#tales of suspense vol 1 81

[juststeveandtonythings]

I’ll never let go, Red Skull.  I’ll never let go.

(Context: Steve and Red Skull fight over the Cosmic Cube.  Red Skull eventually wisens up enough to start willing Steve out of existence, but Steve says he’ll serve him as one of his underlings.  Red Skull then loses what little wise-ness he accumulated and believes him.  Unsurprisingly, Steve was lying about this, so they fight some more.  Anyway, for some reason the cube’s power is dependent on how tightly you grip it, so Steve holds on to Red Skull for dear life.  Eventually, the land they’re on crumbles into the ocean, and both Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube are lost to the water... for now.)

- Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #81 (1966)

#tales of suspense vol 1 #tales of suspense vol 1 81 #1966 #steve rogers #red skull #steve rogers villains

[veliseraptor]

Hi! With the Black Widow movie coming out, I just re-watched some old MUC movies and remembered how much I love Natasha. What are the main, must-read, Natasha-centric comics that you would recommend to a comics newbie? (You once made a similar post for Loki comics that I used and found extremely helpful.) Thanks for everything you share! I've found a lot of content that I enjoy through your blog!

Thanks, anon! I'm always happy when I can be rewarded for my loud yelling about things that I love. :D

I was sure I'd made a Natasha reading list a while back but apparently not?? what the fuck self. (well, other than my overall MCU starter kit recs post from forever ago that was for all of the O6 and is also very old.)

okay well then I guess it's time to do that now, no time like the present! going to link to trades where they exist but I'll include issue numbers as well

heads up: you probably will run into references you don't understand in some of these. that's comics for you. my advice: either let those things float by you, or just Google them - you can enjoy comics without knowing/having read all the lore!

anyway, the recs.

the easiest suggestion I have right off the bat though is the Black Widow Epic Collection editions that have been published recently (Black Widow: Beware the Black Widow, and Black Widow: The Coldest War) which include some of her major appearances, including in a bunch of old single issues that would otherwise be hard to find. HOWEVER, those won't take you up into her more contemporary appearances (the latest publish date in there is 1996).

THE TOP OF THE LINE

The Marjorie Liu run collected as Black Widow: The Name of the Rose (Black Widow vol. 4 #1-5). If you read no other Black Widow comics, read this one. It's so good, easily one of my top five comics runs of all time. Cannot recommend it enough.

Black Widow: The Itsy Bitsy Spider which includes two different short runs (Black Widow vol. 1, #1-3 & Black Widow vol. 2, #1-3). This is probably my other favorite Black Widow collection of issues (and they very much lead into each other); here's where Yelena gets introduced and also where you can find some very gay panels. If you can't find this one, you can find the same issues republished with the added Pale Little Spider miniseries in a trade called Marvel Knights Black Widow by Grayson and Rucka: The Complete Collection.

The Nathan Edmondson/Phil Noto run collected in three trades The Finely Woven Thread, The Tightly Tangled Web, and Last Days (Black Widow vol. 5, #1-20). This one follows on thematically in some ways from the Marjorie Liu run but primarily the appeal here, in my opinion, is Phil Noto's art, which is gorgeous.

The Mark Waid/Chris Samnee run collected as Black Widow: SHIELD's Most Wanted and Black Widow: No More Secrets (as well as in a Complete Collection edition) (Black Widow vol. 6, #1-12). This was a series not long enough for this world but a delight while it lasted - again, particularly the art, but Waid and Samnee also just work together very, very well.

Black Widow: Web of Intrigue which includes Marvel Fanfare #10-13, Bizarre Adventures #25, and Black Widow: The Coldest War, some older stories featuring Natasha.

THE DEEPER CUTS

I'd put down first Hawkeye & Mockingbird / Black Widow: Widowmaker as a recent series worth reading; the trade also collects Solo Avengers #16-18 in addition to Widowmaker #1-4. I don't think it really gets referenced in other places, but it's a fun collection of issues and I love the dynamic of these three together.

If you want to dig into the background of the character and her true comics origins, check out the old comics collected in Black Widow: The Sting of the Widow which include her first appearances, the introduction of her iconic costume (in Spider-man, actually), and her short run in Amazing Adventures (Tales of Suspense #52, Amazing Spider-Man #86, Amazing Adventures vol. 2 #1-8, Daredevil #81).

This is...kind of a weird one and also a mixed recommendation, but I will throw out there the semi-extracanonical Black Widow: Homecoming (Black Widow vol. 3, #1-6) and Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her (Black Widow 2 vol. 3, #1-6), apparently also now collected as Black Widow: Welcome to the Game, written by Richard K. Morgan (yes, the author of the book that inspired the Netflix show Altered Carbon) because while they are...not good in all ways they do hit some very specific notes for me in places.

Captain America & Black Widow is a short team-up run with Steve and Natasha that's enjoyable if a bit wacky (Captain America & Black Widow #636-640) from a period of time where there was just a series of Captain America team-ups as part of the Captain America run.

This is going to be a hard one because it's not collected anywhere as far as I can tell, but Marvel Knights #1-15 which was published in 2000-2001 as part of Marvel's street level gritty initiative thing (that actually produced some quite good comics). I tracked it down in single issues back in college and actually really loved it. Team book but Natasha is prominent.

If you can find Black Widow & the Marvel Girls (Black Widow & the Marvel Girls #1-4) it is a treasure of a miniseries but unfortunately very difficult, in my experience, to track down.

The Black Widow: Widowmaker collection pulls together an assortment of sort of random oneshots/short runs with some good stuff in there (mostly the thing that I like that is in this one and not in other collections on this list are Fear Itself: Black Widow #1, but it does also include with other material some of the other runs on this list - Black Widow vol. 4 #1-8, Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1-4, and Widowmaker #1-4).

Finally: there's The Champions, the short-lived team Natasha actually led back in the day which is pretty Silver Age but sometimes in an endearing way, and the arc collected in Daredevil: The Widow which is Natasha-centric (Daredevil #61-66) and good enough that I bought it even though I'm not a particular fan of Daredevil. But that might partly be because I really like Alex Maleev's art.

People recommend Black Widow: Deadly Origin but I am not personally a big fan. I'm putting it on here mostly so you have it and also so other people know I'm aware of it.

I'm not yet caught up on the most recent currently running series so I can't speak to recommending it or not.

if you really, really want more deep cuts, anon, I have some, uh, team runs and single issue appearances I'm very fond of personally, but that starts going way down the rabbit hole in a way that perhaps you do not want to.

#black widow #long post for ts #natasha romanova is better than you #a tag for comics #blah blah personal opinions etc. #this is making me want to reread all my black widow comics. might do that #anonymous #conversating #comic recs

[warenerd]

100 Days of Graphic Novels

Subtitle: “Working 70 Hour Weeks and Commuting Means Reading But Not Writing.”

I am trying for more accountability, but, when my idiotic work schedule gets even more idiotic, sometimes it’s just my judgmental calendar of doom that’s keeping me on track. Also my cat. He judges me - harshly.

