Created as a Cold War-based, Commie-bashing triumph of American technology over conniving, inefficient Russians, Iron Man has proved as durable as his rust-proof armour over the years. This is partly because he�s a very adaptable character � not just in terms of power levels � and partly because, let�s face it, he looks damned cool. But it�s the man inside the suit who has arguably been more fascinating. Tony Stark, billionaire playboy, has been by turns a reckless maverick, a hopeless drunk, dead (not one of Marvel�s brightest ideas), teenaged (again�), his own bodyguard, a responsible leader and, more recently, the semi-villainous, politically hard-edged instigator of the Civil War which left the Marvel Universe in tatters, and Captain America dead. Iron Man is relatively simple � point and shoot - but Stark is as complex as they come. As long as that remains the case, Iron Man will remain one to watch.

FIRST APPEARED IN TALES OF SUSPENSE #39 (1963)
CREATED BY STAN LEE, LARRY LIEBER, DON HECK AND JACK KIRBY