Iron Man Appreciation: Welcome to the Iron Age

[Digifiend]

I'm not even sure what Whitney was so angry about. She was happily involved with Parker Robbins during Dark Reign. Did they have a falling out? Was she re-disfigured? Her quest to find magical artifacts was very similar to the Hood's plan in the cancelled Illuminati series. Even an amateur could have linked this stuff together and made it entertaining. He managed to have the Hood come for Tony without any mention of the Madame Masque altercation. And HE is the one who made them a couple!

Madame Masque has been appearing in Hawkeye, and is no longer disfigured, because she put her mind in a clone of Kate Bishop's body!

[Tony Stark]

Madame Masque has been appearing in Hawkeye, and is no longer disfigured, because she put her mind in a clone of Kate Bishop's body!

Damn. I remember when Stane made Bethany Cabe and her switch minds. Now she's switching bodies again.

[Frontier]

Damn. I remember when Stane made Bethany Cabe and her switch minds. Now she's switching bodies again.

And into a much younger one at that .

[SuperiorIronman]

Y'know Bendis doesn't win any love from me because Iron man has a lot of villains.

Doctor Doom
Crimson Dynamo
Titanium Man
Ghost
Unicorn
Living Laser
Any of the Firebrands
Melter
Firepower
Technovore
Mandarin
Kang
Iron monger
Ezekiel Stane
Spy Master
451
The Sentient Armor
Ultron
Arno Stark (Iron man 2020)
The Exile (from Gillen's Inhumans arc)
Temugin
Crimson Cowl
Whiplash
Backlash
Blizzard
Detroit Steel
Ultimo
Fin fang foom
Sasha Hammer
Dreadknight
Cobalt man
Kearson Dewitt
Mallen
Midas
Vibro

That's not even all of them and yet Bendis really couldn't find any Iron man villains? Seriously? You can find most of these with a quick internet search. I have utterly no idea how Bendis screwed the pooch that badly because even these guys have been seen in the last two decades so it's not like they're out of print. Where does Bendis get off on not knowing this when he's not only the one writing it, but he very likely has a working internet connection. That's right he didn't include them because he was busy shilling Riri Williams that he forgot to write an Iron man book.

[SuperiorIronman]

How do you guys feel about Doom's time as the Infamous Iron Man? He said before he took it on, because the world needed an Iron Man. How did he fill Tony's shoes? If he turns back into Doom would you like to see them still clash with one another?

I actually really liked Infamous Iron man because for all of Bendis's problems, him not giving Doom many lengthy fights in the book wasn't a bad idea. It's Doctor Doom, he's not going to get impeded often. So playing it simpler and using it to examine Victor's changed state of mind was probably for the best because few would trust Victor anyways. Doctor Doom didn't do a bad job and simply based on what we see him do he seems to have the superhero thing figured out, it's just that nobody trusts him and that comes with a lot of roadblocks.

Given I don't trust Dan Slott to actually do anything good with Doctor Doom playing the hero role, I fully expect him to revert Victor. I don't want it cause we are long past "RIIIIICHARRRDS!" so I'm just bracing for disappointment because there is still places to go with this. Given Dan's record though he will destroy the thing even though it's story avenues are not exhausted.

I could see Tony clashing with Victor if he doesn't know any better. But Victor has no reason to fight him considering he was being Iron man by his own choosing.

[John Keyt]

I repeat: The money saved by not purchasing Iron Man #600 will now be used to purchase a Whopper Meal with a medium Coke.

Sorry I had to buy it . Just to keep my Iron man run complete , but 7.50 Canadian sure wasn't worth it .

[Iron Maiden]

Madame Masque has been appearing in Hawkeye, and is no longer disfigured, because she put her mind in a clone of Kate Bishop's body!

Just like to add I always hated that they gave Madame Masque to Kate's paltry villain's roster. On top of that, they dumbed her down from the issues I read a couple years ago. Never bothered with it since.

[John Keyt]

How do you guys feel about Doom's time as the Infamous Iron Man? He said before he took it on, because the world needed an Iron Man. How did he fill Tony's shoes? If he turns back into Doom would you like to see them still clash with one another?

I actually enjoyed that series . I think he had a up hill battle trying to convince every one he was trying to do good . But now he more than likely will go back to the dark side . But then again I enjoyed him as a villain to .

[Iron Maiden]

I actually really liked Infamous Iron man because for all of Bendis's problems, him not giving Doom many lengthy fights in the book wasn't a bad idea. It's Doctor Doom, he's not going to get impeded often. So playing it simpler and using it to examine Victor's changed state of mind was probably for the best because few would trust Victor anyways. Doctor Doom didn't do a bad job and simply based on what we see him do he seems to have the superhero thing figured out, it's just that nobody trusts him and that comes with a lot of roadblocks.

Given I don't trust Dan Slott to actually do anything good with Doctor Doom playing the hero role, I fully expect him to revert Victor. I don't want it cause we are long past "RIIIIICHARRRDS!" so I'm just bracing for disappointment because there is still places to go with this. Given Dan's record though he will destroy the thing even though it's story avenues are not exhausted.

I could see Tony clashing with Victor if he doesn't know any better. But Victor has no reason to fight him considering he was being Iron man by his own choosing.

Very much agreed. I see a regression in the cards for Victor and IMO it's such a waste. I think it betrays what Hickman intended for Victor's arc in SW. But I'm jaded enough to know that won't stop any writer from doing it anyway. I haven't followed much of Slott's work to know what he's liable to do.

