Tony’s Adoption

[pageturner]

as an adoptive parent I am happy that a marque character is a adopted and not just as an alien or due to a violent death of birth parents.

I don't consider it the affront I am reading here.

I understand that it makes the strong resemblance between Howie and Tony seem odd, but it is nothing that can't be lived with.

Tony is still the child of Howie and Maria no qualifications needed.

[Tony Stark]

However, I do think Howard should be reinstated as Tony's biological father. Just retcon that Arno's health slowly declined over a period of months. With Howard seeking any means to "cure" his heir. Obviously, due to his tampering during the pregnancy, Maria would be rendered sterile. So, faced with that fact, Howard has an affair with Amanda. Which results in Tony's conception. Howard comes up the adoption angle to hide his infidelity from Maria. Which would explain why Howard was so harsh towards Tony. Because it was a constant reminder of the affair.

This, This, This! I have said this exact same thing many times. Easily done. Simple fix.

[SuperiorIronman]

as an adoptive parent I am happy that a marque character is a adopted and not just as an alien or due to a violent death of birth parents.

I don't consider it the affront I am reading here.

I understand that it makes the strong resemblance between Howie and Tony seem odd, but it is nothing that can't be lived with.

Tony is still the child of Howie and Maria no qualifications needed.

The adoption itself isn't that problematic as while it is change for the sake of change you're right, Tony looking like Howard isn't something that far-fetched. There is also something to be said that Arno was something liked enough that he didn't just vanish from comics either. Near as I can tell the readership wanted to see more of him and it was frustrating that later writers kept dodging this. While the setup wasn't particularly great, the potential it held was, as Arno was willing to even help Tony search for his parents and help him come to grips with the ones he had. It also helped that Tony finally had somebody he really could bounce off of outside of your resident geniuses or Rhodey. It wasn't perfect but it had potential.

Though the issue itself really became a problem when it was revealed who exactly his birth parents had been. Bear in mind that Howard and Maria had something of a grandiose history with superheroes, aliens, SHIELD, and time-travel to one degree or another. And all of this is on top of Howard and Maria essentially being celebrities as well and being extremely rich. So what Tony finds in regards to his true parentage is much of the same thing, except his mother is a Rockstar and his father is a Nazi, both of which are international secret agents. So not only is it still possessing much of the same dynamic with slight alterations of context, but Tony barely has any interactions with it as well and it's super important to him despite in-universe him finding out 2-3 months prior. Further compounding the issue is the lack of interactions when she did join the book as Rocker mom was around largely when Tony was in a coma. She then comes back to putz around the Slott era and unless you had been onboard with this, what is anybody expecting to get out of this?

Now a background as an adoptive parent or being adopted might make this hit home for people and fill in the blanks, but you can't expect the reader-base to be familiar with that as a whole nor does that make Amanda's character any more complete. People can have a variety of reactions to finding that information out and thus Amanda or Tony can have their reactions taken a number of different ways. Remember, Gillen left before he could fill in Tony's thoughts on this and Bendis relegated a satellite book to the search but didn't have much of any sort of interactions between the two otherwise, then Slott came in and is only just now touching on it. It's an incomplete thought that it seems nobody is all that committed to and yet seems under the impression that this is what people come to Iron man for.

It's all a strange experiment I have no idea why is still going on.

[MichaelC]

It's all a strange experiment I have no idea why is still going on.

Because Stark has a blandness problem. He's never quite reached A-list status in the comics, because the general audience views him as a rather flat character. This is an attempt to rectify that. It kind of failed initially, but Slott is making it work, in my opinion. Even if it had utterly failed, I would respect the effort.

[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?

[Somecrazyaussie]

Because Stark has a blandness problem. He's never quite reached A-list status in the comics, because the general audience views him as a rather flat character. This is an attempt to rectify that. It kind of failed initially, but Slott is making it work, in my opinion. Even if it had utterly failed, I would respect the effort.

Stark was a hard sell before 2008. But the movie catapulted the character into the public consciousness to huge success. He has been A-list ever since as a result. But, apart from Fraction, no one has really done anything noteworthy with him.