Look on my missing leg, ye Mighty, and despair!

Ahem. Anyway. So many books:

Day 1: The Umbrella Academy vol 1: The Apocalypse Suite Day 2: CatStronauts: Mission Mars Day 3: Apannine War Diary Day 4: Alex + Ada vol 1 Day 5: Alex + Ada vol 2 Day 6: Visitations Day 7: Another Day of Life Day 8: Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller vol 1 Day 9: Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank Day 10: Scarlet Witch vol 1: Witches’ Road Day 11: Jessica Jones vol 1: Uncaged Day 12: Infidel Day 13: The Deep Blue Good-by Day 14: City of Illusions Day 15: Mockingbird vol 1: I Can Explain Day 16: Ms. Marvel vol 1: Best of the Best Day 17: X-Men Gold vol 1: Back to the Basics Day 18: Kaptara vol 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien Day 19: Eclipse vol 1 Day 20: Defenders vol 1: Diamonds are Forever Day 21: Hellcat vol 1: Hooked on a Feline Day 22: Chosin Day 23: Elektra vol 1: Bloodlines Day 24: They’re Not Like Us Day 25: Multiple Man vol 1: It All Makes Sense in the End Day 26: Captain America: Sam Wilson: Not My Captain America Day 27: A Russian Journal Day 28: Iron Patriot vol 1: Unbreakable Day 29: Divinity Day 30: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 1 Day 31: Tales of Suspense: Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier Day 32: The Fuse vol 1: The Russian Shift Day 33: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 2 Day 34: Into the Tunnel Day 34: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 3 Day 35: A-Force vol 1 Day 36: Edge of the Spider-Verse Day 37: Descender vol 1 Day 38: Descender vol 2 Day 39: Black Panther: World of Wakanda Day 40: A Farewell to Arms Day 41: I’m Not Leaving Day 42: Green Arrow: Year One Day 43: Daniel’s Story Day 44: Aurora’s Motive Day 45: Jessica Jones vol 4 Day 46: Symmetry Day 47: Afar Day 48: Morning Glories vol 1

Day 49: One Way Ticket

           A math professor at a nearby university related her escape from WWII to England. Interesting not just for the political trials and hoops through which she had to jump to get herself and her family out of Europe, but also for the way that retelling, rather than primary recording, has influenced the main thrust of the story. Also: illustrated. Adorably.

Day 50: The life of Captain Marvel

            I’m not saying I hated this book – I’m just saying that I’m opposed to it on a cellular level.

Day 51: Captain Marvel vol 1: In Pursuit of Flight

            Did I need a mind-bleach of what I’d read the day before? Yes. Yes, I did.

Day 52: The Boy Who Reversed Himself             True story: William Sleator was my favorite author for about a year in middle school. I read every one of his books that our libraries had, and then I read them all again. Six or seven times each (to the shock of absolutely no one who knows me). This book has forever changed the way I consider catsup. And it wasn’t nearly as racist as I’d expected, flipping back through. Hooray?

Day 53: To Fight Alongside Friends

            My best friend roped me into doing an online werewolf game based in WWI. I role-played as Charlie May, the author of this diary, and refused to respond with anything but direct quotes from his book. If nothing else, I entertain myself.

Day 54: Operation: Broken Wings

Day 55: My War Diary

            This one is by Dov Yermiya and is about Lebanon from June 5 – July 1, 1982. I have about six books within easy reach called “My War Diary.” This could prove problematic later. (Also, despite writing about Waltz With Bashir in grad school and for my dissertation, I still don’t know enough about this conflict)

Day 56: Descender vol 3 Day 57: Morning Glories vol 2 Day 58: The Drowned and the Saved Day 59: Jessica Jones: Pulse

Day 60: Zlata’s Diary

            I read this when sitting in the jail on a Friday night. There’s nothing quite so jarring as reading a firsthand account of the absolute disruption of life (and childhood, in a lot of ways), while listening to drunk sorority girls sob on their phones to their mothers and then scream about their Uber.

Day 61: Captain Marvel vol 2: Down Day 62: Avengers: The Enemy Within Day 63: Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More Day 64: Captain Marvel: Stay Fly Day 65: Captain Marvel: Alis Volat Propiis Day 66: Carol Danvers vol 1: The Ms Marvel Years

Day 67: One Week in the Library

            Please give me more weeks, Image Comics. Please.

Day 68: The Troop

            Noel Clarke, I love you, but this feels like well-trod ground at this point.

Day 69: Bitch Planet

            I legitimately squealed, out loud, when Kelly Sue DeConnick was on screen during Captain Marvel. High pitched. And then, because I have no game, I whacked my BFF on the arm and whispered (er, “whispered”?) “THAT WAS KELLY SUE!!” No one else was impressed by my mad comic knowledge, but, eh.

Day 70: Jessica Jones vol 3: Return of the Purple Man

           Guess which superstar never read volume 2? That’s right - THIS superstar.

Day 71: Mr. & Mrs. X

            Basically, I love Gambit. I’m okay with Rogue, but I’ve lived in the Deep South for too long to be completely okay with the extremes of character. And I also don’t really like Deadpool. At all. Despite all of that, I still enjoyed this.

Day 72: Secret Avengers vol 1: Reverie

            Unlike this, which did NOT get better with age. Ooooof.

Day 73: Avengers AI vol 1: Human After All

Did I buy this simply for this picture of Vision holding a kitten? Yes. Do I regret that? No.

Day 74: Tet Day 75: Iron Fist: Rage Day 76: Zero vol 1: An Emergency Day 77: Faster than Light

Day 78: Descender vol 4: Orbital Mechanics

            I sent my BFF a copy of Descender because it’s gorgeous. Because she has even worse impulse control than me, she bought all of the other volumes and has already finished the series. I can’t even be mad.

Day 79: Lost Dossiers: Super Spy

            AKA: This would have made way more sense had I realized that this was a supplement to another work… which I don’t yet own. Womp womp womp. Maybe tomorrow I’ll read the From Hell companion, just for kicks.

Day 80: Carnet de Voyage Day 81: Hype Day 82: Dancer Day 83-85: Day 86: Wonderful World of Oz

Day 87: Port of Earth

            Know what I love about Zack Kaplan? He creates immersive worlds that aren’t just one thing – there’s not just one neat storyline wrapped up by the end of the trade, and there isn’t just one type of story at work.

Day 88: Material Day 89: Captain America: the 1940s Newspaper Strip Day 90: Peter Panzerfaust vol 1: The Great Escape Day 91: Cowl vol 1

Day 92: Ministry of Space

            That ending, though.

Day 93: X-Men Gold vol 2 Day 94: The Winter Soldier vol 1: The Longest Winter Day 95: The Winter Soldier vol 2: Broken Arrow

Day 96: Graphic Classics vol 22: African American Classics

            I yelped when I saw that Afua Richardson, Personal Hero, had worked on this. I have a panel from her illustration of Langston Hughes’ “Rivers” (done for NPR), and it is one of my very favorite things.

