TALES OF SUSPENSE #39: Enter Iron Man

Published: March, 1963

In the Marvel Universe, mythological Norse god Thor is the anomaly, but the other heroes we’ve met thus far owe their existence to “Science gone mad.” Gamma rays, cosmic rays, radioactivity—biological and scientific accidents. Only Henry Pym’s Ant-Man can make the claim “I meant to do that.” But even so, you must admit, the idea of taking a serum that makes you really, really small does sound somewhat…mad, more like magic than science. Ant-Man is an oddity, a hero despite himself.

Not so Iron Man. Not only did Tony Stark mean to do that, but once he puts on the armor, he is large and in charge, a marvel of modern technology. The explosion that almost takes Stark’s life forces him to use his smarts to devise a way to stay alive. Iron Man is thus a hero by necessity, not accident. In some ways, you could say Iron Man is our first “proactive” hero. This is new, and exciting.

His superpower is not something that happened to him that he now has to live with. Rather, something happened to him, and in response, he gives himself a superpower.

But probably best of all, a delicious twist is incorporated into the Iron Man origin story. Because if not for the greed and stupidity of the evil Commie, Wong Chu, Iron Man would not exist. After Stark is injured, Wong Chu decides that rather than kill his captive, or simply let him die, he will “TRICK him into spending his last days on earth working for US!” Not only does Wong Chu fail to understand the patriotic passion of any red-blooded American in the Marvel Universe (you think they would’ve learned by now, right?) but very specifically, he completely underestimates the resourcefulness and ingenuity of Mr. Tony Stark, scientist/engineer/inventor extraordinaire.

If Wong Chu had just said, “Let him die,” we would have no Tony Stark, no Iron Man, and no story. But because the Commie got greedy, he unknowingly participates in the creation of one of Marvel’s greatest threats to the Red empire—Iron Man, who lives not only to defeat Wong Chu personally, but also fight all manner of evil, well into the future.

I love this about the Iron Man origin story. It’s so…IRONIC. Pun intended.

TONY STARK
But it all starts with Tony Stark, and honestly, I’m hard pressed to decide who is the real star of this story: Stark, or his creation, Iron Man. Of course, you can’t have one without the other, but I contend: who would want to? To me, Stark is the most interesting protagonist we’ve met so far, even more interesting than Iron Man.

Yes, of course, Tony Stark is a brilliant scientist, but oh! He’s so much more than that! After meeting him in the laboratory, perfecting transistor weapons for the military, we quickly fly to an exotic beach, where beautiful women swoon for the handsome bachelor (“The Riviera was a real drag till you showed up, darling!”) The narrator informs us that Stark is “both a sophisticate and a scientist! A millionaire bachelor, as much at home in a laboratory as in high society!”

Two…two…two mints in one! I ask you: could there be any more complete man than Tony Stark?

But the perfect Tony Stark would surely get boring to read about, if not downright annoying, so Stan inflicts on him a “tragedy” of epic proportions.

The tragedy, of course, is his newly acquired medical condition, where he is kept alive only by the tiny transistors in his iron chest plate. Stark must deal with the prospect of spending the rest of his life “in this iron prison,” if his heart is to keep beating. Certainly, he can continue his work as a military industrialist in this get-up, but I doubt the honeys on the Riviera will be swooning for him now.

So then…is that the tragedy?

At this early stage of the game, Stark is not yet aware of how many modifications he can make to his “iron prison,” or that his Iron Man persona will fight crime and evil as few before him ever could. At this point, Stark is simply interested in staying alive for a “moment of reckoning” with Wong Chu in retaliation for the murder of his friend, the most helpful and kind Professor Yinsen.

As Iron Man, Stark has that moment with Wong Chu. He employs a number of technological marvels incorporated into his iron suit to defeat and presumably kill the evil Chinese warlord. In the end, Iron Man stands alone declaring, “It’s all over! Now, Profeesor Yinsen, rest easy! You who sacrificed your life so save mine, have been avenged!”

Avenged? Already are we thinking of the Avengers? I wonder if the word “avenge” this early in the Iron Man story was a deliberate attempt to plant the idea of “The Avengers” in the readers’ minds. Or did Stan come back to this panel later and say “Hey! Avenge…Avengers…yeah, that’s the ticket!” Does one lead to the other…or perhaps there’s no connection at all?

I guess it doesn’t matter. All that matters at this point is that the Marvel Universe has now been made stronger by one superhero, who brings to the table the amazing powers of science and technology beyond even that which has been supplied by our resident super-scientists, Henry Pym, Reed Richards and Bruce Banner.

Reading this issue, I get a real sense that Marvel Comics is evolving, growing up. The 1960’s saw the advent of the Silver Age of comics, just as advancements in technology were becoming a more important part of people’s everyday lives. It comes as no surprise that at this point in history, Marvel introduces the super-modern, technology-based Iron Man. Just as significantly, though, Marvel also gives us Tony Stark who, with his amazing conglomeration of money, power, brains and sex appeal, has just raised the bar for what a superhero ought to be, both on and off the field.

This time, our story was straightforward, a simple narrative of epic proportions. Next time, we have an epic narrative of interplanetary proportions, involving the race to space, monkeys on the moon, commies, and a cosmic couch potato.