With Iron Man 3 hitting theaters this week, it's time to take an updated look at the biggest star in the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark himself.
Iron Man was introduced in Marvel Comics' Tales of Suspense back in 1963 and while he might not have always had the widespread recognition of Spider-Man or the Hulk, he still made plenty of television appearances through the years. And of course once he became a bona fide movie star and was quickly elevated to one of the world's most recognizable super heroes, the floodgates were open. In recent years, there have been as many as four different animated series featuring the character airing simultaneously!
Keep in mind this list is focused on television appearances, not feature films or direct-to-video projects.
You have to at least be amused by any incarnation of Iron Man whose theme song says, "Tony Stark makes you feel. He's a cool exec, with a heart of steel!" What exactly does Tony make us feel though? Only a few dozen ladies can say. This series is infamous for its incredibly crude animation, which simply took actual comic book frames and moved them, ever so slightly, adding in the occasional creepy moving lips.
That being said, as others have joked, it certainly doesn't get more faithful to the comics than this stories are taken directly from Iron Man's Tales of Suspense days, complete with lots of goofy but fun Silver Age villains and melodrama. For those who grew up with this show in the '60s or caught it in syndication later, it's hard not to be nostalgic for this first-ever animated version of the Golden Avenger.
In a fun nod to the character's history, Jon Favreau included the Iron Man 1966 theme song multiple times in the first Iron Man movie - it's played by the band, as Tony is given an award at the start of the film (which he fails to accept, since he's gambling at the time) and it's also Tony's ring tone on his phone.
Twice, the Spider-Friends save Stark, who ultimately rewards them in a big way, as it turns out he's the one who supplies the gang with their "own crime computer and their hidden laboratory" - explaining how three college students had been able to afford to have all those cool gizmos that popped up when they slid a trophy forward.
We actually do also see Iron Man briefly in this episode too, even if Spider-Man doesn't. As the Spider-Friends defend Stark International from the Beetle, Iceman wonders where Iron Man is the action cuts to outer space, where Iron Man is seen destroying asteroids, as Stan Lee's narration explains he's "on a secret government mission."
As for the show, it was unfortunately a mediocre affair (though the second season is better than the first), but it does remain notable for a couple of reasons. First was that the show had a large supporting cast of superheroes, mainly taken from the then-current Avengers spinoff comic book series, Force Works. As a result, the 1994 Iron Man series in some ways is the first ongoing look at an Avengers-type team in animation, as the cast included War Machine, Hawkeye, the second Spider-Woman, Scarlet Witch and the easy to forget 90s character Century.
There was also an action figure series released in conjunction with the show, which also was the first time Iron Man alone had been used as branding for his own toy line.
Voicing Iron Man was Robert Hays, the film actor probably best known for starring in Airplane! While the Iron Man series was over by February 1996, Hays would reprise the character twice later in the year, during a time when Marvel had many animated series on the air...
On The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner comes to Tony for help, but soon enough, Banner is big, green and smashing stuff, with S.H.I.E.L.D. in hot pursuit. Iron Man is joined here by War Machine, also continuing his earlier animated series persona. This episode also featured Tony donning a version of the Hulkbuster armor he'd previously worn on his own series.
With Spider-Man, the pattern established by Amazing Friends continued, with Iron Man making some earlier brief cameos, before Tony Stark had a notable guest role on the episode "Venom Returns." And as on Amazing Friends, a Stark invention is targeted by a supervillain Dormammu, who uses Baron Mordo, Venom and Carnage (in his first animated appearance) as his agents. In part 1 of this two-parter War Machine shows up, only to be hurt badly by Carnage. But in the second episode -- appropriately called "Carnage" -- Iron Man himself, intent on avenging War Machine, enters the fray and teams with Spidey for what ultimately is a big free for all battle between the good guys and the bad guys... and a very confused Venom.
Iron Man also had a large supporting role in the "Secret Wars" storyline on Spider-Man, which featured several other Marvel heroes. Spider-Man would be the last series to include the Robert Hays voiced incarnation of Iron Man introduced in the 1994 series. The character also was briefly seen on the 1990s Fantastic Four series, but it was just a brief visual cameo.
However, the three were glimpsed at the end of the opening credits, and Iron Man (like Captain America) did guest star on one episode of the series. He doesn't get to do all that much though, being rescued from the Stark space station and only really appearing in a few minutes of the episode.
There was at least one heroic moment for him, as (in a nod to the comics) he risks his own fragile heart to reroute power from his armor at a crucial moment. The one other notable aspect of this episode is that Iron Man is seen wearing a variation of his space armor from the comics for the entirety of his appearance.
