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American animated television series from 1994–1996 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iron Man, also known as Iron Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated television series based on Marvel Comics' superhero, Iron Man. The series aired from 1994 to 1996 in syndication as part of The Marvel Action Hour, which packaged Iron Man with other animated series based on Marvel properties, the Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk, with one half-hour episode from each series airing back-to-back. The show was backed by a toy line that featured many armor variants.[1][2] Off the heels of the release of the live-action Iron Man film in 2008, reruns began airing on the Jetix block on Toon Disney.
| Iron Man | |
|---|---|
The title card for Season 1 of Iron Man | |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Based on | |
| Voices of | Robert Hays James Avery Dorian Harewood John Reilly Ed Gilbert Robert Ito Jim Cummings Katherine Moffat Jennifer Darling Casey Defranco Jennifer Hale James Warwick Tom Kane |
| Narrated by | George Johnson |
| Theme music composer | Keith Emerson (season 1) William Kevin Anderson (season 2) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Avi Arad Stan Lee Rick Ungar |
| Producers | Glen Hill Dennis Ho Ted Tchoe |
| Camera setup | Setup |
| Running time | 26 minutes |
| Production companies | Marvel Entertainment Group Marvel Films Rainbow Animation Korea Koko Enterprises |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication (The Marvel Action Hour/Marvel Action Universe) |
| Release | September 24, 1994 – February 24, 1996 |
Although only lasting two seasons, Iron Man was the subject of a major overhaul between seasons when its production studio was changed. The result was a massively changed premise, tone, and general approach, which left the disparate seasons scarcely recognizable as being two halves of the same series.[1]
The first season of Iron Man involves Iron Man battling the Mandarin and his minions, who seek to steal his technology. The Mandarin's army consists of Dreadknight, Blizzard, Blacklash, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind, Living Laser, MODOK, Fin Fang Foom, Justin Hammer, and series-original character Hypnotia. Iron Man has a group of allies who are based on Force Works and include Century, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Spider Woman.
The season consisted mostly of episodic, original stories, with the exception of "The Origin of Iron Man". This late-run recounting of the title character's origin is symptomatic of what is generally thought of as the season's greatest weakness – despite the series' large cast of characters, few of them are developed, leaving viewers unaware of their origins and powers.[3] The show is generally held to have been at its best when telling characters' backstories.[4][5][6]
Throughout the season, the Mandarin spies on Force Works and almost deduces Iron Man's secret identity before Iron Man tricks him with an android duplicate of himself.
In this first season, the theme song was composed by progressive rock artist Keith Emerson, known for his work on the supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer and for his soundtrack for Dario Argento's horror Inferno.
The second season had a new animation studio, Koko Enterprises; a new head writer, Tom Tataranowicz; and a new electric guitar theme composed by William Kevin Anderson.[7][8] Additionally, Iron Man was redesigned to resemble artist Mark Bright's depiction of the character from the late 1980s.[9]
In the season premiere, "The Beast Within", Iron Man is struck by a missile, weakening his body and forcing him to wear cybernetic tech on his chest. Throughout the season, he utilizes various armors built for specific situations that he can change on the fly.
The Mandarin is given a significantly reduced role after losing his rings. His remaining appearances see him attempt to recover his rings and disable technology worldwide before being killed by bandits.[10][11]
Another change was that Force Works is mostly written out of the series, parting ways with Iron Man after works with the Mandarin to battle Fin Fang Foom. Julia Carpenter and War Machine are the only ones who continue to work with Stark, with the latter temporarily developing claustrophobia after almost drowning in his armor.
Iron Man and War Machine appear in The Incredible Hulk episode "Helping Hand, Iron Fist", where they help the Hulk and Rick Jones battle a squad of Hulkbusters.
