Ultimate Iron Man

Ultimate Iron Man (Collected Editions)

by Orson Scott Card

The most imaginative, groundbreaking comic of 2005! International bestseller, four-time Hugo award, two-time Nebula award and World Fantasy Award winner Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Shadow Puppets) comes to the Ultimate Universe. He's joined by industry legend Andy Kubert (Ultimate X-Men, Marvel 1602, Wolverine: Origin) to show the shocking beginning of Ultimate Iron Man! If you thought The Ultimates told you everything you needed to know about Ultimate Iron Man, think again! Collects Ultimate Iron Man #1-5.

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

110 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2006

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't really even have the words to describe this. I knew they were going to mess with Iron Man some, but this was crazy!
How do I begin?
I guess it wasn't enough for Tony Stark to be a genius playboy with a ton of money and a kick-ass suit. No. In this version...God, where do I start?
His mother was a genetic engineer who got 'mutated monkey blood' in her mouth when she was a few months pregnant with him. It killed her, and lo and behold, little Tony somehow came into the world...with superpowers. Maybe while they are at it, they could give Batman x-ray vision. Idiots. Part of Iron Man's appeal is that he is just a regular guy with a super-powered suit! Ok. Wait. It gets better. Where was I? Oh yeah, he was born with mutated genes. Something was wrong with his skin, so he felt like he was on fire and in constant pain from the moment he was born. (Don't ask how his dying mother figured that one out just before he was born.) However, he is indestructible. Chop off a foot and it grow back, set him on fire and he will survive, smash his face in and he won't even have a bruise. The real kicker is, that his mother was only (at the most) a few months pregnant when she got infected. The infection makes her crazy, and in constant pain. Even through all this, she tells Tony's father everything that the mutant gene is doing to him in her womb, and how it will effect him after he is born. How did she know any of that stuff? She was infected accidentally, so it's not like she had something to compare it with. Grrrr. It made no sense! I'm a geeky comic book fan, so I can swallow a lot of gamma-radiated, radioactive spider bitten, green power ring carrying , adamantium clawed, Amazon princess, super-craziness! This was just stupid. Again, wait. It gets even better.

His father was working on some kind of body armor that you paint on yourself, when his wife was infected by the mutant monkey. The drawback to this stuff was that, after a few hours, it burned through the skin. Somehow, he knew that if he put this stuff on baby Tony when he is first born it would keep him from being in pain. How does he know? No idea, but there's more. Wait for it...wait for it... It turns your skin BLUE. Why? I got nothin'. So for the first 7 or 8 years of his life, Tony is blue. Oh, and bald. He's bald because this blue paint eats not only skin, but hair. WTF?! At some point, Tony invents his own version of this paint that lets him look normal and grow hair. Okaaay. So what was the point? No idea. Still, there's more.

The monkey gene also made him super-duper smart. I know what you're thinking. He was already smart, right? Well, they couldn't leave well enough alone...again. Get this, his brain tissue is spread out over his entire body! It's in his feet, his elbows, his ass, all over. He is one giant man-size brain. Think on that for a minute. Just let it marinate. Now, before you ask, they did make a joke about his brain being in his butt. Har-dee-har-har.

There were manymanymany more things I hated about Ultimate Iron Man, but I don't think there is enough room for me to keep ranting. Bottom line, don't waste your time or money on this piece of crap. The plot is disjointed and weird, the characters are unbelievable, and nothing even remotely resembles any kind of Iron Man I've ever seen.

[Jerecho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story - 2.50
Graphics- 2.0

[Bookwraiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on Tony Stark and his life. Certainly, it is a bit different than the normal Tony, but I thought it fit in really well with the Ultimate Universe, especially the Tony/Iron Man portrayed in The Ultimates.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think a caveat of enjoying this book is suspending what you know about Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. If a reader can't do that, then that's going to be an issue in reading this graphic novel.

Orson Scott Card takes a huge departure in some ways in the evolution of Tony Stark and his becoming Iron Man. It was pretty weird and different from what I know, and I am admittedly mainly familiar with the character from movies and TV, and some research I've done into the character online. I won't go into what was changed, because it's a major spoiler. I think in some ways, it undermines the coolness of Stark as a normal man who becomes a superhero through his ingenuity and invention. That's probably my major issue with this story.

