History of Iron Man

The History of Iron Man, a Marvel Hero
Author: Rick A. Wilson
The creator of Iron Man, Stan Lee, began his career in 1941 by writing a text filler in Captain America Comics #3. Later in 1941 he was hired as an assistant at Timely Comics, which by the 1960s would become Marvel Comics. His job was to make sure the artists’ ink wells were filled. With artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee created what reads like a “Who’s Who” list of top superheroes: Spiderman, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Daredevil, Thor, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man. By the 1950s, Lee was writing romances, Westerns, science fiction, and suspense, but he became dissatisfied with his career and thought about quitting.

However, around that time, DC Comics revived the superhero genre, and Lee was assigned to create a new superhero team. Lee gave his new superheroes flaws, such as greed, fits of depression, and a tendency to bicker and worry about paying bills. This was new to the superhero world, and it was remarkably successful. Lee also did something unusual for its time: he shared credit on the “splash page” with the comic’s inker and letterer. He was eventually to use his superheroes to explore contemporary issues, like illicit drug use, communism, and eventually, terrorism. It was in 1963 that Lee created the superhero Iron Man.

Iron Man made his debut in Tales of Suspense #39, in March 1963, a creation of Lee, who was the writer and editor, script writer Larry Lieber, and artists Jack Kirby and Don Heck. For most of his existence, Iron Man has been a member of the Avengers superhero team, and has been featured in many of his own comic book series as well as starring in animated television shows and films. Iron Man’s story is very complex, and he, like many of Lee’s other characters, had real-world demons, like alcoholism. The character started out as Tony Stark, an industrialist who inherits his father’s business and a mechanical engineering genius. After being kidnapped in southeast Asia (during the real-life Vietnam War), Stark is assigned by his captors to make a weapon of mass destruction. But instead, he creates a powered suit of armor that allows him to escape. An updated version of the suit later lets him protect humanity as Iron Man.

Stark/Iron Man uses his company, Stark Industries, to build military weapons systems and to keep his suit of armor updated with the latest technological advances. Early Iron Man comics explored themes including racism and the Cold War, especially the role of American technology in the fight against Communism. Over the decades, the themes of the comics have been updated to reflect real world issues, like white collar crime, and terrorism. Ironically, Lee originally portrayed Iron Man as the ultimate capitalist, who made weapons for the highly unpopular Vietnam War. He “dared” himself to write this character – so diametrically opposed to the anti-war, anti-capitalism feelings of many of his readers – in such a way that readers would come to like and respect Iron Man. Which they did, in droves.

Iron Man, with his playboy good looks and colorful personality, has been compared by creator Lee to Howard Hughes, who was a very wealthy inventor, adventurer, and what Lee called “a nutcase.” Iron Man takes on those qualities without the mental illness. Marvel got more fan mail for Iron Man from females than for any other superhero. Stark/Iron Man relied on his intelligence and his inventive genius to protect humanity, unlike other superheroes who would undergo chance transformations. A theme of the loss of autonomy of the American inventor played out in Iron Man stories of the later 1960s. Though emasculated by his loss of autonomy and the chest wound that would have killed him if not for that first powered armor suit, Iron Man reclaims his masculinity by conquering women romantically, and sometimes as a superhero in battles with female super villains.

Over the decades, Iron Man maintains his mental complexity, struggling with inner torments and questions about his loyalty as a member of the Avengers. Throughout this time, Iron man evolves and copes with issues like the role of government, and the privacy of superhero identities. Iron Man’s complexity, and even his flaws, have made him one of BusinessWeek magazine’s ten most intelligent characters in American comics. Forbes has ranked him among the wealthiest fictional characters as well.

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