Tony Stark's Family Drama

[ouroboros]

Give the emphasis that Tony's family background figures into the IRON MAN film-universe, I found it interesting that many IRON MAN comics from the Silver Age on barely even mention anything about said family.

Now, I had to stop collecting comics in the late nineties, so I don't know how the IRON MAN feature developed. My question: did any comics writer lay the groundwork for the conflicted version of Tony that appears in the movies? I have to say that even when he goes through his alcoholism phase during the Micheline run, that still doesn't seem to play into his parental conflicts.

I see from this essay that CIVIL WAR set up the situation about his parents being killed, but that's not so much about the intrinsic family drama.

[cc008]

His family drama has been butchered and cluttered even more in the comics. The movies would do well to stay far away from it.

[Skedatz]

Man, his family history is something else in the comics. Everything from his dad being neglectful because of his work, his affiliations with SHIELD, straight up to just being abusive due to alcoholism.

Now it's in part because he's adopted and his real mom was also in SHIELD and was a singer working undercover.

[Techno_Knight]

Don't forget Howard and Nathaniel Richards working with Tesla and DaVinci against Newton. Plus the implication that the accident was staged... I liked it more when Tony was just a rich industrialist that through his wits became a billionaire... No secret agents, no adoptions, no aliens. Just an upper class familywith a kid that reached the heights... I miss 60s Tony...

[Skedatz]

Don't forget Howard and Nathaniel Richards working with Tesla and DaVinci against Newton. Plus the implication that the accident was staged... I liked it more when Tony was just a rich industrialist that through his wits became a billionaire... No secret agents, no adoptions, no aliens. Just an upper class familywith a kid that reached the heights... I miss 60s Tony...

You mean when SHIELD wasn't even the first SHIELD? And Galactus had visited Earth before? lol

[Thor-Ul]

Answering to the OP:

Boy, you just missed the biggest family drama.

[Michael Watkins]

Don't forget Howard and Nathaniel Richards working with Tesla and DaVinci against Newton. Plus the implication that the accident was staged... I liked it more when Tony was just a rich industrialist that through his wits became a billionaire... No secret agents, no adoptions, no aliens. Just an upper class familywith a kid that reached the heights... I miss 60s Tony...

I used to like that stuff until it was revealed that Tony's dad was just some Hydra-douche instead of being related to Tesla.

[KurtW95]

The "Tony was adopted when the Starks tried to have another kid with the help of aliens and his biological mom is a British singer" is beyond dumb. Really wish. Marvel would get on with it and retcon that retcon away.

[Skedatz]

The "Tony was adopted when the Starks tried to have another kid with the help of aliens and his biological mom is a British singer" is beyond dumb. Really wish. Marvel would get on with it and retcon that retcon away.

Yeah. Talk about a retcon that removed a part of his characterization. But it looks like Bendis is deadset on making this really stick.

Too bad Kobik's restructuring didn't eliminate that.

[Michael Watkins]

I don't know who is more irrelevant; Amanda Armstrong or Miriam Sharpe. I keep hoping that one or both characters are actually Mephisto.

[KurtW95]

Yeah. Talk about a retcon that removed a part of his characterization. But it looks like Bendis is deadset on making this really stick.

Too bad Kobik's restructuring didn't eliminate that.

I wish they could just say te robot lied about the whole thing and Arno turns out to be a villain. That would be the easiest way out when/if Bendis leaves the book. I'm just afraid people like him will try and frame it so that any future change would be perceive as a slight against people who were adopted like Marvel treats people who don't like that Iceman's sexuality was randomly changed as homophobes. That would be ridiculous, but I could see it happening. Despite the fact that I don't think any Iron Man fans have a problem with adoption, we just don't like it when characters with a rich, established backstory get it changed for no reason. My avatar is Nightcrawler and he was adopted. If he hadn't been, his backstory would be very different and it would dramatically change the character. Even more for Superman.

[Skedatz]

I wish they could just say te robot lied about the whole thing and Arno turns out to be a villain. That would be the easiest way out when/if Bendis leaves the book. I'm just afraid people like him will try and frame it so that any future change would be perceive as a slight against people who were adopted like Marvel treats people who don't like that Iceman's sexuality was randomly changed as homophobes. That would be ridiculous, but I could see it happening. Despite the fact that I don't think any Iron Man fans have a problem with adoption, we just don't like it when characters with a rich, established backstory get it changed for no reason. My avatar is Nightcrawler and he was adopted. If he hadn't been, his backstory would be very different and it would dramatically change the character. Even more for Superman.

I think the biggest problem facing when Bendis leaves is that people not named Brian Bendis actually care about what the previous writer did half the time and might try to keep it in continuity.

[Drops Of Venus]

I think the biggest problem facing when Bendis leaves is that people not named Brian Bendis actually care about what the previous writer did half the time and might try to keep it in continuity.

This post is ironic, considering the adoption storyline WAS Bendis giving continuity to someone else's storyline. I don't know why people seem to forget that it was Gillen who created the retcon in the first place.

[Mike_Murdock]

I would also say that, knowing people who grew up in unhappy households who found out they were adopted, that story felt very much true to life.

[Frontier]

This post is ironic, considering the adoption storyline WAS Bendis giving continuity to someone else's storyline. I don't know why people seem to forget that it was Gillen who created the retcon in the first place.

I think people remember Gillen did it, but Bendis is probably more remembered for leaning even more heavily into it (I mean, it ended up being the entire premise behind International Iron Man) to the point of introducing Tony's "real" parents and making his "real mom" a supporting character in the book.

I would also say that, knowing people who grew up in unhappy households who found out they were adopted, that story felt very much true to life.

I think the Stark Family drama was a little more complicated then that, even with Tony's issues with Howard.

Though that felt more true to life then the revelations Gillen and Bendis actually gave for Tony's parents.