I'm not sure why they decided to take that direction with the story, but I think less experimentation with the central identity of the character would have been better.

I gave it 3 stars because it has good action, good artwork, and there were some interesting ideas, but subtracted two off because it took too many liberties with the storyline.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series reads like Card looked at 616's Iron Man and said "Let's really ruin this."

Where to start? Where to start?

I suppose here: if the only likable character in your series is notoriously abusive, drunken father Howard Stark, you've made a huge mistake. To be fair, he's not abusive in this universe but it's still a garbage series. Howard Stark is a semi broke inventor that invented some bacterial armor that turns people blue but protects them from blows. Zedediah Stane wants to steal it? I think? Howard was married to a woman that helped Zedediah screw Howard over. He leaves her for Maria who dies in childbirth. Howard then raises a blue Tony and tries to keep him safe from the Stane organization that wants to steal the formula.

So, this series has very little to do with Tony. Sure, it all sort of revolves around him but the larger character is Howard Stark here. Anyway, at a certain point, Tony meets Rhodey and I don't know who these children are but they're certainly not my sons. Tony is spouting racist bullshit as that really shitty type of humor where white guys think "If we both acknowledge the stereotypes, it's like we're laughing at them together, right?" Wrong. Rhodey decides to thank Tony protecting him by throwing him violently into some rocks and calling him "freak boy". It's all just really terrible. There's a random girl that decides to befriend them for reasons unknown to me. None of it makes any sense.

I wondered how it could get worse than Ultimates and Card showed me. Boy, he got me good. So, it's not a recommend. It's not even a "hey, if you're bored?" recommend. This is a, hey, if you need firewood and you have nothing else to burn but a copy of this is lying around, go right ahead and toss it into the fire because you will get no other use out of it.

2 stars.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are those that don't like the "-isms" they see in the semi-public parts of OSC's life; I tend to be one of them. However, flip-side of the argument, unless I am investing in an author's books or voting for them, I can enjoy their work without reference to things found outside their writing.

And that's where I stand here on Ultimate Iron Man. OSC generally plays well with ideas, and continues to do so here, reimagining the origin story of Iron Man for the Marvel Ultimate universe. Some of the ideas are a little "out there", such as the rationalization for Tony Stark's extreme intelligence, or the reasons for his fascination with armor, or his capability to absorb, even in a mechanical suit, punishing amounts of damage. It may be unusual, but I felt it all hung together well, to provide a more-wild-but-rational explanation for a guy in a flying armor suit.

Now, what I didn't feel was well done, was OSC's attempt to modernize James "Rhodey" Rhodes. But I'm not sure anyone could please everyone with a modern American black sidekick to a (traditionally) white superhero -- it seems _that_ scenario is just a set up for nearly everyone to get the motivation and the dialog wrong. Glad to hear how others might consider this.

Good art, good story (but incomplete until Volume II), and I found it just a nice good-vs.-evil bit of escapist superhero literature.

[Noah Soudrette · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the worst comics I've ever read. Here's why: Tony Stark's mom becomes infected with a virus that causes cellular regeneration in humans. She gives birth to Tony, who's skin constantly regenerates. This means his skin is always raw and he is in intense pain. Because of this, his father coats him in a liquid armor that turns him blue and makes him bald. Oh, and all his flesh contains neural tissue, so his entire body is his brain. OH! and if you hurt him he can regenerate.

So, if you've forgotten that I'm describing Iron man, I wouldn't be surprised. I know Orson Scott Card is supposed to be a good writer, but this is utter shite.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, Orson Scott Card. I was curious about this, since I'd heard it reinvented the origin story of Iron Man, but wow did he take some liberties. This took away the reason I love Iron Man so much--the fact that he's just a mortal man that is using his ability to invent to do good--and turned Tony Stark into a mutant from birth.

Card does have a thing for powerful children/teenagers. It's not something I cared for, and I won't be bothering with any more of Card's Iron Man.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Racist garbage by a well-known bigot.

