Iron Man

Iron Man is a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963), and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby.

Born Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, he is an industrialist playboy and genius engineer who suffers a severe heart injury during a kidnapping and is forced to build a destructive weapon. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later decides to use the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation, Stark Industries, Tony created military weapons and his own metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have gradually removed the Cold War themes, replacing them with more contemporary concerns such as corporate crime and terrorism.

Throughout most of the comic's history, 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.

Iron Man first appeared in 13- to 18-page stories in Tales of Suspense, which featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character's original costume was a bulky gray armored suit, replaced by a golden version in the second story (issue #40, April 1963). It was redesigned as sleeker, red-and-golden armor in issue #48 (Dec. 1963); that issue's interior art is by Steve Ditko and its cover by Kirby. In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents. Lee later regretted this early focus. Throughout the character’s comic book series, technological advancement and national defense were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism ("Demon in a Bottle") and other personal difficulties.

In the 1960's Iron Man featured in a series of cartoons. In 1981, Iron Man guest appeared in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. He went on to feature again in his own series in the 1990's as part of the Marvel Action Hour with the Fantastic Four. Iron Man also makes an appearance in the episode "Shell Games" of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Apart from comic books, Iron Man appears in Capcom's "Marvel vs." video games including Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (as a Gold War Machine or Hyper Armor War Machine), and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Iron Man is a playable character in Iron Man, the 1992 arcade game Captain America and the Avengers, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, as well as being featured as an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and Tony Hawk's Underground. In the 2009 animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, most of the characters, including Tony Stark, are teenagers.

In 2008, a film adaptation titled Iron Man was released starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. It received generally positive reviews from film critics, grossing $318 million domestically and $570 million worldwide. Its video game adaptation, however met generally negative reviews. Downey will reprise the role in Iron Man 2, which has been set for a 2010 release and will be directed by Jon Favreau. Downey Jr. has now also signed up for a second sequel and an adaptation of The Avengers.

The character of Tony Stark, again played by Robert Downey Jr., also appears at the end of the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk.