http://www.avengersforever.org/articles/default.asp
Then came the day when Earth’s Mightiest heroes met… Tony had to battle the Hulk (Bruce Banner); and in the process he fought alongside Giant Man (Hank Pym), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) and Thor (Donald Blake). When the dust cleared and everyone realized that the Hulk was set up, they all fought Loki – the actual villain behind the set up, and won the day.
As they were all about to go their separate ways, Giant Man called everyone’s attention to consider a more permanent partnership with each other and form a group. It was a great idea, and Tony (through Iron Man) saw the potential and he volunteered to get things rolling. He had his lawyers draw up a charter, had his connections with the government buy into the idea and even had to give assurances that they would watch over the Hulk.
The ‘Avengers’ were born and Tony was very instrumental in their formation – he even donated his ancestral home to be transformed into the Avengers head quarters, with funding for operating expenses covered by the Maria Stark Foundation – said foundation also sought to ensure that the material needs of said group were tended to… and to one of his family’s oldest and dearest employees - a person he respects deeply, almost like a surrogate relative, he gave the charge of caring for the mansion and the Avengers’ needs. Edwin Jarvis was to become the Avenger’s loyal butler and the mansion’s main keeper.
Why did Tony do all this? The Avengers possibly became an outlet for Tony. Think about it – he was being legally pressured from the U.S. government, his technology was a constant target from the likes of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), Hydra, and the Maggia - all who would take opportunities to steal S.I.’s inventions or kidnap Stark himself. His company was always targeted by hostile take-over from the likes of Justin Hammer and his life was in seemingly constant danger for every time his chest-plate lost power, the shrapnel would move closer to penetrating his heart. But his constant adventures with the Avengers and for his passion of inventing were his balance against all the business pressures he had to keep up with. It was his way of relaxing and feeling alive.
This could be one of those cases of the ‘cure’ being the cause for danger – but Tony could live a life of thrills and adventures as Iron Man. It afforded him his personal time where he need not hide anything but his identity. From crippled executive, he transformed into a hero adored by many as he constantly tried helping/saving others, and as Stark’s body guard, he had the ability to take ‘extra-legal’ battles to the next level.
This actually gave Tony more satisfaction than long drawn out meetings or legal impediments, and he could directly collect proof of industrial sabotage, theft or espionage against his company. He felt that he achieved more as the hero than the people he hired to do such work, plus he had seemingly less complications – it was almost all black vs. white… hero vs. villain. The rules were simpler, the lines less blurred. And now he had companions – giants and powerful beings sharing his impression of protecting the rest of humanity against all comers.
As the golden avenger, he showed speed, sleekness and invincibility - but Tony, chest-plate frozen metal sliver near heart aside, was very much human, and attacks to his company, reputation and lets face it – poor health were a constant concern. Anyone with less fortitude would have given up or ran a long time ago – Tony survived unscathed, physically… but his psychic armor, though, his persona… could not protect him all the time – psychologically he was getting tired, and this was where he started showing signs of drinking too much.
Tony was showing signs of being a workaholic, long before the term may have been invented – and if he were not working, he’d be tinkering with his armor – improving his capabilities, if not… he’d be field testing said improvements in research labs and then later, on the field against some villains. His only rest – ironically, was his need to recharge his chest-plate.
But what a frustrating effort it must have been for Tony, to just sit and wait… and be reminded that despite all his bravado at being invincible as Iron Man, he still had this one glaring weakness. Plus, this constant reminder of his mortality forced his to sacrifice other chances at love through Pepper Potts (whom Tony practically pushed to Happy Hogan’s side) and later, to Janice Cord.
Death was no false consideration either – as Tony did indeed face the inevitable. He had many heart failures, and even with the fact that his chest plate now had a pace setter, he was getting weaker. He had to create a Life Model Decoy to cover for him when he was too weak to stand, much less work and show up in formal/official S.I. functions. Said LMD having a mind of its own, tried to kill Tony and take over his life, thus in the process, damaged the chest plate. Naturally the shrapnel eventually made its way to the heart and had it not been for the help of Hank Pym, Tony would be pushing daisies.
Hank used an Ultra-rejuvenator and kept Tony alive, and this was enough until Tony got the benefit of a heart transplant from Dr. Jose Santini. What the doctor did was short of a miracle – using artificial tissue; then very experimental in its time, he rebuilt Tony’s heart but warned him that Tony should stay away from stressful situations, lest the experimental tissues fail.
