Tony Stark, Iron Man: Playboy forced into celibacy

Having to wear an electronic chest-device to keep his injured heart beating, ladies’ man Tony Stark could not undress without revealing he was secretly the armored superhero Iron Man.

The man who would become Iron Man, Anthony Stark was introduced by writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck in Tales of Suspense #39 from Marvel Comics in 1963. It was established that he was not just a scientist and weapons inventor but also a high society playboy constantly in the company of beautiful women. When he got caught in a bomb blast while on a weapons test trip to South Vietnam, shrapnel entered his body close to his heart and in order to keep it from reaching his heart and killing him, Tony Stark invented the Iron Man armor which magnetically kept the shrapnel at bay and his heart beating.

In the very next issue, Tony Stark was back in his high society life, but now having to wear the Iron Man armors chestplate underneath his clothes he had to turn down the advances of a beautiful woman in order to keep the fact that he was Iron Man a secret. No longer could he go to bed with every actress and society beauty from Hollywood to Rome who were dying to marry him. He was forced to abandon his promiscuous ways and live in celibacy, but he kept on dating.

Involved in a love triangle
In Tales of Suspense #45 from 1963, Tony Stark’s life was saved by a boxer by the name of Happy Hogan who had quit his career because he was too softhearted to knock his opponents out. Tony gave Happy a job as his personal chauffeur as reward. When Happy met Tony’s secretary Kitty Potts nicknamed Pepper, he was immediately smitten with her, but she thought he looked like a Bela Lugosi movie monster and was only interested in getting to marry Tony Stark.

However, Pepper Potts was no beauty herself and was no serious competition for the Hollywood starlets Tony Stark was dating, so in Tales of Suspense #50 in 1964 she got a beauty makeover in order to gain his attention. When that didn’t work, she decided to date Happy Hogan to make Tony Stark jealous. In the next issue, Tony was aware of his jealous secretary trying to spoil his dates with other women and tricked her into a date with Happy in retaliation.

It was revealed in Tales of Suspense #54 that Tony Stark had indeed noticed Pepper Potts because he suddenly thought to himself that he would like to be with her always, but because he was secretly Iron Man, he could not be with her. And he also felt jealous of Happy’s “attentions towards Pepper” and so the love triangle went on, similarly to the one in the Daredevil comic between Matt Murdock, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson which Stan Lee also wrote. Artist Don Heck even gradually transformed Happy Hogan into a much more attractive-looking handsome man that Pepper could slowly warm up to.

Resolving the love triangle
Even though Tony Stark was in love with Pepper Potts he could not reciprocate her interest in him because of the chestplate he had to wear to keep his heart beating. Instead he tried to make her dislike him and make her turn to Happy Hogan for love instead of him. His plan backfired, however. Instead of turning to Happy, Pepper instead developed a romantic notion about Iron Man. In Tales of Suspense #74 from 1966, she wondered how she could have ever loved a cold-blooded playboy like Tony Stark and realized it was Iron Man she loved although she had no idea of what he looked like behind his mask.

In Tales of Suspense #89 the whole love triangle dilemma was resolved when both Tony Stark and Happy Hogan were hurt and it was Happy that Pepper ran to and showed concern for. Tony then resumed his playboy lifestyle to forget all about his love for Pepper Potts, but because of his chestplate one can assume that Tony Stark did not sleep with any of the many women he dated.

Two issues later, Pepper and Happy told Tony Stark that they had gotten married, leaving him free to pursue other romantic interests.

Unfit for romance?
Iron Man became the star of his own comic book series in 1968 and in the second issue, new writer Archie Goodwin introduced a new love interest for Tony Stark. Her name was Janice Cord and she was the daughter of a competitor for Tony Stark, Drexel Cord, who was jealous of Stark’s success. Drexel Cord built a robot to destroy Stark’s greatest success: His bodyguard Iron Man.

However, the robot ended up killing Drexel Cord instead before Iron Man destroyed it, leaving Janice Cord in charge of her father’s business. Tony Stark sent her flowers in Iron Man #6 offering to help her following her father’s death and she appreciated the sympathy, but she only contacted Tony Stark the following issue on her attorney’s suggestion. He wanted her to sell the business to Stark.

