I am Iron Man is a 2023 limited series published by Marvel Comics, timed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the titular Iron Man. It's written by Murewa Ayodele, with art by Dotun Akande.
Tony Stark's had a long career as the superhero Iron Man, both as a solo hero and one of the founding members of the Avengers. The series depicts new adventures during his past, looking at the different phases of that career.
The first issue was released March 1, 2023.
I am Iron Man contains examples of the following tropes:
- Anti-Magic: Tony has a contingency for mystical threats. A machine samples something with their magic, targets the specific magical energies and smashes a cosmic cube to direct the reality warping energies to erase any trace of it in local reality.
- Beary Friendly: George, the head guard at the Cube, is a humanoid polar bear. He is nice and friendly with Tony and even has something of a private joke he shares with Deola, one of the prisoners.
- Casual Kink: Issue #4 deals with Tony seeing several giant monster wrapped in chains. Tony jokes that this means he might have an unexplored bondage kink, prompting this response from Dr. Strange:Unexplored? You forget I've met one of your exes.
- Continuity Nod: Issue #4 takes place during Tony's time as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. When Strange asks if they should call the Avengers to help with the current crisis at hand, Tony replies that most of them aren't particularly happy with him at the moment.
- Corrupted Contingency: Issue #5 reveals that Tony created a backup system that uploads his memories into a cloned body any time he dies. However, the system suffers a glitch where it often activates even when he doesn't die, resulting in multiple Tony Starks running around. This causes a security hazard and Tony is forced to terminate the clones.
- Dissonant Serenity: The aliens trying to kill Tony in issue #5 don't show any visible panic in their tone when Deola aims a Kill Sat at them:Alien #1: What is that lieutenant?Alien #2: It appears to be a vessel, captain. We picked up a lot of biological matter from it.Alien #1: Inside, it looks like a giant gun to me, captain.Alien #3: Oh, I see that now, lieutenant.
- Dual Wielding: As the "Iron Shogun" in issue #3, Tony wields two Laser Swords.
- Extra-ore-dinary: A flashback to issue #5 features an inmate of the Cube named Deola who can control metal. She is placed in a special cell with no metal and the prison guard George has to remove all metal objects on his person before taking Tony to see her. Tony himself makes it a point to incorporate technology into his armor that negates her abilities.
- Healing Factor: The Righa has the ability to regrow limbs, demonstrating this power after Tony blasts off one of its arms.
- Improperly Paranoid: In issue #4, Tony shows Strange an arsenal of weapons designed to defeat heroes in case they turn rogue. Strange points out that Tony doesn't seem to have any weapons specifically for villains like Thanos. The issue somewhat subverts this with the reveal that Tony has an anti-Strange contingency which is repurposed to stop an invasion of Eldritch Abominations.
- Interquel: The series is set during Tony's long career as Iron Man, with a Time Skip between each issue.
- Invisible to Normals:
- Inverted with Tony is issue #4. Tony starts seeing massive demons that no one else is able to perceive, not even heroes with enhanced senses like Spider-Man or those with connections to mystical forces like Dr. Strange, Brother Voodoo and Moon Knight.
- Played straight in the same issue with Strange and Tony. While Tony is trying to draw Strange's attention to the demon the former is seeing, the latter points out supernatural creatures that are invisible to Tony like phantom squids who are mating and a dying gargoyle.
- It's Personal: Issue #3 sees Tony coming to the aid of a boy who's mother was kidnapped by Mojo. As Tony was unable to prevent his own mother from dying, he takes this particular mission very personally. The issue ends with him visiting his mother's grave and wishing her a happy Mother's Day.
- Musical Assassin: Tami has a futuristic guitar which allows her to summon and control giant stone golems and travel through time.
- Noodle Incident: A plot point in issue #4 is Tony seeing giant monsters that no one else can. After tracking down and killing a creature that was killing extraterrestrial immigrants, Dr. Strange shows up to reveal that Tony was infected with something called "The Key", which seeks out anything of strong emotional worth to the infected and summons the Lock (the creature Tony killed) to destroy it. As a result of Tony killing the Lock, the monsters he has been seeing are free to physically manifest in our reality. Neither Tony nor Strange knows how Tony was infected with the Key but Maria Hill is sure it happened during one of their "bro lunches".
- No-Sell: In Tony's first clash with Tami, one of her giant stone golems takes a kick at Iron Man. He stands his ground rather than trying to dodge, and its foot shatters when it connects. Iron Man, on the other hand, is completely unmoved.
- Oni: Tony fights these in issue #3 as the Iron Shogun.
- Properly Paranoid: A flashback in issue #5 shows Tony visiting an inmate called Deola who can control metal. When she tries to use her powers on him, she is surprised to see it doesn't work. Tony made sure to incorporate countermeasures into his armor that would block out her abilities, having suspected she would try to use her powers on him and having dealt with various enemies who can control metal or electromagnetism.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: S.H.I.E.L.D. has a Kill Sat containing heads cloned from an alien species whose Super-Scream can level cities. Tony laments that despite this technology, children are still waiting for organ donors but acknowledges that organs won't matter if Earth is destroyed.
- Speed Blitz: Iron Shogun fights mooks this way, moving faster than the eye can capture and slicing enemies in pieces before they can react.
- Variant Cover: The first issue has two variant covers showing Tony, unmasked, in different versions of the Iron Man suit.
- What the Hell, Hero?: One issue calls out Tony for having armors specifically to take out his allies like Thor and Hulk rather than villains. At the end Doctor Strange realizes the machine they just used to stop an invasion of mystical beings was a "Strangebuster" and he admonishes Stark for it.
