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Go ahead, hum that [[Black Sabbath]] song. [[Ear Worm|You know you want to]].
Tony Stark was a playboy billionaire industrialist until a battlefield explosion left him with a damaged heart that threatened to kill him. Captured by the enemy forces, he is forced into manufacturing weaponry to aid them. Instead he secretly designed and built a suit of armor ''[[Memetic Mutation|in a cave, with a box of scraps]]'' to keep his heart beating and to escape from his captors, and in the process became the superhero known as Iron Man. The character first appeared in ''Tales of Suspense'' #39 (March, 1963), created by writers [[Stan Lee]], and Larry Lieber, along with artists Don Heck and [[Jack Kirby]]. He has served as the protagonist of several series since that time.
Currently, he can be found in ''Invincible Iron Man'' -- a rather character-driven title that deals with the troubles of Tony Stark, as well as the politics of Iron Man. The writer Matt Fraction has modeled the plot after the movies to some extent to make it a feasible jumping on point for new fans.
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In non-comic media, a movie based on the character, ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'', was released in May 2008 with [[Robert Downey, Jr.]] in the title role. It did well at the box office, and as of June 2008 had a 94% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best-received movie of the year, tying with ''[[Dark Knight Trilogy|The Dark Knight]]''. This movie was followed by a sequel and other works in the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]]. Prior to the movies, Iron Man had animated TV series in 1966 and 1994; for information on those, see [[The Marvel Superheroes|here]] and [[Iron Man (animation)|here]]. In the wake of the movies, ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' is a cartoon that takes another approach to the mythos by having Tony and his friends be teenagers. Additionally, there is a 2011 [[Iron Man (anime)|anime]] by [[Madhouse]], well-received by fans in concept partly on the basis that 1) the Japanese know Mecha, and [[Iron Man]] has a [[Powered Armor|Mecha Suit]], and 2) it wouldn't be that far off the mark for the character to have adventures in Japan, since he's a businessman with corporate branches and rivals all over the world.<ref>In fact, his arch enemy is called The Mandarin and is a descendant of Genghis Khan. Not Japanese, but at least geographically close.</ref>
Not to be confused with ''[[The Iron Giant]]'', which was based on a [[Ted Hughes]] novel entitled ''The Iron Man''. And please for the love of God, don't confuse this with [[Tetsuo:
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{{tropelist|This [[Marvel Universe]] comic book provides examples of:}}
* [[Action Girl]]: Love interest Bethany Cabe is a professional bodyguard and troubleshooter.
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* [[Break Out the Museum Piece]]: On various occasions, Stark has had to don his older armor despite the fact that all of Tony's old armors were destroyed. ''Several times''.
* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: Somewhat. He can create multiple, formidable armors and a life support system ahead of the current time, which he made with extremely limited resources. While he actually does things with this, he can't be asked to sit through a ceremony made for a friend and ally without falling asleep during the history recap.
* [[Broken Ace]]: Even billionaire scientific geniuses can have serious personal problems.
* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: The recent storyline World's Most Wanted has Tony feeling this way as he deletes his brain and loses his intellect, though his abilities decrease well below average (Tony doesn't really see the difference). In the current story "Stark Disassembled", {{spoiler|Pepper feels this way as her heart-mounted repulsor generator and armored suit are dismantled to reboot the brain-dead Tony Stark. [[Got the Call on Speed Dial|She's not going to sit down and take it, though.]]}}
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Tony during the mid-1980s, when he spiraled downward into a status of a homeless drunk. He got better, but not before a long parade of indignities.
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* [[Comic Book Time]]: Stark was injured during a walk in the jungles of Vietnam <ref> This has been updated many many times in the past, most recently to having taken place in Afghanistan</ref>, when he was already a millionaire industrialist and genius inventor. In the modern day, he's still in his 30s, 40s at most.
* [[Contagious Powers]]: Rhodey and now Pepper have gotten their own armored alter-egos. Justified in that building high-tech armor is what Stark ''does''.