Day 97: New York: The Big City

Day 98: A Wexford Childhood

            You would think that a memoir covering 1915-1930 might touch on some rumbling of war. You’d be wrong. But, it was an interesting view of the changing world, nonetheless.

Day 99: Winter Soldier vol 3: Black Widow Hunt

            Brubaker, why must you hurt me so?

Day 100: X-Men Rarities

            There are few things that bring me such joy as the stiff pages of a 90s era Marvel trade – and, when those trades include comics with Chamber? I am so in. Now, someone explain to me how they always smell like cigarettes and wet dog, regardless of origin, and I’ll be all set.

#365graphicnovels

[wingheadshellhead]

Hey, I've been skimming a lot of Iron Man and Avengers comics. I can't believe the amount of maiming and physical hurt Tony endures through most of them. I might be incredibly naive but are there any cute comics with Tony like "Thor: The Mighty Avenger"? Or non-IM comics where it's just adventures, Tony being a Science-Dad or something, where he doesn't get the daylights kicked out of him on the reg? Are the older comics from the 60s or 70s any kinder? Thank you!

he is……. really marvel’s favorite punching bag and whipping boy. like, there is your Standard comic book character SufferingTM that they all go through, and then there is the Tony Stark equation which goes something like:  Blame for every single thing under the sun that is related to the current universe-wide event but also multiple past (and future!) events  +  Tasteless, unwarranted jokes about his mental illness and stability that are treated as perfectly normal observations by both characters (and writers)  +  Canon narratives and dialogue explicitly seeming to support characters (and writers) who have extremely selective memories about what… actually happened… in canon  =  An average year for comic Tony Stark.

as the official professional tony stark authority on this website (the universe), nat @knightinironarmor has an extremely fantastic and comprehensive list here.  with more great additions from @blossomsinthemist here.

the 60s and 70s comics are equally heavy but i’d say they’re fairly well-balanced with feel-good tony moments? there’s definitely a lot more up + down of highs and lows rather than just a never-ending plummet to rock bottom. but again, tony is one of those characters whose stories lend best to tragedy and the maiming and physical hurt is just a regular occurence due to his physical condition (shrapnel-induced issues as well as canonical issues with heart problems + not superhuman squishy human in only a metal suit + terrible at self-care and… going to hospitals and seeking proper medical care + high susceptibility to mind control and mental manipulation in part – and this is my own personal headcanon but i think it’s pretty accurate – due to his struggles with mental illness/es). aside from being marvel’s go-to scapegoat, tony is, and will always be, your Classic Tragic Hero, in every sense of the word and archetype.

fun avengers/team-centric appearances: 

tony’s appearances in guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 are some of my favorite panels ever. 

avengers assemble vol. 2 !!!!!  not the one based on the show but the original 2012 run by deconnick, specifically #1-5, #11, #24, #25 and the annual. 

the entire marvel adventures: avengers run is also a lot of fun, super light-hearted and 0% pain or unnecessary suffering. 

gotta rep avengers: prime for the rainbows and naked horseback riding.

new avengers vol. 1 is specifically the run i am never going to shut up about every but it’s one of my favourite team-ups (iron man, captain america, spider-man, spider-woman, power man, wolverine) and it’s a Lot of fun. 

avengers vol. 3 is relatively light on the angst and it’s another great team-up

avengers vol. 4 deals with the aftermath of civil war so things are still a little tense but it’s got some great tony moments and the team being an actual team. 

specifically, if you’re looking for science dad moments:

tony’s appearances in invincible iron man vol. 3, riri’s run, have been amazing and all kinds of wonderful

all-new all-different avengers has all the dad!tony and smolvengers stuff, including tony taking the trio of kids on a ‘field trip’ to space. in all-new marvel he’s also shown up in ms. marvel #4 and #6, spider-man #6 and nova #3

one of tony’s earliest dad!tony moments was with one anya corazon in avengers assemble #24. 

i Loathe everything abt this run incl. tony’s and peter’s characterisations in it but amazing spider-man vol. 4 #15 features some nice (although ooc lol) tony and peter interactions but More Importantly mj in the iron spider suit teaming up w/ tony to kick ass.

one-off appearances in other characters’ runs: 

daredevil vol. 3 #29, aka…. the most beautiful and iconic thing sb has ever had tony stark do and it wasn’t even in his own comic oh my god. 

captain marvel vol. 1 #2 and captain marvel vol. 2 #1 bc tony and carol’s friendship is incredible ignore everything you’ve heard about them from 2017. 

she-hulk vol. 3 #1, bc like tony himself i am in Awe of jenn walters and love their dynamic to death. 

thor vol. 2 #80 and #81 where tony actually shows up in the ragnarok event! it’s cute! and there is a little tony with kids moment!

black widow vol. 4 #1 and black widow vol. 5 #12, natasha and tony’s relationship in the comics is so so so underrated and overlooked and i demand Justice bc their history goes back to literally tony’s first appearances in tales of suspense and as a result, their modern day friendship is super cute and Deep and it’s just nice when writers actually remember it exists.

#mod: answer #answer: comic recs #anonymous #character: tony stark #i cb how hard im struggling trying to think of a Good Tony Comic where he isn't in pain or suffering at some point #and it's not even in a balanced way lmao #like comedy or light-heartedness to balance out the ever-spiralling angst and nothingness #b o i #typically anything that shows tony being remotely happy and cute and doin ok with life #goes up on the blog immediately. #this is not a lot of recs but if you're in need of more i'd be happy to list some more #i just can't think of any more specific ones atm

[capticalcitycomics]

Just Pinned to Marvel Comics: Captain America Vol 1 Tales of Suspense 59-81 Marvel Masterworks HC New Sealed http://bit.ly/2MTUVY5

#Pinterest #Marvel Comics

[juststeveandtonythings]

A nice panel of Tony thinking about how much he enjoys flying.

For more context, he’s finally decided to testify in front of Senator Byrd’s committee and is flying to D.C.  However, the Titanium Man is back and intercepts him, and they will presumably fight in the following issue.

- Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #81 (1966)

#tales of suspense vol 1 #tales of suspense vol 1 81 #1966 #tony stark #tony stark characterization

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Steve Rogers: A Summary

I wrote one for Tony Stark so now Steve gets one too. This covers Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #59-#99 (the Captain America part of it - Iron Man is in the Tony Stark summary I just linked) and Captain America Vol 1 #100-#120. I chose Captain America #120 as a stopping point, as that takes us up to December 1969.

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold. Note that a lot of the earlier issues were kind of just silly fluff, so there isn't much to say about them.

[ToS #59] Captain America gets his own story in Tales of Suspense (note that this means Tales of Suspense contains two stories, one Iron Man and one Captain America, not that Captain America appears in the Iron Man story or vice versa).  First appearance of Edwin Jarvis.

[ToS #60] Steve fights a bad guy.

