IRON MAN BUILDS:
-Tony Stark allegedly came about because Stan Lee wanted to challenge the Silver Age hippie reading audience with a super-hero as little like them as possible. The definition of cold-hearted, money-grubbing capitalism, the wealthy Weapon-Maker Tony Stark was everything the liberals hated, and Stan says he felt it was a challenge to make him work. Adding the schtick that he was badly injured and possibly dying gave him that right notch of '60s Hero Pathos (part of why Marvel eventually overtook DC in the '60s was a mastery of this trope), which made him a star. However, Iron Man was always a career-long also-ran in the big leagues of Marvel- he's always had a solo book and treated as a foundational, major Avenger (to the point where his home was the Avengers base, and his butler was theirs too, but he was a distant star compared to Spidey, Hulk, Cap, Wolvie, etc.. But then that movie came out- hitting on nearly every big political issue of the
Iron Man comics, the movie served as a microcosm for what made the character great, and basically made him a full-blown major star in comics.
It also made Tony a wise-cracking, snarky playboy who bedded every woman he met, spent money lavishly, and adored stardom- a STARK (hee hee) contrast to the grim, brooding, solitary figure I've seen in pretty much every
Iron Man comic before 2004. I mean, this was a COMPLETELY different character from the original comic book version (and a good bit similar to the Ultimate version, in fact), and yet fans didn't mind, thanks to the raw charisma and humor of Robert Downey, Jr.'s performance. At least it got his Weapons-Maker-guilt accurate to the books. But hey, Movie Tony was frankly more ENTERTAINING than Comic Tony ever was, so Hollywood did that one right, and it's paid dividends.
In essence, the symbolic nature of Tony Stark as a character was altered at this time- prior to this, he was basically a symbol of Good Capitalism, the heroic figure who cared for his employees and fought off Evil '80s Capitalists and stuff like that (he was often contrasted to both Evil Communists like the Crimson Dynamo's bosses, and greedy bastards like Justin Hammer & Obadiah Stane). He was also a dark version of the Rich Boy, in that he owned all of this great stuff and was lauded publicly by everyone, but couldn't enjoy it because his chest injury effectively gave him a death sentence, forcing him to keep everyone at arm's length. The movie basically shifted Tony into the Ideal Male- the man every dude dreams of becoming: handsome, rich, charming, funny as hell, and a dominating figure who at the same time has a rebellious streak a mile wide. Naturally, women appreciated this version more as well. Reading any of Tony Stark's appearances before the movie came out is REALLY bizarre to me because of how different the character really is.
Tony's the ultimate "Powersuit Guy" in comics, setting off countless revisions, rip-offs, and "homages" ever since, which earns him total credit in the comic book world, where you're judged by the amount of guys who steal your ideas (very few can top him- Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Flash... can't think of many others). Unfortunately, he's been hampered by a respectable, but dull, supporting cast, of Generic Secretary Who Loves Him (Pepper. Thor had the same deal at the same time, along with countless other heroes), Loyal Dumbass Guy (Happy), and Black Guy Who Replaced Him Once (Rhodes). Give him a Spidey-like supporting cast, and you'd have a much bigger star with more successful books.
Of course,
Civil War AND the movie coming out made him a huge star in Marvel, while also derailing him a bit. Here's a once-heroic figure hiring NORMAN OSBORN AND VENOM to hunt down SUPER-HEROES. Guys who friggin' ATE people, and Tony wanted them to arrest people just for not wanting to give the evil government their entire identity. They kinda brought him back to normal a couple years later (when the movies were making him a huge superstar character), but writers still play with the old "Tony does something awful" thing. Though to be fair, this IS a recurring sentiment in older comics-
The Korvac Saga features Tony pissing off Captain America so much over financial issues that Cap PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE, and Tony also enraged multiple Avengers by demanding the immediate execution of The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire during
Galactic Storm, and for running roughshod over ever Armor-Based Character in comics, including the Guardsmen (who were under Cap's specific protection at the time).
Tony in the 1960s:
-Sixties Tony was very, VERY grim- most of the books I have feature him all glowering to himself and being a miserable bastard over his fate. The fact that he felt he was dying made him keep everyone at an arm's length. He founded the Avengers, actually putting them up in his home as "Avengers Mansion" and having his butler Jarvis act as their butler as well- this always gave Tony a "Founding Avenger" rank, as he was the solo hero most invested in the team until Captain America came to represent the squad as its iconic leader. And even thereafter, Tony had an "elder statesman" aspect to it.