One thing led to another and by Iron Man #10, Tony Stark took Janice on a romantic date, but by Iron Man #14, Tony Stark was caught up in his old dilemma of whether to go for love or not, thinking maybe he wasn’t meant to form attachments because of his heart-condition. “What kind of life can I OFFER a woman, when it could cease BEATING any moment,” he wondered.

The tragic end of a love affair
Tony Stark also thought that it wouldn’t be fair to Janice to subject her to the constant danger surrounding himself and Iron Man, so maybe that’s why he decided to work his playboy charm on Madame Masque in Iron Man #19 instead. But that did not go any further than a kiss before Tony Stark rekindled his romance with Janice in Iron Man #21.

Tony had hired someone else to be Iron Man and now felt free to pursue a personal life, because surgery had made him not need to wear his chestplate all the time anymore. But in the very next issue, Tony Stark had to resume being Iron Man.

While trying to protect Janice from a rival for her affections, the Crimson Dynamo, Janice got killed in the crossfire by Iron Man’s Russian counterpart, the Titanium Man, when he attacked both Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo in Iron Man #22.

And that was the tragic end of the love affair between Tony Stark and Janice Cord.

Romance with an ESP’er
Following the tragic loss of Janice Cord, writer archie Goodwin had Tony Stark meet his first love Meredith McCall in Iron Man #28 in 1970. They had an affair when he was just 17 years old, but their fathers had forbidden the romance and Meredith was sent to Europe to live with relatives. However, meeting her again was all in vain because she was now married to another man and Tony Stark went into a period of celibacy that lasted until Iron Man #37 in 1971.

By Iron Man #37, the series was written by Gerry Conway, and he had Tony Stark wanting to resume his playboy lifestyle and Tony called up one of his old playgirls, Marianna Rodgers. But a monogamous relationship developed between Tony and Marianne with Tony wondering in Iron Man #41 if he had finally found the woman he could love and if he could make that kind of commitment.

Marianne Rodgers was revealed to have mental ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) powers in the very same issue, and she felt that the specter of Iron Man was standing between her and Tony. By Iron Man #45 written by Gary Friedrich, she had perceived that Tony Stark was really Iron Man, but she didn’t mind, and in the heat of the moment he asked her to marry him.

Tony Stark’s employee Kevin O’ Brien was also infatuated with Marianne Rodgers and overhearing the proposal sent him into a jealous rage. Kevin O’ Brien knew Tony Stark was also Iron Man and battled Iron Man as the Guardsman in issue #46, culminating with his own death.

Exit Marianne, enter Roxie
By Iron Man #49, writer Gary Friedrich had become Mike Friedrich. Marianne Rodgers had a vision of the future where Iron Man faced an unknown foe, and she was helpless to save Iron Man as he fell to his doom into a vat of acid. She was overcome by her vision and ran away just as Iron Man needed her help to reach a power outlet to recharge the chestplate that keeps his heart beating. In issue #50, Tony Stark decided to dump her while she was still troubled by the vision she kept having again and again of Iron Man falling to his doom. The vision came true in Iron Man #51, only Iron Man managed to save himself. By issue #52, Tony Stark was back at playing playboy while Marianne was driven mad by her visions and put in a mental institution.

In Iron Man #58, Tony Stark realized that after a previous heart transplant thought failed, his body had now gradually accepted the semi-artificial heart. He could live for increasingly lengthy times without his chestplate that kept his pacemaker going. Meaning, he could now go to bed with women without revealing he was Iron Man.

When Iron Man met the villain Firebrand’s sister Roxanne Gilbert in issue #59, he was taken by her heroic anti-violence stance against her brother, so the next issue he tried to woo her as Tony Stark, only to be told off because of his past as a weapons manufacturer. This only seemed to make Tony Stark more eager to pursue Roxie as a love interest, because she was different from the women he was used to who threw themselves at him. She was a challenge. In issue #63 he asked her on a date and his persistence subsequently paid off as he gradually won her over. By Iron Man #74, she had a signed picture of him in her apartment although they hadn’t been shown kissing or doing anything as a couple yet.