[ToS #61] Steve fights a bad guy in Vietnam and saves a man whose brother saved him during WWII.

[ToS #62] Steve fights a bad guy who wants his shield.

[ToS #63] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[ToS #64] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #65] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #66] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #67] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #68] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #69] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #70] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #71] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #72] Steve finds out that the Red Skull left behind three giant robots called Sleepers and goes after them.

[ToS #73] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #74] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #75] First appearance of Peggy Carter (in flashback), Sharon Carter, and Batroc the Leaper. Steve sees Sharon, is reminded of Peggy, and starts following her. He encounters Batroc along the way and fights him.

[ToS #76] Steve and Batroc work together to defeat a common enemy.

[ToS #77] Flashback issue about Steve and Peggy's relationship during WWII and how they parted. Peggy ends up getting amnesia, which is why they never found each other again.

[ToS #78] Steve and Nick Fury fight a bad guy.

[ToS #79] Red Skull is revealed to still be alive in the present day. First appearances of A.I.M. and the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #80] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #81] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube, until the land they're on crumbles and Red Skull and the Cube are both lost to the water.

[ToS #82] Steve gets drugged and captured by an adaptoid, who then takes his form.

[ToS #83] Steve frees himself and captures the adaptoid.

[ToS #84] The adaptoid adapts to all of the Avengers' powers and fights Steve.

[ToS #85] Steve goes to save Sharon, who has been captured by Batroc on behalf of Hydra under the condition that he be allowed to fight Steve. They fight, but when Hydra interferes Batroc gets annoyed and lets Steve save Sharon.

[ToS #86] Steve fights a bad guy in Asia and asks Fury to tell Sharon that they're going to go on a date, but Fury tells him she's on a mission.

[ToS #87] Steve fights the Planner, who is dressed in a Cap costume and committing crimes.

[ToS #88] Steve receives a video transmission from someone who looks and sounds like Bucky and goes after him.

[ToS #89] Steve finds out that the Bucky who sent the transmission was actually a robot created by Red Skull, who is still alive. They fight.

[ToS #90] Learning that Red Skull has some sort of plastic bubble weapon and fearing for NYC's safety, Steve promises to serve Red Skull for 24 hours in exchange for Red Skull not using the weapon on the city.

[ToS #91] Red Skull makes Steve reveal the location of a military submarine right before the 24 hours are up, then goes after it. Steve fights him. The sub blows up with Red Skull in it.

[ToS #92] Steve unknowingly interferes with a S.H.I.E.L.D. plot where an LMD Nick Fury is supposed to be assassinated, which puts Sharon in danger. Fury asks him to save her as a result.

[ToS #93] Steve and Sharon are both captured by A.I.M.

[ToS #94] First on-panel appearance of M.O.D.O.K. Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M.

[ToS #95] Steve goes on his first date with Sharon and proposes to her despite not knowing her real name. When Sharon declines, Steve decides to stop being Captain America and reveals his identity as Steve Rogers.

[ToS #96] Steve saves some random people dressed up as Cap who were filling the gap he left. He decides to continue being Captain America.

[ToS #97] Steve is summoned by T'Challa to Wakanda to help fight some bad guys who might be related to Steve's rogues' gallery.

[ToS #98] Steve and T'Challa fight Baron Zemo.

[ToS #99] Steve and T'Challa are caught by Baron Zemo. Sharon shows up while disguised as a spy and is asked by Zemo to shoot them.

[CA #100] Steve, Sharon, and T'Challa defeat Baron Zemo, who is revealed to be a fake. Steve asks T'Challa to join the Avengers.

[CA #101] Steve finds out about a fourth Sleeper and goes after it, but it gets away.

[CA #102] Steve and Sharon again go after the fourth Sleeper and defeat it with the power of love. Red Skull decides to use Sharon against Steve going forward.

[CA #103] Sharon's name is finally revealed (she was previously only known as Agent 13). They go on a date, but the Red Skull's minions kidnap her and force Steve to come after them. They escape, but unknown to Steve, the Red Skull has attached "nuclear tape" to the back of his neck.

[CA #104] Steve goes to fight the Red Skull while Sharon, Fury, and Tony Stark disarm a bomb connected to Steve's nuclear tape.

[CA #105] Steve tries to distance himself from Sharon, fearing his proximity puts her in danger, and goes off on a random mission to disarm a separate, unrelated bomb.

[CA #106] Steve fights some bad guys trying to steal LMD tech from S.H.I.E.L.D., including an LMD that looks like himself.

[CA #107] First appearance of Doctor Faustus, a psychiatrist Steve has recently started seeing. Faustus gives Steve some pills to supposedly help with nightmares, but it's a trap. Faustus gets arrested after a fight.

[CA #108] Steve and Sharon fight the Trapster, who they find out is working for the Red Skull.

[CA #109] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[CA #110] Steve saves Rick Jones from the Hulk. Rick then puts on Bucky's costume and asks to be his sidekick. Steve agrees, and they fight Madame Hydra/Viper (in her first appearance) and her Hydra goons together.

[CA #111] Steve and Rick fight Hydra again. Steve jumps into a river as they're shooting at him. A bullet-riddled costume and a Steve Rogers face mask are found afterward, but no body.

[CA #112] Recap of Steve's adventures from the original Cap comics, Avengers, Tales of Suspense, and this current run, narrated by Tony Stark in the wake of Cap's apparent death.

[CA #113] Captain America is given a funeral that Madame Hydra then crashes. Rick goes after her, and so does Steve, who is unsurprisingly alive after all. After Hydra is defeated, Steve explains how the Cap that was gunned down was a fake. Steve now has a secret identity again.

[CA #114] After Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M., Steve asks Sharon to resign from S.H.I.E.L.D. Sharon refuses to quit her job, and they break up. Steve then tries to assume a different civilian identity but is found by Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube again.

[CA #115] After spending some time toying with Steve, Red Skull transforms Steve into himself, and himself into Captain America.

[CA #116] Red Skull continues to toy with Steve, who is being attacked non-stop due to looking like the Skull. Eventually, Red Skull teleports Steve to the isle where the Exiles are, as he recently betrayed the Exiles and know that they will want to kill the Red Skull on sight.

[CA #117] First appearance of Sam Wilson and Redwing, who save Steve as he's being attacked by the Exiles. Steve realizes he can take off the Red Skull mask and look like a normal man. He convinces Sam to adopt a superhero identity and names him the Falcon so that he can serve as a symbol when fighting the Exiles.

[CA #118] Steve trains Sam in hand-to-hand combat and together, they fight the Exiles. Red Skull is annoyed that Steve is thriving and decides it's time to end it himself.

[CA #119] Red Skull restores himself and Steve to their true bodies. They fight (along with Sam and Redwing). However, Red Skull loses his advantage when the Cosmic Cube gets deactivated as part of an unrelated plot by A.I.M. and uses the last vestiges of its power to teleport away.

