Iron Man’s First 10 Supervillains, Ranked By Power

Iron Man battled a variety of characters when he first debuted, and of his first 10 villains, at least three have stood the test of time as icons. Iron Man made his Marvel Comics debut in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1962, and that comic book was his home for several years before he finally got his own solo title in 1968. Over those six years, Iron Man battled some varied enemies in Tales of Suspense, from enemies of the United States government to at least one of his most iconic villains, and a future ally who started her Marvel existence as a villainous Communist spy.

With a wide variety of bad guys, which are the first 10 supervillains that Iron Man faced in Marvel Comics, ranked by power?

10) Pharaoh Hatap

Iron Man took a two-issue break from fighting supervillains when he fought the communists in Tales of Suspense #42 and then helped an alien named Queen Kala in Tales of Suspense #43. However, his next adventure saw him battling an ancient supervillain. This was Pharaoh Hatop, also known as the Mad Pharaoh. He rebelled against Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt and decided, rather than lose, to place himself in suspended animation in a tomb.

Iron Man found him in the modern day, and he decided to use time travel to go back in time to defeat Cleopatra with today’s technology. However, he was stopped when Iron Man travelled back with him and stopped him. What keeps the Mad Pharaoh at the bottom is that his only power was black magic, but not to the extent of being an offensive threat. He died when he tried to run from Iron Man in fear, falling on his own sword.

9) Wong-Chu

Iron Man made his debut in Tales of Suspense #39, and his origin story at the time was very similar to the origin fans know today. In the beginning, Tony Stark was a scientist, a man who invented and sold items to the U.S. military to use in wars. He used this to become even wealthier than he already was, but he wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen when he faced a tyrant named Wong-Chu, a communist leader in Sin-Cong who captured Stark after a land mine almost killed the scientist.

Wong-Chu wasnb’t powerful on his own, but he was violent, vindictive, and extremely deadly while controlling his own army. He forced Tony to build him weapons in exchange for saving his life, as his heart was giving out after the land mine sent shrapnel into his body. Of course, he ranks low because once he fought someone stronger than him, Iron Man, he ran for his life and showed that the biggest bully was a coward at heart. Wong gets some credit since he survived that fight, returned later, and became more powerful than ever as a military leader.

8) Carlo Strange

One of the most confusing of Iron Man’s first 10 supervillains was a bad guy named Dr. Strange. This was in Tales of Suspense #41, which made him Iron Man’s third villain. However, this was not Stephen Strange, and this Dr. Strange wasn’t even related to the future Master of the Mystic Arts, who debuted two months later in Strange Tales #110.

Instead, this villain was Carlo Strange, a scientist mentored by Nathaniel Richards (Reed Richards’s time-traveling dad), and Carlo had no respect for ethical concerns. When U.S. forces arrested him, he ended up struck by lightning, which gave him greater mental powers, and he used them to mind control Iron Man. While he can control people’s minds, he is mainly a weak man himself and often runs from battle rather than fight.

7) Gargantus

Iron Man’s second outing was unlike anything most fans might have expected. The hero usually fights other armored villains, threats to the United States, or genius inventors. In Tales of Suspense #40, he fought Gargantus, a giant prehistoric-looking being who was from an extra-terrestrial race. However, when breaking him down, Gargantus was actually a robot the aliens created and sent to Earth to prepare for their invasion.

As a robot, it made more sense, and when the giant robot hypnotized the humans to aid him, it made it even worse. However, Iron Man defeated Gargantus quite easily when he used giant magnets to rip the robot apart. A new version of Gargantus returned twice, once when Count Nefaria created it in a simulation and again when the alien sent a second one to Earth (I Am Iron Man #23), but he was saved by a techopath, Deola, this time.

6) Melter

In Tales of Suspense #47, Itron Man fought the supervillain known as the Melter. While his name was lame, his powers were impressive. He is Bruno Horgan, an American industrialist who developed weapons for the U.S. government, but who lost his contracts when they realized he was using inferior materials, bankrupting him. The government gave the contracts to Tony Stark, which made him intent on getting revenge against Stark.