Iron Man and War Machine appear in Spider-Man. Throughout the series, they serve as allies to Spider-Man; at one point, they are transported to the Beyonder's Battleworld before being returned to Earth with no memory of the events.[12]
| No. | Title | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead" | Ron Friedman | September 24, 1994 | |
|
The Mandarin uses a zombified submarine crew against Iron Man. Introducing: Iron Man, Century, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, War Machine, Justin Hammer, Mandarin, MODOK, Blacklash, Blizzard, Dreadknight, Fin Fang Foom, Whirlwind, Grey Gargoyle, Hypnotia, Titanium Man. | ||||
| 2 | "Rejoice! I Am Ultimo, Thy Deliverer" | Ted Pederson & Francis Moss (story by: Ron Friedman) | October 1, 1994 | |
|
Mandarin accidentally releases a giant robot wishing to destroy all life. Introducing: Ultimo | ||||
| 3 | "Data In, Chaos Out" | Written by Doug Booth (story by: Ron Friedman & Stan Lee) | October 8, 1994 | |
|
When Mandarin makes plans to crash the stock market, MODOK uses an invention to mind control War Machine. | ||||
| 4 | "Silence My Companion, Death My Destination" | Written by Steve Hayes (story by: Ron Friedman) | October 15, 1994 | |
|
Mandarin attaches a bomb to a new Stark Industries tank. Introducing: Rachel Carpenter | ||||
| 5 | "The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat" | Written by Doug Booth (story by: Ron Friedman & Stan Lee) | October 22, 1994 | |
|
Mandarin steals an experimental military plane. | ||||
| 6 | "Enemy Without, Enemy Within" | Ron Friedman | October 29, 1994 | |
|
Mandarin's forces ambush Force Works near a photography shoot on the beach. So why is MODOK going to Iron Man for help? | ||||
| 7 | "The Origin of the Mandarin" | Ron Friedman | November 5, 1994 | |
|
Iron Man discovers a cube that reveals the Mandarin's mysterious origin. Introducing: Wellington Yinsen | ||||
| 8 | "The Defection of Hawkeye" | Ron Friedman | November 12, 1994 | |
|
The heroes of Force Works begin to suspect Hawkeye of being a traitor. | ||||
| 9 | "Iron Man to the Second Power, Part 1" | Yale Rudoff | November 19, 1994 | |
|
MODOK creates an Iron Man duplicate. | ||||
| 10 | "Iron Man to the Second Power, Part 2" | Ron Friedman & Yale Rudoff | November 26, 1994 | |
|
Force Works tries to locate the real Iron Man. Introducing: Living Laser | ||||
| 11 | "The Origin of Iron Man, Part 1" | Ron Friedman | December 3, 1994 | |
|
Iron Man's origin is presented as Tony Stark is captured and dons "Iron Man" suits. Introducing: Howard Stark | ||||
| 12 | "The Origin of Iron Man, Part 2" | Ron Friedman | December 10, 1994 | |
|
Tony Stark struggles to repair his armor while Mandarin's minions and Force Works fight to find him first. | ||||
| 13 | "The Wedding of Iron Man" | Ron Friedman | December 17, 1994 | |
|
Tony and Julia get married. | ||||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "The Beast Within" | Richard Trueblood | Greg Johnson | September 23, 1995 | |
|
Fin Fang Foom betrays the Mandarin and he and his dragon brethren try to kill the human race. In the end the dragons are killed and the Mandarin is presumed dead. Iron Man's team leave except for War Machine and Spider-Woman. The Mandarin survives and begins to reclaim his rings. Introducing: Nick Fury | ||||||
| 15 | 2 | "Fire and Rain" | Bob Arkwright | Len Wein | September 30, 1995 | |
| 16 | 3 | "Cell of Iron" | Dan Thompson | Jan Strnad | October 7, 1995 | |
| 17 | 4 | "Not Far From the Tree" | Bob Arkwright | Francis Moss | October 14, 1995 | |
|
Howard Stark suddenly reappears. But Tony's excitement is short lived, because A.I.M. and their chief enforcer Crimson Dynamo are determined to kill Howard. Introducing: Crimson Dynamo | ||||||
| 18 | 5 | "Beauty Knows No Pain" | Dan Thompson | Brooks Wachtel | October 21, 1995 | |
|
Iron Man battles his old flame turned enemy Madame Masque, who is trying to unlock the power of Isis. Introducing: Madame Masque | ||||||
| 19 | 6 | "Iron Man, On the Inside" | Dan Thompson | Steve Cuden | November 4, 1995 | |
|
