I Nose You
The Moment: “Shouldn’t there be a nose?” was Stan Lee’s feedback on an Iron Man cover in 1974.
Cue a quick suit redesign which saw Iron Man’s mask (briefly) gain a nose…
As Seen In: Iron Man #68
Why It's Cool: Well, it didn’t stick around, but it’s an interesting moment in the continuing development of Iron Man’s armour.
If It Had Been Batman: Iron Man got a nose to make breathing easier.
Surely Batman’s suit needs a zip to make lavatory trips easier?
Seen Iron Man 3 ? Watch our spoiler-filled post-analysis below, as the TF discusses the twists, action, and whether it's the best Marvel movie yet.
*MASSIVE ENORMOUS SPOILER WARNING* though - we don't recommend you watching it until you've seen the movie.
Iron Scream
The Moment: A drunk Tony Stark suits up as Iron Man and beats the crap out of Machine Man when he comes calling for help.
As Seen In : ‘The Iron Scream’ Iron Man (Vol 1) 168
Why It's Cool: Tony Stark in destructo mode is always entertaining.
If It Had Been Batman: He’d get pulled over by police for DUI and start drunkenly blathering on about his dead parents.
Explode-athon
The Moment: We’re introduced to the gobby wonder that is Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), who’s in Afghanistan to give a demonstration of his new Jericho missile.
Ker-BOOM.
As Seen In: Iron Man (2008)
Why It's Cool: Explosions pretty. It’s also one heck of an introduction to Downey Jr’s singularly wily, loveable Iron Man.
If It Had Been Batman: He wouldn’t have shown up for the presentation. He’s not exactly daylight-friendly.
Bunk Up
The Moment: Tony Stark discovers a bunker built by his dad in Nebraska, and attempts to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance.
As Seen In: ‘The Bunker’ Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #9
Why It's Cool: Not only do we get a rather more personal Iron Man story, we also get Iron Man fighting an army of grey, Iron Man armour automatons.
If It Had Been Batman: Isn’t discovering more about his parents more of a Spider-Man thing?
Helmet Head
The Moment: Director Jon Favreau solves the problem of Iron Man’s mask being totally emotionless by putting a camera right inside the helmet.
Hey Presto, we’re in the suit with Tony!
As Seen In: Iron Man (2008)
Why It's Cool: It’s a clever way of reminding us that it really is Downey Jr inside the suit (even if it’s not).
See also: Sam Raimi burning off Spidey’s mask in Spider-Man.
If It Had Been Batman: We imagine it’s very dark inside Batman’s mask. And it probably smells likes tyres. Not somewhere you want to be.
Murder Suspect
The Moment: Iron Man is suspected of killing Tony Stark.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye kidnaps Pepper Potts in order to take Iron Man down. Eeshk.
As Seen In: ‘Suspected Of Murder!’ Tales of Suspense #60
Why It's Cool: It’s the comics playing around with the ‘secret identity’ thing, and has us wondering how Tony’s going to extricate himself from this mess.
If It Had Been Batman: Sounds a bit like the end of The Dark Knight to us.
Armour Jump
The Moment: Tony Stark launches himself into the air as a colossal explosion goes off behind him.
Unfazed, he jumps straight into his Iron Man suit while still in mid-air.
As Seen In: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Why It's Cool: It’s just one of those action movie things. Giant explosion. Tony Stark. Mid-flight armour-dressing. Three cool things in one extremely cool moment.
If It Had Been Batman: It would’ve taken a little longer to get the suit on. Rubber’s trickier than metal.
Fighting The President
The Moment: Things get relevant as Iron Man takes on an alternate universe version of the President of the United States.
As Seen In: Comics
Why It's Cool: It doesn’t really make much sense, but the artwork’s awesome – and it’s Iron Man going up against the lead of the free world, for chrissakes.
If It Had Been Batman: It would be because The Joker was posing as the President. Or something.
From This Conflict
The Moment : Iron Man goes up against Crimson Dynamo, but Janice dies in the scuffle.
As Seen In: ‘ From the Conflict…Death!’ Iron Man #22
Why It's Cool: There are real stakes and real losses here. Janice’s death is a massive blow to both readers and Tony.
If It Had Been Batman: He’d mope and beat himself up over Janice’s death.
Business as usual, then.
Black Widows Debut
The Moment: Slinky sex kitten Black Widow crops up for the very first time, not yet a SHIELD agent and resolutely anti-American, being Russian and all.
Which, obviously, grates with Stark.
As Seen In: Tales Of Suspense #52
Why It's Cool: Loads of Black Widow stuff from this issue eventually made it into Iron Man 2, and is some of the best stuff in the sequel.
If It Had Been Batman: He’d have finally found the perfect woman to get over Catwoman with. Miaow.
