History YMMV / IronMan

** ''Tales of Suspense'' #45. The first handful of issues were pure [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks silver age]], starring a[[{{ComicBook/Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] {{Expy}} who battles such goofy threats as a Neanderthal robot caveman (sent by aliens, naturally) or casually uses magic to venture back in time and romance Cleopatra. But #45 turned the focus squarely towards Tony Stark as both a wounded man with a debilitating chest injury and a genius inventor during the Cold War who struggles to stop the misappropriation of his technology, as well as introduced major supporting characters Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts to give him more of a plotline when out of costume. The run of issues that follow would also introduce Marvel mainstays the Mandarin, Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, as well as Iron Man's now-standard red-and-gold armor.

* HilariousInHindsight: In issue 9 of ''Marvel Team Up'', Spider-Man referred Iron Man as Sherlock Holmes, guess who plays both Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes in the movies.

* EarWorm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y63i2NR9-LE The Second Season Intro, "I Am Iron Man."]]

* The less said of his [[FaceHeelTurn horrendous]] [[LawfulEvil portrayal]] in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', the better.

** Wong Chu started off as Iron Man's [[StarterVillain first major villain]] but later [[FromNobodyToNightmare became something worse]]. In the original version of Iron Man's origin, Wong Chu was an Asian warlord who ran a POWCamp. After Tony Stark was injured while visiting a war zone, Wong Chu captured him and brought him to his camp, so that Stark could make weapons for him. Stark instead made the Iron Man armor, not before Wong Chu's men killed Yinsen, the kindly scientist who helped Stark create the armor. Wong Chu was about to order his men to kill all the prisoners in the camp, but he was seemingly killed during a battle with Iron Man. Wong Chu managed to survive and reappeared in in 2000's "The Sons of Yinsen" storyline. Deciding to become a drug lord, he opened a more brutal camp in a remote Asian jungle and kidnapped villagers to work as [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slaves]] and produce narcotics for him. The Sons of Yinsen, a group that revered the original Yinsen, informed Stark of Wong Chu's camp. Iron Man and his allies attack the camp, discovering that Wong Chu also uses children as slaves. When Iron Man and his allies confront Wong Chu, Wong Chu is sitting on a [[NothingButSkulls throne made of human skulls]]. Wong Chu threatens to murder two dozen slaves if Iron Man and his allies don't surrender. When they do surrender, [[ILied Wong Chu executes them anyway]], then [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] Stark and his allies, before planning to execute them, taking them to a pit filled with thousands of corpses of murdered slaves.

* The less said of his [[FaceHeelTurn horrendous]] [[CanonDefilment portrayal]] in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', the better.

* The less said of his [[FaceHeelTurn horrendous]] [[CharacterDefilment portrayal]] in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', the better.

* The less said of his [[FaceHeelTurn horrendous]] [[CharacterDefilement portrayal]] in ''[[ComicBook/CivilWar]]'', the better.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** Tony's had a few but one of note is the entirety of ''Iron Man'' (vol. 1) #200 where he reclaims the Iron Man mantle, faces off against Obadiah Stane, out-gambits him at every turn and leads to Stane committing suicide out of sheer frustration.
** In ''Iron Man'' (vol. 1) #293-294, as part of ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade'' story arc, Tony's confronted with the Goddess, a female cosmic being who wants to "purify" the universe of evil; she wields several Cosmic Containment Units, basically omnipotent plot devices which make her all-powerful. She's trying to bring over superheroes to her cause and one of them is Iron Man. Twice, both times completely at her mercy with his naked spiritual form like a shrimp in her fist, he tells her she is a presumptuous hypocrite and no thanks, he won't join her.
** Iron Man's victory over the Mandarin in ''Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' #28. Forced to wear an irremovable power-dampener to shut off his Extremis abilities, and racing against time to prevent the Mandarin from releasing an airborne form of Extremis (which will kill 97.5% of the world's population), Tony dons an outmoded armor, tracks down his old nemesis, and engages him in a particularly brutal slugfest, during which he yanks half of the Mandarin's power rings (which were ''fused into [[{{Squick}} his spine]]'') right out of his body, whilst sustaining a broken arm and a dent kicked in his helmet. He then downs the Mandarin temporarily with his own weapons and the Mandarin's own rings, then deliberately ''severs part of his own foot'' to get the power dampener off, fights through the pain and shock and the sensory overload of his Extremis abilities returning, then averts the Extremis outbreak. The Mandarin then gets up again and punctures a container of Extremis, prompting Tony to freeze him AND the Extremis with freon spray. Only then does he pass out. ''Damn...''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Tony Stark. Good guy, or imperialist scumbag?

