The Most Significant Villains Iron Man Ever Fought (original) (raw)
Iron Man is one of the biggest superheroes in the Marvel Universe and one of the most resourceful. His life as billionaire playboy Tony Stark earns him several enemies, as does his armored alter ego. These villains all challenge Iron Man in different ways, with many of them wielding suits as advanced as his own.
Iron Man's greatest enemies aren't always given their due, ranging from business rivals to would-be despots. Despite this, many have come close to ruining or ending Tony Stark's life, proving that Iron Man isn't as invincible as he would seem. Using "magical" rings and armor of their own, Iron Man's worst enemies have more than tested his metal.
10 Justin Hammer Upgraded Iron Man’s Foes
First Appearance: Iron Man #120 by David Michelinie, Bob Layton and John Romita, Jr.
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The dastardly Justin Hammer is one of many fellow entrepreneurs who've had a bone to pick with Tony Stark throughout his life. While Tony was always an upright (if sometimes self-centered) businessman, Hammer was unscrupulous and dealt with the criminal underworld. To this end, he hired various villains in exchange for a cut of the profit from their ventures, even using his wealth to upgrade their gadgetry and equipment.
Most of these foes were far from the genius inventors that Tony Stark was, meaning that Justin Hammer was responsible for bolstering Iron Man's rogues gallery and keeping several of the villains in business. He also played a key part in major storylines such as "Demon In a Bottle" and "Armor Wars," proving that he didn't need his own armor to fight Iron Man. Likewise, his villainous legacy lived on through his daughter and granddaughter, who both struck at Stark after their Hammer's death.
9 Fin Fang Foom Is Iron Man’s Biggest Enemy
First Appearance: Strange Tales #89 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Fin Fang Foom may sound goofy, but the mighty alien "dragon" has immense power and presence. Debuting in the early Silver Age of Comics, he would later become a recurring enemy of Iron Man. Likewise, his ship was the source of the rings wielded by Iron Man's nemesis, The Mandarin.
Fin Fang Foom represented something a bit outside the norm for Iron Man. The jade dragon wasn't a business rival or someone using similar technology, meaning Tony Stark had to use everything to survive encounters with him. His evil refused to die even after being destroyed by Iron Man, with Fin Fang Foom possessing a dragon statue to rebuild his body.
8 Count Nefaria Has Gone from Powerhouse to Joke
First Appearance: The Avengers #13 by Stan Lee and Don Heck
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Count Nefaria is the leader of Maggia, a supervillain version of the Mafia. Seemingly invulnerable and with vast wealth and resources, he's, in some ways, a parallel to Tony Stark. Iron Man was one of the first major heroes that Count Nefaria faced, but eventually, he became something of a punching bag.
Numerous heroes have now fought and defeated Nefaria, and he's usually used as a sort of fodder villain. Many good guys have punched the villain's clock over the years, from the X-Men to the star-spangled Captain America. When written competently, however, he works best as a foil for Iron Man, who can take what his armors can dish out.
7 Iron Monger Nearly Ruined Tony Stark’s Life
First Appearance: Iron Man #163 by Denny O'Neil and Luke McDonnell
A cruel man obsessed with winning, Obadiah Stane took his rivalry with Tony Stark deathly seriously. Attempting to gain control of Tony's company, Stane uses an army of his personal "chessmen" and a seductress to weaken his enemy. He eventually gains control of Stark International, renaming it in his image.
Lost and penniless, Tony was left begging on the streets without his trusty armor. It was only the friendship and subsequent death of a homeless woman that brought him back from the brink. While Stane (in his Iron Monger armor) eventually took his own life after losing to Iron Man, he came perhaps closer than anyone else in nearly destroying the Armored Avenger.
6 Arno Stark Is an Evil Family Member
First Appearance: Machine Man 2020 #2 by Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe
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A distant relative of Tony Stark's, Arno Stark is an evil Iron Man from another timeline. Known as Iron Man 2020, he used his somewhat steampunk-looking armor to engage in acts of villainy and mercenary pursuits. This eventually brought him to the present, where he ran afoul of current-day heroes and his cousin.