* [[Corporate-Sponsored Superhero]]: Tony Stark's cover for Iron Man was that he is Tony's bodyguard, sponsored by Stark Industries.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Stark himself is a generally honest businessman, but some of his competitors are not so ethical. As Iron Man, Stark often ends up defending his own holdings against the attacks of his business rivals.
* [[Costume Copycat]]: Tony's downward spiral left him in no shape to pilot the Iron Man armor. Fortunately, Rhodey proved a capable replacement until Stark pulled himself together. In thanks, Tony would eventually make Rhodey an armored suit of his own called War Machine.
* [[Crimefighting with Cash]]
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: If Tony's on the receiving end of one, chances are good that in the next issue he'll deliver one right back with an upgraded armor. The battles with Firepower at the end of the ''Armor Wars'' arc, and with Mallen in the ''Extremis'' arc are textbook examples.
* [[Cutting the Knot]]: The Ghost has attached a device to Tony's armor that makes him intangible and will make Tony die of hunger and thirst unless he can find a way to get the thing off. Tony manages to regain his solid form, but he still needs to think of a way to remove the device from his armor. Rhodey simply blows it to pieces with his gun.
* [[Dating Catwoman]]: Madame Masque
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Iron Man came out when transistors were the hot new thing, so the writers attributed every single thing his suit could do (including ''rollerskates'') to the "Power of Transistors!"
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** Suicide is relatively rare in Iron Man comics; however, two examples, one of either trope here, stand out: When Obadiah Stane has made his final move and is facing checkmate, he chooses to cheat Tony out of his victory and calmly repulsors his own head off. Adversely, when Kathy Dare - crazy stalker lady who shot Tony - attended his 'funeral', she ended up taking a gun to herself, weeping for herself and for Tony.
* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Anthony Edward Stark. Not much embarrassing, but he prefers not to make it well-known.
** Which doubles, probably unintentional as a [[Prophetic Name]] - Edward is translated in Old English as 'Rich Lord' or 'Rich Protector'.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: Every once in a while, Iron Man will need to team up with a villain or rival in order to overcome a greater situation.
** Dr. Doom in the time-travel episodes.
** When the Mandarin found himself opposing the Makulan dragons he'd helped unleash, he was forced to team up with Iron Man to stop them.
** The ''[[What If]]'' issue "What If Iron Man Lost the Armor Wars?" had an outlaw Tony Stark teaming up with some of his armored foes to get back at Justin Hammer, who'd caused his downfall [[For Want of a Nail|because Ant-Man couldn't stop the "pest control" in the TransCorp computers]].
* [[Epic Fail]]: Bert Hindel's attempts to legally protect Tony's technology during the Armor Wars arc...and his later attempt to get revenge on Tony after he was fired by portraying [[Yandere|Kathy Dare]] as an innocent victim of [[Blatant Lies|Tony's drunken abuse]].
* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]]: Apparently, there was a time when the only reason Marvel got letters from females was Tony Stark's existence.
* [[Everything Sensor]]: Tony's various armors have various sensor functions installed.
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* [[Guile Hero]]: [[Depending on the Writer]], Iron Man can be shrewd and manipulative. Len Kaminski particularly wrote him this way.
* [[Hand Blast]]: Iron Man's stock weapon are his palm-fired repulsor beams.
* [[Healing Shiv]]: The Ghost slaps a device onto Tony's armor that makes him just as intangible as the Ghost. Tony [[Clingy MacGuffin|can't remove it]] and can't touch anything at all, not even food or water. Tony's afraid that he'll die of hunger or thirst if he doesn't find a way to get the device off. He eventually uses an electromagnetic pulse to short the device out and become solid again, but it's still stuck to his armor. Unless they can find a way to remove it in six minutes, they're back to square one. That's when Rhodey pulls out his gun and tells Tony to brace himself. Putting the gun right over the device, Rhodey shoots Tony at point-blank range and shatters the device:
{{quote|'''Iron Man''': I never thought I'd say 'thanks for shooting me,' but that seems to have done the trick! }}
* [[Heart Light]]: Iron Man's power source resembles one of these.
* [[Heart Trauma]]: Also part of his origin story.
