Line #24 ComicBook/UltimateIronMan


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ultimate_iron_man_vol_1_1a.jpg]]
2	''Ultimate Iron Man'' was a pair of ComicBook/UltimateMarvel series written by Creator/OrsonScottCard and drawn by Andy Kubert (Volume 1) and Pasqual Ferry (Volume 2) that was intended to reveal the origins of that universe's version of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]. In this version, Howard Stark and his beloved wife Maria are brilliant scientists who are working on such ambitious projects as creating a suit of shock-absorbing bacterial armor and figuring out how to induce limb regeneration. After an accident exposes a pregnant Maria to the limb-regeneration formula, her baby is altered, causing neural tissue to develop all throughout his body. And thus is born Tony Stark, a boy with literally more brains in his little finger than any other human being who suffers from constant, agonizing pain that requires him to be covered in bacterial armor. Meanwhile, Maria dies and Howard finds himself forced to protect his new son from the machinations of his vicious rival, Zebediah Stane, who will stop at nothing to learn the secrets of Stark's bacterial armor.
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4	The two mini-series were later written [[CanonDiscontinuity out of continuity]] by Creator/MarkMillar, who explained that they were actually an [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe anime series]] inspired by the version of Iron Man that appeared in his ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' series.
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6	!!This series contains examples of:
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8	* TheAlcoholic: As with his mainstream counterpart, this version of Tony Stark is an alcoholic, but here, he has the excuse that getting wasted is the only way for him to cope with the constant pain that he suffers as a result of his condition.
9	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Maria Stark accidentally swallows some blood from a severed monkey hand and the virus it contained somehow completely changes both her and her unborn child's genetic structure, causing neural tissue to develop throughout their bodies.
10	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The reason Maria got monkey blood in her mouth? She was attacked by it in an animal test lab, causing her to fall over and her protective helmet [[NoOSHACompliance (which is made of glass and not hardened plastic)]] to shatter. The shards themselves are sharp enough and move fast enough to completely sever the monkey's hand, yet somehow didn't injure her.
11	* AssholeVictim: The common backstabbing within the Stane family (Zebediath, Loni and Obadiah) — culminating with Loni and Obadiah orchestrating Zebediah's death as well as Obadiah killing Loni — would be a sad sight if they weren't all greedy murderers.
12	* BlessedWithSuck: Little Tony has a massive intellect and a healing factor, but also suffers constant, excruciating pain.
13	* CanonDiscontinuity: The origin story for Tony Stark depicted in the comic was for the longest time often outright ignored by other stories using Ultimate Iron Man. Eventually Creator/MarkMillar made this official by retconning the two miniseries into be part of [[ShowWithinAShow an in-universe anime series]] that entirely distorts Ultimate Iron Man's true origins.
14	* ColdBloodedTorture: As part of his efforts to learn Howard Stark's secrets, Zebediah Stane has one of Stark's researchers kidnapped and subjected to the Lid, a torture device that turns the poor man into a wreck. Later, Stane attempts the same thing with Tony.
15	* ContinuitySnarl: No, Tony having a HealingFactor and being a literal humanoid brain was never part of his character in ''The Ultimates'' or any other ComicBook/UltimateMarvel media. It's likely partially because of this that the entire series underwent CanonDiscontinuity and was retconned into a ShowWithinAShow.
16	* CreepyChild: Obediah Stane is a little sociopath who manages to kill two of his classmates and makes it look like the two kids had a suicide pact. [[spoiler:He later puts out a hit on his own father and makes it look like the hit was arranged by Howard Stark]].
17	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Zebediah, after being smug about seizing Howard's lab, get a phone call that Maria, Stark's wife, has died and expresses sympathy to him.
18	* EveryoneHasStandards: The military rejected Zebediah's Lid, not because it didn't work, but because it worked too well, sucking out all useful information and basically lobotomizing whoever it was used on, that it would be classified as a war crime.
19	* GoodThingYouCanHeal: During Tony's brief time at a prep school, some bullies try and feed him into a lit furnace, causing the lower half of his body to become severely burned. Lucky for him, he's able to regenerate.
20	* HealingFactor: One of the few upsides to Tony's condition is that he can heal more rapidly from injuries, and this is the only thing that prevents his bacterial armor from eating his flesh alive.
21	* JabbaTableManners: As they discuss their plans to take over Stark Defense Corporation, Zebediah Stane and Loni Stark attack their lunch like a pair of starved hyenas.
22	* NoOSHACompliance: Apparently, in the lab Maria worked at, they wear helmets made of glass. When the monkey jumps on her and she falls, the helmet shatters, the shards slice off the monkey's finger, and infected monkey blood ends up in her mouth.
23	* RaceLift: In this continuity, Maria Stark is a Hispanic woman, making Tony (short for Antonio) half Hispanic.
24	* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Obediah Stane puts out a hit on his own father in order to take over his company. He also frames Howard Stark for the murder, by designing a ridiculously complex killing device that ''rips him in half.'' '''Lengthwise.''' When his mother decides YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness, he kills her too]].
25	* ShapeshifterBaggage: Tony's healing factor allows him to regrow his legs after they're burned off, but needs to eat a lot in order to provide the raw materials.
26	* ShowWithinAShow: The series itself got retconned into being an in-universe cartoon based on Ultimate Tony's life... but BroadStrokes of Card's concept remained part of the character; as Creator/WarrenEllis put it in ''Ultimate Human'':
27	-->'''Bruce Banner''': You were prepared for everything by wealthy technocrat parents. Right down to your cell structure being rendered into ''biological'' ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computronium computronium]]'' in the womb, for God's sake.
28	* WeaksauceWeakness: The bacterial armor that young Tony Stark depends upon to keep his chronic pain to tolerable levels is vulnerable to ''anti-bacterial soap''. He can't even swim in a pool because chlorine will kill it.
29	* WouldHurtAChild: In the second issue, Zebediah Stane kidnaps and tortures Tony.

Context ComicBook / UltimateIronMan