With a new lease on life, Tony eventually decided to quit being Iron Man, and who could blame him. Here was a second chance – one few people had in life. It was at this point that Tony tried other people to don the Iron Man armor, first was Eddie March – but his own health problems precluded this from happening for a long time. Suffice it to say, Tony was forced to wear the armor and made Doctor Santini’s warning come about.
With the help of Kevin O’Brien, Tony was able to don the old chest plate with the pace maker, and keep him alive. This would not be the last time O’Brien would save Tony – in a latter instance, while wearing the Guardsman armor, Kevin would help a dangerously low powered Tony perform electronic surgery on Tony’s chest to reconnect the pace maker to Tony’s heart. This would eventually lead to his heart getting stronger until he need not wear the chest plate for short instances in time (like showering).
Enter Marianne Rogers, You could say the lady had great timing. Now being able to live a relatively normal life, Tony let her into his life and even shared his secret as being Iron Man with her. They got engaged and were looking to having a happy life together. Unfortunately for Tony, Marianne had psychic powers – specifically, she would have visions of the future, and one vision she found disturbing was the death of Tony.
Marianne seemed troubled with her relationship with Tony but this was due to the mistaken belief that she would cause Tony’s death.. In one of those near empty charged chest plate situations that Tony seemed constantly falling into, he needed her help in one instance – as his chest plate ran out of juice and he needed to recharge but was too weak to do it himself, but instead of helping him, her fear of seeing him die got the better of her and she ran away from him instead of helping him.
On the good side, he did not die and he realized that his heart did get stronger – on the bad, he got burned once again with love. Though one wonders why Tony did not instill fail safe features like spare charges waiting in some portion of his chest plate – to, at the very least act as emergency power. I guess the concept of redundancies did not yet catch the world’s fancy, even to a life-depended-on-it Tony. So much for being a futurist, but I guess the man can’t be more future-looking than the writer that pens his adventure..
Also, maybe it was some editorial directive in Marvel, but during a battle with the Mandarin – Tony’s greatest foe, Tony would once again have his heart damaged – and this time, he would have a nuclear powered pace-maker. Okay so maybe it sounds a bit extreme as a power source – but its comic history folks, at least he need not have to recharge every night. This problem solved, another came to fore.
An attack by Ultimo left Tony so weak that he needed to wear his entire armor to stay alive – thus being a prisoner of the armor… the pressure even got him to seeing himself as Tony and as Iron Man – two separate entities. But this situation eventually faded as he came to accept his dual role as being one person, and with the healing of his mind likewise came a healthier heart (meaning it became less a plot device in the title).
It was at this time that mounting pressure happened (his discovery of S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to do a power grab, his losing Whitney Frost, a woman he grew close with and even an accidental killing of an Ambassador), and Tony found no one to share his personal frustrations with – thanks in no small part to his self-imposed emotional wall (again meant to protect others). Tony took to increasing his alcohol intake. If you wonder if this is bad – consider a drunk driver, but instead of a car, we’re talking the Iron Man armor.
In comes Bethany Cabe, and Tony finally found the love he always needed. One would argue that Tony stayed single because he never found the right partner – yet he did several times, but circumstances always got in the way. But if there ever was a woman that seemed to have really stolen Tony’s heart, Beth seemed to fit the bill. Beth was beautiful and was very active – and as Tony would later find out, she could hold her own in a fight. But more importantly, she helped him stay away from alcohol.
Yet, close as they were – Tony never really revealed his dual identity to her. So love but not trust… or was it similar to Pete and MJ? The need (out of fear) to distance from your loved-ones the secret life you led as a hero, for fear that this might endanger them? May I remind everyone that Beth could handle herself, as her ability to extract herself from danger, fight and hold her own against Masque and even have the courage to go in and infiltrate East Berlin, upon learning that her long thought deceased husband was still alive behind the Iron Curtains proved. Granted, Tony did not know all these about Beth yet.
But as he discovered more of her personality, so did the readers realize that definitely – and I’ll say it again, Bethany was woman with looks, skill and attitude that seemed a definite match for the fast-paced Tony Stark. What did Tony do to keep her near? He hired her as his new S.I. security head. Talk about mixing business with pleasure. I guess, when push comes to shove, Tony best responds in businesslike manner. To him, this was an easier world to deal with – treating everything / everyone as an extension of business or science. Plus, it gave him control.
To this effort, Tony seemed to have trouble with people real close to him… James Rhodes and Bethany to name just two – but this was more because of personal – and not really professional reasons. Still, if they disagreed with Tony, he would easily remind you who was boss – and did not hesitate to railroad your discussions and end it to his favor. Both felt that despite their being close to him, he still did not totally trust them.
