Biography of Iron Man, 1964

The following is a biography of Iron Man for the year of 1964, in which Iron Man met some of his greatest rivals, including the Mandarin and the Black Widow. He also experienced increasingly problematic health issues near the end of the year, struggling to balance his lives as Iron Man and Tony Stark.

Biography

The corrupted Angel

During an atomic test at his Flushing plant, Iron Man witnessed the hero Angel, a member of the X-Men, flying overhead. He flew into the sky to warn Angel of the test, but couldn’t convey his message before the detonation occurred. Iron Man’s suit protected him from the blast, but Angel took a significant part of it. Iron Man had taken to the sky too quickly and too high, and fell to the ground as Angel flew away without any regard for his wellbeing. As Iron Man deduced, Angel had suffered a severe personality change, making him more "cruel" and "merciless." Later, Stark received a radio message from Cyclops, senior member of the X-Men, asking for assistance in dealing with Angel, who had abruptly turned his back on the group. They had attempted to contact the rest of the Avengers as well, but they were all preoccupied. Iron Man found Angel flying through the city, and after a brief battle, decided upon a strategy to bring Angel to his senses. He fought Angel high into the sky, far higher than their previous confrontation, and overtaxed his jets, causing him to plummet to the ground. As the brave hero gambled, the sight of another man falling to his certain death shocked Angel out of his state, and the mutant saved Iron Man, bringing him safely to the ground. Grateful for Iron Man’s incredible risk and cured of his villainy, Angel returned to the X-Men and the side of heroes once more. Soon after, the Hulk joined forces with Namor the Sub-Mariner to fight the Avengers on a remote island, but the two were eventually fought off, and Hulk went into hiding. The Avengers then found the legendary hero Captain America frozen in the sea on their way back to New York, and the five of them teamed up to fight Namor once more. Cap officially joined the Avengers afterward.

The coming of the Mandarin

Iron Man was next personally contacted by the U.S. government to conduct reconnaissance on a Chinese threat known as the Mandarin. The Mandarin was known to be feared by all in China, and lived alone in a castle isolated from society, though the source of his power was unknown. Iron Man made his way to Mandarin's castle in China, where he was immediately sucked into a room via tractor beam. The Mandarin met him face-to-face, utterly fearless, and wearing ten unique rings across his fingers. As his foe countered each of his attacks, Iron Man soon deduced that the rings were the source of his power; he also possessed a mastery of martial arts and superhuman striking power, though whether this was due to one of the rings is unclear. With this knowledge secured and his transistors running short, Iron Man made a hasty getaway, leaving Mandarin to prepare for their next confrontation.

The slippery Scarecrow

Back in New York the following month, Iron Man chased down and stopped a petty thief with the help of an escape artist known as the Uncanny Umberto. Iron Man complimented Umberto on his ability, and mused that it was a good thing he was on the good side of the law. Some time later, Tony Stark returned to his high-rise apartment along with Happy Hogan to find it utterly ransacked. The two went upstairs and found the culprit, a costumed villain calling himself the Scarecrow. As Hogan fought the burglar with his boxing skills, Stark slipped into the next room and donned his Iron Man suit. Iron Man fought the Scarecrow, but was surprised and overcome by the sudden appearance of a team of trained crows. They wrapped him in drapes, blinding him, and when he struggled free they had flown out the window, and Scarecrow was nowhere to be seen. Iron Man gave chase, but the crows soon dispersed with no sign of Scarecrow himself. In fact, Scarecrow had simply hidden behind, waiting for Iron Man to leave before robbing Stark's belongings. Later that night, Stark received a phone call from the Scarecrow, who demanded a ransom in exchange for invaluable weapons plans he had stolen. Stark met Scarecrow on the docks, concealing the parts to his Iron Man suit for the proper moment. He handed off the payment, and Scarecrow took off with it, fleeing in a speedboat. Stark donned his suit and went after him, catching up to him as he handed the plans off to a group of communist Cuban officials. Iron Man retrieved the plans and the money, destroying the boat and leaving the Cubans to swim helplessly. Scarecrow fled with the help of his crows, who dragged him through the water all the way to Cuba.

