhodes, who became the new Iron Man for a lengthy period of time. Eventually, Stark recovered and started a new company, Circuits Maximus. While Stark concentrated on new technological designs, Rhodes continued to act as Iron Man but steadily grew more aggressive and paranoid. Rhodes's manic mental state was later revealed to be the result of his using armors whose cerebral interfaces were calibrated for Stark's brain, leaving any other long-term user disoriented and confused. Stark had to don a prototype suit to stop Rhodes, who had gone on a rampage. When Circuits Maximus came under assault from Stane, Stark then used the completed next-generation armor to confront Stane in personal combat. Stark's skill proved superior over Stane's unskilled use of his own variant suit (known as the Iron Monger) and Stark regained his company when Stane committed suicide rather than be captured.

In an attempt to stop other people from misusing his designs, Stark then went about disabling other armored heroes and villains who were using suits based on the Iron Man technology. However, these "Armor Wars" had tragic consequences, when he inadvertently caused the death of the Soviet Titanium Man.

Image:Im283.jpg This also led to a falling out between Stark and Steve Rogers (who at the time had given up his Captain America identity). Rogers, while agreeing with Stark's motives, disapproved of his high-handed methods, considering them reckless and dangerous. The United States government declared Iron Man a danger when he went after their Stark-derived Guardsmen suits and Iron Man was hunted down. Stark eventually had to fake Iron Man's demise and claim that a new person was in the armor. Stark also patched up his friendship with Steve Rogers.

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

However, Stark's nervous system continued its slide towards failure, and he constructed a "skin" made up of artificial nerve circuitry to assist it. Stark also began to pilot a remote-controlled Iron Man armor, but when faced with the Masters of Silence, the telepresence suit proved insufficient. Stark then designed a heavier armed version of the suit to wear, the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit", which became known as the War Machine armor.

Ultimately, the damage to his nervous system was too extensive. Faking his death, Stark placed himself in suspended animation to heal as Rhodes took over the running of Stark Enterprises and once again took up the mantle of Iron Man using the War Machine armor. Stark ultimately made a full recovery by using the chip to reprogram himself and reassumed the mantle of Iron Man. When Rhodes learned that Stark had manipulated his friends by faking his own death, he became enraged and the two friends parted 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") led to a difference of opinion regarding the future of the Avenger's west coast branch. Iron Man left the team and formed a new superhero group, Force Works, funded by Tony Stark and comprised of ex-Avengers. However, tensions within that team soon led to his resignation from it, and Iron Man attempted a reconciliation with the Avengers.

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The Crossing and Heroes Reborn

Image:Im324.jpg It was revealed soon after in a controversial storyline called "The Crossing", that a traitor was among the Avengers' ranks, and it turned out that traitor was none other than Iron Man himself. It appeared that the villain Kang the Conqueror had 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, killed Marilla, the nanny of Crystal and Quicksilver's daughter Luna as well as Rita DeMara, the female Yellowjacket, then an ally of the Avengers.

Image:IM326.jpg (It was revealed later, during the Avengers Forever miniseries, that everything had really been the machinations of a disguised Immortus, not Kang, and the mental control had only gone back for a few months.)

The story continued in "Timeslide". Needing help to defeat both Stark and Kang, the team travelled back in time and recruited a teenage Tony Stark from an alternate timeline to assist them. "Teen Tony" stole a suit of Stark's armor to aid the Avengers against his older self, and the sight of his younger self shocked the older Stark enough for him to regain momentary control of his actions, and he sacrificed his life to stop Kang. "Teen Tony" then later built his own suit to become the "new" Iron Man. The teenage Stark remained in the present day and legally regained control of his company.

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

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The new millennium

Image:Imv3no30.jpg At one point, Tony's armor itself became sentient, despite fail-safes to prevent its increasingly sophisticated computer systems from doing so. Stark's safeguards were corrupted accidentally when he used the armor to download the mind of the android Jocasta to save her. Jocasta was the creation of the rogue android Ultron, and unknown even to her, embedded in all of Ultron's creations was the Ultron Imperative, a command that would compel them to rebuild Ultron whenever he was destroyed. The Ultron Imperative acted 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 caused the armor's computer to become self-aware. Initially, Stark welcomed this "living" armor, as it had improved tactical abilities, but soon the armor's behavior began to grow more aggressive, even committing murder. Eventually, the armor reached the point where it wanted to join with Stark and eventually replace him, like Ultron wished to do with his creator Henry Pym.

Stark could not defeat the armor, but in the final confrontation on a desert island, Stark suffered another heart attack. To save his life, the armor gave up part of its components to give Stark a new, artificial heart, sacrificing its own existence. The new heart did not have an internal power supply, so Stark became once again dependent on periodic recharging.