[CA #120] Steve and Sam return to the States and part ways. Steve takes on a job at a local college and saves a professor from being kidnapped by A.I.M., then quits the job.

Characterization

We all know Steve as the guy who will fight for freedom any day of the week and prone to giving rousing speeches, both during and after battle. He encourages others to do the same, and is responsible for Sam becoming the Falcon. He even trains both Sam and Rick Jones in hand-to-hand combat.

Underneath that patriotic exterior, though, is a conflicted man warring with a lot of dissonant feelings. Sometimes he seems to resent being Captain America: he's Cap because he feels a duty to be Cap, but he also blames that devotion to duty for Bucky's death as well as the fact that he can't just settle down with Sharon, who feels duty toward her own job. At the same time, he feels like outside of Captain America, the man under the mask - Steve Rogers - has no identity or life of his own. His resentment leads him to quitting being Captain America, but his sense of duty leads him to pick it back up almost immediately afterward. However, there is no resolution at this time to his lack of identity as Steve Rogers. He tries to fill in the gap with Sharon by pursuing a romance with her, but it fails when she won't fit in the exact way he wants her to.

On top of all that, Steve actively blames himself for Bucky's death (in addition to the bit about duty mentioned above). He thinks he shouldn't have brought Bucky with him on that fatal mission near the end of the war and that he should have been able to save him. As a result, his enemies frequently use Bucky's ghost to either lure him into traps or mess with his mind. Despite his guilt, though, Rick Jones is able to successfully convince Steve to allow him to pick up Bucky's mantle.

And of course, Steve still feels disconnected from his current present, twenty years into the future. The disconnect is bad enough that he sought therapy for it, though unfortunately for him said therapist was Doctor Faustus.

When it comes to his love life, he falls hard and fast - probably too hard and too fast. While Silver Age comics in general completely fail at "show, don't tell" when it comes to romance, Steve takes it to another level, and it's explicitly confirmed that his intense feelings for Sharon are literally because she looks like someone he loved during the war. This leads to him proposing to her on their first date, before he even knows her as anything other than Agent 13. When she declines, he's so upset that he briefly quits being Captain America. He also repeatedly tries to make her quit her job as a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he fears for her safety, and they break up after her multiple refusals to do so.

He's also so open about his feelings for Sharon that Fury is essentially left to be the middleman for them at times, arranging their schedules so they can go on dates. Random unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are also shown to be aware of Steve and Sharon's romance.

Relationships

Bucky Barnes is Steve's teenage sidekick from WWII, though he perished as part of the same event that left Steve frozen in the ice for twenty years. Though he's dead, his spectre continues to haunt Steve, both in the form of Steve's guilt as well as enemies like the Red Skull using Bucky's likeness to draw him into battle.

Red Skull is Steve's greatest enemy, and continues to come back time and time again. His major flaw regarding Steve is that he enjoys seeing Steve suffer so much that he ends up drawing out his plots for long enough that Steve is able to escape and live another day.

Batroc the Leaper is on paper one of Steve's enemies, though they have worked together multiple times to fight a common foe. Batroc is shown to have a strong desire to defeat Captain America, but at the same time, he has an equally strong sense of honor that demands that any such defeat must take place under fair conditions. He will not hesitate to turn on others if they interfere with his sense of fair play.

Peggy Carter is Steve's first love from the war, though it's unclear if he ever knew her name. However, they were separated after Peggy got amnesia from an exploding cell, causing her to forget him and therefore never see him again.

Sharon Carter is Steve's singular love interest in the present day. He starts following her as soon as he sees her due to her resemblance to Peggy and learns she's a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. When he finally goes on a date with her, he proposes, and when he's turned down he briefly quits being Captain America. While she loves him back, she feels that her duty to S.H.I.E.L.D. prevents her from having a married life, and her refusal to quit despite his repeated requests lead to them breaking up.

Nick Fury is one of Steve's friends from the war, and is also the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They talk a lot, and at least on one instance Steve has invited him to his place just so he can vent about his life (Fury usually mentions crying towels on these occasions). He also acts as a somewhat reluctant but also amused middleman when it comes to Steve and Sharon's relationship.

Rick Jones is a young man who briefly takes up the role of being a replacement Bucky. Steve trains him in combat gymnastics and though he fears for Rick's life, he ultimately allows him to be his sidekick.

T'Challa is King of Wakanda and the Black Panther. After they work together on a mission, Steve asks him to join the Avengers, which T'Challa agrees to.

Sam Wilson is a man Steve encounters while in the Red Skull's body (though his mask is removed so he looks like a normal person). Due to their shared goal of defeating a common enemy, Steve encourages Sam to take up a superhero identity and dubs him the Falcon, training him in hand-to-hand combat. Once the enemy is defeated, and after Sam learns Steve was actually Captain America, Sam returns to Harlem to be a superhero there.

Tony Stark is the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Iron Man, though Steve doesn't know this). Steve and Sharon constantly use gadgets he designed and have a huge amount of respect for him. The fact that Iron Man tricked out Steve's shield at one point is known by everyone, enough that there is not one, but two plots that involve enemies trying to steal said shield (though Steve removes the enhancements later).

Trivia

[ToS #60] Steve briefly wields a shield that is enhanced with transistors, courtesy of Iron Man (he later removes them due to balance issues, though).

[ToS #63] During the war, Steve acted like a bumbling private to deflect suspicions that he was actually Captain America.

[CA #105] Steve makes an explicit enough reference to Christ that it seems to confirm him as a Christian.

[CA #108] Everyone is constantly using stuff designed by Tony Stark, who is referred to as the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[CA #110] Steve smokes a pipe.

[CA #111] A description of Steve's fighting style, which is referred to as combat gymnastics.

[CA #117] Steve is capable of using clay to form makeshift facial prosthetics for himself as a disguise.

[CA #117] Steve is normally camera-shy.

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly panels that are noteworthy for meme reasons, since actual noteworthy events are highlighted in the synopsis.

[ToS #59] The heels of Steve's boots are razor-sharp.

[ToS #65] With true Nazi efficiency, the Red Skull has a hit list of four whole people that he wrote out in a notepad.

[ToS #74] All Steve needs is a flamethrower!

[ToS #79] Steve's A on his cowl peels off to reveal a circuit that blocks hypnotic waves.

[ToS #95] Steve tells Tony that he helped the Avengers the only way he could - with his money!

[CA #101] Steve rocks a Stark-designed transparent inflato-suit.

[CA #106] Steve hangs around shirtless in front of a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is trying to talk to him about work stuff.

[CA #118] Steve apparently gave Rick an autographed photo of himself.

[CA #120] "Roger Stevens" is the best undercover name Steve can come up with.

#summary post #tales of suspense vol 1 #captain america vol 1 #steve rogers

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Tony Stark: A Summary

So, I thought it would be nice if I went back and condensed the stuff I read into a single post so that it might be a helpful resource later. This will cover Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #39-#99 (the Iron Man part of it - Captain America has his own post here), Iron Man Vol 1 #1-#20, and some additional plot-relevant comics. I chose Iron Man #20 as a stopping point, as that takes us up to December 1969.

