Iron Man is a famous comic-book hero who fights evil while wearing a high-tech suit of armor. Iron Man’s suit gives him super strength and enables him to fly and to shoot laserlike “repulsor rays” from his palms and chest. Iron Man has long been one of the most famous superheroes of the publisher Marvel Comics. He was a founding member of the Marvel superhero team the Avengers.
Iron Man is the superhero identity of Tony Stark, a wealthy inventor and weapons manufacturer. Stark does not have any actual super powers. However, he uses his intelligence to invent technology—including suits of armor—to help him fight crime and villains. Iron Man has fought repeated battles against a number of villains, including the Mandarin, a scientist skilled in martial arts, and Obadiah Stane, a rival weapons manufacturer.
Tony Stark inherited his family’s weapons manufacturing company, Stark Industries. He was conducting a weapons test during the Vietnam War (1957-1975) when a booby trap exploded, severely injuring his chest. Stark was captured by guerrilla fighters and forced to build weapons for them. Instead, he created a suit of armor to help him escape and to protect his wounded body. Stark frequently keeps company with Pepper Potts, his secretary, and Happy Hogan, his driver. Stark’s friend and bodyguard James Rhodes often wears another of Stark’s armor suits and fights alongside Iron Man as the hero War Machine.
Iron Man was created in 1963 by the American writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and drawn by the American artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. Iron Man’s first appearance was in the anthology comic book series “Tales of Suspense” (1959-1968). Anthology comics feature several titles with a common theme or target audience. Iron Man’s original suit of armor was large, bulky, and gray. Stark quickly made a gold version of this suit before finally inventing the sleek gold and red version that has become the character’s signature look. In 1963, Iron Man was one of the founding members of the Avengers in their debut comic. Iron Man’s first solo comic book series was “The Invincible Iron Man” (1968-1996).
Iron Man has appeared in numerous television shows and motion pictures, most notably in films produced by Marvel Studios in the early 2000’s. The American actor Robert Downey, Jr., played Tony Stark and Iron Man in such films as Iron Man (2008) and its sequels; The Avengers (2012) and its sequels; Captain America: Civil War (2016); and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
