Who is Iron Man’s archenemy now

[Silvermoth]

Sounds like The Mandarin is going to become Shang Chi’s archenemy now so is Iron man’s now officially Iron Monger? That would be cool. It would be great to see iron monger put on the same threat level as magneto or Doctor octopus

[Digifiend]

At the moment, I think it's Ultron. Bear in mind Tony's current supporting cast includes Jocasta, who is Ultron's daughter (he built her as a bride, but the fact he built her makes him her father) and Janet van Dyne (her adopted daughter Nadia is Ultron's sister, and Janet's brain patterns were used in Jocasta).

[Jabare]

If you're talking comics the closest villain to an arch was the Mandarin.

In the two cartoon series, they do a good job of making the Mandarin his arch-nemesis, but it hasn't felt like he's had an arch-nemesis for years in the comics.

If you're talking MCU he doesn't have one, plus he's dead now.

[leokearon]

It is and always be the Mandarin. Iron Monger has been dead for over 30 years. Ezekiel Stane and Madame Masque were never archenemies. Ultron is the Big Bad at the moment but I won't call him his archenemy

[Digifiend]

Madame Masque is Kate Bishop's archenemy nowadays. They're actually doppelgangers now.

[K7P5V]

Always thought Dark Aegis had potential:

[Snoop Dogg]

His current archenemy is Arno, it's weird that Obidiah has never come back, and only God knows what'll happen with Mandarin.

[Jabare]

Arno isn't an arch-villain. Not every hero has an arch-nemesis. A villain has to fulfill certain parameters one o which is being a reoccurring threat.

Joker, Green Goblin, Lex Luthor, etc.

[MichaelC]

It's still The Mandarin. Doctor Doom gets lots of play in other books, including Iron Man, but Doctor Doom didn't become Iron Man's arch-enemy because of that. Ultimately no other foe has The Mandarin's blend of brilliance, savagery, skill, wealth, and vastness of organization. The only character who can really compete with the Mandarin is Doom, and he's taken.

[chamber-music]

I would still say Mandarin is Tony's arch enemy. Iron Monger has been dead for decades and should stay dead since his death was a fitting send off.

Ezekiel is cool but he is not supposed to be like his father. Fraction intended Zeke to be like a young upstart villain version of Tony. A open source futurist with no allegiance to any nation and a desire to make Stark obsolete.

Ultron will always be the Avengers top foe first and foremost. If there is an individual Avenger who could claim Ultron as an arch enemy then it would probably be his creator Hank Pym.

[MichaelC]

Also, Iron Monger was more of a plot-device than a villain. He did his job of getting Stark out of the picture so Rhodey could become Iron Man, but he was ultimately no more of a real villain than Captain Marvel. Once that story-arc was over he was summarily disposed of, and not missed in the slightest.

[Snoop Dogg]

The reason Obadiah is still one of the best Iron Man villains is because no one has completely steamrolled Tony in every way like he did. He's Norman Osborn if he stayed dead after 1973. Ironically, Norman during Dark Reign was a less extreme Obadiah for Tony.

Also, Jeff Bridges.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Iron Man's biggest stories like Civil War and Time Runs Out has him look at Captain America as his Arch Enemy.

Other great stories like Armor Wars has Justin Hammer as his arch enemy.

[Triniking1234]

Speaking of Hammer, his daughters never showed up again after that last arc before NOW! But then again they threw away most of Tony's gallery to:

- adopted reveal
- GotG
- bring in Arno
- Superior
- Doom
- Death hiatus

Doubt any of the oldies (except Spymaster and Ghost) are coming back after Slott does his "2020" thing.

[MichaelC]

There's also the fact that Stark, by his very nature, is a character about balancing responsibility and hubris. Those characters often don't have arch-enemies.

In stories about balancing responsibility and hubris, the protagonist himself is the villain half the time, as he struggles to find the line between doing all he can to help the world, and controlling the world or being a mad scientist/mad wizard. The question is how far should he go to do so before he becomes a controlling dictator or mad god. Villains in such stories tend to be characters who either push the hero into giving in to his flaws, or examples of what the hero is becoming if he continues his path. That is, when the villains exist at all, as as I said before the protagonist is the villain of the story half the time. Iron Man is the poster-boy for this sort of story.

That makes him very different from, say, Spider-Man, who is about balancing responsibility with just having a normal life. There's no danger of Parker becoming a mad scientist or overreaching wizard because he's simply not powerful enough or quite smart enough for that to be a thing. Instead it's about the difficulty of finding that sweet spot where he helps his community as much as he can, while not neglecting his wife and aunt or failing to pay his rent. Such a character is far more likely to have a consistent arch-enemy, because an arch-enemy is there to put a massive strain on his ability to balance those two things, or even to accomplish just one of them.

All that said, to the degree that Stark can even be said to have an arch-enemy, it is clearly The Mandarin.