** KieronGillen's run. The first arc was generally well liked, while the second arc, while mostly liked, irked some of the fans who sided with the Avengers during ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' due to the way it treats Tony's attack on the Phoenix. The arcs following, however, for retconning Tony's dad met aliens who may be responsible for Tony's intelligence. One party found the story interesting, the other felt the idea robbed Tony of his independence by establishing he was predisposed from birth to make his armour. The ending and subsequent arc [[spoiler:where its revealed that he wasn't the child 451 altered, and is instead Howard Stark's adopted son, and has a secret brother named Arno]], is similarly split between those who're still enjoying the run, those who were unsure about the previous story arc but are happy about this revelation and subsequent possible stories, and those who just hate the changes going on and refuse to read.
** Superior Iron Man. Some people loved it and thought it was awesome, other people couldn't stand it.
** Creator/BrianBendis' run, which is naturally the case due to Bendis' controversial reputation among Marvel fans. The fact it leads into [[ComicBook/CivilWarII a particularly controversial event that lead to a company-wide DorkAge]] probably doesn't help, though some felt that Tony's book was one of the better parts. A ''major'' factor was introducing Riri Williams, not to mention expanding on the already-controversial Gillen plot point about Tony being adopted and the 'mystery' of who his birth parents are.

** Riri Williams taking over as the lead character, under the moniker of Ironheart, while Tony is in a coma. Crosses into BrokenBase as quite a few liked Riri, but its hard not to argue it was an odd direction to take, not helped by the fact it was set-up by ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', a story almost as infamously controversial as the first one.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Maria Hill gained a number of fans during the post Secret Invasion storylines, possibly due to Matt Fraction being the first writer to develop her outside of a role as a person to be an enemy for the Avengers.

* HarsherInHindsight: During the "Armor Wars" storyline (written in 1987), Tony is forced to "fire" Iron Man as Stark Enterprises spokesman. Trying to find a new and trustworthy face, one employee asks "I wonder if Creator/BillCosby is available..."

** The current run seemed to have made a RunningGag out of Tony [[http://whatjanesays.tumblr.com/post/132547184608/tony-no-dont-you-really-shouldnt-this-is repeatedly mentioning how handsome Victor von Doom's restored face looks like.]]

** Tony and Reed cloning Thor. Particularly as Tony was close friends with Thor, and Tony was been in possession of the hair used to clone Thor since they met.

** Of course, in TheNewTens, many consider the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse by Creator/JonFavreau and Creator/RobertDowneyJr to be his latest parents. Downey's humorous EccentricMillionaire big kid approach to the character brought a great deal of levity to a character who had usually been on the serious side, and likewise elevated Tony to a central part of the Marvel Universe and in the wider culture, with Tony Stark's later comic versions being based on Downey's appearance.

** Crosses into TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter, but the general concept of Riri Williams is ''not'' a bad idea, Tony having a teenaged protege who ends up becoming something of a LegacyCharacter for him when he's taken out of action. However, Riri was introduced rather awkwardly mere issues before it was announced she was going to take over, ''before'' she even met Tony, which naturally created an AudienceAlienatingPremise, so there was really no way to develop and explore the idea of her as Tony's protege and successor in a convincing, acceptable manner.

** [[Creator/BrianMichaelBendis Bendis]]' run is usually seen as awful by fans, even among the writers' fans. Those who weren't turned off my Tony being PutOnABus to focus on [[LegacyCharacter Riri]] would be turned off by constant plot-holes, the excessive focus on Tony's mother and Mary-Jane, stories that went nowhere and an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: As discussed in the StrawmanPolitical section, they could have had an interesting plot in which Tony is forced to go to more and more extreme measures to enforce an act that would hold responsibility over all other things, something he believes in due to his own shortcomings. Instead, they decided in some books to turn Tony into a power hungry fascist and decided accountability = slavery. Also he's a war criminal now. Apparently believing in responsibility is akin to amorality.

* MagnificentBastard: The Mandarin has been one since the 1960s. There's also Stark himself, depending on the writer.

* GrowingTheBeard: Season two. Tony also grew a mullet.

* MemeticOutfit: Between the show and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'', many people associate Iron Man with the Modular Armor (which is indeed one of his most striking suits).

** ''Tales of Suspense'' #45. The first handful of issues were pure [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks silver age]], starring a[[{{ComicBook/Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] {{Expy}} who battles such goofy threats as a Neanderthal robot caveman (sent by aliens, naturally) or casually uses magic to venture back in time and romance Cleopatra. But #45 turned the focus squarely towards Tony Stark as both a wounded man with a debilitating chest injury and a genius inventor during the Cold War who struggles to stop the misappropriation of his technology, as well as introduced major supporting characters Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts to give him more of a plotline when out of costume. The run of issues that follow would also introduce Marvel mainstays the Mandarin, Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, as well as Iron Man's now-standard red-and-gold armor.

** In ''Iron Man'' (vol. 1) #293-294, as part of the ''Infinity Crusade'' story arc, Tony's confronted with the Goddess, a female cosmic being who wants to "purify" the universe of evil; she wields several Cosmic Containment Units, basically omnipotent plot devices which make her all-powerful. She's trying to bring over superheroes to her cause and one of them is Iron Man. Twice, both times completely at her mercy with his naked spiritual form like a shrimp in her fist, he tells her she is a presumptuous hypocrite and no thanks, he won't join her.