The Black Widow's espionage

Anton Vanko, the Soviet defector, continued to work under Tony Stark attempting to perfect a laser-light gun, continuing to use the Crimson Dynamo suit for protection. His experiments proved to be both dangerous and ineffectual, but he was eager to prove himself after having his life spared by the U.S. One day, Stark's plant was toured by two visitors from the east, a woman named Natasha and her supposed brother, Boris, a teacher. In fact, the two were Soviet agents sent to assassinate Stark and Vanko, completing the task that Vanko had been sent for in the first place. Stark was instantly attracted to Natasha, and pulled her aside while Boris toured the facility alone. That evening, Stark learned of a huge fire in the plant, and investigated as Iron Man. He found someone in the Crimson Dynamo suit and assumed it to be Vanko. It was in fact Boris, who had incapacitated Vanko and started the fire. The unsuspecting Iron Man was knocked unconscious by an electrical blast from the new Crimson Dynamo. He awoke in a Soviet submarine off the coast, where he found Vanko bound. Iron Man flew Vanko back to the plant, where Boris was looking in vain for Stark. Iron Man took the fight to the new Crimson Dynamo, but he proved to be a significant threat, especially as Natasha arrived to distract Iron Man. Vanko grabbed a prototype laser-light gun and fired it at Boris, knowing that it was unfinished and would kill himself in the process. Vanko gave his life to defend American interests, successfully killing Boris and protecting Iron Man. Later, Stark learned that Natasha, who had escaped in the confusion, was in fact known as the Black Widow. With her mission a failure, Stark believed her to be no longer a threat.

Black Widow and the anti-gravity ray

After months of working on an anti-gravity ray, Stark achieved success by pure chance. Though the ray was operational, he was unable to recreate it. He gave a demonstration of the ray to his contractors at the government, where an intrepid reporter managed to get photographic proof of the ray's existence. Stark soon got a letter from the Black Widow, who wished to meet with him. He cautiously agreed and hosted her in his office, where she tearfully apologized for her recent actions. Taken in by her beauty, Stark showed her the anti-gravity ray, but Widow used a concealed gas device from her purse to incapacitate Stark and flee the building with the ray in tow. Widow went on to use the ray to sabotage several of Stark's plants across the country, and though Iron Man pursued her, she managed to stay out of his grasp for some time. Her hot streak ceased when she was joined by a bumbling pair of communist agents who blew her cover. Iron Man was able to destroy the ray, but Widow again managed to escape.

Searching for the Hulk

After returning to America, the Avengers went on to search for Hulk through the southwest, only to find that he had come to New York seeking revenge on them. The Avengers returned to New York and teamed with the Fantastic Four to bring Hulk under control. In the end, Rick Jones proved to be the deciding factor, feeding Hulk an anti-gamma pill that caused him to transform back into Bruce Banner as he fled. A few days later, the Avengers stopped an attempted attack by the Lava Men in the southwest (fighting the Hulk once more along the way). Returning to New York, they fought off a team of supervillains led by Baron Zemo called the Masters of Evil, including Iron Man's old foe the Melter.

The Mandarin returns

Around this time, Tony began to notice that he was developing feelings for his assistant Pepper Potts. Despite the fact that she and Happy Hogan were constantly insulting each other, he suspected that there was a playful romance developing between them. He couldn't help but be jealous, but reasoned that a proper romance was unreasonable for someone so constantly close to death as he. Stark was soon summoned to the Pentagon, where military officials told him that "observer missiles" he had sold them were being shot down over Vietnam, despite their reported speed. Stark suspected that there was more than met the eye to this situation, and endeavored to go to Vietnam himself to investigate. Observing the launch of one of the missiles at an American base there, he saw the missile suddenly get dragged out of midair from afar by a force beam. Stark correctly deduced that this could only be the work of the Mandarin. Recalling the formidable defenses outside of Mandarin's castle, Stark decided to allow himself to be captured rather than attempt a frontal assault. Driving up to the castle, Stark's car was suddenly immobilized by iron bars rising from the ground, and some of Mandarin's henchmen came out to investigate. They opened the attache case containing the folded-up Iron Man suit, but Stark expected this, and it was rigged with sleeping gas. Suiting up, Iron Man crashed into Mandarin's castle and engaged him in combat, prepared for his foe's powerful rings and general savvy. But Mandarin's arsenal and homefield advantage still proved to be too much for the hero, and he was soon restrained in steel cables as his transistors began to run short of power.

