Origin of Iron Man

Despite JFK getting shot at Dallas, the Beatles releasing the “I wanna hold your hand” single and James Bond’s screen debut “Dr. No” viewed across US theaters, some Americans still remember 1963 as the year when Iron Man made its first appearance in the “Tales of Suspense” comic book series in its March issue.

The Iron Man comic was the brainchild of Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, whereas the imagery was created by Don Heck and Jack Kirby. Though, Iron Man had solo adventures too, he is mostly identified as a part of the Avengers. According to creator Stan Lee, the character is mainly based on the life and exploits of Howard Hughes, the multi millionaire, adventurer, inventor, and Casanova movie producer.

Just like Hughes, Anthony Stark is also at the helm of an industrial empire. A technical as well as a technological genius himself, Stark injures himself in the American War effort and finds himself at the mercy of his enemies, who then compels Stark to design weapons of mass destruction and modern warfare for them. Stark, however manages to elude them and with the help of physicist Ho Yinsen, designs a suit of powered armor and emerges as the Iron Man. In the meantime, Stark also has a personal battle against alcoholism and similar vices.

The Iron Man comics deal mainly with his deeds involving the defeat of his enemies. Chief among them are the Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, Mandarin and Obadiah Stane aka the Iron Monger. Among his allies in these crusades are his chauffer Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan, Secretary Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts and James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, the American Marine Corps Chopper Pilot.

Though he works in secret like most superheroes, in the recently released Iron Man movie, Stark is seen to reveal his true identity after overpowering the Iron Monger.