Geek Syndicate Issue 6 | Page 46

Geek Syndicate Image © Marvel, 1996 Tony Enters Politics. trialist Justin Hammer. This aforementioned arc Demon in a Bottle collects the issues dealing with Tony’s toughest times. Once Tony defeated the bottle, Hammer and others, Iron Man’s story becomes more fragmented and goes off in odd tangents. He is transported back in time by Doctor Doom. He falls back into alcoholism and even homelessness when Obadiah Stane takes over Stark International. At this point, it is Rhodey who takes over as Iron Man. Sadly for his former friend, Stark must fight Rhodey as the power of Iron Man corrupts him. A series of other technological battles follow as more and more be-suited and inferior enemies are wheeled out (based on stolen Iron Man tech – known as the Amor Wars storyline, where technology is seen as a status symbol that everyone must have in order to compete). See Stilt-Man, Stingray and the Mandriods amongst others. In the 1990s, cybernetics became the cool topic de jour and Iron Man was no different. In the comics of this time, it was the suit’s cybernetic interface that caused Tony health problems, leading eventually to the creation of a remote controlled suit. This caused a massive conflict; the suit was his status symbol and kept him alive, but at the same time it held the possibility of being his killer. Next up was another time-travel tale featuring Kang the Conqueror, before the suit itself became sentient for a time. lowing him to control the Iron Man suit with thought alone. He has also developed the suit to self-assemble around him with this new mind control. He can also connect to all networked machinery on the planet. Now, man is man-plus. Something more than human, thanks to science and technology. Marvel had become a very events-driven company by the mid-1990s and Iron Man was part of the plan. He featured in Civil War, Secret Invasion, Siege, Fear Itself and many more. The plots of these storylines are beyond the scope of this article. It wasn’t until 2002 that Tony Stark revealed his identity as Iron Man to the public. This act lead him on a convoluted path to becoming the US Secretary of Defence, although he is forced to resign in an Avengers storyline, publically retiring from being Iron Man (which is of course, a lie). Marvel then reverted Iron Man’s stories back to tackling business and politics (and less time-travel). This was achieved, by the Extremis storyline – widely regarded as one of the best. Stark returned to being an arms dealer. During his origin, this time he is captured by Afghan terrorists with links to Al Qaeda. This arc also introduces Maya Hansen, Tony’s ex lover and scientist and Aldrich Killian. These two are trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that was lost after the creation of it’s sole success: Captain America. Events lead to Tony taking the serum, al- Iron Man It may seem a little odd to the modern audience, but Iron Man’s suit was originally a bulky grey affair before the golden suit appeared, as seen in 1963’s The Avengers. According to Heck, Kirby designed the original costume, while he designed the look of the characters. Tony Stark may be a superhero, but like Batman, he has no actual super-powers (he only has s ???????????????????????????????????L?????????????????????????????????????????M?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q????????????????????????????????????????????????????M????????????????????????????%???5????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????L??????????????????????????((??((0