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Iron Man History


Iron Man is enjoying a renaissance of popularity due to the recent release of the blockbuster film bearing his name. However, you don’t get your own movie if you weren’t an extremely popular and intriguing superhero to begin with.

Iron Man is a Stan Lee and Marvel Comics creation, dating back to his first appearance in 1963. This was in Tales of Suspense #39 in March of that year.

When Iron Man first debuted he and his stories had a focus on advancing technologies, the Cold War and communism. This reflected the state of the times and was also probably a result of the Comics Code Authority.

The CCA was formed after the government attacked many comic books as being anti-American. This led to the Silver Age of comics, where superheroes flourished and became the focus of the comic book industry.

In Iron Man’s first appearance, his suit is an all gray/silver color. In the next issues of Tales of Suspense – and his next appearance – the suit was completely golden. By the end of year, some 8 issues later, the suit took on a more recognizable and compelling red and gold style.

Iron Man remained in the Tales of Suspense comic until the end of its run and then eventually debuted in his own series, entitled The Invincible Iron Man, in May of 1968.

Iron Man is actually Anthony Edward Stark. A genius by all accounts and an extremely wealthy businessman, Stark creates the power suit to save his life after an injury and a kidnapping and uses it to fight crime and general evildoing.

In the original series, Stark is injured in the Vietnam war. In recent times, that has been changed to the Gulf War and then to Afghanistan. While the development of his suit and the encounters with other characters he has remains largely the same, this detail has been altered to stay up to date.

Stan Lee has said that one of his inspirations for Iron Man was Howard Hughes. Hughes was extraordinarily wealthy, he had good luck with women and he was a genius inventor, who in Lee’s words, was a “nutcase”. This also tied back to the Cold War and communism themes, as Hughes was a major defense contractor who developed new planes and other technologies as well.

Eventually the Iron Man series explored more faults and depths of Stark’s personality, including an alcohol problem and other personal issues. His role of being a womanizer was also thematic, depicting his personal struggles and his need to conquer women and just be himself, doing what he wants. Many of Iron Man’s villains are women, also tying back to that theme.

Iron Man is also a member of the superhero team the Avengers. The Iron Man suit bestows many powers on those who wear it, which is typically been Stark but for brief periods has been one of his close associates and other characters. The armor suit provides super human strength, as well as the ability to fly.

One of the main weapons are rays fired from the palms, although many different weapons and capabilities have been added. Additionally, there have been other Iron Man suits made for different purposes, including travel through space, deep sea diving and battles with different enemies that called for modifications.