* [[Hero Insurance]]: Tony tries to cause as little collateral damage as possible. This is because Stark Enterprises' facilities are frequently the sites of his battles, and even when they're not Tony will compensate whoever's property he wrecks.
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Pepper Potts, Black Widow, Bethany Cabe. If it's a significant Iron Man love interest, chances are it's a redhead.
** There's also the [[Iron Man (animation)|animated series]] that has [[Spider Woman|Julia Carpenter]] as a love interest and yes, she's a redhead.
* [[Hollywood Cyborg]]: He's become more and more this over the decades. Early on, he relied in his chestpiece for survival. Then came the Extremis which was bound with his nervous system. Now the entire suit is part of his body.
* [[Honest Corporate Executive]]: In his more sympathetic portrayals.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Some of the non-canon stories have Tony piloting these, while the Hulkbuster armors (especially the most recent ones) verge on this trope.
** Rhodey does have the War Machine Satellite, which can turn into a giant mecha.
** Although Tony didn't design it, his company built Red Ronin, the piloted giant robot built to fight ''[[Godzilla]].'' Marvel no longer has the license for Godzilla, but Red Ronin still shows up from time to time.
* [[IKEA Weaponry]]: For years, Tony has made Iron Man armors that collapse and store inside his briefcase.
** Then Extremis let him store most of the undersheath in the hollow parts of his bone where the marrow is normally found. Calling on the rest of the suit when in need.
*** {{spoiler|AND NOW STORES THE WHOLE THING IN HIS BODY! THE WHOLE #@#* $* $* SUIT! Justified by now having a new power source that makes even Extremis look obsolete, in fact, the newness is heavily modified from dormant Extremis tech that survived the Disassembly purge.}}
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* [[Let's You and Him Fight]]: Subverted in an issue where a rogue Tony ends up fighting War Machine (they've done this a couple times, mind you). It's staged to look realistic so Rhodey's superiors are happy.
* [[Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard|Locking MacGyver IN A CAVE!]] [[Memetic Mutation|WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]]: His origin story. The terrorists/communists think that he will really follow up on his promise to build weapons for him.
* [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me]]: The armor that Tony built to replace his destroyed Silver Centurion suit contained an energy shield in the left gauntlet that Tony could use to protect himself from beam weapons.
* [[MacGyvering]]: An arguable case considering that Tony Stark is a version of Angus MacGyver who happens to ''wear'' a complete high tech tool kit with him.
* [[Made of Iron]]: Well, ''duh''.
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** Hell, Tony and his father could count as mad scientists, at least in the movies. They're not insane, but exuberant and willing to do risky (and cool) things in the name of science, and Tony's dad even sports a lab coat and goggles at one point in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''.
* [[Magic Versus Science]]: Stark is smarter than the average [[Flat Earth Atheist]], acknowledging that [[Doctor Strange]] and other magical characters are doing ''something'' beyond his understanding, but he finds magic and its defiance of physical laws, even those of a superhero universe, profoundly irritating and uncomfortable. This has had some negative consequences recently, as {{spoiler|his taking a sample of [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]]'s DNA in an attempt to figure out how his "godly" powers work resulted years later in ''Civil War'''s Thor clone, who ended up killing one of Tony's friends on the other side of the war.}}
** Subverted to hell and back in a [[Alternate Universe|What If....]] issue where Tony becomes the Sorcerer Supreme instead of Doctor Strange... and [[So Cool Its Awesome|combines the Sorcerer Supreme magic with his Iron Man technology.]]
* [[Magnetic Weapons]]: The repulsor rays in the gauntlets are pure magnetic force beams. Instead of propelling a projectile, they create a variable push (from "slam a Mook against a wall" to "blow a hole in a mountain").
** Or "incinerate the head of an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Super Tough]] terrorist who previously nearly [[Curb Stomp Battle|killed Iron Man with his bare hands]]".
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** Tony has a few of these moments himself, for example when he's on the receiving end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] (or is about to receive one, if he's just run out of weapons).