Trapped and facing death, Iron Man thought of one hail-mary bluff to save himself. He reminded Mandarin that Tony Stark was still loose somewhere in the castle, convincing the villain to go off and find him. This gave Iron Man time to use his backup generator to recharge himself, escaping his bonds and silently following Mandarin through his castle. Mandarin's search was interrupted by the far-off launch of another of Stark's missiles, and Mandarin mused aloud that he would use his interceptor ray to capture it like the others. As the ray began to pull the missile in, Iron Man sabotaged its wiring, destroying it. But the missile continued to be pulled nonetheless, as the ray's process could not be stopped once it had begun. Iron Man flew out and knocked the missile from the ray's grasp, causing himself to be pulled back to the castle in the process. Iron Man continued to ransack Mandarin's equipment, filling his foe with a burning rage. Iron Man was able to narrowly escape, having sufficiently destroyed a great deal of invaluable technology and solving the problem of the disappearing missiles. Returning home, Stark decided to develop a counter to Mandarin's interceptor ray should he ever build another.

The Unicorn

Iron Man's frustration at his lot in life, constantly on the brink of death, began to boil over, manifesting in unbound fits of rage. He cast aside the Iron Man suit, determined to live out his limited time on Earth enjoying himself. He even went as far as blowing off the Avengers after they attempted to contact him by phone. While out on a date that night, Stark received a phone call informing him that a villain called the Unicorn had attacked one of his plants demanding to fight Iron Man. He injured Happy Hogan and kidnapped Pepper Potts. Chastising himself for being so selfish, Iron Man tracked Unicorn down using a black-light device, trailing him to a house on the shore of Long Island. He burst in and fought off the Unicorn, who himself boasted a special suit with a "power horn" on his head, long enough to grab Pepper and flee with her. Returning her to the plant, Iron Man was quickly confronted once more by the Unicorn, who had hidden a bomb somewhere in the plant that was to detonate in 15 minutes unless Iron Man agreed to come with him to the U.S.S.R. as his prisoner. Iron Man fought him as long as he could, but with no idea where the bomb was located, he was forced to surrender. Unicorn deactivated the bomb as promised and took Iron Man with him on a plane. As they flew, Iron Man stated that he had fulfilled his promise of being taken prisoner and flew out of the plane, smashing the windows and forcing its various communist-agent passengers to evacuate. Unicorn himself flew out of the plane out of Iron Man's sight and to safety. Later, Happy Hogan was expected to make a full recovery, and Stark realized that he had too much of a responsibility to those close to him to continue being Iron Man. Iron Man was suspended from the Avengers for a week for blowing off their phone call, though in practice he was back in action well before. Baron Zemo, who had escaped imprisonment during his first encounter with the team, aligned with Asgardians known as the Enchantress and the Executioner to attempt to defeat the Avengers once more. Thor sent them through a space warp, launching them to a random place in the multiverse.

Black Widow's backup

Iron Man, in full attire, was approached by Happy Hogan who asked him to put in a good word with Tony Stark, who would put in a good word with Pepper Potts to get Happy a date with her. Tony tried to do so, but Pepper interpreted as him asking her out, and quickly accepted. The two went together to the carnival and observed a show featuring a talented archer known as Hawkeye. Suddenly, one of the amusement rides went off its hinges, and Stark quickly slipped away and donned the Iron Man suit stowed in his attaché case. He allowed the ride to land safely, drawing the crowd's attention away from a jealous Hawkeye. The next day, Stark realized that he actually did want to date Pepper himself, and was disappointed that their first date had gone so poorly. Just as he was about to ask her out again, she instead accepted Happy's offer, herself having been unimpressed with Tony's sudden disappearance the day before. Later, Stark's plant was assaulted by a masked Hawkeye wielding a bow and firing various unusual arrows. The assailant attached a series of suctioned arrows to Iron Man's armor tipped with a quick rusting agent that forced the hero to remove his stiffening equipment. He retreated as Hawkeye grabbed the removed armor and fled, clearly seeing the value in them. Iron Man found some replacement armor and chased after Hawkeye as quickly as he could, stopping his getaway car and engaging him in direct battle. Hawkeye attempted to flee to the docks near the airport, but Iron Man continued to pursue him. Black Widow was waiting at the dock for Hawkeye: she had used her wiles to recruit him to her cause and defeat Iron Man. Hawkeye fired a powerful demolition arrow at Iron Man, but it ricocheted off of his resilient armor and struck Widow. Concerned for her wellbeing, Hawkeye rushed the injured Widow onto their getaway boat. Iron Man was unable to pursue them due to the risk of flying so close to the airport. Nonetheless, he recovered his discarded pieces of armor from Hawkeye's car and returned safely.