Iron Man 2020 showcases the dark potential of the Iron Man concept. If Tony's technology were to end up in someone else's hands, it could easily be used for less than heroic deeds. He's also acted as an enemy of Machine Man, proving that it takes more than human biology to make someone more than just a machine.
5 The Controller Poses a Major Threat
First Appearance: Iron Man #12 by Archie Goodwin and George Tuska
Controller is a villain obsessed with taking over the minds of others, to the point where he fashioned technology (including a neurological harness and mind-control discs). He's worked alongside several other villains, with even the Mad Titan Thanos granting him potential rulership over Earth. Even the greatest heroes have fallen to stand against his technology, with Controller mind-controlling Captain America and others.
While he's not always used to his fullest potential, Controller is a worthy opponent against Iron Man. Like many of his best foes, he represents how technology can be used to enslave mankind instead of helping it. Thankfully, his unions with villains such as Thanos and Korvac were only temporary,
4 Titanium Man Is a Gigantic Armored Opponent
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #69 by Stan Lee and Don Heck
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Iron Man isn't the only person in the Marvel Universe with advanced armor, and Titanium Man's suit dwarfs Iron Man's. Created by a citizen of the Soviet Union (trained by the Black Widow, no less) who was attempting to regain favor with his country, the Titanium Man armor is over twice the size of its American rival. Despite his early defeats, the original Titanium Man usually combined his forces with fellow Communist villains, even battling Iron Man in Washington, D.C. at one point.
The first Titanium Man also wielded super strength and the power to change his size, granting him powers beyond the armor. There have since been numerous versions of Titanium Man, with just as many pilots. Even the Kree used the Titanium Man armor, showing that his feud with Iron Man was set in stone.
3 There Are Multiple Crimson Dynamos
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #46 by Stan Lee and Don Heck
Like Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo is a villain born out of Silver Age anti-Communist sentiment. Anton Vanko, the original Crimson Dynamo, was brilliant and had a suit that was theoretically more advanced than Tony Stark's due to its self-generator. Even after Vanko defected to the US and became a hero, others took up his old identity and waged war with Iron Man.
Crimson Dynamo is a perfect example of villains with armor like Iron Man and the sociopolitical aspect of Iron Man stories. Beyond merely challenging Iron Man's technology, these enemies represent the feud between countries and their military industries. Nevertheless, Anton Vanko showed that Tony Stark truly does have a heart, with Stark letting his old enemy work for him.
2 Ezekiel Stane Sought Hi-Tech Revenge
First Appearance: The Order #8 by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson
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Ezekiel Stane targeted Tony Stark's company, his legacy and the lives of his allies. The estranged son of the deceased Obadiah Stane, he's the ultimate transhuman who wishes to push humanity and his own body beyond its limits. Thus, he sees himself as Iron Man's replacement, especially following his father's death.
Having a fairly unique "armor," Ezekiel Stane blurs the line between Iron Man and Man. This makes Tony Stark question his own motives and actions and how far he is willing to take his body in the pursuit of heroism. Since then, Stane has continued to vex Iron Man and other heroes, such as Black Panther.
1 The Mandarin Is Iron Man’s Most Thematic Enemy
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #50 by Stan Lee and Don Heck
No enemy has plagued Iron Man's life like The Mandarin has. An enemy to both the capitalistic West and the modern Chinese Communist Party, The Mandarin seeks power and influence for himself. He often wishes to restore a more feudal existence to China and has more than enough power.
Wielding 10 Makluan rings, The Mandarin's powers are seemingly magical. Though this isn't the case, he does represent an anachronistic inverse of Iron Man's futurism. He even implanted his rings into his spine at one point, allowing him to use his powers more effectively than Iron Man can put on armor.
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Thor , Iron Man , Spider-Man (Characters)