sonotadream

For a bit of backstory, Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1940 to be an explicit anti-Nazi, pro-intervention in WWII figure (and because editor Martin Goodman wanted a superhero to rival Superman). He quickly become Timely Comics most popular character. His popularity declined after the war and he was pretty much out of print until Stan Lee (whose first writer job had been with a Captain America story) decided to bring him back - in Stranger Tales #118, as a fake out.

That story seemed to be popular enough, and Captain America returned for real in Avengers #4.

Avengers (1963) #4 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

We catch up with Namor after his fight with the Avengers - wandering the ocean, still looking for his people and swearing war on humanity.

He ends up in the Arctic, where he finds an Inuit tribe worshipping a figure trapped in a block of ice - not a lot of cultural sensitivity in display here. Namor takes his anger out on the tribe and hurls the block of ice into the sea.

The current drags it South and the ice starts melting, revealing a human man. It comes across the Avengers submarine and they pull him aboard, where everyone recognizes the figure as Captain America, who has been missing since the end of the war.

( Read more... )

Let’s meet Marvel’s no. 2 team (until the X-Men take off)! This section of the list alternates between 4 series written in 3 different time periods (and I didn’t read them in the right order), so forgive me if things are a bit jumbled.

Avengers (1963) #1-3- Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

So, what brings the Avengers together? Loki!

He’s imprisoned in the Isle of Silence and wants to lure Thor, so they can fight and Loki can escape. He takes a look around Earth and sees the Hulk, who is perfect for his purposes. Loki sends him a mental image of a bomb in a train track. Hulk leaps to grab it, but accidentally destroys the tracks, just as a high speed train is approaching. He avoids a train wreck, but still gets the blame.

His buddy, Rick Jones, calls on his team - the Teen Brigade - for help. If the Hulk is innocent, he’ll need help to prove it; if he’s guilty, he’ll need to be stopped. The teens figure only the Fantastic Four are up to the task and send them a message on the radio. Loki interferes with the radio waves to prevent the FF from hearing the message, but making sure it reaches Dr. Blake. Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp - who gets credited on the splash page, but not the cover, btw - also get the message and make their way to the Brigade’s base in New Mexico.

( Read more... )

Tales of Suspense (1959) #39, #45, #46 - Stan Lee/Larry Lieber/Don Heck/R. Berns

Another iconic Marvel hero, taking over another anthology series!

Iron Man was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck, with Heck serving as the main artist and Larry Lieber as the writer of his origin story. Lee’s goal with Iron Man was to create a likeable pro-war character. The early stories lean onto the Cold War setting, with several Communist antagonists. The main inspirations for Tony Stark were Howard Hughes and Errol Flynn, for the looks.

Iron Man's origin is not too different from the movie. Anthony Stark is a playboy, millionaire, genius inventor, working with the US military to develop weapons using his mini-transistor technology (according to Wikipedia, a transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. I don’t understand what that meas, tbh. It’s easier to think of them as basically magical objects).

He ends up in Vietnam - it was the 60's, remember - to supervise their deployment and he's captured by a communist militia led by Wong-Chu.

Tony was hit with shrapnel and only has a few days to love before it reaches his heart. Wong-Chu wants to use this to get Tony to build him weapons, with the promise of helping him later, if Tony proves useful.

Tony knows Wong-Chu is lying, but agrees in order to gain time. Wong-Chu sends Yinsen, a prisoner who is also a famous physicist, to assist Tony.

Together, they built the Iron Man suit, using Tony's transistor technology. Its main feature is the ability to keep Tony alive, besides many other useful little gadgets.

Yinsen sacrifices himself to allow Iron Man to escape, defeating Wong-Chu and his militia in the process.

Tony Stark goes on keeping a double life. He needs to wear the chest plate all the time (and charge it regularly) and he keeps his armour in a suitcase, folded like origami. He pretends he and Iron Man are good friends, to explain why he's always hanging around.

Of course, the day Tony forgets to charge his plate, he crashes his sports car during a race and has to be rescued by a spectator.

Happy Hogan is a former boxer. His career never took off because he couldn't bring himself to finish his opponents. His friends call him Happy because they never saw him smile.

He doesn't want Tony's money - he thinks he isn't valuing his life high enough - so Tony offers him a job as his chauffeur/bodyguard.

When Happy meets Tony's secretary, Pepper Potts, they start a bit of a Slap, Slap but no Kiss thing - she's hung up on Tony, just waiting for the day he finally notices her and gives up all other woman.

We also meet the Crimson Dynamo, a soviet scientist who is the world's foremost electricity expert. He built is own suit, with magical electrical powers, in order to destroy Iron Man.

He's ordered by the Soviet leader to go to America and destroy Tony Stark. The Dynamo does a good job, destroying Stark's plants to the point he's facing bankruptcy and distrust in Washington.

Still, when the Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man come face to face, Iron Man prevails, to the point he convinces Professor Vanko to switch sides.

(Tony makes him listen to a fake recording of the leader planning to have Vanko assassinated; that's actually true, but Tony's just acting on the knowledge that communists are naturally distrusting and paranoid.)

In the end, Professor Vanko becomes the latest recruit to Stark Industries.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

Entries tagged with iron man

MRL - Captain America returns

MRL - Avengers Assemble

MRL - Tales of Suspense (1959) #39, 45-46

Profile

February 2026

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags