Iron Man
Unsure who Iron Man is?
Name: Iron Man/Tony Stark
First comic appearance: Tales of Suspense #39 (March 10, 1963), created by Stan Lee,
written by Larry Lieber, and designed by Don Heck and Jack Kirby
First movie appearance: Iron Man (2008); $318.4 million domestic, $585.1 million
worldwide
Portrayed by: Save for an array of voice actors that have brought the metallic toon to life,
Robert Downey, Jr. was the first thesp to bring Iron Man to the tough, non-pixelated reality of
live-action.
Origin story: After a car crash killed both of his parents, brilliant engineer Tony Stark
inherited Stark Industries. During a military field test, a land mine exploded and sent a piece
of shrapnel into Stark’s chest, lodging somewhere near his heart. While Stark was held
prisoner at a terrorist camp and instructed by his captives to construct advanced weapons, he
instead worked with his cellmate to manufacture a magnetic chest plate that prevented the
shrapnel from ever reaching his heart. At the same time, Stark built a crude battlesuit – the
first Iron Man armor, replete with unrefined weaponry and basic defenses – that he used to
break out of captivity and return home.
Back in his lab at Stark Industries, he redesigned the rechargeable chest plate – now
necessary to keep him alive – so that it would be small enough to fit under his everyday
clothing. Eventually, Stark decided to recreate the armor suit with the plan of releasing it to
the public, but ditched the idea after a group of thieves attempted to steal one of his
prototypes. One quashed terrorist bomb threat later, Stark resolved to become the crimefighting superhero known as Iron Man.
Weapon/Superpower:
Stark is a genius, and any enhanced senses he may have developed over the years came from
artificial programs of his own making, but the real Hora at the metaphorical bar mitzvah is
Iron Man’s suit of armor. What Batman’s utility belt is to Bruce Wayne, Iron Man’s suit is to
Stark – although the latter’s is considerably more essential to his health. The shiny bodysuit
(classically red and gold, though not consistently) has always allowed for enhanced strength,
life support and flight, but over the years it’s also seen missiles, cannons, launchers, tasers,
particle beams, rocket boots, sensors, sonars, finger lasers, machine guns, sledgehammers,
force field generators, energy swords, invisibility shields and a whole array of other lightbased weaponry. So, yeah, nothing too extravagant or anything.
Outfit/Clothing: See above. Considering that Stark’s favorite sartorial choice doubles as his
greatest weapon, it would be unwise to suggest any other outfit option. When he’s not suited
up, Stark dabbles in both the super-formal (although this white tux is an utter sin) and the
super-casual (is that chiffon?). His only unforgivable fashion crime comes in the form of his oft
dreadful hair, which in the ’80s fell victim to… well, the ’80s. May his mullet rest in peace.
Secret Identity: Initially, Stark plays up a lavish playboy lifestyle (creator Stan Lee has said
the character is based on Howard Hughes) to detract from suspicion that he is Iron Man,
whom he claims is his personal bodyguard. Stark confided his superhero alter ego to a select
few close to him, but ensuing events over the years caused him to publicly reveal his identity.
However, Tony Stark is so organically composed of bad-ass that eventually he needs no secret
identity: the name Tony Stark becomes synonymous with Iron Man, Iron Man with Tony
Stark, and somewhere in an alternate universe, Chuck Norris weeps.
Sidekicks: During his first tour as Iron Man, Stark encounters injured Marine Jim “Rhodey”
Rhodes (played by Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle in the films), who becomes his close
friend and personal pilot. Over time Rhodey adopts his own superhero personality as War
Machine, a slightly copycat version of Iron Man. Although he never became a sidekick in the
traditional sense of matching costumes and pithy catchphrases, at one point Rhodey actually
steps into the Iron Man armor as Stark fades away due to his struggle with alcoholism.
