Ultimate Comics: Iron Man

Ultimate Comics Iron Man #1-4

by Nathan Edmondson (Writer), Matteo Buffagni (Illustrations)

What dark motivation drives reckless Tony Stark to be one of Earth's greatest heroes? What secret of Tony's has turned War Machine against him? And who or what is...Ultimate Mandarin?! Be here for the return of Ultimate Iron Man - and experience the Demon in the Armor!

Collecting: Ultimate Comics: Iron Man 1-4

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Book

96 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2013

About the author

Comic book and screenwriter Nathan Edmondson is a native of Augusta, GA. His Eisner-nominated book Who Is Jake Ellis? will soon be a major motion picture from 20th Century Fox, and The Activity film will come soon from Paramount Pictures. NPR has listed his work among the “Top 6 Comics to Draw You In” and USA Today and CNN are among those who have listed him in their Top 10 lists.

Nathan currently lives near Los Angeles, USA.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimate Comics: Iron Man sees the coming of the Ultimate version of The Mandarin, and it's nothing like you could imagine. The actual storytelling tries to achieve importance and gravitas but it didn't really work for me. Not worth reading if you're working your way through the Ultimate Universe!

2022 read; 2017 read; 2013 read

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

My chief complaint with these books is that, when afforded a chance to create a universe and do new things with established characters: these are the choices they made. Tony is more of a womanizer here than in any other Ults comic I've read which is interesting because nothing in the previous comics suggested he'd be this way. He slept with Natasha and flirted with everyone (including men) but he was not a womanizer. So, thanks for that.

Carol is the Pepper Potts figure in this comic and slept with Tony for... reasons. When granted a chance to redo Carol Danvers, this is what they went with? Great.

Speaking of, why doesn't Pepper seem to exist in this universe?

I don't like the change to Jarvis. It also confuses me because I'm pretty sure I remembered an older Jarvis from the Ultimates main comic line?

The art is pretty. I will give it that. Tony was gorgeous and I appreciated the look to his armor here more than any other Ultimates comic.

The plot was moderately interesting, especially when they revealed it was two women that were causing so much trouble with Tony's technology. Then they had to ruin that and make it so that one of them slept with Howard because every female character in this comic has slept with one of the men. *Sighs*

I will say, I liked what they did with Tony and Howard's relationship. It was fairly well done and that's the only reason this is 2.5 stars instead of 1.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bright new take on the Mandarin from the Ultimate Marvel universe.

[Mely · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apparently someone forgot to tell Nathan Edmonson he was writing Ultimate Tony Stark. While every other writer in the Marvel universe (and not a few artists) seems to be shifting their depictions closer to Robert Downey, Jr.'s by the day, Edmonson does a somber old-school drama-llama no-quips Tony Stark who bears no resemblance to the alcoholic partier who hides his kind heart and cold intellect behind an Oscar Wilde facade established by previous writers in the Ultimate universe. This Tony Stark also does not appear to have earned his own fortune, be close to his mother, or have a blond look-alike brother. He does, however, have daddy issues and new girlfriend fridged in the first issue.

The whole thing is an exercise in mediocrity that suddenly jumps all the way to Are-you-seriously-writing-this-here-in-2013?-SERIOUSLY? in the final issue.

As a bonus, in the final issue the villains are a pair of identical Chinese businesswomen (because why waste those cultural stereotypes about Asian uniformity and conformity), one of whom was Tony's dad's girlfriend (because why have an Asian woman who doesn't exist for the sexual benefit of a white man), both of whom defend their actions as defiance of the Man (because feminism and antiracism are only about the self-justification for the theft of the work and status of white men), and who turn out to be working for a man in the end after all (because women can't be a real challenge for men).

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable Iron Man romp that is part of Marvels Ultimate Universe rather than their main comic universe.

This book sees Tony Stark aka Iron Man take on the Mandarin. I like the twist on the villain of the Mandarin in this book, it seems to fit the more grounded approach of this story. Personally it’s a better twist on the character than what we got in Iron Man 3 the film.

We also get some decent flashbacks to Tony’s past and his relationship with his dad, which plays a large part in this. Another large part of the story is Tony’s reluctance to accept help and how it affects his relationship with those around him. This ties in well with the side characters in this book, we have Jarvis (not the AI we are used to from the films, but an actual person), Carol Danvers (filling in the role that you would normally expect Pepper Potts to have) and Rhodey. Unfortunately some of the side characters get shortchanged in this book, especially Rhodey, who doesn’t get much page time at all.

