doddleNEWS looks at Iron Man's Top 5 comic villains

[Metal Head]

http://news.doddleme.com/news-room/top-5-iron-man-villains/

heath

[Billium3]

Wow, I really didn't like that list. I didn't like the inclusion of Mallen or Ultimo (Ultimo is a cool minion and would look neat on film if Mandarin is in it, don't get me wrong, I just think there had to be some better choices). And sure, Tony can be his own worst enemy at times, but it almost came across as not being able to name a 5th enemy here; I probably wouldn't have felt that way if Mallen and Ultimo weren't on the list. If I were to do a list right now, I'd probably pick (in no particular order):

Madame Masque
Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane
Mandarin
Justin Hammer
Titanium Man (Boris Bullski)

[Chaos]

Mandarin and Justin Hammer I can agree with being on this list, although with Ultimo while ranking fairly high (probably around the 10-20 mark) I would have put others ahead of him. Listing Stark himself, a bit of a cop out for me. I get his point but other than that one arc, has Stark really been his own worst enemy?

Mallen. Seriously? This practically invalidates this list. How can you mention a one arc character over the likes of either of his two greatest rogues Titanium Man or Crimson Dynamo is utterly beyond me. Hell, Fin Fang Foom, Ghost, Spymaster, Madam Masque, Obadiah Stane, all these people should rank far, far higher than Mallen (and those are just off the top of my head!). It kind of leads me to believe this guy started reading the title with Vol. 4 #1 and jumped on the IM Hate bandwagon during Civil War with his choice of Stark being his own worst enemy. Terrible choice.

[Iron Centurion]

They forgot to include Matt Fraction.   

[IronManKyle]

Heath, you should've wrote that article! 
I like Billium's list with the addition of Matt Fraction being the #1 villain

[Typhon]

I don't mind them putting Stark on the list as his own worst enemy, but it shouldn't be #1.  I'd say #10 at the highest.  We may not like it, but Tony screwed himself over pretty royally.  I'm with Chaos on how this list is pretty much new fan crap by leaving out T-Man or Dynamo in favor of Mallen.  I hate Midas, but I put him over Mallen.  Hell, I'd put Beetle over Mallen.  I'm surprised Blacklash\Whiplash isn't on this list since it seems the films inspired the list.   

[Ironghost]

When was it Tony figured out the Black Widow was once paired with the original Titanium Man.   

I like Bill's list.

[Chaos]

The more i think about that writer's list the more terrible it is. This guy definitely started reading the books 5 years ago...

[Jasper Sitwell]

... classic IM Villains:
Mallen? Really?
What about classic IM Villains:
- Midas
- Controller
- MODOK
- Black Lama
- Unicorn
- Count Nefaria
- Spymaster
- Blizzard
- Firebrand
- Madame Masque
- Yellow Claw
- Kraken
- Bram Velsing
- Gargantus (uhm) :-"

[IMJ]

... classic IM Villains:
Mallen? Really?
What about classic IM Villains:
- Midas
- Controller
- MODOK
- Black Lama
- Unicorn
- Count Nefaria
- Spymaster
- Blizzard
- Firebrand
- Madame Masque
- Yellow Claw
- Kraken
- Bram Velsing
- Gargantus (uhm) :-"

The truth is that only a few of Iron Man's villains are worth anything in comic lore, and even then most of them didn't appear on that awful list. I think people just write stuff sometimes to create an article for their writers resume without actually contributing or researching.

[Brian]

I replied to that article "You forgot to list Matt Fraction."

[IronManKyle]

I know Bob Layton himself wrote -and i totally feel the same way that- if there was ever a perfect protagonist for the character Iron Man, its Doctor Doom.  And yes, I feel that they are two different sides of the same coin.
Layton talked about it more in detail in the Doom Quest hardcover trade. (that collects both the Camelot stories from vol.1)

[Chaos]

I agree with Layton on that. I've always felt IM and Doom were great foes, opposites sides of a coin is as apt an analogy as you get. Essentially the same person but one chose the path of good the other evil.

[Billium3]

Glad you liked my list IronManKyle and Ironghost. It was pretty easy. The guy who wrote the article clearly wasn't as well versed in Iron Man lore and mythos (Mallen over Iron Monger? Really?).

 I almost had Crimson Dynamo since his seems to be a legacy that just won't die, but when you read that first Tales of Suspense 3-issue arc with Titanium Man, you just realize what an evil bastard Bullski is. Where Tony is compassionate about his fellow man, Bullski is a cold, heartless man, willing to do anything to anyone to get what he wants. Where Tony uses his own smarts to outfit himself in a sophisticated suit of armor, the Titanium Man just says "Bah!" and has his underling scientists make one for him. And should they cross him in any way or upset him in even the merest of ways, it's off to a work camp for them (at least back then). While Tony has his morals and such, Titanium Man has none. While the Titanium Man is huge and even stronger than Tony (both in and out of armor), Tony has his greatest gift, his brain, to take down his foe; sort of a David vs Goliath theme. A real nice contrast between the two characters, if you ask me.

And for those of you who said they like Dr.Doom as an Iron Man villain, I like a good Doom/Iron Man battle, too. They're good enemies, and every time they battle, you know it's gonna be good. I'd have to read the Layton Doom Quest hardcover statements, however, to see exactly what Layton meant by having Doom as the perfect protagonist for Tony, though. I see Doom on a much larger scale, a villain to the Marvel Universe at large. If I had to pick a Rogue's Gallery for him to belong to, cliche as it sounds, I'd have to say the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards if you want to be specific. I agree that they have some nice contrasts, but nothing too significant to suggest that they should be arch-nemesi. That's just me, though.

[Brian]

I know Bob Layton himself wrote -and i totally feel the same way that- if there was ever a perfect protagonist for the character Iron Man, its Doctor Doom.  And yes, I feel that they are two different sides of the same coin.
Layton talked about it more in detail in the Doom Quest hardcover trade. (that collects both the Camelot stories from vol.1)

I have to heartily agree. While Dr. Doom has been cast as a FF villain, he's always been better for Tony Stark.

One of the irritating things about the recent Mandarin remake is that it took that part of the Mandarin away. Before, he was always a kinda Chinese version of Doctor Doom. Now, he's a delusional psychopath. Thanks, Matt, don't let the door hit you on the way out!