As probably the Marvel character most-emblematic of the modern America- a high-tech super-capitalist, he was set against many Evil Foreigners, typically Communists- The Radioactive Man, The Black Widow, The Crimson Dynamo, The Titanium Man, and The Mandarin (a Chinese guy, but drawn more from the inscrutable, power-hungry Yellow Peril archetype than that of Evil Commie). His secretary was in love with him, and dumb lug Happy Hogan in love with her- classic "Stan Lee" stuff. His initial bulky suit of armor was soon shifted into a Steve Ditko-type suit- streamlined and now with the iconic yellow & red color scheme. His book didn't always feel like the hugest deal, but led to a lot of stuff- side characters the Black Widow & Hawkeye even became major characters in their own right!
Tony in the 1970s:
-I've read perilously-little (if any) of his '70s stuff, but with Jim Starlin on board, Tony all of a sudden shifted to Space Opera, as Starlin LOVED SPACE GODDAMMIT, and therefore Tony was sure as hell going to be dealing with The Eternals, Thanos, Adam Warlock and The Blood Brothers. So Evil Commies went bye-bye, and in came the Cosmic Blaster Dudes- Starlin had probably always wanted to do this kind of thing, and since he was working on
Iron Man, that was where it was gonna happen. Eventually, none of these characters would ever interact with Tony in a meaningful manner again, making it look funny when you do research on Thanos and you're like "He debuted in
Iron Man? Really?". Opposition in public to the Vietnam War made the writers give Tony misgivings about his ties to the arms industry, even while he would occasionally use unethical tactics in an "ends justify the means" sort of way.
However, this also lead to the famous
Demon in a Bottle storyline, with David Michelinie & Bob Layton now writing the "Iconic" Iron Man, and the character underwent many of the shifts that inform him to this day. Introducing alcoholism into an actual, active SUPER HERO was a crazy-bold move that paid dividends, giving Tony an extra level of tragedy to his life. This took place in 1979, leading to their extremely long run in the 1980s- the pair worked together until 1982, then restarted in 1987, becoming permanently linked to the character.
Tony in the 1980s:
-Since in the 1980s,
Wall Street-style Big Business Corporate Sharks were all the rage as bad guys, it was inevitable that Tony would face a stream of them- Obadiah Stane among them. Tony would also find himself in the
Armor Wars (a great story that involved him fighting all of his Copycats and de-powering them, upon discovering that his armor had been copied and used by criminals), and deal further with his drinking problem, which involved things like losing his friendship with the Avengers, and even losing JARVIS! This led to some great storytelling, a RELAPSE to show that it wasn't so easy (Stane had destroyed Tony's life and business, leaving him relapsing), homelessness, and finally redemption. CLASSIC 1980s comic book stuff. During this time, writer Denny O'Neil (who wrote the book during Michilinie's 5-year gap between runs) had Tony be replaced as Iron Man by James Rhodes, who'd maintain the role for a couple of years until Tony inevitably came back, Rhodes getting hurt and staying on as a helper again. Tony's armor is beaten by Stane's agents and "Iron Monger" gear, but he builds the Silver Centurion armor- far superior- and easily wins. Tony wears this silver armor for a few years, temporarily giving him a new color scheme that's fondly remembered to this day, but he'd eventually go back to the iconic one.
Michelinie/Layton would return, and
Armor Wars story may be the most iconic Iron Man tale even to this day, and constantly gets talked about- it's really the best aspects of the character: his obsessive drive, his merciless nature, and his willingness to go to levels other heroes don't on full display- yeah, he wipes out a bunch of doofy villains like MAULER, The Raiders, Stilt-Man and The Beetle... but he assaults the superhero Stingray because Tony thinks he MIGHT be using his own gear! And later attacks the Guardsmen, who are guarded by his close friend Captain America (who has just been given a shield made for him by Tony, as the U.S. government has just dumped him for a new guy and took the original back), and is forced to knock CAP out as well! So ultimately Tony loses many of his friends AND his public reputation all in an attempt at clearing his own name in his head, because he feels guilty by association that criminals are using his own inventions. It's perfect stuff- you can see why Tony would feel that way, but also look at the cost of his obsession and that he was singled-minded and morally self-righteous about everything. Also it features some awesome fight scenes, like Tony having to use the weaker "Stealth Armor" against the high-level threats of the Crimson Dynamo & Titanium Man simultaneously.
Other stuff: Tony's big-time relationship was with his bad-ass female bodyguard, Bethany Cabe. Tony joins the West Coast Avengers as a charter member, splitting up "The Big Three" of the Avengers for at least ten years as Iron Man shores up the WCA as a veteran.
Tony in the 1990s:
-OH GOD NO- Tony had luck like Peter Parker in the '90s, replacing
The Clone Saga with
The Crossing. Bethany Cabe leaves Tony's life, Tony falls into a coma when his ex Kathy Dare shoots him and he temporarily "dies", being put in cryogenic suspension so they can fix him later, and James Rhodes is so pissed off over this he quits Tony's company. Rhodes becomes "War Machine" full-time, getting a spinoff book that doesn't work out.
