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Iron Man #5 (by Warren Ellis and Ari Granov) came out this week. My records indicate that issue #4 came out around August; I don't know if this is really true but it was a long time ago! The series is hurt by these delays, as the story structure is decompressed storytelling at its peak. Issue #1 sets up the new villain (a terrorist injected with Extremis nanotechnology) and Tony Stark takes a ride in his Iron Man armor. Issue #2 has Tony taking a trip to see an old friend while the terrorist starts killing people. Issue #3 they fight. Issue #4, Iron Man is critically injured when the terrorist drops a car on him. And in the latest issue, we get to the meat of the story--Tony undergoes a dramatic change in order to survive. I'm not a big fan of decompressed storytelling, but this particular tale has me hooked (although I'd advise anyone to wait for the trade). Ellis' new technology for Iron Man is fascinating to me for a few reasons. One, throughout the last 40 years, there's been a constant need to make Tony Stark's life depend on technology. Two, Ellis is competing with Orson Scott Card, who has revamped the Ultimate version of Iron Man.
Way back in Tales of Suspense 39 (the first appearance of Iron Man), Stan Lee wrote the classic origin. While Tony Stark is visiting Vietnam (working with military on new weapons), he steps on a landmine and gets captured by the Vietcong. A piece of shrapnel is lodged near his heart. General Wong Chu tells Stark to build him a new weapon and in return, he'll save Stark's life. Yeah, right, buddy, you just gave Stark free access to a lab--he's going to kick your butt! This was how that scene looked when it was drawn by Don Heck, but it's constantly been retold and revamped through the ages.
Archie Goodwin and Gene Colan recapped the origin in Iron Man #1 a few years later. Tony was helped by Professor Ho Yinsen to build the first Iron Man armor. Not only would it help Tony kick butt, it would keep him alive by stabilizing his heart beat. Kind of like a pacemaker, which didn't exist in such a small form in the 1960s.
Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen also revisited this scene in Iron Man #1, volume 3. Pretty much the same story. Tony's dependence on the armor to keep his heart beating was a useful plot device. He would fight a baddie, get his power depleted, and limp over to Avengers Mansion, where Jarvis would plug his chestplate in for a battery recharge.
Flash forward to 2005, with Ellis and Granov's version of the origin in Iron Man #5, volume 4. This updates the origin, getting us out of Vietnam and into the Afghanistan invasion. Marvel time, ain't it great! As we saw previously in issue #1, Stark was injured in Afghanistan while working with the military. The twist is that he was injured by one of his own landmines. He's taken prisoner by Al Qaeda, but we don't see a General, Bin Laden, or anyone in charge. His predicament is explained by Ho Yinsen, who again helps him build the armor that will save his life. Pretty incredible that the terrorists leave those guys the fuck alone for hours or days to build this incredible weapon!
What happens when puts on this armor for the first time? In the Stan Lee version, he falls down and stumbles before he gets good feel for it. Professor Yinsen distracts the Vietcong and gets killed while Stark is getting his act together.
In the Ellis version, it's time for revenge. His armor still resembles the grey prototype from Tales of Suspense 39. Presumably because the room that Stark and Yinsen were in had old computers and outdated electronics. We don't really see Yinsen get killed in this version, maybe he's still alive.
Even though Ellis has updated the origin, we still have to assume that some of the pre-existing continuity is still intact. What happened to that pesky shrapnel in Stark's heart? It was removed and Stark's heart was repaired with artificial tissue. Archie Goodwin wrote this issue, but later on, many other writers regretted losing this device.
David Micheline and Bob Layton were one of the greatest creative teams on Iron Man, serving two stints on the book (116-157 and 215-250). Tony Stark became a hedonistic playboy, resembling a modern day Richie Rich with his vehicles, mansions, and babes. One of the women, Kathy Dare, couldn't get over being dumped and shot Tony in issue 242 (volume 1). The bullet grazed Tony's spinal cord and left him unable to walk. But he could walk and fly--as Iron Man! He got an operation in issue 248, where a microchip implanted into his spine allowed Tony to walk again. Later, this chip was hacked and it caused Tony to be trapped inside the Iron Man armor.
In the Ellis version, we also have to assume that Tony's shrapnel situation has been resolved. He gets pretty banged up during the fight with the Extremis terrorist. It's so bad he can't lift a bloody car off his chest. Stark is seriously injured. Whatcha gonna do?
Tony works with the scientist who helped create the Extremis nanotechnology, who just happens to be an old girlfriend. He gets shot up with a specially configured dose of this Extremis goo, and he becomes a living, breathing nano-machine. I don't want to show it here and spoil it, because it's rather cool. Suffice to say that Tony's life is intertwined with the tech and the Iron Man armor will now once again fit into a briefcase. Although I didn't see a Tivo in there.
Now here's the interesting part. At the same time that Ellis is revamping old Marvel Universe Iron Man, Orson Scott Card is doing the same thing for Ultimate Iron Man. Card just throws out that business about being in a war and captured by terrorists. He looks at the problem with Tony Stark needing technology to save his life. Card asks, why wasn't it that way from the beginning? We see how Howard Stark, Tony's father, developed a nano bio-armor that protects the wearer from physical harm. His mother, Maria, is working on a regeneration virus that will help missing limbs grow back. She's accidentally infected with the virus while pregnant with Tony. On a fetus, the virus causes Tony's neural tissue to develop at an advanced rate. Tony will be a super-genius kid, but his skin will feel like a bad third degree burn. Right after he's born (and his mother dies), Howard pours the bio-armor over the baby to protect him. Tony has to wear the bio-armor everyday for the rest of his life!
So which origin is cooler, Ellis or Card's? I like what Ellis is doing, but Card's premise is such a departure that I love it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for super-smart kids like in Ender's Game and I love seeing that with Tony Stark. I'm not yet sure why a regeneration virus can grow back Tony's foot in issue 3, but it can't fix his burning skin or his brain tumor in the Ultimates. We are still in the early stages of both revamps, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here. Nuff said.
Thanks for an excellent article on Iron Mans origins, it's a good read. I'm a big Iron fan and it was enjoyable.
Any more planned?
Oh and the meeting Rhodey follow up was good too..
Ta
Will G