Cap, Kraven, and the Chameleon

One day outside the plant, Iron Man witnessed the seaward arrival of Kraven the Hunter, who had just been smuggled back into the country after recently being deported for his crimes. Iron Man easily knocked him out with a swift uppercut and delivered him to the authorities. Later, Iron Man received an injured Captain America in his office. Cap told him that the villainous Chameleon had gotten the jump on him, knocked him out, and used a special memory-transferral machine to steal his identity. Chameleon was planning to take Cap's place in the Avengers, but Cap was able to escape in time to run to Stark's plant and warn Iron Man. Iron Man made haste to Stark's mansion, the Avengers' makeshift headquarters, in an attempt to fend off the Chameleon, while Cap rested in bed. In truth, the Cap that Iron Man had spoken to was the Chameleon, and the man back at Avengers HQ was the real thing. Upon arrival, he fought the true Captain America, who was utterly confused and tried to defend himself without fighting back. Cap soon began to think that Iron Man himself was an impostor due to his odd behavior. The two fought into a construction factory, where they were soon joined by Happy and Pepper, who'd used one of Stark's gadgets to locate Iron Man. The "Cap" back at Stark's plant had disappeared, and they'd hoped he could help find him. Each of them found themselves in peril and were respectively rescued by Cap and Iron Man. These independent acts of heroism cast doubt on the idea that they were impostors. Suddenly, Giant-Man arrived holding the Chameleon in his massive hands. Wasp explained that the ants had informed them of the fight, and on his way Giant-Man had spotted the Chameleon watching from a skylight. The confusion settled, Chameleon was taken into custody and Cap and Iron Man bonded once more.

The Black Knight

One day, Stark arrived at his factory in Flushing to a state of panic as the alarm sounded. Pepper Potts informed him that the Black Knight was attacking the plant, but before Stark could make any effort to respond, his chest plate began to fail and he became incredibly weak in front of Pepper and Happy Hogan. Unable to plug himself in, he tried to get away from Pepper and Happy, but they insisted on helping him. Suddenly, Black Knight's attack caused the power to go out, allowing Stark to lock himself inside his office and plug himself in. Recharged and in full Iron Man garb, Stark attacked the Black Knight. He defeated him after a drawn-out battle, handing him over to the police once more. Returning to his office, Iron Man found that the extra transistors in his full suit provided energy for which his heart had developed a dependence. He feared the consequences of removing the suit, particularly that his next low-powered moment could kill him. He decided to keep the suit on until he found a solution, and told Pepper and Happy that Stark had left town and put him in charge in his stead. The two didn't believe him, and he could tell, but he had no better solution for the time being. Also around this time, the Avengers repeled an attempted invasion by the time-traveling Kang, and fought back the Masters of Evil once more with the help of the duplicitous Wonder Man, who died shortly thereafter.

On the run

Pepper and Happy grew more and more suspicious of Iron Man. In an attempt to convince them that Tony was safe elsewhere, he wrote a note declaring as such in his own hand. While happening to open his office safe, Iron Man was confronted by Pepper and Happy with a group of fortuitously timed police. He explained that Stark had given him the combination, and showed them the note. They analyzed it, and found that the writing was shaky and there were oddly no fingerprints. Iron Man knew that both of these traits could be ascribed to him foolishly writing with his Iron Man gloves on. Fearing what they might conclude, he hastily fled the police. Iron Man was declared to be under suspicion for Stark's disappearance, and this fact was broadcast publicly. The Stark plant thus remained relatively undefended, and the returning Hawkeye took advantage of this. Though he was quickly spotted by security, he barricaded himself in Stark's office with Pepper, putting her in danger. Hawkeye sought valuable plans of Stark's designs, but as Pepper told him, Stark only kept his designs in his head for exactly this reason. Iron Man heard of Hawkeye's invasion through an Avengers bulletin, and made haste for the factory. Iron Man confronted the villainous archer and forced him to flee and after a fierce battle. Elsewhere, Black Widow, who had orchestrated Hawkeye's attack, was finally captured by loyal Soviet spies. Also around this time, the Avengers fended off the Masters of Evil and the mysterious Immortus, though the Enchantress used a spell to reverse time such that these events essentially never happened. The Avengers further followed what Thor called an evil presence in Europe, which turned out to be the alien Lucifer, though they eventually left his defeat in the hands of the X-Men.

