Comics geekery (late-night ramblings, not that coherent)

[mrph]

I've been thinking about Marvel comics again recently. Yes, I know. But I'm bored, so humour me.

To be more exact, I've been thinking about Iron Man. One of Marvel's oldest characters (he's been around since the 60s), high-profile member of their flagship superhero team for most of that time, has had his own book for decades...

But he's never quite made it to the same levels as Spider-Man, the Hulk or even Captain America. No cinema or TV success, probably no single run on the book that's attracted critical acclaim and 'redefined' the character. He's really a bit of an also-ran, when viewed in those terms. I'm starting to see why, too - he just doesn't work

Maybe it's the moustache. It's not often you see a superhero with a moustache - but then, with Iron Man, the moustache isn't visible when he's in costume anyway. And the costume is definitely part of the problem, as it's armour - with an expressionless mask, a metal face that's just mouth and eye slits.Which can make it a bit different for the creators to convey any emotion when he's in action. OK, you can say the same about Spider-Man... but he's got a seemingly endless supply of wisecracks (and occasional angsty monologues), which balance that neatly.

I think the real problem, though, is the man inside the armour. Tony Stark, a multimillionaire with his own corporation. He's rich, he might as well be Bill Gates... and he doesn't immediately look like hero material. With Batman, it's been established that Bruce Wayne has spent most of his life training for this, fuelled by the deaths of his parents. With Iron Man... well, he lost his parents to foul play, yes. But he was an adult at the time, and he didn't become Iron Man because of that. He became Iron Man because he was captured by an Asian warlord (during some unspecified war - I think it was Korea at one point, then possibly Vietnam. As the years have gone by, the details have shifted) and needed a way to escape and save his own skin.

Like Batman, he does have ingenuity - but it's a much less attractive kind, and relies on MacGuffins and lab time rather than dramatic quick thinking. Iron Man's far more likely to reverse the polarity of his armour's repusor rays than claim a hard-fought victory through any other kind of quick thinking. There's also the fact that his armour is what takes the real punishment - Batman, even battered and broken, will often rise to his feet for one final clash. Iron Man might just do the same, but it's more likely to be a question of physical damage to the armour than sheer willpower. Especially when fighting hi-tech foes, it feels like he wins because he designed the best suit, long before the actual battle. So there's normally a little less intensity to such moments.

There's no one setting that characterises the series, either. He's not a hero who fights in city alleyways (and even if he did, his repulsor rays would wreak havoc on the scenery...), and he's not one of those heroes who often visits space or other dimensions. Instead we usually get Bond-villain bases or battles high in the air - sometimes both combine and we get a flying base the size of an aircraft carrier...

But back to our Mr Stark. Most of the things that don't quite seem to work could be sidestepped or changed. Tony, however, isn't one of them - well, not unless the man in the armour changes, which has happened before. But I think too many comics have done that in recent years (we've had a replacement Flash, a replacement Spider-Man, a replacement Green Lantern, a replacement Spectre, a replacement Green Arrow - even a replacement Batman for a while...), so maybe not. He's rich. He wants to do good things. He worries about not telling the women in his life about his dual identity. He's had a long battle against alcoholism - and that's probably the only thing that's added some fire to an otherwise tepid personality.

There's no great tragedy that's really added to the setting - no Gwen Stacy or Jason Todd. There's no one great love of his life. There's not usually any juggling of day-to-day concerns with crimefighting, as his "crimefighting" tends to be aimed at menaces who show up on the TV news or come looking for him to settle a grudge. And his day-to-day life is pretty flexible, too. So what are the stakes? What's really driving him? And what does he actually do with his life - we've seen him at cocktail parties, concerts, health spas, beaches... is that it? Really? Almost forty years now, and that's it? Something here just seems to be missing...

Comments

Re: Running with that idea...

[chimera-s.livejournal.com]

They did go to a certain extent with the merged option for the first two or three decades - in the original origin (which was a thinly disguised Vietnam) he recieved a piece of schrapnel close to his heart when captured, built the chestplate as a life support mechanism and the armour was developed as an extension of that. He used to have to keep women at a certain distance to stop them discovering the fact he was permanently in the Torso armour - a bit of a change as he had been the famous playboy before that.
I don't think changing the character inside the armour would work partly as it would still need a connection to Stark International (is it still called that ?) for repair and Maintenance (not forgetting upgrades)and also to a certain extent the man inside is a flying tank driver. As you pointed out - He doesn't take any real injury - its the armour that does, you lose the sense often that he is at risk, only that the armour might need repair after the battle. He drifted into it as a way of escaping captivity and death and you can get the feeling that often he's not really driven and could walkaway (if people stopped attacking his factory and / or friends).
Talking about the Man / Machine merge - I don't have them anymore but the original Deathlok (circa 75 or so)comes to mind.
Apologies for the rambling - I really need some sleep