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

In the mid-2000s, Stark publically revealed his dual identity as Iron Man. When he discovered that the United States military was still using his technology, Stark, rather than confront them as he did before, accepted a Presidential appointment to act as Secretary of Defense. (His predecessor, Dell Rusk, had been the Red Skull in disguise). In this way, he hoped to monitor and direct how his designs were used.

Stark continued 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 had actually been induced by the Scarlet Witch, who had gone insane (see Avengers Disassembled). This incident was part of a series of events that culminated in the deaths of three Avengers, the destruction of Avengers Mansion, and the disbanding of the Avengers themselves. In the aftermath of this, Stark claimed publicly that he would stand down as Iron Man, though there would "always be an Iron Man."

The "new" Iron Man remained Stark, but the catastrophic events that preceded this, combined with Stark's assertion, evidently convinced the public that Iron Man and Stark were now different people. Stark left the wreckage of Avengers Mansion as it was, and went on to build Stark Tower, a state-of-the-art office building. Stark Tower now also serves as the headquarters of the new Avengers team, of which he is a member.

In the Extremis story arc penned by Warren Ellis (Iron Man, Vol. 4 #1-6), Stark found himself tracking the terrorist Mallen, who had ingested a powerful techno-organic virus named Extremis. This virus turned Mallen into an almost indestructable living weapon, and he subsequently went on a deadly rampage. Beaten nearly to death while trying to stop Mallen, Stark decided to ingest a modified version of the virus in an effort to save his life. As a result, Stark's body literally merged with his armor, causing it to become directly integrated into his own biological systems (see below).

In New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (June 2006), it was revealed that years before, in the wake of the Kree-Skrull War, Stark initiated 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. This will tie into Marvel Comics' Civil War event coming up in 2006.

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Powers and abilities

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Armors

Image:Im222.jpg 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 vast 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.

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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 was modelled on the Destroyer and used a mystical power source. Stark also developed an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when attached to armors that use Stark technology, would burn out those components and render the suit useless. This pack was ineffective on later models, however.

After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injected his nervous system with a modified techno-organic virus to save his own life. This fused Stark's armor to his body, allowing 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.

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Skills

Image:Hulkbuster.gif Quite apart from the powers granted him by the suit, Stark is an inventive mechanical engineering prodigy, 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 arguable that the true "iron man" is not the armor, but Stark himself.Template:-

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Ultimate Iron Man

Template:Superherobox

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

The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Iron Man, like his original Marvel Universe counterpart, is plagued by both a drinking problem and a life threatening illness, however in this case the illness is an inoperable brain tumor which will kill him anytime between six months and five years. This is his motivation for his many acts of philanthropy, as well as possibly his motivation for being a superhero. He is also an extremely wealthy business tycoon and inventor. Millar chose to imbue Stark's character with an air of arrogance, and he acts more like a thrillseeking playboy than a scientist.

Despite this, he is still an inventive genius and among the smartest people in the Ultimate universe. His genius is attributed to the fact that Stark has undiffrentiated 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 a chronic, constant pain which he dulls with the use of alcohol. Stark's dual identity as Iron Man is public knowledge.

Recently, Stark proposed to Nastasha Romanova, the Black Widow. She accepted, and he presented her with a black suit of armor reminiscent of the War Machine armor as an engagement present. Recently, she was revealed as a traitor within the ranks of the Ultimates, aiding a coalition of countries invading America. The Widow shot Jarvis and then tried to get Stark, at gunpoint, to transfer much of his fortune to her. However, Stark had ultimate control of the nanites in her bloodstream that allowed her to interface with her armor. Using these nanites, Stark incapacitated Romanova and retrieved the enemy plans from her mind with the intention of fighting back against the invading "Liberators". The story is still ongoing. Template:-

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Other versions of Iron Man

  • 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 another alternate future on 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 High Human Council. The injury that compromised his heart was caused by the attack of a mutant.
  • In Exiles #23-25 an alternate 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. The Weapon X team featured yet another alternate version of Iron Man (with a Hulkbuster-like attire) that had perished in one of their previous missions.
  • 1602: New World features a 17th century Spanish Iron Man named Lord Iron.
  • House of M Iron Man
  • Other alternate Iron Men include several seen in issues of What If, a comic featuring tales of alternate realities.
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Appearances in other media

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Animated series adaptations

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.

Image:The Hands Of The Mandarin, Part One - Iron Man & War Machine.jpg 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 instead had multiplier 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. Marvel/Lion's Gate will be releasing the second Ultimate Avengers movie in July 2006 and an Iron Man animated movie is scheduled for release in October.

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Iron Man film

An Iron Man film was scheduled to be released in 2007 (though originally November 2005, but reverted to 2006 then to 2007 due to several undisclosed reasons), with Nick Cassavetes directing. The movie was to be made by New Line Cinema. There were rumors that the role of Tony Stark aka Iron Man could have been played by Ryan Phillippe, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, Freddie Prinze, Jr. or Leonardo DiCaprio. However, after numerous failed attempts to get the project going, the rights reverted back to Marvel. The movie will most likely be made by Marvel themselves and distributed by Paramount Studios like other upcoming Marvel movies such as Captain America and Nick Fury.