The first issue has some generic problems with the fact that Card only writes women as props for male characters. The faithful wife. The cheating charlatan. These are forgivable sins from a writer as mediocre as Card. It plays out like a cheaply written soap opera, and attempts to break the fourth wall by mentioning that it's a cheaply written soap opera, but even that comes off as insincere. But it's a two star insincere that should be bumped up to a three given that poor Andy Kubert and Mark Bagley wasted their art on this book.

It's during the second issue that Card introduces Rhodey, and it is immediately clear that he shouldn't be allowed to write any character that isn't a sniveling white bigot like himself. Sure, he places the terrible lines either in the mouths of bullies, or as self-depricating comments by the characters he shouldn't be allowed to write. It's painful to read not because it's bigotry but because it's stale bigotry that would have been considered hacky when it was published in KKK pamphlets in the mid-20th century.

None of what follows is believable. Not even in a superhero comic. Without his name recognition, and the people who can't let go of Ender's Game, Marvel never would have touched this. The pacing is awful, the characters motivations change from panel to panel, to call Obadiah and Zebediah cartoonish villains is an insult to every cartoonist that ever produced art.

Despite knowing that Card was a homophobic, racist, bigoted hack before I picked this volume up, I did go into it hoping that this would rise above his particular flavor of bullshit. Alas, this is an inexcusably awful waste of paper, and artists' talents. If you must read it, either hang out in a library or torrent it. He doesn't deserve your money.

[Shane Stanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Ultimate Year #2: Strange Origins & Ultimate X-Men!

I’ve read 3 versions and watched 1 of the same Iron Man origin, and this is not that. If you want the OG Tony goes to fill-in-the-blank war zone, gets kidnapped and becomes iron man, read something else. If you want a totally new, out of the box story, read this book.

Note & CW - Orson Scott Card is known for being problematic, and many readers will likely skip this ultimate series entry. I did choose to read this, and unfortunately, this story makes it clear that card did not get the memo that so called “ironic” racism is still racism. There are some scenes between Tony & Bucky that need to go.

[Devero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Per la serie, non è detto che un buon scrittore di SF possa scrivere un buon fumetto di SF.
Evitate questa versione Ultime di Iron-Man, vi avviso.
Veramente una brutta storia, scritta male, e persino Andy Kubert non riesce a farle ottenere una seconda stella.

[Brian Enriquez]

It was good

[Dylan Magoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great book it shows why tony stark is so smart. it is not very believable that his brain is all threw out his body. tony is defentaly a round dynamic charter because you see him grow up and change threw out the story. the art in this book was also very good it had very bright colors and helped tell the story of what was happening.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very different take on the Iron-Man origin and I like that it starts all the way at the beginning. The father son dynamic is also great to see play out.

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is it weird that it's sort of refreshing to read something by Orson Scott Card that sucks as much as he does?

Not only was this volume racist and sexist, it was also just bad! I am not an Iron Man stan but even I can tell this butchers everything that's supposed to be cool about him. (Why would they give Iron Man to OSC instead of, idk, someone who's already a mutant and/or alien? Marvel has plenty to choose from! Was he only willing to take on a heavy hitter or something???)

Anyway, the art was also bad. *Why was the best thing about this collection the soap torture?* A slow-motion car crash of a comics volume. Dead dove, do not eat.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting aside my general dislike of Orson Scott Card as a person, his ULTIMATE IRON MAN is solid enough. It certainly isn't the traditional Iron Man origin and was understandably rendered non-canon a while later, but taken on its own it is ok.

[Desiree Brunelle]

Iron man is a unique comic, it stats with Howard Stark basically reinventing the wheel with a technology that will allow a human to become invincible with a very beautiful color " sky blue. goes wit everything." said by Mr. Stark. Tony stark or Antony is born into a world of war, and his mother who died giving birth to him because she was infected by the virus they were trying to create tony has the ability to so much more than a normal child. His brain is extraordinary and he can regenerate his body parts but his skin is blue because without the tint his body would feel as though he has 3rd degree burns all the time. thought out Tony's life he creates a iron suite to help him and also help people in need. Mr. Stark's X-wife Loni steels the company out from under Howard by buying all the stock with the help of Mr. Stane to ruin Howard but he is a lot smarter than Stane thinks. In the end Howard wins part of the war but it is far from over. Stane " the only thing Howard Stark had that I wanted just left the building the rest is trash" AKA his wife and soon to be born child. All he wants is the Bio-Armor. Stane kidnaps tony at a young age, fails to get what he wants and go to jail then spends almost 10 years behind bars, later on get broken out of prison but gets killed in an awful manner. Howard gets blamed for the murder but is only awaiting for conviction. trial. Tony knows his father is innocent and blames Stane's son for it because he is evil, manipulating, and just plain sinister with no feelings towards anyone just wants Stark to be ruined.