Tony was used to a hand-on approach with anything he had – and trust may have been an issue that he rarely gave, and if he did, it was because he had no other choice. Note how the Avengers charter allowed heroes to keep their identity a secret – I bet Tony posited this idea, meant as a respect of privacy, but really used as a matter of not having total trust with one’s colleagues.
Tony only trusted Thor / Don Blake with his identity because he had no choice – they found out each other’s identity when their powers were stripped from them during one adventure, and they promised to keep each other’s identity a secret.
Then again who could blame him? Having survived many kidnappings and attempts on his life as head of S.I., despite the threat of having Iron Man down your throat if you did, Stark was in seeming constant danger – not to forget the many wheeling and dealing to either steal S.I. from Tony, or steal his technology.
Maybe this prevented him from telling Bethany his remaining secret, and prevented him from taking those final steps to propose to Beth. Maybe it was also due to the many heart aches he had in his past. Things took their own course as Masque came back and kidnapped Beth, hoping to put a strain on the relationship Beth and Tony had. In a bid to do just this, Masque revealed to Beth that Tony was indeed Iron Man, but to her surprise, Beth revealed that she already knew – by way of being very observant, and I guess she could find some similarities between Tony and IM’s actions.
Eventually, Tony helped Beth out of this particular situation and Masque was history (not dead). Beth, having had too much excitement decided to leave – my guess? She rightly felt that since he did not totally trust her, he could not really love her. Devoid of Beth’s support, Tony felt more pressure and started taking to the bottle in a more frequent manner to ease the stress. It would be a stress-reliever he would abuse.
Beth came back to help prop him up. She explained that her late husband was an alcoholic and she knew the dangers of such and the help one needed when stuck in the rut with the habit. Tony got better and their love grew stronger – but fate twisted their relationship, since Beth suddenly got news that her supposed long dead husband – a diplomat in Germany during the times when the East was still separated from the West, was actually alive and held captive in the East (communist) bloc.
Iron Man helped Beth get out of East Germany, thus realizing her secret, and if Tony had a Casablanca moment, this was it. Just like Rick’s character in said movie, Tony helped Beth and her husband – saw them off. Even if he knew he did right, Tony again felt alone.
Next: Stane and the Armor wars . . .
Then came the day when Earth’s Mightiest heroes met… Tony had to battle the Hulk (Bruce Banner); and in the process he fought alongside Giant Man (Hank Pym), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) and Thor (Donald Blake). When the dust cleared and everyone realized that the Hulk was set up, they all fought Loki – the actual villain behind the set up, and won the day.
As they were all about to go their separate ways, Giant Man called everyone’s attention to consider a more permanent partnership with each other and form a group. It was a great idea, and Tony (through Iron Man) saw the potential and he volunteered to get things rolling. He had his lawyers draw up a charter, had his connections with the government buy into the idea and even had to give assurances that they would watch over the Hulk.
The ‘Avengers’ were born and Tony was very instrumental in their formation – he even donated his ancestral home to be transformed into the Avengers head quarters, with funding for operating expenses covered by the Maria Stark Foundation – said foundation also sought to ensure that the material needs of said group were tended to… and to one of his family’s oldest and dearest employees - a person he respects deeply, almost like a surrogate relative, he gave the charge of caring for the mansion and the Avengers’ needs. Edwin Jarvis was to become the Avenger’s loyal butler and the mansion’s main keeper.
Why did Tony do all this? The Avengers possibly became an outlet for Tony. Think about it – he was being legally pressured from the U.S. government, his technology was a constant target from the likes of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), Hydra, and the Maggia - all who would take opportunities to steal S.I.’s inventions or kidnap Stark himself. His company was always targeted by hostile take-over from the likes of Justin Hammer and his life was in seemingly constant danger for every time his chest-plate lost power, the shrapnel would move closer to penetrating his heart. But his constant adventures with the Avengers and for his passion of inventing were his balance against all the business pressures he had to keep up with. It was his way of relaxing and feeling alive.
This could be one of those cases of the ‘cure’ being the cause for danger – but Tony could live a life of thrills and adventures as Iron Man. It afforded him his personal time where he need not hide anything but his identity. From crippled executive, he transformed into a hero adored by many as he constantly tried helping/saving others, and as Stark’s body guard, he had the ability to take ‘extra-legal’ battles to the next level.