When Ultimo severely injures Hawkeye, Iron Man must go inside Hawkeye to save him. But a miniature Ultimo is after Iron Man. | ||||||
| 20 | 7 | "Distant Boundaries" | Bob Arkwright | Greg Johnson | November 11, 1995 | |
|
Iron Man heads to the distant planet Elysian. | ||||||
| 21 | 8 | "The Armor Wars, Part 1" | Dan Thompson | Len Uhley | November 18, 1995 | |
|
After a battle with Crimson Dynamo Iron Man realizes someone is selling his technology. Soon Iron Man goes after every armored superhero or super villain, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. hunting Tony down. Introducing: Beetle, Controller, Stingray, Firepower, Stilt-Man, Ghost | ||||||
| 22 | 9 | "The Armor Wars, Part 2" | Bob Arkwright | Len Uhley | November 25, 1995 | |
|
Iron Man continues his efforts to disable all other armored warriors. | ||||||
| 23 | 10 | "Empowered" | Bob Arkwright | Greg Johnson | February 3, 1996 | |
|
Modok locates one of the Mandarin's missing power rings. | ||||||
| 24 | 11 | "Hulk Buster" | Bob Arkwright & Dan Thompson | Francis Moss, Ted Pederson and Greg Johnson | February 10, 1996 | |
|
Iron Man and Bruce Banner work together to recover one of the Mandarin's rings. | ||||||
| 25 | 12 | "Hands of the Mandarin, Part 1" | Bob Arkwright | Douglas Booth | February 17, 1996 | |
|
The Mandarin announces his intentions to take over the world. | ||||||
| 26 | 13 | "Hands of the Mandarin, Part 2" | Bob Arkwright & Dan Thompson | Douglas Booth | February 24, 1996 | |
|
The Mandarin captures Iron Man and the rest of Force Works. | ||||||
| No. | Title | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | "Helping Hand, Iron Fist" | Stewart St. John | September 29, 1996 | |
|
Bruce Banner goes to Tony Stark for a cure. But a blow to the head leaves Bruce, and Hulk, amnesiac. | ||||
| No. | Title | Written by | Original air date | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First crossover | ||||||||||||
| 37 | "The Sins of the Fathers, Chapter X: "Venom Returns" | John Semper (Teleplay by: Stan Berkowitz, Len Wein, & John Semper) | November 2, 1996 | |||||||||
| 38 | "The Sins of the Fathers, Chapter XI: "Carnage"" | John Semper (Teleplay by: Stan Berkowitz, James Krieg, & John Semper) | November 9, 1996 | |||||||||
| Second crossover | ||||||||||||
| 61 | "Secret Wars, Chapter I: Arrival" | John Semper and Karen Milovich | November 7, 1997 | |||||||||
| 62 | "Secret Wars, Chapter II: The Gauntlet of the Red Skull" | Virginia Roth | November 14, 1997 | |||||||||
| 63 | "Secret Wars, Chapter III: Doom" | John Semper, Mark Hoffmeier, and Ernie Altbacker | November 21, 1997 | |||||||||
On October 8, 2007, Maximum Entertainment released a three-disc DVD set that contained all twenty-six episodes of the series.[16] Maximum released all twenty-six episodes as separate three-disc sets in April 2008, with each disc also including two Iron Man segments from The Marvel Super Heroes. These discs also came bundled together as a boxset titled Iron Man: The Ultimate Super Hero. The third was also released separately as Iron Man: Special Edition.[17] In April 2008, Maximum released a 5-disc boxset containing both complete series sets for this show and the one for The Marvel Super Heroes segments.
Clear Vision later took over European rights and released a 4-disc complete series set exclusively to their website on April 19, 2010. A six-disc set that was released on the same day bundled both series together.[18]
Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the entire series on Region 4 DVD – which spans three separate volumes – on March 30, 2010[19]
Buena Vista Home Entertainment later released the series on Region 1 DVD on May 4, 2010. This complete series release was made to cash-in and coincide with the release of Iron Man 2, which opened in theaters a few days later, on May 7.
The complete series is available to stream on Disney+ although all seasons are erroneously grouped under season 1, as of the service's launch on November 12, 2019.[20]
An eight-issue comic-book series based on the show was published by Marvel:
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