this comic was very interesting I loved how it was a new way to look at iron man and not just going off the movie's. I enjoyed this comic I thought it has a very good plot twist, good way to tie in who tony is and how he fits into society even though he is blue. I also enjoy the cliff hanger at the end.

I would recommend this comic to who ever loves iron man, sci-fi/ fantasy, and mystery.

* fun fact my mothers work Raytheon has the rights to the iron man outfit and created the design for the movie's.

[Adam Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this 2-stars because really it's only one half of the story. But given Card's reputation, this book is all ready a bit of disappointment

If starts off really slow. This book collects Issues 1-5 of the Ultimate Iron Man story line. As Card is writing in Marvel's ultimate world, he's not bound by the back story established in Marvel's regular (616) continuity.

He made a key change in giving Tony Stark powers from birth that come with a natural blue skin stone as a result of experiments done by his mother Maria just before she died. I'm not at all closed off to making Tony Stark blue in the Ultimate Marvel universe except for the fact that it really does nothing for the story.

The first four issues focus mainly on the mechanations of the adults around young Tony Stark. Only Issue 5 does a Young Adult Tony begin to emerge. Even then, Card introduces the alcoholism element, which is really a stretch and also unnecessary. Stark as an alcoholic was used in 616 to flesh the character and humanize him. It really doesn't do it here and with all the craziness in childhood, it's far from required.

Most of all, Ultimate Iron Man shows that it shares the same weakness as most modern comics in relying on shock value and gross out factor rather than compelling stories. In this Ultimate universe, Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane are students at a school for gifted children where Obadiah seduces classmates to suicide. No one commits murder with a simple shot to the head, poison, or knife, murder has to be a ritualistic affair.

There is some emergence of Tony as a bit of a hero towards the end of the volume but so far it's not looking good.

[Kevin Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of strange to see Orson Scott Card's name on an Iron Man reboot series, but... it didn't help much. Not that this was bad, per se, and I have to admit I'm not an Iron Man authority or anything, but this wasn't really the Iron Man I was expecting. Firstly because it's not Iron Man -- more like Iron Boy. It starts with Iron Man's father, before Iron Man is born. Then we get his birth, his super-intelligent toddler years, and then (by the end of Vol. 2), he's maybe 12? 14? Still pretty young. And already Iron Man. With weird regeneration super powers. This is a HUGE deviation from the original Iron Man origin story, which I guess I'm not against, but the other Ultimates seem to reboot rather than re-imagine the original. Card should have just written an original comic if he wasn't interested in Iron Man. This really has nothing to do with Iron Man, other than a few obligatory references. Still, it was mostly entertaining, and I liked some of the darker elements. Quick read, but ultimately skippable.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only had the first volume of this comic and to be honest I didn't particular enjoy it. It sets up an origin story for Iron man and I enjoyed seeing him as a child/ growing up but I found the story kind of to follow- the frames jumped from one thing to another and too many of the characters looked alike so I wasn't always really sure who I was reading about.

In regards to how it fits in the the larger Iron Man narrative, I've not read any other comics about Iron Man so I'm not really in a place to talk about it, but I'm not quite sure of the reason for making him a mutant and the whole genetic mutation thing they had going on here.

*I didn't realise Orson Scott Card had written this and now I know I kinda regret reading it- I know separate the art from the artist and all that but I just can't support him.*

[Liko Natera · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was attracted by the hype behind this ominous "Orson Scott Card scripted" premise but was I disappointed by reading a character that had absolutely nothing to do with what I allowed myself to expect even if THIS Tony Stark was the "ULTIMATE" version of Iron Man.
I found myself not encouraged to finish this due to unlikeable characters, unrealistic circumstances and even weak dialogue. I really wanted to like this. I even started reading it with a very open mind and hoping I would eventually love it but You can not argue with boredom. There are lots of better options out there to be wasting your valuable time on this.