Love life: Stark has taken plenty of dips in the romantic pool over the years – such is the
benefit of being a charming billionaire – but two women in particular stole his heart away (or
at least, stole his metal chestplate): Joanna Nivena, to whom Stark was engaged before the
accident that led to the creation of Iron Man; and Pepper Potts, Stark’s personal secretary,
who married Stark’s chauffeur despite secretly falling in love with the man behind the iron. In
the films, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper is positioned as Stark’s main squeeze, although she had a
significantly greater inclination to keep her full-time boss/part-time lover in the worst place
of all: the friend zone.
Black Widow
Unsure who Black Widow is?
Name: Black Widow
First comic appearance: Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964), created by Stan Lee, Don Rico,
and Don Heck.
First movie appearance: Iron Man 2, $312.4 million domestic, $623.9 worldwide
Portrayed by: Black Widow was a perpetual bit player in various Marvel cartoon shows, most
notably in The Super Hero Squad Show, where she was voiced by Lena Headey (a.k.a. Cersei
Lannister on Game of Thrones). It’s fair to say that Scarlett Johansson’s role as the Widow in
Iron Man 2 is probably the first time most people had ever heard of the character.
Origin story: The Black Widow was originally introduced as a Russian femme fatale, an
orphan raised to be a seductive superspy and an expert martial artist. (Basically, remember
the Rocky IV training montage where Ivan Drago gets turned into a superman by Soviet
Science? Replace Dolph Lundgren with an attractive redhead, and you’ve got the Black
Widow’s origin story.) After some early run-ins with superheroes, she quickly converted to
the cause of justice/America and joined the Avengers. As the years have passed and the term
“Soviet Union” has become somewhat less topical, Black Widow’s origin has been occasionally
updated. Perhaps understandably, Iron Man 2 doesn’t deal with her backstory at all, and
Johansson doesn’t even try for a Russian accent.
Weapon/Superpower: Classically, the Widow doesn’t have any superpowers beyond an
action-star’s ability to fight several people at once. She does have some mean bracelets which
contain a raft of weaponry, including some “stingers” – think Batman’s utility belt, but on her
wrists. On the big screen, Widow usually just carries a gun or two.
Outfit: After some early missteps, including an outré bouffant-and-orgy-mask costume, the
Black Widow adopted her skintight black-leather look in 1970.
Secret identity: Her real name is Natasha Romanoff (short for “Romanovna”), but like many
of the supporting Avengers, Black Widow doesn’t really do much with her secret identity.
She’s a full-time spy.
Love life: Where do we begin? In the comic books, Black Widow has been occasionally linked
to Hawkeye – she seduced him back in her Soviet days and then actually wound up falling for
the guy. Her most consistent relationship has been with Matthew Murdock, a.k.a. the blind
superhero Daredevil. It’s difficult to explain exactly how Black Widow fell in with Daredevil –
it was the ’70s, they both wore skintight outfits – and they’ve never really managed to make it
work, possibly because she’s a Russian superspy and he’s a crusading lawyer from Hell’s
Kitchen.
In Black Widow’s first comics appearance, she was trying to seduce Tony Stark – a plot point
that Iron Man 2 neatly played with, introducing Natasha as an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
working for Stark. She didn’t try to seduce him, though, possibly because two ginger-haired
love interests is just too much for one movie. However, Scarlett Johansson being Scarlett
Johansson, it seems likely that Movie-Black Widow will have some love interest at some point.
Sample tweet: [Redacted].
Black Widow, In Charge: In the salad days of the go-go ’90s comic book boom, when every
major character had at least four different monthly comic books and the industry couldn’t
push out enough spin-offs, there was a period in time when the mainline Avengers comic book
was mostly dominated by bit players like Sersei, the Black Knight, and Crystal – characters
made even more anonymous by the decision to dress everyone in Avengers-trademarked
Members Only jackets, which I swear to god actually happened. Anyhow, it was right around
this moment that Black Widow became leader of the Avengers.