doddleNEWS looks at Iron Man's Top 5 comic villains

[Borjigin]

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.

....When? The Mandarin's been a bloodthirsty type in every story I've seen. He's more the Bane/Gorilla Grodd of Iron Man than he is the Doom.

[Stark Resilient]

Just got around to this looking at this list.. The fact that Mallen is on is a joke..

1. Mandarin
2. Titanium Man
3. Crimson Dynamo
4. Obadiah Stane
5. Winston Supreme Canadian Whiskey

[Ironghost]

Just got around to this looking at this list.. The fact that Mallen is on is a joke..

1. Mandarin
2. Titanium Man
3. Crimson Dynamo
4. Obadiah Stane
5. Winston Supreme Canadian Whiskey

...and #5 is the one we all least want to see again.  Absolutely true it's a nemesis.

[Firebrand]

Bah! No list is complete without Firebrand. I owned Stark -that corporate dog! I won the war of the super villians, and I'd win it again if that Lama guy staged another one.

Oh, and put me in the next movie damn it! 

[Stark Resilient]

Bah! No list is complete without Firebrand. I owned Stark -that corporate dog! I won the war of the super villians, and I'd win it again if that Lama guy staged another one.

Oh, and put me in the next movie damn it! 

So sorry Mister Firebrand

My new list

1) Firebrand
2) Firebrand
3) Firebrand
4) Firebrand
5) Firebrand

[IMJ]

The real problem with a list like this is that if you go back and tally up appearances of villains in the actual Iron Man books, his "well known" rogues have relatively spartan appearances in the title across volumes.  I mean... for example I'm guessing that the Mandarin has only appeared in the Iron Man title/storyarcs maybe... what? 11 times including Temugin (that was a totally off the cuff number that I just brainstormed the appearences, but you get the point).  Now this isn't an invitation for "well the special villains should only be featured rarely" because that's not what I'm illustrating here - this is a pattern that holds true across most of Iron Man's rogue's gallery.

The truth is that Iron Man's villains as singular entities play such a minor role in the character's continuity that it's not much to talk about. That's why it's so easy to pick out the definitive Iron Man stories across the titles - their aren't many to choose from that feature a captivating and in-depth confrontation in throughout the history of the character.

In fact, when the hobby at large talks about Iron Man, the conversations tend to be about the bottle, or forming the Avengers, or an armor upgrade and rarely about a definitive confrontation's with the Mandarin or some other villain.

[Chaos]

To your first point, that should have eliminated Mallen immediately...

[Firebrand]

I've always liked that Iron Man didn't go overboard with recurring villains. I mean, I am so sick of stupid Lex Luthor having to be in everything Superman. The Batman movies etc have at least gone beyond Joker, but every time I see Supes, there's that bald git in a sport coat.

Iron Man had a steady gang, but they weren't over used. I loved the Controller, for example, he was creepy. But how often do I need to see him around, pulling out the same bag of tricks?

Also Iron Man either outgrew his foes (Melter... stripy pants just aren't as imposing as they used to be  ) or they were part of the political climate of the 60s that is no longer relevant for the hero today. A writer either has to retool them or make new ones.