[Kennis Negron · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting look at what the origins of Iron Man might be by a prolific Sci-Fi writer. However, what I liked most about Iron Man was taken away from him in this version of the story - his vulnerability. It is almost impossible for me to relate to Iron Man if he can regenerate. I originally liked Iron Man so much because he was just a man (a very wealthy and smart one at that, but still just a man) in a suit. For this reason, I feel like Orson Scott Card took something very important away from the Iron Man story, and that's very disappointing.

[Ernest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This graphic novel was frustrating not because it was a total mess, but it contained many gems of real interest amongst elements that don’t fit within the Ultimate Universe and story elements that just were quite terrible. This was frustrating as such inconsistencies spoiled what had the potential to be a terrific addition to the Ultimate Universe and a great interpretation of Iron Man. Orson Scott Card must be given credit for some unique ideas, but overall it cannot be said to be wholly successful.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main problem everyone seems to have with Card's interpretation of Iron Man is that it isn't the same Iron Man they're used to. But that is the whole point of the Ultimate Universe. The classic characters are supposed to be re-imagined for a modern audience, and Card does this better than any other author in the Ultimate universe. Where other characters get minor changes to their origin story or what have you from their authors Card is the only one who actually creates an entire new version of the character.

[Tyler]

I would like to start off saying that I personally am no very big on comics or anything like that but this book wasn't too bad I'd have to say, it was different. Although I didn't fully understand what was going on or why at all times (It's amazing what things can distract you)but it covers Tony Stark's birth to right around maybe when he's 12-14 years old. I would recommend this to people that like reading everything Iron Man/Tony Stark.

[Mike Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ultimate Iron Man is about a boy who's father works at a lab where he designs new bio armor for the government. The boys mother dies and gives his son the new armor that he was testing. He then goes through life and eventually builds the famous iron man suit and goes off to fight off crime. This was a pretty good comic and I would read it if you're into any kind of superhero comics

[CS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well now, that was interesting. Definitely not expecting Tony Stark to be a blue mutant thanks to the blood of a monkey. But there were some good parts.

[Username · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mean and cruel horror story. Could not enjoy.

[Sineala · Rating 1 out of 5]

Everyone told me not to read this. I should have listened. Man, this is wretched.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Marvel's Ultimate line, and Iron Man is one of my all-time favorite characters, so when I heard about the Ultimate Iron Man limited series I was more than a little excited. After seeing how well Tony Stark's character was handled in the Ultimates, I was looking forward to seeing him in the spotlight here.

Marvel pulled off quite the coup in getting bestselling sci-fi author Orson Scott Card to write this series. Unfortunately it doesn't really pay off. I'm not familiar with Card's previous work, but he seems ill-suited to this particular task. I'll try not to give too much away here, but some of the plot points are just not right for Iron Man. Everyone can accept Tony Stark the boy genius. But Tony Stark the blue-skinned science mutant with weird powers? That is not what Iron Man is all about. A big part of Iron Man's appeal is that he had no superpowers. He used his intellect to create the Iron Man armor and hold his own among gods, mutants, and other super-heroes.

The story had some good points. The Stark/Stane corporate rivalry was handled well, and the secret government school for science prodigies (the same one from Ultimate Fantastic Four I assume) was a good setting for the young Tony Stark. I just wish it was explored a bit more. The dialogue between characters is awkward, and the supporting cast never seems to gel, especially compared to the other Ultimate books.

I'm sure Card is a good writer, but I think his talents would have been better utilized elsewhere (perhaps in the regular Marvel Universe). There is a certain standard in the Ultimate line established by writers like Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and Warren Ellis, and Orson Scott Card just doesn't live up to that standard.

Andy Kubert's artwork is as always, quite good, and in this case is the book's only saving grace. It would have been nice if he had managed to finish the entire series, but Mark Bagley does a decent job on the book's closing chapter.

I suppose I was going to be disappointed with an Ultimate Marvel book eventually, I just wish it wasn't Ultimate Iron Man.