7 Times Iron Man Was Absolutely The Worst

Iron Man has been one of Marvel Comics’ longest-running heroes, but he has been absolutely the worst so many times that it is almost shocking he isn’t a villain by now. The Marvel Cinematic Universe worked wonders in rehabilitating Iron Man for many fans, although he remained problematic at best in the comics. It seems that no matter what Tony Stark does to try to improve his life, he does something even worse that makes him near the edge of becoming one of Marvel’s worst villains. The worst part is that Iron Man is so arrogant that he always thinks he is right, no matter how many bad things he does.

Here is a look at seven times Iron Man was the absolute worst in Marvel Comics.

7) When He Attacked Heroes To Get His Armor Back

One of Iron Man’s best storylines was the Armor Wars event series. Running from Iron Man #225-232, this story saw Iron Man realize that a lot of stolen Stark Tech was used to weaponize villains. As a result, Iron Man decided he needed to set out and take everything made with his tech back. This was a good idea when it came to supervillains, but then Iron Man targeted other heroes and the U.S. government.

This went wrong when Iron Man targeted Stingray, who worked for the government, but realized too late that his armor had nothing to do with Stark Tech. This caused the government to demand Iron Man be shut down, and they even sent Steve Rogers to stop him. When SHIELD comes for him, Tony Stark shuts down the Mandroids and then attacks the Guardians in the Vault prison. Tony Stark was the absolute worst here and even faked Iron Man’s death to keep from facing the consequences for his actions.

6) When He Helped Clone Thor

Iron Man did a lot of terrible things during the first Civil War event. However, one of the first was something that made Iron Man complicit in a murder, although no one was ever punished because it was someone who was fighting on the anti-registration side who died, making them a criminal in the eyes of the government. Iron Man created a clone of Thor that murdered Bill Foster’s Goliath.

It was Reed Richards and Tony Stark who were responsible for creating the Thor clone known as Ragnarok. This clone was made with a strand of Thor’s hair that Tony had collected and held onto. When Ragnarok killed Goliath, it showed the effects of the war between the heroes, and swung a lot of people’s feelings about it. While this was one of Iron Man’s absolutely worst moments, he paid for it when Thor returned and destroyed him in a fight, letting him know his thoughts on Iron Man using his DNA to commit murder.

5) When He Ordered Captain America’s Memory Erased

The Illuminati members did a lot of terrible things during their time together. They are the reason the Secret Invasion event happened when they went to the Skrull home world and threatened them. They banished Hulk from Earth, sending him to Sakaar, which ended up leading to World War Hulk, where Hulk got his revenge. However, Tony Stark’s absolutely worst moment was when he ordered Doctor Strange to wipe Captain America’s mind.

This was when the Illuminati learned the Incursions were destroying Earths in the multiverse. Captain America tried to stop it with the Infinity Gauntlet, but it shattered. When Cap said he wasn’t willing to destroy alternate Earths, killing millions of people, Iron Man told Strange to “do it,” and they wiped Cap’s mind, meaning he had planned this all along. It was a betrayal of Captain America, and the two men fought each other as the Earth was destroyed.

4) When He Helped Exile Hulk From Earth

As mentioned, the Illuminati banished Hulk from Earth, and Iron Man was a big part of this decision. This was another massive betrayal, similar to what the Illuminati did to Captain America. Here, they tricked Hulk into thinking he was going to help them and then shot him off into space, away from Earth forever. Their goal was to shoot him onto a deserted planet where he could live alone.

That isn’t what happened. Hulk ended up on Sakaar and was enslaved as a gladiator. When he finally freed himself and the other enslaved warriors, he became the Emperor, fell in love, and got married. Happiness was not meant to be, as a terrorist bombing killed his wife, and Hulk returned to Earth and completely decimated Iron Man, Reed Richards, and Black Bolt. Like with Thor, Iron Man got what was coming to him, but it doesn’t excuse his original actions.

3) When He Ran The Initiative

When Iron Man was involved in the Civil War, he gained the trust of the government and earned the right to basically rule over the United States’ superhero population. He then created the Initiative, which set up superhero teams in every state, with him as the overall boss over them all. Everyone answered to him, and eventually, Iron Man became a little too powerful.

This also had a dangerous fallout. Following the Secret Invasion storyline, Norman Osborn found himself as the surprising hero saving the day, and he got Iron Man’s job. This turned Iron Man into a fugitive from justice, and Norman took the Initiative and added his own villains to many of the teams, corrupting what Iron Man had built. Since Iron Man was also partially responsible for Secret Invasion, this entire mess was all on his shoulders.

2) When He Helped Start Civil War

When people talk about the Civil War event series, they take both sides of the issue. Some people side with Iron Man, because he worked for the U.S. government and wanted to help train heroes so a tragedy like the Secret Warriors cause wouldn’t happen again. However, more people took Captain America’s side, knowing that the government wouldn’t have the best interests of the heroes of the general public in mind, and he didn’t want to risk it.

Neither man would listen to reason, and the war began. What made Iron Man absolutely the worst here was that he pushed his agenda way too far. He imprisoned any hero who didn’t want to sign on in the Negative Zone. He caused Bill Foster’s death. He convinced Spider-Man to unmask, which almost got Aunt May killed, and then hunted down Spider-Man when he regretted the decision. Iron Man turned against everything he ever believed in.

1) When He Betrayed The Avengers For Kang

The one moment that Iron Man was the absolute worst in every way was the Crossing storyline, and this was a place where Iron Man was an actual villain. This was a shocking and very controversial storyline because it claimed that Tony Stark was always a villain, and he had only pretended to be a hero ever since his start in Marvel Comics. He was a double-agent for Kang the Conqueror.

Iron Man was terrible here, as he murdered people in cold blood (Marilla, Rita DeMara), and turned on his friends and allies before finally facing a teenage variant of himself that the Avengers went back in time to retrieve. This was Iron Man at his worst, as he turned into a fully-fledged villain. Marvel retconned this after the Onslaught event when the company rebooted the Avengers comics.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

Ranking The Avengers’ First 10 Villains By Power