The Top Five Captain America and Iron Man Throwdowns

Unlike Batman and Superman, who were best chums for most of their comic book history, Captain America and Iron Man have frequently come to blows during their fifty two years of sharing space in the Marvel Universe.Captain America: Civil War is a loose retelling of one of their more epic fights, but the two Avengers have come to blows at least a dozen times…and that’s just in the comics.Here’s five of our favorite Captain America/Iron Man fights:

Avengers #4

Captain America and Iron Man’s first meeting really set the tone for their future relationship, as the two briefly brawled after the Avengers thawed Captain America out of the ice he’d been trapped in since World War II. After tossing Iron Man and Thor around after he woke up from his decades long coma, Stark and the rest of the Avengers became suspicious that the man they pulled out of the ocean might be a trap.  After a brief fight, Captain America quickly proved he was the real deal by talking like an old man and jumping around out of harm’s way until he refused to hit the Wasp.  

Tales of Suspense #58

Captain America and Iron Man’s first solo fight was actually because of an impostor Captain America.  The Chameleon (one of Spider-Man’s foes) impersonated Captain America and convinced Iron Man that the real Captain America was a fake. So, Iron Man tracked Captain America at Avengers Mansion and tried to beat him up…twice.  Captain America gained the upper hand in each battle, leading Iron Man to realize that he’d been duped.  Before the two could team up to find the Chameleon, Giant-Man and the Wasp showed up with a captured Chameleon in tow because no one actually wants to see the heroes beat up the bad guy.

The Armor Wars

Iron Man’s next big fight with Captain America came during the Armor Wars, a major storyline in which Iron Man attempted to reclaim all of the armors derived from his tech over the years.  After breaking into the Vault to take the prison guards’ specialized armor, Iron Man comes into conflict with Captain America…who at the time was just going by “The Captain”.  Iron Man wasn’t too thrilled with his old ally’s intervention and knocks him out.  Two issues later, Rogers tries to arrest Tony, but Iron Man hits him with some “high density beams” and quickly escapes.  After getting his butt handed to him twice, the Captain decides to let Tony do his thing and go on an extended vendetta mission without any oversight or responsibility.  Good job, Steve.  

Civil War (the Comic)

Of course, Captain America and Iron Man’s most famous fight came during the Superhero Civil War, a conflict fought over the government’s right to register and regulate superheroes.  After witnessing the devastation caused by a group of poorly trained hero, Iron Man leads the side pushing for oversight while Captain America goes rogue, bringing many heroes to his side.  The fight ended with Iron Man hiring a bunch of supervillains, Captain America leading a Atlantean invasion of US soil and the two coming to blows in the middle of New York City.  Using the Vision to shut down Tony’s armor, Captain America nearly kills the now defenseless Iron Man until law enforcement intervenes.  Realizing that he just invaded New York City with a foreign army, turned half of his friends into wanted fugitives and nearly murdered one of his best friends, Captain America turns himself in, giving Iron Man the moral victory. 

Everyone Dies

Captain America and Iron Man patched up their differences from the Civil War a couple of years later, but the two came into conflict again during a recent run of The Avengers.  After Iron Man and his friends discovered that the multiverse was collapsing and threatening the existence of their world (and every other universe, too), he and Captain America tried to stop the multiversial excursions with a team of Earth’s best and brightest heroes. When Iron Man realized that they were going to have to destroy other alternate Earths in order to save their own world, he ordered Dr. Strange to mindwipe Cap when he objected to their plan. 

Of course, when Cap pieced together the truth, he was not happy with Iron Man and his friends and dedicated all of SHIELD’s forces to hunting Iron Man down.  In the end, the two duked it out in the middle of New York (again) as the universe literally collapsed around them.  No one won that battle, since everyone died.  (It’s okay, though! The universe got better!)