This actually gave Tony more satisfaction than long drawn out meetings or legal impediments, and he could directly collect proof of industrial sabotage, theft or espionage against his company. He felt that he achieved more as the hero than the people he hired to do such work, plus he had seemingly less complications – it was almost all black vs. white… hero vs. villain. The rules were simpler, the lines less blurred. And now he had companions – giants and powerful beings sharing his impression of protecting the rest of humanity against all comers.
As the golden avenger, he showed speed, sleekness and invincibility - but Tony, chest-plate frozen metal sliver near heart aside, was very much human, and attacks to his company, reputation and lets face it – poor health were a constant concern. Anyone with less fortitude would have given up or ran a long time ago – Tony survived unscathed, physically… but his psychic armor, though, his persona… could not protect him all the time – psychologically he was getting tired, and this was where he started showing signs of drinking too much.
Tony was showing signs of being a workaholic, long before the term may have been invented – and if he were not working, he’d be tinkering with his armor – improving his capabilities, if not… he’d be field testing said improvements in research labs and then later, on the field against some villains. His only rest – ironically, was his need to recharge his chest-plate.
But what a frustrating effort it must have been for Tony, to just sit and wait… and be reminded that despite all his bravado at being invincible as Iron Man, he still had this one glaring weakness. Plus, this constant reminder of his mortality forced his to sacrifice other chances at love through Pepper Potts (whom Tony practically pushed to Happy Hogan’s side) and later, to Janice Cord.
Death was no false consideration either – as Tony did indeed face the inevitable. He had many heart failures, and even with the fact that his chest plate now had a pace setter, he was getting weaker. He had to create a Life Model Decoy to cover for him when he was too weak to stand, much less work and show up in formal/official S.I. functions. Said LMD having a mind of its own, tried to kill Tony and take over his life, thus in the process, damaged the chest plate. Naturally the shrapnel eventually made its way to the heart and had it not been for the help of Hank Pym, Tony would be pushing daisies.
Hank used an Ultra-rejuvenator and kept Tony alive, and this was enough until Tony got the benefit of a heart transplant from Dr. Jose Santini. What the doctor did was short of a miracle – using artificial tissue; then very experimental in its time, he rebuilt Tony’s heart but warned him that Tony should stay away from stressful situations, lest the experimental tissues fail.
With a new lease on life, Tony eventually decided to quit being Iron Man, and who could blame him. Here was a second chance – one few people had in life. It was at this point that Tony tried other people to don the Iron Man armor, first was Eddie March – but his own health problems precluded this from happening for a long time. Suffice it to say, Tony was forced to wear the armor and made Doctor Santini’s warning come about.
With the help of Kevin O’Brien, Tony was able to don the old chest plate with the pace maker, and keep him alive. This would not be the last time O’Brien would save Tony – in a latter instance, while wearing the Guardsman armor, Kevin would help a dangerously low powered Tony perform electronic surgery on Tony’s chest to reconnect the pace maker to Tony’s heart. This would eventually lead to his heart getting stronger until he need not wear the chest plate for short instances in time (like showering).
Enter Marianne Rogers, You could say the lady had great timing. Now being able to live a relatively normal life, Tony let her into his life and even shared his secret as being Iron Man with her. They got engaged and were looking to having a happy life together. Unfortunately for Tony, Marianne had psychic powers – specifically, she would have visions of the future, and one vision she found disturbing was the death of Tony.
Marianne seemed troubled with her relationship with Tony but this was due to the mistaken belief that she would cause Tony’s death.. In one of those near empty charged chest plate situations that Tony seemed constantly falling into, he needed her help in one instance – as his chest plate ran out of juice and he needed to recharge but was too weak to do it himself, but instead of helping him, her fear of seeing him die got the better of her and she ran away from him instead of helping him.
On the good side, he did not die and he realized that his heart did get stronger – on the bad, he got burned once again with love. Though one wonders why Tony did not instill fail safe features like spare charges waiting in some portion of his chest plate – to, at the very least act as emergency power. I guess the concept of redundancies did not yet catch the world’s fancy, even to a life-depended-on-it Tony. So much for being a futurist, but I guess the man can’t be more future-looking than the writer that pens his adventure..
Also, maybe it was some editorial directive in Marvel, but during a battle with the Mandarin – Tony’s greatest foe, Tony would once again have his heart damaged – and this time, he would have a nuclear powered pace-maker. Okay so maybe it sounds a bit extreme as a power source – but its comic history folks, at least he need not have to recharge every night. This problem solved, another came to fore.