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold. Note that a lot of the earlier issues were kind of just silly fluff, so there isn’t much to say about them.

[ToS #39] Tony makes his first appearance, is caught by Wong-Chu in the Vietnamese jungle, and builds a gray metal suit to escape with Ho Yinsen’s help.

[ToS #40] Tony starts carrying his armor around in a briefcase. He gets the idea from the woman he’s currently dating to paint his armor gold.

[ToS #41] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #42] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #43] Iron Man is established as a crime fighter who sometimes visits Tony.

[ToS #44] First dramatic socket plugging. Iron Man is upgraded to be a “close friend” of Tony’s.

[ToS #45] First appearance of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Happy saves his life and is hired as his chauffeur. Pepper is a modest-looking secretary who is in love with Tony.

[ToS #46] Tony fights the Crimson Dynamo/Anton Vanko but gives him a second chance and hires him.

[ToS #47] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #48] Tony upgrades his armor to the Model 2.

[ToS #49] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #50] First appearance of the Mandarin.

[ToS #51] Iron Man is upgraded again to be Tony’s bodyguard.

[ToS #52] First appearance of Natasha Romanova/the Black Widow, who has been sent by Russia to dispose of Vanko and Stark. Vanko is killed and Natasha escapes.

[ToS #53] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #54] Tony is established to have feelings for Pepper for the first time.

[ToS #55] Tony fights the Mandarin.

[ToS #56] First appearance of the nickname “Shellhead” (though here, it’s two words). Tony decides to stop being Iron Man.

[ToS #57] First appearance of Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who teams up with Natasha to fight Iron Man. They get away. Tony takes Pepper out on a date by accident.

[ToS #58] The Chameleon disguises himself as Captain America and fights Iron Man.

[ToS #59] Tony fights the Black Knight. Tales of Suspense goes from being ½ Iron Man issue and ½ random non-superhero issue to ½ Iron Man issue and ½ Captain America issue.

[ToS #60] Tony realizes he needs to stay in his armor full time to provide his heart with enough power to keep beating, resulting in everyone thinking Iron Man’s done something terrible to Tony.

[ToS #61] The Mandarin attacks Tony’s home and he is presumed dead. Tony flies to China to fight him.

[ToS #62] Tony fights the Mandarin.

[ToS #63] Tony figures out his power problems and makes his return as himself. He realizes Happy loves Pepper too and claims he’s engaged so Pepper will forget about him and go for Happy.

[ToS #64] Natasha and Clint strike at Iron Man again, but Clint’s love for Natasha ruins their plans and they are forced to retreat from the fight.

[ToS #65] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #66] Tony fights a bad guy while doing a weapons demo and chooses to blame the resulting damage (that no one but him and the bad guy witnessed) on himself rather than the bad guy. Happy goes missing.

[ToS #67] Happy has left because he’s unhappy, so Tony finds him as Iron Man and tries to convince him to return. He fails, but Pepper ends up succeeding. Pepper gets increasingly annoyed with Iron Man’s shady behavior.

[ToS #68] First appearance of Morgan Stark, who Count Nefaria tries to use to destroy Tony, though the attempt fails.

[ToS #69] Iron Man is challenged by Titanium Man in a one-on-one televised battle.

[ToS #70] Titanium Man plays dirty during the battle and almost wins, but Happy is able to come in with an assist, though he gets badly injured in the process. Before he passes out, he expresses relief that Pepper loves him. He also reveals that he knows Tony is Iron Man.

[ToS #71] Tony finally defeats Titanium Man. Pepper expresses disgust with Tony for being gone while both Iron Man and Happy were risking their lives.

[ToS #72] Tony fights a bad guy and mopes at how Pepper hates Tony but likes Iron Man.

[ToS #73] The Black Knight kidnaps a still-injured Happy from the hospital to lure Iron Man into battle. Tony defeats him and Happy is rescued, but Tony is left trapped in the Black Knight’s castle.

[ToS #74] Pepper rescues Iron Man from the castle, who then has to rush off to stop doctors from using experimental tech on Happy to save his life. But it’s too late and Happy gets mutated and runs off.

[ToS #75] Tony goes after Happy and manages to capture him.

[ToS #76] Tony manages to unmutate Happy, though Happy now has amnesia. Senator Byrd forces Tony to come to Washington so he can testify on Iron Man, but the Mandarin kidnaps him en route.

[ToS #77] The Mandarin summons a giant android called Ultimo, which Tony fights after secretly suiting up.

[ToS #78] Tony defeats Ultimo and comes back to find that his factory has been shut down and that there’s a warrant for his arrest for not appearing before the Senate.

[ToS #79] Tony feels that Iron Man is almost a separate entity. He fights a random Atlantean who attacked him. Then Namor shows up.

[ToS #80] Namor fights Tony because Namor wanted to be the one fighting the random Atlantean instead (even though the Atlantean was the one who attacked Tony in the first place).

[TtA #82] Tony and Namor fight. The random Atlantean then resurfaces, and Namor leaves to fight him instead.

[ToS #81] Tony decides to testify to the Senate, but is intercepted by the Titanium Man en route.

[ToS #82] Pepper appears at the battle between Iron Man and Titanium Man to try and help Tony, but Titanium Man starts attacking her instead. “Shellhead” appears again as a nickname, but hyphenated.

[ToS #83] Tony defeats Titanium Man. Pepper is relieved to see him and seems into him again. Happy regains his memories.

[ToS #84] Tony is about to testify to the Senate about Iron Man when he passes out. His chestplate is discovered, his heart issues become public knowledge, and suspicions begin to rise that he is actually Iron Man. Happy dons the suit with Tony’s blessing to throw everyone off, but then gets kidnapped by the Mandarin.

[ToS #85] Tony rushes off to build a new suit, then flies to China on a rocket to save Happy.

[ToS #86] Tony fights the Mandarin in hand-to-hand combat for some reason and wins. He and Happy head back to the States.

[ToS #87] Tony builds an “earth-borer” machine. While testing, random buildings, including his own factory, get sucked into the earth.

[ToS #88] Tony fights the Mole Man, who was responsible for sucking buildings in, and then says he’ll tell the public that the earth-borer was responsible rather than scare them with the truth.

[ToS #89] Tony realizes Pepper actually loves Happy. To cope, he goes on a bunch of dates. Then the Melter comes to demand tech from him.

[ToS #90] Tony defeats the Melter.

[ToS #91] Tony fights the Crusher. Happy and Pepper have eloped and are now married.

[ToS #92] Tony does a weapons demo in Vietnam and is then asked to defeat someone named Half-Face.

[ToS #93] Tony fights Half-Face and the Titanium Man, who is working with him.

[ToS #94] Tony defeats Titanium Man. Half-Face renounces his evil ways.

