Iron Man - in Other Media

In Other Media

In the 1960s, Iron Man was featured in a series of cartoons. In 1981, Iron Man guest appeared in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, but only as Tony Stark. He went on to feature again in his own series in the 1990s as part of the Marvel Action Hour with the Fantastic Four; Robert Hays provided his voice in these animated cartoons. Iron Man also makes an appearance in the episode "Shell Games" of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Apart from comic books, Iron Man appears in Capcom's "Vs." video games, including Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes as either a Gold War Machine or Hyper Armor War Machine, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Iron Man is a playable character in Iron Man, the 1992 arcade game Captain America and the Avengers, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and its sequel, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, as well as being featured as an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and Tony Hawk's Underground. In the 2009 animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, most of the characters, including Tony Stark, are teenagers. An anime adaptation began airing in Japan in October 2010 as part of a collaboration between Marvel Animation and Madhouse, in which Stark, voiced by Keiji Fujiwara, travels to Japan where he ends up facing off against the Zodiac.

In 2008, a film adaptation titled Iron Man was released, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark and directed by Jon Favreau. It received very positive reviews from film critics, grossing $318 million domestically and $570 million worldwide. Its video game adaptation, however, met generally negative reviews. Downey reprised his role in Iron Man 2, which was released in 2010, again directed by Jon Favreau. Downey has now also signed up for a second sequel and the major 2012 blockbuster crossover The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures1.

The character of Tony Stark, again played by Robert Downey, Jr., also appears at the end of the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk.

Jon Favreau, director of the Iron Man movies, describes in his article how Elon Musk was the inspiration for Favreau's film depiction of genius billionaire Tony Stark.