Overall an enjoyable Iron Man book, but not for someone looking into reading Iron Man for the first time. That’s due to the changes to the character of Tony compared with “traditional” Tony. If you are an Iron Man fan I would recommend it. Hopefully if there is a follow up to the cliffhanger at the end, the next part has a lot of potential.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art in here was fairly decent and they did seem to keep in mind that Ultimate Iron Man's helmet should be bigger than normal Iron Man's, those are all things that kept this from being a one star review.

The writer did not seem to know how Ultimate Tony Stark is different than normal one, in fact didn't seem to know he was writing ultimate Tony. All of his established back history was ignored or contradicted, except that he slept with Danvers. By the way, the scenes where he was trying to get back in her pants? Pretty painful. It went from lampooning macho ass-hole-ism to just seeming like the writer thought Tony was in the right pretty damn fast.

PLot wise and character wise everything in this just sucked or was so wrong I can't give it a pass. My suggestion? Give this one a pass, it's not worth your time.

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite graphic novel out of the ones I have read so far, but it was enjoyable. Things were left on a bit of a cliff hanger so it will be interesting to see where it will go next.

[Stoffia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, les années 2000! Cette époque où on s'est collectivement convaincu que le summum du «personage avec une personnalité complexe», c'est un narcissique misogyne égocentrique dont tous les défauts sont pardonnés par le fait qu'il est un génie.

Tony Stark, Dr House, Sherlock Holmes, Sheldon Cooper, etc.

On n'avait pas prévu que ça deviendraient des modèles une bande de techbros plus idiots les uns que les autres.

Tony Stark d'ailleurs est un parfait idiot dans ce comic, même si la narration essaie très fort de nous répéter le contraire. C'est une "origin story" qui m'amène rien d'original.

Un vilain nommé le Mandarin réussi à pirater les systèmes de Stark Industries et à contrôler les drones et les armures. On apprend que le Mandarin à besoin de l'ADN de Tony Stark pour activer l'armement de la plupart des pays occidentaux (qui s'arment chez Stark Industries.)

Tony Stark enfile alors son armure pour s'en aller seul aux quartiers généraux du Mandarin.

Personne, ni chez Shield, ni Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), Tony Stark ne pense : Hey, tu amènes ton ADN chez l'ennemi avec, pour seule arme, le truc qu'il contrôle. Donc le fait que tout le monde soit idiot cause plein de péripéties et de scènes d'action génériques jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient sauvés in extremis dans les dernières pages.

🤷

[Martin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven’t read any Ultimate stuff in years (gave up on the line after Ultimates 2) and to be honest, even the good bits of it haven’t aged at all well. But seeing what happened to it in its later years is just sad.

This is a bland, derivative story, one so determined to synergise with the MCU and Iron Man 3 in particular that it can’t really come up with anything interesting of its own. Some random assistant that is called Jarvis for no good reason. The barely sketched in cipher of a flashback girlfriend it fridges (who might as well be called Maya Hansen) that the comic does even less with than IM3 did. The half-baked corporation as super-villain take on the Mandarin. Combined with a fairly basic moral message and it makes for a weak, pointless comic. The impending death of the Ultimate Universe really was a mercy killing by this point:

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started with some promise and rescued some of its morality by the end, but it suffered from sloppy writing and illustration. They tried to bite off too much character study while trying to encapsulate a story arc in four issues.

[Natassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't the best comic I've read, but it was enjoyable to some extent. Does anyone have any recommendations for other Iron Man comics though? I'm sure there are great ones out there

[David Lipely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best iron man I’ve read, but fun

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

SOMEbody watched Iron Man 3 before they wrote this.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iron-man faces the ultimate Mandarin

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and unambitious for an Ultimate Universe story.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull. Just … dull.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a slow start but ended up being a pretty solid story.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not even sure why they green lit this one. Of all the Ultimates to do a mini series about at this point, Tony feels like the worst choice. It just feels so disposable.

[Luana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comics!