* [[Only in It For the Money]]: After Tony lost his company to Obadiah Stane, he moved out to California with some friends to start a brand-new electronics company. Rhodey used the Iron Man armor as a hired mercenary to obtain seed money.
* Opium Den: Where The Mandarin is born.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Tony took over Stark Enterprises at 21 when his parents were killed in a car crash.
* [[Phlebotinum Dependence]]: The electromagnet.
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* [[Power Crystal]]: On the chest and palms, function as Repulsor Beam emitters.
** [[Power Glows]]
* [[Powers as Programs]]: Tony is always coming up with new design ideas for his armor. He'll even incorporate his competitors' and enemies' ideas into his armor if he thinks they'll be useful.
* [[Really Gets Around]]: Just in case you missed it in the [[Memetic Sex God]] entry "[http://i41.tinypic.com/14yb76.jpg Every time you kiss Iron Man, you taste Galactus.]"
** Within the first episode of the animé adaptation, he's already flirted with two women, both main characters, the first within the first five minutes of the show.
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* [[Sidekick Graduations Stick]]: Of a sort. Rhodey got his start replacing Tony in the Iron Man suit. Tony eventually came back, but Rhodey continued being a superhero as War Machine. Eventually, Pepper gets a suit of her own as well.
* [[Spandex, Latex, or Leather]]: None, powered armor!
* [[The Sponsor]]: In the story ''Demon In A Bottle'', Tony Stark had a stint where he gave up the suit and wallowed in booze and despair for a while, but his then-girlfriend Bethany Cabe picked his ass up and got him back in the game.
* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: ''Three''. Kathy Dare, who shot him for rebuffing her and then tried to claim he was the abusive one at her trial; Tiberius Stone, who tried to lock his mind in a virtual program after a strategic isolation campaign, and one of his own armors, who was practically an abusive boyfriend when it became sentient.
* [[Strawman Political]]: In the past five years, [[Author Tract|due to several authors' personal soapboxes regarding the US]], Tony Stark has basically been turned into a caricature of every fascist stereotype ever known in a super-powered suit. He forced everyone with superpowers, super-intelligence, or whoever even used superpower gadgetry to conscript with the government into a superhero army in the name of national security. He hired supervillains to "arrest" ones that didn't agree and imprisoned the rest without trial. In a concentration camp located in a dimension which could nearly pass for Hell. And he's got a Nazi scientist for hire performing experiments on the corpses of young boys so he can create his own personal superpowered army. And according to [[Word of God]], he's entirely in the moral right and the greatest hero the universe has ever known. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of Discontinuity surrounding Iron Man.
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* [[Wolverine Publicity]]: He's getting there. He now stars in four different shows on four different networks (''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' on Nicktoons, ''[[The Superhero Squad Show]]'' on Cartoon Network, ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' on Disney XD, and ''[[Iron Man (anime)|Iron Man]]'' on G4.) Three other characters are on ''Armored Adventures'', ''Superhero Squad'', and ''The Avengers'': Nick Fury, who's been getting pimped out by Marvel himself lately, MODOK, who is also a new character in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]] 3'', and the Hulk.
* [[Yandere]]: Madame Masque {{spoiler|as she sees Pepper as a "rival" to Tony's affection that she's willing to torture her while beating and making Tony beg for mercy in order to "win" his love back. She also does this when she threatens Tony with a pistol on his left temple when she would agree to run away with him and live together if he rejects Pepper. Too bad it didn't work though...}}
** Oh, and then there was Kathy Dare, Tony's ex-girlfriend who shot him after they broke up. He wasn't even the first guy she got revenge on, as she burnt down the mansion of a ''previous'' boyfriend and her psychiatrist had recommended that she be institutionalized.
* [[Yellow Peril]]: His archnemesis, the Mandarin.
* [[Your Universe or Mine?]]: When placed opposite of pretty much any female character in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''. This ranges from [[Hot Mom|Crimson Viper]] to [[Jail Bait|Tron Bonne]] to [[Chinese Vampire|Hsien-Ko]] to [[Horny Devil|Morrigan]]. The only exception? Amaterasu, who is a ''dog.''
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