An attack by Ultimo left Tony so weak that he needed to wear his entire armor to stay alive – thus being a prisoner of the armor… the pressure even got him to seeing himself as Tony and as Iron Man – two separate entities. But this situation eventually faded as he came to accept his dual role as being one person, and with the healing of his mind likewise came a healthier heart (meaning it became less a plot device in the title).
It was at this time that mounting pressure happened (his discovery of S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to do a power grab, his losing Whitney Frost, a woman he grew close with and even an accidental killing of an Ambassador), and Tony found no one to share his personal frustrations with – thanks in no small part to his self-imposed emotional wall (again meant to protect others). Tony took to increasing his alcohol intake. If you wonder if this is bad – consider a drunk driver, but instead of a car, we’re talking the Iron Man armor.
In comes Bethany Cabe, and Tony finally found the love he always needed. One would argue that Tony stayed single because he never found the right partner – yet he did several times, but circumstances always got in the way. But if there ever was a woman that seemed to have really stolen Tony’s heart, Beth seemed to fit the bill. Beth was beautiful and was very active – and as Tony would later find out, she could hold her own in a fight. But more importantly, she helped him stay away from alcohol.
Yet, close as they were – Tony never really revealed his dual identity to her. So love but not trust… or was it similar to Pete and MJ? The need (out of fear) to distance from your loved-ones the secret life you led as a hero, for fear that this might endanger them? May I remind everyone that Beth could handle herself, as her ability to extract herself from danger, fight and hold her own against Masque and even have the courage to go in and infiltrate East Berlin, upon learning that her long thought deceased husband was still alive behind the Iron Curtains proved. Granted, Tony did not know all these about Beth yet.
But as he discovered more of her personality, so did the readers realize that definitely – and I’ll say it again, Bethany was woman with looks, skill and attitude that seemed a definite match for the fast-paced Tony Stark. What did Tony do to keep her near? He hired her as his new S.I. security head. Talk about mixing business with pleasure. I guess, when push comes to shove, Tony best responds in businesslike manner. To him, this was an easier world to deal with – treating everything / everyone as an extension of business or science. Plus, it gave him control.
To this effort, Tony seemed to have trouble with people real close to him… James Rhodes and Bethany to name just two – but this was more because of personal – and not really professional reasons. Still, if they disagreed with Tony, he would easily remind you who was boss – and did not hesitate to railroad your discussions and end it to his favor. Both felt that despite their being close to him, he still did not totally trust them.
Tony was used to a hand-on approach with anything he had – and trust may have been an issue that he rarely gave, and if he did, it was because he had no other choice. Note how the Avengers charter allowed heroes to keep their identity a secret – I bet Tony posited this idea, meant as a respect of privacy, but really used as a matter of not having total trust with one’s colleagues.
Tony only trusted Thor / Don Blake with his identity because he had no choice – they found out each other’s identity when their powers were stripped from them during one adventure, and they promised to keep each other’s identity a secret.
Then again who could blame him? Having survived many kidnappings and attempts on his life as head of S.I., despite the threat of having Iron Man down your throat if you did, Stark was in seeming constant danger – not to forget the many wheeling and dealing to either steal S.I. from Tony, or steal his technology.
Maybe this prevented him from telling Bethany his remaining secret, and prevented him from taking those final steps to propose to Beth. Maybe it was also due to the many heart aches he had in his past. Things took their own course as Masque came back and kidnapped Beth, hoping to put a strain on the relationship Beth and Tony had. In a bid to do just this, Masque revealed to Beth that Tony was indeed Iron Man, but to her surprise, Beth revealed that she already knew – by way of being very observant, and I guess she could find some similarities between Tony and IM’s actions.
Eventually, Tony helped Beth out of this particular situation and Masque was history (not dead). Beth, having had too much excitement decided to leave – my guess? She rightly felt that since he did not totally trust her, he could not really love her. Devoid of Beth’s support, Tony felt more pressure and started taking to the bottle in a more frequent manner to ease the stress. It would be a stress-reliever he would abuse.
Beth came back to help prop him up. She explained that her late husband was an alcoholic and she knew the dangers of such and the help one needed when stuck in the rut with the habit. Tony got better and their love grew stronger – but fate twisted their relationship, since Beth suddenly got news that her supposed long dead husband – a diplomat in Germany during the times when the East was still separated from the West, was actually alive and held captive in the East (communist) bloc.
Iron Man helped Beth get out of East Germany, thus realizing her secret, and if Tony had a Casablanca moment, this was it. Just like Rick’s character in said movie, Tony helped Beth and her husband – saw them off. Even if he knew he did right, Tony again felt alone.
Next: Stane and the Armor wars . . .
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