His powers come with his equipment and costume, which include a melting gun powerful enough to melt things like Iron Man’s armor. That said, Iron Man beat him pretty easily, and Melter became nothing more than a C-list villain, someone who later joined the Masters of Evil and even worked with another humiliated industrialist in Justin Hammer. He ended up murdered by one of his own allies.

5) Blizzard

In Tales to Astonish #45, Iron Man fought his fifth supervillain, who at the time was known as Jack Frost. Gregor Shapanka was a brilliant professor who worked for Tony Stark, but when he tried to break into a vault at his company, Iron Man stopped him. Stark chose not to press charges but fired the man, who swore his revenge. That revenge involved him becoming the supervillain Jack Frost.

As his name indicates, his powers involve freezing, where he creates a suit that allows him to drop below freezing without harming his body, and also the ability to freeze anything around him. Iron Man defeated him in their first fight, but he returned later as the villain Blizzard, and switched back to Jack Frost again before returning as Blizzard one more time. He even seemed to gain superhuman powers when fighting Hulk later, but reverted to just his armor, where Arno Stark killed him.

5) Mister Doll

Easily, the Iron Man villain with the worst possible name has to be Mister Doll, who appeared in Tales of Suspense #48. His powers are almost the same as those of the Fantastic Four villain, Puppet Master. The way this villain’s powers work is by stealing a voodoo doll from an African witch doctor, and realizing he can mold it to look like anyone and then torture and even kill a person if he manipulates it enough. He did this to force millionaires to give him money and tried it on Tony Stark.

He almost killed Iron Man twice in their first issue together, and he proved to be a fearsome foe. However, he became even more powerful later in life when he became the Brothers Grimm, transporting his mind into two animated dolls, and his body died. He ended up possessing several magical powers at this time and fought Iron Man and Spider-Woman over his villainous career.

3) Black Widow

Black Widow made her debut appearance in Tales of Suspense #52, as she fought Iron Man in the name of the Soviet Union. At this time, she was known as Madame Natasha, and the Soviets sent her to America to kill Anton Vanko, the man formerly known as Crimson Dynamo, who had fled from Russia and taken up a home in America, working with Tony Stark.

Black Widow was a master assassin and, even without any armor, she was as deadly as they come. Of course, Black Widow would also end up defecting later and become one of the most beloved superheroes in Marvel Comics, although she was nothing like she was in her early Marvel appearances. This was the only one of Iron Man’s first ten villains who actually became an A-list hero over time.

2) Crimson Dynamo

Iron Man’s early adventures seemed to have him fighting two different things: enemies of the United States and armored foes. Often, those were one and the same. In Tales of Suspense #46, Iron Man fought the Crimson Dynamo for the first time. This was, of course, the original Crimson Dynamo, Anton Vanko, and the Soviet Union ordered him to go to the United States and sabotage Stark Industries, which supplied the U.S. with weapons.

Crimson Dynamo was a perfect villain for Iron Man, as he had the Crimson Dynamo Armor Mark 1, which was electrically powered and computer-assisted, and it put him on a level playing field when fighting Iron Man. This Crimson Dynamo turned good when he learned the Soviet Union would kill him following his mission. However, the legacy of the Crimson Dynamo has only increased over the years, with Dimitri Bukharin and Valentin Shatalov taking on the roles in the future.

1) Mandarin

In Tales of Suspense #50, Iron Man fought the man who would become the closest thing he has to an arc enemy. This was the debut of Mandarin in Marvel Comics. The matchup here was perfect. Iron Man used his armor and scientific knowledge to fight criminals, and Mandarin used magic, thanks ot his ten rings, each with its own specific powers. Magic vs. science was always the most entertaining Iron Man stories, and it made Mandarin his greatest villain.

Mandarin was a master criminal in Red China, and unlike many other Iron Man villains, he had no desire to take part in national political matters when it came to China versus the world. The U.S. sent Iron Man into China to get intelligence information about Mandarin, and this is what he did, although neither man could defeat the other. Mandarin possesses superhuman physical powers thanks to stored Chi (like Shang-Chi uses) and is a master of the martial arts. Add in his ten rings, and he is more powerful than anyone Iron Man fought early in his career.

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