[ToS #95] First appearance of Jasper Sitwell, who has been stationed at Tony’s factory by Nick Fury. The Grey Gargoyle attacks, turns Iron Man to stone, and throws him off a building.

[ToS #96] Sitwell saves Iron Man. Iron Man defeats Grey Gargoyle, but passes out due to the strain on his heart.

[ToS #97] Morgan sleazes his way in and pretends he’s here to help Iron Man, but he really plans on taking him to the Maggia (currently on a ship) to help pay off his gambling debts. Iron Man and the Maggia fight, and then the Maggia bring in Whiplash.

[ToS #98] First appearance of Whitney Frost. Tony fights Whiplash.

[ToS #99] Tony defeats Whiplash and passes out. He gets re-captured by the Maggia when their ship is shot at by A.I.M. They evacuate, leaving Tony trapped.

[IM&SM #1] Tony frees himself, fights Whiplash again, and is then captured by A.I.M.

[IM #1] Whitney seduces Sitwell in order to hopefully learn company secrets from him. Tony fights and defeats A.I.M.

[IM #2] A man obsessed with Tony called Drexel Cord sends a robot after him to defeat him, but it eventually tries to harm his daughter, Janice, and turns on Drexel before Tony finally defeats it. Tony feels guilty.

[IM #3] Happy and Pepper, who no longer work for Tony, hear that Tony is in seclusion and go to him. This is because he must now stay plugged in 24/7 to keep his heart beating. However, he allows Happy to help since Happy knows his secret, but this results in Happy being mutated again. He gets better, but Tony feels guilty.

[IM #4] Tony grapples with the price of being Iron Man and fights the Unicorn.

[IM #5] Tony gets teleported into the future and is almost executed, but he escapes and goes back to his time after a fight.

[IM #6] Tony develops feelings for Janice. The Crusher attacks the factory and threatens Whitney, who was hanging around. Sitwell is ready to do something very foolish to save her, forcing Iron Man to knock him out and defeat the Crusher on his own.

[IM #7] Tony, Janice, and her lawyer (who has been encouraging Janice to sell her late father’s company to Tony) are kidnapped by the Maggia and the Gladiator. Tony escapes just long enough to come back as Iron Man, which makes him look very cowardly to Janice.

[IM #8] Whitney’s backstory as a socialite who didn’t know she had an evil father is revealed. Back in the present, she leads a raid on the Stark factory that Sitwell manages to stop, but she nonetheless saves him when the Gladiator attacks him. When she flees, Sitwell is unable to bring himself to stop her.

[IM #9] The Mandarin ships a Hulk android from China to kidnap Janice and prove that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same. Tony defeats the android.

[IM #10] Tony and Janice go on a nice date. The Mandarin tries to ruin Tony by releasing photoshopped images of him partaking in secret communist meetings, then lures him to his new hideout in the States.

[IM #11] The Mandarin unmasks Iron Man only to find that it’s some blond dude and that Tony is elsewhere (unknown to him, Tony is wearing prosthetics, and the other Tony is an LMD). The Mandarin goes after the LMD Tony. After a televised fight, the Mandarin is defeated but it looks like Tony died because the LMD shut down.

[IM #12] Tony gets the LMD working again, then shuts it down himself and puts it away. He and Janice go to visit her lawyer but are attacked by the Controller.

[IM #13] Tony defeats the Controller, but starts distancing himself from Janice due to fears that his feelings will interfere with his duties as Iron Man.

[IM #14] Tony and Janice go on a break due to Tony’s inner turmoil. Tony fights the Night Phantom.

[IM #15] Tony and Sitwell are attacked by the Unicorn and the Red Ghost while on a plane. Tony gets off but fears Sitwell has perished when he sees the plane explode.

[IM #16] Tony and the Unicorn have a “handcuffed together” episode and bring down the Red Ghost. The Unicorn then escapes with the Red Ghost. Sitwell is fine.

[IM #17] Midas and Madame Masque attack the Stark factory while Tony is away, which reactivates the Tony LMD. The LMD decides to take over Tony’s life, so when Tony returns, he’s treated as an impostor and thrown out. Tony is moping in the rain when Madame Masque kidnaps him.

[IM #18] Thinking that the real Tony is a very good impostor, Midas “forces” him to be part of their plot to take over Tony’s company, which involves fighting the LMD so Tony is actually for it. He flirts with Madame Masque as she trains him. When they break in and the LMD confronts them, he protects her and fights and defeats the LMD himself, but his heart stops beating. Madame Masque gets away while the Avengers find him and try to save him.

[IM #19] Tony has heart surgery, which removes the need for his chestplate and replaces the damaged parts of his heart with synthetic tissue. He is cautioned to avoid unusual stress, which will make it more likely that his body rejects the synthetics. Midas and Madame Masque kidnap him again. Madame Masque is revealed to be Whitney Frost, and they kiss without her mask on. They escape Midas, and Whitney goes her own way.

[IM #20] Tony fights one of his security guards, who is being possessed by Lucifer, and defeats him.

Characterization

Silver Age Tony essentially has no flaws aside from the issues he runs into from either his double life as Iron Man, or the knowledge that he might drop dead due to his damaged heart at any second. Said issues result in him having a lot of monologues in his head about the irony of seemingly having it all even though he is so troubled. He has also felt like Iron Man was a separate entity from Tony Stark. There is no mention of alcoholism or his abusive father at this point in canon. In fact, we know more about Whitney Frost’s backstory than we do Tony’s.

When it comes to his love life, he is 100% a flirt, and he also has a playboy reputation. (However, it’s unclear how many people he actually sleeps with, given that for most of the decade he had to keep his chestplate a secret.) When he develops romantic feelings for someone, though, he will eventually distance himself from them due to his fears that his life will endanger them and/or the fact that he might die at any moment will be an unfair burden to them. He also tends to not date other people when he has feelings, unless it’s explicitly an attempt to forget the person - he’s seen dating women until feelings for Pepper develop, and then he dates no one even though he’s not pursuing Pepper (due to his bad heart), and then he starts dating again to distract himself once he realizes Pepper loves Happy. After Pepper and Happy marry, he seems at peace with their relationship and eventually pursues Janice Cord, but then again has to draw away due to his personal issues, which leaves him open to developing feelings for Whitney Frost, despite her scarred face and the knowledge that she’s a long-time criminal.

Despite the trouble that his double life brings him, he does find joy in being Iron Man and believes Iron Man is a necessary force. It’s not until he gets heart surgery when he starts to feel doubt, and that’s only because being Iron Man makes it more likely he will die due to the chance his heart will reject the synthetic tissue it now has.

Here’s some of the things he’s done:

Extremely willing to sacrifice himself if it will defeat a bad guy

Donates to charitable causes, such as children’s hospitals

Gives people second chances

Makes it a point of being non-lethal even when it’s an inconvenience

Fights enemies, but then occasionally blames any disturbances resulting from those fights on himself so that the public doesn’t know what kind of terrors he actually faced

Relationships

Here’s a list of the important supporting characters in Tony’s life!

