Tony’s Adoption

[BitParallel]

A follow up thread to the Bendis’ Ironman thread.

I, for one, really dislike the whole adoption story. They chose Tony Stark out of the other characters and retcon his childhood. Plus, the quality of the story was garbage. Jeez, horrible!
I know I am not alone in this, almost everyone I know really dislike it and we all got our own retcons. I read a comment on reddit basically saying that Steve should tell Tony that Recorders have always lied to ‘em in the past and this is just another lie of theirs.

And a smart user by the name davew128 head-cannoning the whole adoption story as an LMD or something.

So, How will you retcon this mess ?

[MichaelC]

I like what's being done with it currently. Today's issue of Tony Stark was awesome, and it wouldn't have happened without the adoption story. Gillen and Bendis' use of the idea was...sloppy...at best, but Slott has done something amazing with the idea, so I think it should be preserved.

[SuperiorIronman]

Arno is the only good thing to have come out of Gillen's run.

The whole thing with Tony's parents and trying to hamfist Rocker mom into Tony's life is not only forced but is also half-baked by Bendis's incompetence in the Riri era and Slott's chronic lateness. By god both of them can't make it work and I'm still struggling to figure out why we're still on this. Arno worked, people liked Arno, and people wanted to see more of Arno, instead we got Rocker mom, a character nobody wanted.

Every time we go back and see Howard and Maria Stark something apart of the history over complicates Iron man's backstory to the point it's almost like looking at an X-men wikipedia page. Just stop, reboot, it didn't work, but people liked Arno. Just keep Arno. I don't know why it's that hard for Marvel to understand. And for that matter with all of the synergy forced into Gillen's run, what was the endgame for that? Was this a thing the MCU was going into? Was this a leftover thing that made its way into the comics like the GOTG team-up? It's just a mess.

[Tony Stark]

Arno is the only good thing to have come out of Gillen's run.

The whole thing with Tony's parents and trying to hamfist Rocker mom into Tony's life is not only forced but is also half-baked by Bendis's incompetence in the Riri era and Slott's chronic lateness. By god both of them can't make it work and I'm still struggling to figure out why we're still on this. Arno worked, people liked Arno, and people wanted to see more of Arno, instead we got Rocker mom, a character nobody wanted.

Every time we go back and see Howard and Maria Stark something apart of the history over complicates Iron man's backstory to the point it's almost like looking at an X-men wikipedia page. Just stop, reboot, it didn't work, but people liked Arno. Just keep Arno. I don't know why it's that hard for Marvel to understand. And for that matter with all of the synergy forced into Gillen's run, what was the endgame for that? Was this a thing the MCU was going into? Was this a leftover thing that made its way into the comics like the GOTG team-up? It's just a mess.

You stated a lot of what I was going to say. I don't know why they let the whole angle and how it went down go in the first place. To me if Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck create you and make your origin. No one else has to touch it. Messing with a characters origin is let messing with the foundation of a building. You add to it. Layer it. Not screw with what has helped it stand tall for so many years.

[Vordan]

I’m amazed in the era of MCU synergy when they’ve tried so desperately to attract RDJ fans to Iron Man comics, they’ve kept this plot point that completely sets 616 Tony and MCU Tony apart. Honestly I think it’s stupid and I wish they’d just retcon it away.

[PCN24454]

I’m amazed in the era of MCU synergy when they’ve tried so desperately to attract RDJ fans to Iron Man comics, they’ve kept this plot point that completely sets 616 Tony and MCU Tony apart. Honestly I think it’s stupid and I wish they’d just retcon it away.

Actually it sort of makes sense.

The age gap between Tony and his parents is really big. Making Tony adopted gives an excuse for that.

[Mike_Murdock]

You stated a lot of what I was going to say. I don't know why they let the whole angle and how it went down go in the first place. To me if Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck create you and make your origin. No one else has to touch it. Messing with a characters origin is let messing with the foundation of a building. You add to it. Layer it. Not screw with what has helped it stand tall for so many years.

Howard Stark had next to no role in Stan Lee's Iron Man. His first appearance was in 1970 with Iron Man #28 by Archie Goodwin. I'm seeing Maria Stark was Bill Mantlo in #104. Likewise, the whole thing with Tony getting his company from his father was a retcon as well (see here).

