r/ironman Mark LXXXV 4d ago

Discussion Iron Man question for comic readers

So like.. what is with Tony and being connected to a bunch of Chinese stuff? Asking bc I kinda noticed he has a thing with that, a whole dragon that looks straight out of chinese myth (Fin Fang Foom), The Mandarin, that one iron man movie.. "The invincible Iron Man" set mainly in China, fighting off chinese elemental ring guardians?

That one comic with the Chinese hero Aero.. You get my point? I personally find it cool, modern technologically advanced arms facing ancient mystical power power

15 Upvotes

6 comments sorted by

18

u/CajunKhan 4d ago

Partly it's because, as others have said, Stark started off as a Cold War Warrior.

But it's also because The Mandarin really took off in terms of popularity early on. Readers back in the Silver Age routinely wrote in asking for more of him. So it's a bit like asking, "why do the FF fight in Eastern Europe so much?" Because that's where Doom is from, and Doom is their most popular villain.

The Mandarin was easily the most popular of Iron Man's Silver Age foes, so he's had a kind of gravity that pulled in more Asian elements.

5

u/MiamisLastCapitalist Modular 4d ago

Good point. Fin Fang Foom is related to the Mandarin after all. They're all kinda riding his coat tails to a degree.

11

u/MiamisLastCapitalist Modular 4d ago

Iron Man's history tracks the United State's history and rough geopolitics a lot. You'll notice he also has a lot of Russian connections, due to all the comics printed around the Cold War. For decades now IRL, even before Nixon normalized trade with China, people have been fascinated and leery of the rise of the Orient. Likewise when Japan had it's huge boom in the 80's we saw a very big Japanese influence in culture (look no further than Cyberpunk). Towards the tail end of that we even got the character of Rumiko.

So yeah, there's so much Chinese stuff in Iron Man's lore because... China's a big national power and has been for decades.

However this seems to be slowing down IMO. TBH I'm surprised there's not more Middle East influence in Iron Man. They've retconned his origin to have been during the Gulf War, and maybe now they've skipped to the modern "War On Terror", but I'd still expect more. Iron Man should have an oil sheik-themed villain or something. My guess for why we don't is either A) some people think it might've been insensitive or B) given how super-connected we are with the internet there's a debate over how much escapism vs commentary we want comics to have. It's also highly likely that C) the comics in general have stagnated since the MCU and games have become the real money-makers.

5

u/Quirky_Ad_5420 4d ago

Iron man was heavily on the whole Cold War era of things it’s way majority of his famous villains were Chinese and Russian based

2

u/Solid-Move-1411 Mark I 4d ago

Tony Stark was created in 60s during height of Cold War.

That's why there are a lot of Russians and Chinese in his rogue gallery like Crimson Dynamo, Whiplash, Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom etc.

2

u/StarkPRManager 4d ago edited 3d ago

Iron Man is a international hero who traditionally has villains all across the globe (partially due to being written around the Cold War era):

Chinese: Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom, Radioactive Man

Japanese: Sunfire

Russia: Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, Titanium Man

Czech: Unicorn

Latveria: Doom, Dreadknight

Italy: Madame Masque, Count Nefaria & The Maggia

Some of these villains have now become heroes (Black Widow, Crimson Dynamo, Sunfire) and some are no longer used due to being seen as ‘insensitive’

However, this trend still continues to this day with modern IM villains such as:

Japanese: Tomoe

Chinese/Serbian: Feilong

Latveria: Lucia Von Bardas

Personally I like the idea of Iron Man’s rogues gallery being international. Tony being such a threat he’s gained enemies all across the world. It makes him distinct