Pepper Potts is Tony’s secretary. She starts out as kind of average-looking and in love with Tony, then eventually starts to dress up more (and covers up her freckles!), which apparently prompts Tony to fall in love with her. However, Tony’s own inner turmoil over his double life and his bad heart stop him from actively pursuing her, and he makes attempts to both remove himself from the picture as well as push her toward Happy. Over the course of the run, her romantic feelings shift between Tony, Iron Man, and Happy (for a while, she despises Tony because she thinks he’s a coward due to him always disappearing when danger happens), but eventually she and Happy get married. By the end of the decade, she is no longer working for Tony but they’re on good terms.

Happy Hogan is Tony’s chauffeur, hired by Tony after Happy saves his life. For a while, Happy is unhappy because he doesn’t do anything (due to Tony not actually needing a chauffeur because he can fly). Despite this, and despite the fact that he understands Tony is a major competitor for Pepper’s affections, he cares deeply about Tony and will risk his life to save his boss. He is also the only person to know Iron Man’s identity, having figured it out for himself, and has even donned the suit. Like Pepper, he is no longer working for Tony, but they’re on good terms.

Morgan Stark is Tony’s cowardly cousin and a prominent gambler. His life and Tony’s usually only intersect when Morgan has gambling debts and tries to offer up Tony as a means to pay off the debts.

Natasha Romanova is a Russian spy who Tony immediately flirts with, though they become at odds once he realizes her real purpose. She only appears in a few issues and is mostly here because we all know she’ll come back later!

Clint Barton is a performer who turns to petty crime because he becomes jealous of Iron Man. He and Natasha team up to fight Tony more than once. Later, he joins the Avengers, but this is never brought up in the Iron Man run.

The Avengers are the superhero team Tony is part of, but his involvement as both Iron Man and as Tony Stark is rarely mentioned. Similarly, the other Avengers make occasional cameos but rarely come up in the narrative. The most notable mentions are 1) when the Chameleon disguises himself as Steve Rogers, causing Tony to fight the real Steve, 2) when the Mandarin sends a Hulk android after Tony, resulting in Tony telling it (without knowing it’s an android) that he always thought Bruce was misunderstood, and 3) when Tony nearly dies after his battle with the LMD, resulting in the Avengers coming to save him and helping him get the heart surgery he needs to survive.

Janice Cord is a woman whose father developed an obsession with Tony and tried to kill him, perishing in the process. Tony develops feelings for her and they eventually start going out. He encourages her to continue with her father’s company, despite the fact that that means he’ll have another competitor. However, Tony then starts distancing himself from her after realizing his work as Iron Man may conflict with his feelings for her. Currently, they are broken up and another man is pursuing her, but she still has feelings for him.

Jasper Sitwell is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent stationed at Tony’s factory and is a teacher’s pet sort of fellow who rubs Tony the wrong way at first, though this soon changes. The relationship between Sitwell and Iron Man becomes strained, however, after Iron Man is forced to knock him out to stop him from doing something dumb, which embarrasses Sitwell. Sitwell dates Whitney Frost for a while - she’s using him to get to Tony’s weapons, but he knows she’s using him. Nonetheless, they develop actual feelings and both save each other when the time comes.

Whitney Frost is the head of the Maggia who uses Sitwell to get to Tony’s weapons, though she develops feelings for him along the way. However, he realizes she’s using him and stops her when she raids the factory, though he allows her to later flee. As part of the escape, her face becomes badly scarred and she returns as Madame Masque with a new plot involving capturing Tony, except this results in them kissing each other (with Tony undeterred by her scarred face). However, she then runs away, not wanting to burden him with her status as a wanted woman.

Trivia

There’s a lot of random stuff I tagged as trivia (which can be found on the #tony stark trivia tag), so I’ll only mention the stuff that might be helpful for a fic writer to know.

[TtA #82] Tony knows judo.

[ToS #81] Tony enjoys flying.

[ToS #91] Tony occasionally wears flame-retardant coveralls in the lab.

[ToS #92] Tony had a governess and wasn’t allowed on roller coasters as a child.

[ToS #94] Iron Man is internationally known.

[IM #3] Tony’s new secretary, after Pepper leaves, is a woman named Ms. Greer.

[IM #10] Tony likes bogie and W. C. Fields.

[IM #10] Tony develops tech for S.H.I.E.L.D. as well (not just the U.S. government).

[IM #15] Tony read a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs as a child.

[IM #17] Tony has an electronic memory bank where he’s recorded all his activities in the event of his death. He also wears lab coats when working.

[IM #19] A summary on how the Model 2 armor is assembled.

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly panels that are noteworthy for meme reasons, since actual noteworthy events are highlighted in the synopsis.

[ToS #40] Tony outfits the U.S. military with roller skates.

[ToS #45] Tony keeps a humongous framed image of his good friend Iron Man on his wall.

[ToS #48] Tony has eyeholes in his face mask because he thinks that allowing his expression to show will instill fear in the hearts of his enemies.

[ToS #53] Tony throws things together literally at random and produces an anti-gravity device, because that’s how science works.

[ToS #57] Clint declares that Natasha is the only one he’s ever loved, despite not knowing anything about her except for her looks and her dislike for Iron Man.

[ToS #58] “Well, partner, I’m glad it all came out in the wash! No hard feelings?” - this scene between Captain America and Iron Man is referenced in Civil War: Casualties of War.

[ToS #82] Tony can spin his ear discs to reveal ROLLER SKATES.

[ToS #84] SURVEY SHOWS THAT STARK AND IRON MAN NEVER SEEN AT SAME TIME TOGETHER.

[ToS #93] More roller skates!

[IM #5] It’s time-traveling Tony!

[IM #11] Tony needs a disguise? Time to go blond and get rid of the facial hair!

[IM #13] Yes, I will point out all the roller skates I can.

[IM #17] Sad Tony in the rain.

#summary post #tales of suspense vol 1 #tales to astonish vol 1 #iron man and sub-mariner vol 1 #iron man vol 1 #tony stark

[juststeveandtonythings]

Tony knows judo, apparently, and is able to use it to great effect against Namor.

On a meta note, this issue is actually Tales to Astonish Vol 1 #82, which I think makes it one of the earlier Marvel crossover events (since the preceding issue was Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #80).  Tales to Astonish, for now, focuses on Namor and the Hulk, similar to how Tales of Suspense focuses on Iron Man and Captain America.  By the end of this issue, Namor is still angry, but the random Atlantean (who I guess isn’t actually that random but certainly seems random to me, as the Iron Man reader who was not following Namor’s adventures) resurfaced, causing Namor to abandon the fight with Tony and go after the Atlantean instead.  Presumably, that tale will be continued in ToA #83, while Tony’s adventures will resume in ToS #81.

- Tales to Astonish Vol 1 #82 (1966)

#tales to astonish vol 1 #tales to astonish vol 1 82 #1966 #tony stark #namor #tony stark relationships #tony stark trivia