** [[ManipulativeBastard Obadiah Stane]], AKA Iron Monger I, after seeing his father shoot himself during a game of RussianRoulette, reached two conclusions: that life was a game you had to win at, no matter the cost, and that his father was a weakling who left too much to chance. During a childhood chess match, when paired against a boy who was his equal or better, Stane [[SlashedThroat slit]] the boy's [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals pet dog's]] throat to make sure his mind wasn't on the game. Becoming a CorruptCorporateExecutive, Stane defeated Tony Stark in a corporate buyout, and engineered his psychological breakdown, reducing Tony to living on the streets as a homeless, alcoholic vagrant. When Tony returned as Iron Man, Stane wasted no time in kidnapping his friends and loved ones, going so far as to try and brainwash one of Tony's former girlfriends into becoming his lover, not out of interest, but to drive in the fact that he had won; he then set off a bomb at the Circuit Dome to kill Tony with no compunction about collateral damage. When Tony arrived to confront him, Stane revealed he'd set up a chamber with Tony's loved ones subject to receiving electric shocks should he take a step to free them, intending to force Tony to starve to death in the room. When Tony beat Stane's game, Stane played his last trump card: Tony would surrender or Stane would use his own suit to [[WouldHurtAChild crush a baby's skull]]. [[SoreLoser Once beaten]], Stane opted to hurt Tony and deny him victory the only way he could: [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]].
** Wong Chu started off as Iron Man's [[StarterVillain first major villain]] but later [[FromNobodyToNightmare became something worse]]. In the original version of Iron Man's origin, Wong Chu was an Asian warlord who ran a POWCamp. After Tony Stark was injured while visiting a war zone, Wong Chu captured him and brought him to his camp, so that Stark could make weapons for him. Stark instead made the Iron Man armor, not before Wong Chu's men killed Yinsen, the kindly scientist who helped Stark create the armor. Wong Chu was about to order his men to kill all the prisoners in the camp, but he was seemingly killed during a battle with Iron Man. Wong Chu managed to survive and reappeared in in 2000's "The Sons of Yinsen" storyline. Deciding to become a drug lord, he opened a more brutal camp in a remote Asian jungle and kidnapped villagers to work as [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slaves]] and produce narcotics for him. The Sons of Yinsen, a group that revered the original Yinsen, informed Stark of Wong Chu's camp. Iron Man and his allies attack the camp, discovering that Wong Chu also uses [[WouldHurtAChild children]] as slaves. When Iron Man and his allies confront Wong Chu, Wong Chu is sitting on a {{throne made of|X}} [[NothingButSkulls human skulls]]. Wong Chu threatens to murder two dozen slaves if Iron Man and his allies don't surrender. When they do surrender, [[ILied Wong Chu executes them anyway]], then [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] Stark and his allies, before planning to execute them, taking them to a pit filled with thousands of corpses of murdered slaves.

* MyRealDaddy: David Michelinie and Bob Layton in the early 1980s transformed the character with such innovations such as his specialized armors and his drinking problem.

** [[ManipulativeBastard Obadiah Stane]], AKA Iron Monger I, after seeing his father shoot himself during a game of RussianRoulette, reached two conclusions: that life was a game you had to win at, no matter the cost, and that his father was a weakling who left too much to chance. During a childhood chess match, when paired against a boy who was his equal or better, Stane [[SlashedThroat slit]] the boy's [[KickTheDog pet dog's]] throat to make sure his mind wasn't on the game. Becoming a CorruptCorporateExecutive, Stane defeated Tony Stark in a corporate buyout, and engineered his psychological breakdown, reducing Tony to living on the streets as a homeless, alcoholic vagrant. When Tony returned as Iron Man, Stane wasted no time in kidnapping his friends and loved ones, going so far as to try and brainwash one of Tony's former girlfriends into becoming his lover, not out of interest, but to drive in the fact that he had won; he then set off a bomb at the Circuit Dome to kill Tony with no compunction about collateral damage. When Tony arrived to confront him, Stane revealed he'd set up a chamber with Tony's loved ones subject to receiving electric shocks should he take a step to free them, intending to force Tony to starve to death in the room. When Tony beat Stane's game, Stane played his last trump card: Tony would surrender or Stane would use his own suit to [[WouldHurtAChild crush a baby's skull]]. [[SoreLoser Once beaten]], Stane opted to hurt Tony and deny him victory the only way he could: [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]].

* MisaimedMarketing: The DVD release for the series, mentions "Whiplash" on the back, probably to cash-in on ''Film/IronMan2''. Granted, [[IHaveManyNames Blacklash/Whiplash]] did appear on the show, but anyone expecting the MagnificentBastard that is Ivan Vanko will be disappointed because not only is [[ComicBook/IronMan Mark Scarlotti]] not the BigBad, but he's one of the Mandarin's many lackeys.

* MisaimedMarketing: The DVD release for the series, mentions "Whiplash" on the back, probably to cash-in on ''Film/IronMan 2''. Granted, [[IHaveManyNames Blacklash/Whiplash]] did appear on the show, but anyone expecting the MagnificentBastard that is Ivan Vanko will be disappointed because not only is [[ComicBook/IronMan Mark Scarlotti]] not the BigBad, but he's one of the Mandarin's many lackeys.

* FreudWasRight: The Water Strider found in the episode "Enemy Within, Enemy Without" destroys enemy ships by "ramming" into them.