At one point, Tony Stark goes to Rhodey for help. In the previous Ultimate Comics collection I'd read, there were War Machine suits stolen from SHIELD and employed by the enemy. This lead me to question whether or not Rhodey was the superhero War Machine in this continuity or not, since he's flying a jet when Tony goes to see him.

This continued with me questioning whether or not there had even BEEN any canonical Rhodey appearances at all that I'd read, since the only thing I can very clearly remember him having been in were the two hilariously ill-conceived (and subsequently retconned) Orson Scott Card Ultimate Iron Man miniseries depicting lil' Tony and Rhodey's origins.

Keep in mind, the OSC series was already a retcon of a retelling of Tony's origin in an issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up.

Like Ultimate Cap in Divided/United, this one suffered a bit from a comparison to the movie universe, where Shane Black's brilliant take on the Mandarin could not help but make Ultimate Mandarin look less than inspiring. Conceptually it's a fine update, but hey, I don't read books in a vacuum.

Would have given it a "liked it" were it not for a few quite witless Tony witticisms in the first half.

Extra lulz: ends on a cliffhanger, but no second "Demon in the Armor" mini was ever made? Ha!

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this review or all of my reviews on my site!

So much continues to change in the Post-Wave world…

So instead let’s introduce some new foe in the Mandarin. Hacking in and taking over Stark Tech. The Iron Man suit.

Neat idea but feels incomplete. Both in what I expected post Ultimatum and in the resolution.

Onward.

Notes. Spoilers.

The Mandarin! Interesting.

That’s an unexpected look for Jarvis.

Not… War Machine?

I like it.

I enjoy the timing.

[Ernest · Rating 1 out of 5]

This volume had a forgettable story, art that was merely functional rather than being anything special but its greatest problem was ignoring continuity. Ultimate Iron Man is different from Movie Iron Man (which has the widest Iron Man image in popular culture), 616 Iron Man, Marvel 6012 Iron Man etc., yet this volume did not even attempt to tie what had previously been established in the Ultimate series to this volume. It is as if the writer, artist and/or editor/s either did not care or did not appreciate the differences between them.

I cannot recommend this boring, bland and continuity-ignoring volume to anyone. Marvel fans would be equally as frustrated as me while there are much better titles for more casual readers.

[Winston Durant · Rating 4 out of 5]

While people may be overly critical of this series because if it's focus on Tony Stark as a man, and not as an Iron Man, this general concept is what drives the plot forward. Tony Stark is an alcoholic with a shard in his weak heart who could die at any moment. His struggles as a troubled individual never knowing when he will pass away lead to the action that makes him a superhero. The alcoholism, the madness, the philandering of women and inability to settle down because he fears his death will harm any woman he commits to, and of course the action of the comic book make it worth reading. Most people may prefer the other Iron Man series over this one, although I enjoyed it.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is pretty terrible as an addition to the Ultimate U. Pretty much the only thing that is Ultimate Universe is the side characters and the designs of the armors. Rhodey and Tony are clearly their movie counterparts, including a reference to Shawarma.

The story itself is pretty poor. I was a little surprised that Josey wasn't revealed to still be alive and behind everything. Instead, she was just freezered.

[Sineala · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with the other reviewers -- lousy story, and the writer does not seem to be aware that he was supposed to be writing Ults Tony, the flamboyant lush with the cancer and the (dead) twin brother, which you'd think would have been mentioned in some of the family flashback sequences. Also icky Mandarin plot, unfortunate Carol Danvers romantic subplot, and fridged girlfriend for the lose!

[Henrik Emilsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Iron Man har aldrig varit en favorit och detta är inget undantag. En rätt så tråkig historia där ett kinesiskt konglomerat hackar in sig i Stark´s hemliga programvara. Och så lite tillbakablickar på Stark som ungdom och hans relation med sin far.

[Citra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't got the last part yet but it's quite fun so far. The whole story goes so fast and I'm expecting a nice plot twist soon. Glad they decide bringing Howard Stark more through this one.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

was not that great. They mention the Mandarin as if he is a corporation, and never reveal him. Too much chatter, and not enough action.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a really unfortunate experience

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant stuff review to come! :D

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Orson Scott Card series is brilliant. This makes no mention of that earlier storyline and is somewhat dull.

Everyone who hated Trevor in the MCU should see this Mandarian! Trevor rocks!