Gillen introduced the adoption angle and made Arno canon, yes. But reading his run you could tell his heart wasn't in it like it was with his Thor stuff (funny how Fraction had a handle on Tony but his Thor run was forgettable, whereas Gillens Thor stuff was perfect yet his Iron-man stuff left little to be desired.)

Taylor was never given sufficient time to do anything since his run was a placeholder until Secret Wars got up and running (although Superior was a fun read and he had a firm handled on "jerk" Tony.)

Bendis... yeah, Bendis never was interested in Tony. He said as much when he admitted Riri was "the Iron-man story he wanted to tell." He quickly took Tony off the board and was more interested in Riri and Victor than Iron-man himself. So, naturally, the character floundered.

But the issue is with the creators who have worked on him in the last few years, because the character is far from bland. In fact, he is very three dimensional.

[BitParallel]

Because Stark has a blandness problem. He's never quite reached A-list status in the comics, because the general audience views him as a rather flat character. This is an attempt to rectify that. It kind of failed initially, but Slott is making it work, in my opinion. Even if it had utterly failed, I would respect the effort.

I think Tony Stark is the furthest from bland. I just think he is too complex for these mediocre writers that seem to understand him or his character.
So these writers were so out of ideas and new storylines that they shoehorned an adoption story? Gee.

Also; sine many seem to like Arno, what is so appealing about him? Which story is he in?

[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?!?

[Cmbmool]

I didn't like how the Adoption story turned out as it made to me Tony Stark feel like he isn't a Stark by BLOOD. Especially when you consider all of his past adventures when he mentions his parents or his parents played a role in them like Arsenal.

[Cmbmool]

I have an almost complete run of Iron-man and I have never really been keen on the adoption angle. As a story idea? Yes, it opened up new avenues for potential storylines. Some very interesting ones. It just hasn't been executed, or utilized, properly. Although Slott is doing some interesting things with it.

However, I do think Howard should be reinstated as Tony's biological father. Just retcon that Arno's health slowly declined over a period of months. With Howard seeking any means to "cure" his heir. Obviously, due to his tampering during the pregnancy, Maria would be rendered sterile. So, faced with that fact, Howard has an affair with Amanda. Which results in Tony's conception. Howard comes up the adoption angle to hide his infidelity from Maria. Which would explain why Howard was so harsh towards Tony. Because it was a constant reminder of the affair.

Howard was an alcoholic. I feel his alcoholism began taking hold with Arno's worsening condition. His inability to come to terms with his actions, plus the fact his one son was now crippled, would fester and ultimately be taken out on Tony. Behaviour that would have adverse effects on Tony himself. So him having an affair and a unintended pregnancy occur isn't out of the realm of possibility.

It is also fitting that the son meant to replace the other is, ultimately, the one who finds the "cure" to save the other.

Now THIS is a compromise that I can get behind. I would rather have this, than what we are currently given.

[Iron Maiden]

Now THIS is a compromise that I can get behind. I would rather have this, than what we are currently given.

I want anything that gets rid of the Rocker Mom and the Hydra agent Dad.

[Frontier]

I want anything that gets rid of the Rocker Mom and the Hydra agent Dad.

Seriously, whether you like the adoption angle or not, does anyone actually care about Tony's new biological parents ?

[MichaelC]

Did anyone care about his old parents? The thing is, they're dead. There really wasn't much you could do with them. The adoption gives writers a chance to make Stark interact with family. Stark needed something, because the story of an industrialist in inherently very dry.

[Frontier]

Did anyone care about his old parents? The thing is, they're dead. There really wasn't much you could do with them. The adoption gives writers a chance to make Stark interact with family. Stark needed something, because the story of an industrialist in inherently very dry.

I think Howard Stark being his father was viewed as a major important part to the character. Maria was never explored much.

I can't say Tony has had much meaningful interaction with Amanda Armstrong ever since she was introduced, compared with Arno.

[BitParallel]

I think Howard Stark being his father was viewed as a major important part to the character. Maria was never explored much.

I can't say Tony has had much meaningful interaction with Amanda Armstrong ever since she was introduced, compared with Arno.

Agreed. They could explore his maternal lineage (Maria Stark). Changing a character’s history because the character was “dry” is inept. Why is it hard for these writers to come up with new ideas?