But the signature story was
The Crossing, an awful Retcon that said Tony had been working for KANG for several years, and was actually a bad guy! Then he died and was replaced by a Teen Tony Stark who was "uncorrupted". This awful, putrid storyline was so bad that it essentially ruined the character, and the whole thing was basically thrown out and ignored almost completely (Kurt Busiek would helpfully explain it away in the way that only he can- it was Space Phantoms or a fake Tony or whatever!)-
Onslaught killed Teen Tony and the character was pretty well never referenced again, and the story was wiped away as if it had never happened.
Heroes Reborn, featuring renewed origins for famous characters, actually drew a lot of interest for a unique take on the "Iron Man" story (the Liefeld stuff was awful, and Lee's
FF was ignorable, but
Iron Man I recall getting some attention... and actually kind of anticipated the
Iron Man movie's success along those same lines), and he was successfully-rebooted Post-
Heroes Return with some fancy new armor, and a revamped Avengers roster.
Kurt Busiek wrote the
Iron Man title for a good while, here- it's fine enough stuff, but not nearly as hyped as his
Avengers work. It's more of a "Back to Basics" approach to get the stink of
The Crossing off of the character. Stark's business is now "Stark-Fujikawa" (it'd been sold while he was dead) and he forms a relationship with the new boss's daughter Rumiko.
Tony in the 2000s:
-Tony's stock has actually risen over the years, as the also-ran of the olden days is now one of Marvel's top names thanks to the success of the
Iron Man film series (which really started off a revolution of Marvel movies). Back in the '90s, he was usually a minor character in the Big Events (watch as he dies without a word in
The Infinity Gauntlet and is an also-ran in every other "Cosmic Tale", despite Jim Starlin having used his book to springboard off his Thanos/Warlock stories)- now, he's a central figure.
Though there was a REALLY good arc in the early 2000s centered around his armor becoming sentient- it gained a personality, and even took control during battles, being more ruthless and pragmatic than Stark was- Tony watched in horror as his suit murdered the villain Whiplash during a fight. Attempting to teach the suit morality, he brought it to Whiplash's funeral, where the criminal's bawling son reacted badly, but it didn't work ("get me out of here, before I kill them ALL"). Ultimately, Tony fights the suit one-on-one on a secluded island- Tony is about to lose, but suffers what would be a fatal heart attack. The suit, realizing Tony was doomed, gave itself a mortal injury tearing out pieces of its innards, attaching them to Tony's heart to keep him alive. One act of heroism immediately before it died.
Tony Post-Civil War:
-Funnily enough,
Civil War was a boon and a hindrance to the character. See, the basic plot of
Civil War- that reckless superhero fights caused death and destruction, causing government overreach- was a good one. This could happen (even though it was proven later that the villains were being boosted and the heroes had little chance), and that it happened near a school, causing hundreds of CHILDREN to die, was an epic-level tragedy that felt legitimately harrowing and would create public change.
This story gave Iron Man the push he'd always needed- Tony Stark became the central face of the "Pro-Registration" side, demanding that superhumans register with the government and act as their own agents. Hell, in real life, this would probably be a real thing. Stark allies like War Machine sided with him, as did intellectuals like Reed Richards & Hank Pym, as well as more military-themed people like Carol Danvers. He was opposed by the more "Street Level" heroes, led by Captain America, who didn't want this overreach in their lives, and feared for their loved ones. Spider-Man, then an Avenger, actually sided with Tony, who he admired a lot, before switching sides. This all SEEMED good- heroes divided along ideological points, and you could "see both sides" as it were.
BUT... Mark Millar was writing. And Mark Millar, most importantly, is a dumbass. Ignoring countless years of writing that have established that all world governments in Marvel are either A) evil or B) secretly run by HYDRA or various hidden shadowy cabals, Millar figured that OF COURSE the fans would side with Tony, and so ramped up the negative aspects of his side to make things seem more "even". So Tony would allow the creation of a "Clone Thor" that would kill Bill "Black Goliath" Foster in battle for an additional "Tragic Note". Or allow a lot of prison-dwelling VILLAINS to be released and chase down & arrest the "Anti-Registration" heroes. So the fans would be more likely to take CAP's side.