The Mandarin's assassination plot

Pepper and Happy's unrest went to its logical conclusion when the two of them handed in their resignations roughly a month after Tony Stark's disappearance, continuing to suspect Iron Man and intending to bring their suspicions to the police. Stark returned to his mansion to continue researching a way to survive outside of his suit, but soon Happy arrived, snooping around for clues. Stark jumped into bed, where Happy was surprised to see him. Happy brought Pepper to see for herself, and Stark told them that he was simply ill, and his doctors had prescribed total peace and quiet. He reassured them that Iron Man could be trusted. Later, Stark in his full Iron Man suit noticed a large ray coming straight at him out of the sky. As he fled the area, the beam collided with his mansion, utterly destroying it. Though Iron Man escaped unscathed, Tony Stark's apparent death was reported far and wide. Using various scientific equipment, Iron Man calculated the trajectory of the beam, and found that it had come from a satellite operated from the Mandarin's castle in China. Iron Man secured travel to the Mandarin's stronghold, but the villainous one was expecting him and his superior defenses won the day. Iron Man was taken captive and imprisoned within the Mandarin's palace.

The Mandarin had indeed conducted the attack on Tony Stark's home, knowing that Iron Man would seek revenge, and the hero thus fell into his trap. The overconfident villain took the opportunity to delineate the story of how he came to be the East's most feared warlord. He strapped Iron Man to a wheel device with titanium cord and left it spinning while he attended to other matters. Mandarin was planning to give a missile to the Chinese government for a supposed test launch, secretly plotting the rocket to land in Taiwan in hopes of triggering another world war—Mandarin would sit on the sidelines and take advantage of a weakened world to attain even greater power. But Iron Man was able to escape his confines, arriving at the launch site and reprogramming the missile in midair to instead land back where it had launched. No one was harmed, but the Chinese military officials there fled and declared Mandarin a traitor. Mandarin himself had left some time earlier, but Iron Man chased him down and they fought. Though Mandarin's rings proved to be a nigh-insurmountable threat to Iron Man, the arrival of the vengeful Chinese officials forced Mandarin to flee back to his castle. Unable to pursue him quickly enough, Iron Man was able to flag down an American jet overhead some time later and return home. During Iron Man's absence, the Avengers were approached by a fake, robotic Spider-Man sent back in time by Kang. It led them into a trap in Mexico, but the robot was trailed and defeated by the real Spider-Man, foiling Kang's plans.

The return of Tony Stark

Iron Man returned to the plant, where he was officially in charge after Tony Stark's "death," per Stark's will. Happy and Pepper had returned to their jobs, though they remained somewhat suspicious of Iron Man's role in Stark's last days. On the trip home, he hit upon a potential solution to his suit-confinement problem, and tested it in his lab. He modified a critical transistor in such a way as to triple its power output, and this turned out indeed to be a successful solution. At last able to live outside of his suit, Tony Stark strolled into the office, giving Happy and Pepper quite a shock. Pepper fainted, and Tony noticed from Happy's reaction that he loved her. Though Tony held a desire for Pepper in his heart, he knew that his condition would preclude him from ever loving anyone. In an attempt to dissuade Pepper's feelings for him and encourage her potential relationship with Happy, he claimed that he had gotten engaged to a woman from Boston, and had been out on her family's yacht for some time when his supposed death had occurred. Over the next several days, Pepper indeed began warming up to Happy. Meanwhile, a series of small sabotage attacks took place throughout the plant. As the damage and anxiety began to pile up, Iron Man tracked down and apprehended the perpetrator, his own scientist Donald Birch whom Iron Man had dubbed the Phantom. Birch was tired of being ignored and disregarded by the more popular Tony Stark, and acted out in an attempt to gain attention. He was swiftly arrested.

See also

• Biography of Iron Man, 1963
• Biography of Iron Man, 1965
• History of the Avengers, 1963-1964