Anyway, I can't comment on Gillen's run since I haven't read it. But I know someone who had a contentious childhood with their parents and was adopted and Bendis's Iron Man rang true to me here. That doesn't mean this retcon of the more widely-established retcon was a good idea, but I thought it built off that for a good story. I'd also say it doesn't matter who someone's biological parents are. The Starks are Tony's parents because they're the ones who raised him. I don't get why it's suddenly ruining what came before to say that half of Tony's DNA doesn't come from Maria Stark and the other half doesn't come from Howard Stark.

[SuperiorIronman]

Howard Stark had next to no role in Stan Lee's Iron Man. His first appearance was in 1970 with Iron Man #28 by Archie Goodwin. I'm seeing Maria Stark was Bill Mantlo in #104. Likewise, the whole thing with Tony getting his company from his father was a retcon as well (see here).

Anyway, I can't comment on Gillen's run since I haven't read it. But I know someone who had a contentious childhood with their parents and was adopted and Bendis's Iron Man rang true to me here. That doesn't mean this retcon of the more widely-established retcon was a good idea, but I thought it built off that for a good story. I'd also say it doesn't matter who someone's biological parents are. The Starks are Tony's parents because they're the ones who raised him. I don't get why it's suddenly ruining what came before to say that half of Tony's DNA doesn't come from Maria Stark and the other half doesn't come from Howard Stark.

The issue I took with it besides it re-contextualizing Tony's entire family tree was that besides it being unnecessary (the first question about change is "why should it be changed?"), it also didn't amount to anything. Amanda Armstrong is barely a character whose backstory while gives a superhero edge to Tony's origin, also makes him generic and raises several questions about his history considering how often he's fought Hydra and his biological father being a Hydra agent. What, nobody brought this up in the Hydra meetings? Nobody was the least bit curious where Amanda's baby went?

But aside from that, it's a retread of Tony's existing parents. It's just that this time it's Rocker mom who has an incomplete backstory with Tony by way of adoption and Hydra dad working for Hydra instead of Shield. They're essentially alive again by way of Tony's rebooted parentage and if that was going to happen then why not just bring them back?

[Tony Stark]

Howard Stark had next to no role in Stan Lee's Iron Man. His first appearance was in 1970 with Iron Man #28 by Archie Goodwin. I'm seeing Maria Stark was Bill Mantlo in #104. Likewise, the whole thing with Tony getting his company from his father was a retcon as well (see here).

Anyway, I can't comment on Gillen's run since I haven't read it. But I know someone who had a contentious childhood with their parents and was adopted and Bendis's Iron Man rang true to me here. That doesn't mean this retcon of the more widely-established retcon was a good idea, but I thought it built off that for a good story. I'd also say it doesn't matter who someone's biological parents are. The Starks are Tony's parents because they're the ones who raised him. I don't get why it's suddenly ruining what came before to say that half of Tony's DNA doesn't come from Maria Stark and the other half doesn't come from Howard Stark.

I'm not saying it's bad to be adopted. I would never say that and that's not what I said. How it it was done was so hamfisted. Also look how it makes Howard and Maria look by using a child as a decoy.

[jackolover]

To me Arno is forgettable. He never shows up often enough. He’s always locked up in a coffin, or making some obtuse city somewhere, and has nothing to do with Tony Stark’s story. It’s like Tony is visiting a rest home relative, but then, let’s get back to Iron Man.

Iron Man? He’s been in this limbo for a long time in his own book. Riri took over and the poor guy was shunted away as some spy or something.

We were promised the return of the original super heroes after Secret Empire, and we never got them. The whole fixation on the diversity characters has diluted Iron Man. Iron Man is the interesting character. Not Arno or Riri. They are curiosities, but they are no Iron Man.

To me, the ‘House of Ideas’ has gone missing. The MCU is creating a whole host of new fans interested in the classical heroes because that’s what drives the MCU. But what’s in the comics? It feels like the comics are in a dream state. Anything can be put in print and it passes for ‘New’. I don’t feel the drama or the seriousness that used to be around. Marvel has turned into the spoofy of DC. I think I enjoy the 616, villain Miles Morales instead of the Ultimate Miles. And Riri’s Iron Heart is way too naive. Tony should have shut her down immediately for being too dangerous to leave lying around, because Tony’s enemies would have kidnapped her straight away and stolen her tech, and made her their pawn. She is completely unable to realise that distributing this Iron Man tech was undermining everything Tony Stark tries to keep secret. But that’s just me.

Maybe another ‘Heroes Reborn’ is necessary?

[j9ac9k]

Arno is the only good thing to have come out of Gillen's run.

I haven't read what happened with Arno in that storyline, but it's almost 2020 - Marvel must have something planned for "Iron Man of 2020" right?!?