This of course failed because the fans ALREADY sided with Cap (mostly because HE'S CAPTAIN AMERICA!), and all that stuff just made it seem like Tony was taking a dark side AND doing evil actions to justify it. Cap turning himself in over the "Oh my God. We're not fighting for anything- we're just fighting" and then getting executed capped off everything with tragedy and made him seem MORE sympathetic, too. Millar soon bailed on the situation, leaving a Marvel Universe where every subsequent writer had a character yell at Tony Stark over his actions. And every other writer started showing the various negative repurcussions of this overreach- Norman Osborn empowered by the government; a forced recruitment program turning children into metahuman soldiers in
The Initiative (there were good heroes involved with training, but even still we saw the innocent girl Cloud 9 turned into an army sniper); the Thunderbolts program creating an army of supervillains; etc. Ultimately, Tony himself was deposed and NORMAN OSBORN ran the registered side, which is where you saw the end result of where the whole thing would lead. And so Tony had to team up with a returned Cap and other heroes to stop Osborn, while dealing with the guilt of what he'd created.
The following decade+ has been spent both redeeming Tony and making him more of a douche at the same time- in 2008, the
Iron Man movie was released, necessitating the comics using Iron Man as a less antagonistic figure, but he also adopted all of RDJ's mannerisms. So instead of being grim, morally self-righteous and obsessive, he was now more of a smirking, snarky guy who teased others, causing them to see Tony as a pest. And then of course Jon Hickman got a hold of him in his
Avengers Infinity mega-arc and made him evil AGAIN, justifying the deaths of hundreds of alternate Earths to save his own, causing ANOTHER rivalry with Captain America that sees all of the Marvel Universe die and be reborn in what ultimately turns into a "Soft Reboot" (whose end result is pretty much just "Franklin Richards loses his powers and Mike Morales is in the 616 Universe like he was always there"). And Tony was reborn again with all THAT swept under the rug because he's just the "Smugly Likeable" guy again. So, uh.... he's successful? Kinda? Iron Man is still a huge name in comics, though I fear that since he's a side character in so many other books, they all just turn his smugness into other characters finding him annoying, which is a different thing entirely. That he's now DEAD in the movie continuity after 10+ years of Downey may hurt him in the future as well, but we'll see.
TONY'S ROGUES:
-As a kid, I was EXTREMELY unfamiliar with Tony's Rogues compared to many other Marvel characters- he seemed a bit "separate" from many of them, and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, most of his bad guys didn't have Marvel Cards featuring their visages. So I had an
Armor Wars Famous Battles card, and The Mandarin got a bunch of cards, but that was it. As a hero, however, he's got, on the surface, a pretty One-Note Rogues Gallery- 90% of them are some variation of the Mirror Image Villain. And while that's a CLASSIC old trope, getting re-used constantly (Wolverine mostly fights Claw Guys, Punisher fights Gun Guys, Hulk fights Strong Guys), it gets a bit redundant after a point. Early on, this meant Tony fought a lot of Powersuit Guys- Titanium Man, The Crimson Dynamo, etc. A few are more-standard Gear Guys, who build one great invention and use it to commit crimes. But by the 1970s & '80s, suddenly the bad guys were Rival Corporations- you had Justin Hammer, Obadiah Stane, and others. There are frankly DOZENS of these guys if you look hard enough, and they're all pretty interchangeable, though Stane had the biggest effect (causing Tony to relapse into alcoholism and Rhodey to replace him) and Hammer lasted the longest (as a recurring "funder of other bad guys" with super-mooks of his own).
Curiously, Iron Man's BIGGEST villain matches none of these things- The Mandarin stands alone.
One thing I notice going over the guys and their histories, however, is that Tony Stark's Rogues each often speak to one aspect of his character or another. Not a lot of characters can say that- a lot of Spidey baddies are just "Guy in accident- gets powers- acts like a douche", while Wolverine's are often generic murdering Claw Guys. But each guy in the Iron Man list actually makes you think about the character differently, or appreciate him in a different way- The Crimson Dynamo is an idealistic threat to Stark- an American Icon/patriot, in that he's a symbol of the industry of America itself, and of Capitalism. Madame Masque is a romantic threat, given some entanglements with Stark himself. Obadiah & Ezekiel Stane, Justin Hammer, Justine & Sasha Hammer and others are all threats to his BUSINESS, making that a big part of his character- they're also Evil Reflections of his own nature as a capitalist business owner (you then get a contrast between his honest practices, and their criminality). The Detroit Steel line of armor is a commentary on Iron Man HIMSELF- ugly, automated, generic armored suits that ANYONE can wear. The Ghost is a threat to corporations and capitalism itself. Spymaster is a threat to Tony's IDEAS, not his body. Even Firebrand was an environmentalist- reflecting on whether or not TONY has done the right thing on that front.
So while his Rogues Gallery is full of Jobbers and Armor Guys, they often help TONY HIMSELF become more well-rounded. It reminds me of how Tom DeFalco talked about how every member of Spider-Man's Supporting Cast says something about Peter's personality.