Doom had achieved his ultimate goal and IMO it was a byproduct of him essentially saving all of reality in the MU since the Beyonders intended for everything to be obliterated into nothingness. He did fail to make a paradise for all and let's not forget that Doctor Strange was complicit in a lot of that also. But the final confrontation with Reed was almost like a somewhat violent therapy session and I think he finally worked things out. Let me also add that Bendis' analysis of Doom via Tony's A.I is laughably simplistic. His mother's fate is something that haunted him but that was all settled. Roger Stern's goal in writing Triumph and Torment was to give Doom closure about his mother's fate ( link: Roger Stern inteview) He really became enraged when his father died. Then he went into a full blown rebellion against the aristocracy of Latveria....but I digress. I do have to at least give some credit to Bendis for taking a different path with Doom but then it became stuck on stupid with repeated confrontations with the Hood.

[Marvell2100]

The biggest mistake of Bendis' run to me. Tony was gone, and the book was always about Amara/Doom, Civil War, Friday and MJ. And then about Riri and Amanda. Riri was main too soon. I don't feel any connection with this character because we had no time to see she grown as super hero.


What you, who is long time fan and loves Tony Stark thinks about the resolution of the run now that it is over?

It was an Iron Man book that had nothing to do with Iron Man. All of the concepts and characters that Bendis introduced still could have been used with the real Tony in the book.

Quite honestly, it feels like someone at Marvel wanted a high profile name on the "flagship Marvel title" after Secret War and Bendis was it. There was no growth for Tony, MJ's role could have been filled by someone from Tony's own supporting cast and he did very little to develop the characters that he did introduce.

It would have been cool to have two IM titles out at the same time, Superior and the main IM titles and have Tony and Doom interact about being a hero.

Instead, we got The Hood.

And before anyone blames Riri, she wasn't the problem. Bendis just didn't know what to do with her character. She could have gotten the Rescue armor and redesign/rebuilt that. Instead she became the character that too many people blamed for what was happening in the book instead of the true problem: Bendis can't write Iron Man.

The greatest thing about Bendis' run is that it is finally over.

[Marvell2100]

It say's in the solcits that Iron Man will be going up against The Sentry in issue #3. It looks like they will be fighting? What's you guys take on this. Tony was one of the ones that actually tried helping Bob because it looks like it may be a fight. I hope they get together and talk. Tony has mental issues too. They can help each other out.

I hope that someone remembers Tony tried to help Bob.

But with Marvels recent track record, Tony will not be portrayed in a good light.

[Marvell2100]

Everything ( except Amanda, the baby and the Hydra dad) can be easily ignored. So, I think things are going to be better now.
In an interview to CBR today Bendis mentioned his frustation about the lack of good villains in IM.

As a writer, isn't it his job to make characters interesting? Tony has a very good rogues gallery that can be updated/modified.

Or create just new villains.

[Iron Maiden]

It was an Iron Man book that had nothing to do with Iron Man. All of the concepts and characters that Bendis introduced still could have been used with the real Tony in the book.

Quite honestly, it feels like someone at Marvel wanted a high profile name on the "flagship Marvel title" after Secret War and Bendis was it. There was no growth for Tony, MJ's role could have been filled by someone from Tony's own supporting cast and he did very little to develop the characters that he did introduce.

It would have been cool to have two IM titles out at the same time, Superior and the main IM titles and have Tony and Doom interact about being a hero.

Instead, we got The Hood.

And before anyone blames Riri, she wasn't the problem. Bendis just didn't know what to do with her character. She could have gotten the Rescue armor and redesign/rebuilt that. Instead she became the character that too many people blamed for what was happening in the book instead of the true problem: Bendis can't write Iron Man.

The greatest thing about Bendis' run is that it is finally over.

Amen to that. I do think that Bendis took Tony off the table for far too long and unfortunately it caused a lot of readers to resent RiRi. Tony could have mentored both her and to some extent, Victor. I always liked their interaction over the years ever since IM 149-150 and apparently Bendis did too since at times it seems that's the one of the two Doctor Doom stories he's read. That and Triumph and Torment since he did bring up Mephisto and that illusion of Victor's mother. I do have to give Bendis some credit for making Tony and Victor's more interesting. But what happened with International Iron Man? The advanced promo for it sounded almost like a buddy comic but it never really went in that direction.

[Ana]

How do you guys feel about Doom's time as the Infamous Iron Man? He said before he took it on, because the world needed an Iron Man. How did he fill Tony's shoes? If he turns back into Doom would you like to see them still clash with one another?

never read any F4 comics, and my previous contact with Doom characters was the F4 movies. I liked very much the idea of a villain trying to change his ways. Liked the stuff with his mom and the way Amara was attracted and annoyed by him at the same. Overall I always imagined Doom stronger in terms of powers, and did not understand why someone like him would want to live the legacy of a " normal " human. But I think it is my lack of knowledge about this character. This character Parker Robins was new to me and I saw the coments about him not fitting for beat against someone like Doom.
I'm looking foward to see Doom as a villain. I know that's going to be old news for long time fans, but for me is a new status. And a good villain can make or break a franchise. I think Marvel needs him like this now.

[SuperiorIronman]

The thing is, I don't think Marvel needs Doctor Doom as a villain right now. We keep getting setup or powershifts for major villains and nobody is doing anything yet. I get that it might be new to some but to have Tony face Doctor Doom for Infamous Iron man doesn't sit right with me. Especially considering Secret Wars was only 3 years ago and he made up with Reed in a sense. He came to terms with the situation and admitted he was wrong and Reed was the better man on a cosmic scale. I don't expect Dan Slott to hold to that, but I hope he does.

Any word on Victor in the Dan Slott book? It may be the best place for him considering the Iron man situation and to give FF a break from Victor for awhile.