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Video game adaptations

Template:Wikibooks Iron Man has been featured in several video games. He was one of four selectable heroes in Captain America & The Avengers (1991), and was also in Capcom's Marvel Super-Heroes and the subsequent Marvel vs. Capcom series (where he is often maligned for his infamous Proton Cannon super) as well as 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. More recently, Iron Man, Tony Stark and Stark Enterprises made an appearance in the 2005 The Punisher video game, as an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II and Tony Hawk's Underground and as one of the main characters in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

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Toys

Toy Biz has produced Iron Man figures based on the Iron Man 1994 cartoon which all featured shiny 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. The fifth assortment, which never became openly available, can still be found on several eBay lots costing as much as 100 dollars a piece.

Since 2002, Toy Biz has produced Iron Man figures in their Marvel Legends line. Iron Man has been featured in Series One (Classic Yellow, Stealth, and pre-Classic Gold with horned rimmed faceplate), Series Seven (Silver Centurion), Series Eight (Modern Armor), and Series Nine (War Machine), all with removable faceplates. His Hulkbuster armor, his bulkiest armor yet and having a flip top helmet, was part of Series Eleven, making him the character with the most Marvel Legends figures. There are several smaller Iron Man figures released: Marvel Legends Showdown (3 1/2 inches), Marvel Figure Factory (2 inch scale figure and diorama based on his ML1 release), and a 2 1/2 inch gashapon from Bandai Marvel Heroes series 4.

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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.

Reports vary on whether or not the famed Black Sabbath song "Iron Man," about a superpowered madman who "kills the people he once saved" was inspired by the hero.

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Bibliography

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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 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 -  )
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List of significant stories

  • Iron Man Vol. 1 #249-250 (Mid November 1989 - December 1989) - Merlin brings Doctor Doom and Iron Man to the year 2093.
  • Iron Man Vol. 1 #258-266 (July 1990 - February 1991); "Armor Wars II" - Kearson DeWitt manipulates Tony Stark.
  • Iron Man Vol. 1 #284 (September 1992); "Legacy of Iron" - Tony Stark fakes his death, until he can be cured of his health issues. James Rhodes takes over as Iron Man.
  • Iron Man Vol. 1 #289 (February 1993); "The Light at the End" - Tony Stark wakes up from suspended animation and, in anger, Rhodes quits.
  • Force Works #1 (July 1994); "Day-Break" - Iron Man is involved in the creation of the new team.
  • Iron Man Vol. 2 #11 (September 1997); "Magical Mystery Tour" - Doctor Doom and Iron Man take several journeys through time.
  • Iron Man Vol. 3 #1 (February 1998); "Looking Forward" - Tony Stark returns from Franklin Richards' Counter Earth and attempts to bring his life back into order.
  • X-Men Vol. 2 #73 (March 1998) - revealed as a member of the Hellfire Club.
  • Iron Man Vol. 3 #26-30 (March 2000 - July 2000); "The Mask in the Iron Man" - Iron Man's armor become sentient.
  • Iron Man Vol. 3 #46-49 (November 2001 - January 2002); "The Frankenstein Syndrome" - Ultron uses the sentient armor as a new body.
  • Iron Man Vol. 3 #73-78 (December 2003 - May 2004); "The Best Defense" - Tony Stark becomes the Secretary of Defense.
  • Avengers/Thunderbolts #1-6 (May 2004 - September 2004) - Iron Man infiltrates the Thunderbolts as Cobalt Man.
  • New Avengers #1-15 (January 2005- current) - has co-founded the new Avengers team with Captain America.
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See also

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Footnotes

  • Template:Fnb Comics historian and former Kirby assistant Mark Evanier, investigating claims of Kirby's involvement in the creation of both Iron Man and Daredevil, interviewed Kirby and Heck on the subject, years before their deaths, and concluded [1] that Kirby "definitely did not do full breakdowns as has been erroneously reported about ... the first 'Iron Man'. [In the early 1970s], Jack claimed to have laid out those stories, and I repeated his claim in print — though not before checking with Heck who said, in effect, "Oh, yeah. I remember that. Jack did the layouts." We all later realized he was mistaken. ... Heck and Everett both did do work over Jack's layouts — just not on those stories. Both also believed that Jack had contributed to the plots of those debut appearances — recollections that do not match those of Stan Lee. (Larry Lieber did the script for the first Iron Man story from a plot that Stan gave him.) Also, in both cases, Jack had already drawn the covers of those issues and done some amount of design work. He came up with the initial look of Iron Man's armor...."
  • Template:Fnb Daniels, Les, Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (Harry N. Abrams, 1991), p. 99
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External links

es:Hombre de Hierro fr:Iron Man it:Iron Man pt:Homem de Ferro simple:Iron Man fi:Rautamies

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