Beginning with Iron Man #82, a string of fill-in writers had Tony Stark and Roxie Gilbert be at odds over Tony’s past as a weapons manufacturer and her resentful attitude about it and in #89, she moved out of the apartment he had set her up in.

An affair with Madame Masque
Writer Gerry Conway introduced Tony Stark’s new secretary, the attractive Krissy Longfellow in Iron Man #91. She was taken hostage a couple of times, by Kraken in Iron Man #93 and 94 and by the new Guardsman in #97, so there were never any hints that she harbored a secret identity until new writer Bill Mantlo took over with Iron Man #97 in 1977. He re-established Tony Stark’s dependency on the chestplate to keep his artificial heart beating while initiating a sub-plot about a shadowed woman helping out the Guardsman at Stark International, hinting that it was Madame Masque in #99 and having Krissy team-up with a thief stealing Iron Man armor in #101. This all led to the revelation in #103 that Krissy Longfellow was really Madame Masque in disguise. She was a villain with a horribly disfigured face who knew Tony Stark was Iron Man and whom Tony Stark nevertheless had romanced briefly in Iron Man #19 by writer Archie Goodwin before her apparent death. Now she was back, and in Iron Man #104 Bill Mantlo immediately had them in bed together and enjoying an intense affair. It lasted right up until Iron Man #115 and 116 where Madame Masque, also known as Whitney Frost, sided with her father, the villain Count Nefaria against Iron Man – a betrayal that naturally doomed their relationship.

Bodyguard dates Tony Stark
With Iron Man #116, co-plotters David Michelinie and Bob Layton (with scripts by David Micheline) took over the writing of the series. With the exit of Madame Masque, they wasted no time introducing a new love interest whom Tony Stark met a party in #117. Her name was Bethany Cabe and in Iron Man #121 she was depicted as a woman of action who could land a crashing helicopter and stand up to some hostile guards. She helped Iron Man out against the villain Blizzard when he interrupted her date with Tony Stark in issues #123 and 124 where it was finally revealed that this strong woman actually worked as bodyguard-for-hire. In Iron Man #126 readers met her colleague, Ling McPherson. Together they ran the Cabe & McPherson, Security Specialists agency. In the classic Iron Man #128, Bethany Cabe helped Tony Stark overcome his drinking problem and after that she was officially his girlfriend.

In Iron Man #137 to 139, Iron Man’s ex Madame Masque mistakenly had Ling McPherson beaten up by a gang of men, but it was Bethany Cabe she was really after. She had her kidnapped to use as bait for Iron Man and when Bethany Cabe confronted the jealous Madame Masque who didn’t want anyone else having Tony Stark, it was revealed that Bethany Cabe had already guessed that Tony Stark was Iron Man. When Bethany Cabe got Madame Masque at gunpoint, she decided to let her go, though, because she pitied her. Bethany Cabe decided in Iron Man #140 to not tell Tony Stark that she knew he was Iron Man.

Unfortunately for Tony Stark, a sub-plot began in Iron Man #143 that Bethany Cabe’s husband whom everybody believed to be dead was in fact still alive. She left Tony Stark in Iron Man #146 to go rescue her husband from captivity in East Germany which she succeeded at with Iron Man’s help. In issue #152 and in #153 she broke up with Tony Stark to be with her husband. Tony Stark then sought comfort with other women, like a Cindy in Iron Man #156 before Micheline and Layton stopped writing the series. Tony Stark also had a brief affair with Janet Van Dyne in Avengers #224 in 1982, but when he told her he was Iron Man, she broke the relationship off.

Back to being a playboy
With Iron Man #158 in 1982, Denny O’Neil became new series-writer and that meant a new love interest for Tony Stark. He rescued the beautiful Indries Moomji from a car crash in Iron Man #163 and was immediately attracted to her and sending her gifts in the hospital. By Iron Man #166 he confessed to being in love with her only to have her break his heart by saying she was amused by his gifts and watching him pant after her like a puppy dog, but he was stupid to think that she could love him. It turns out, she was just a chess piece in a game by businessman Obadiah Stane to drive Tony Stark into becoming an alcoholic unfit to run his business so Stane could take it over. Tony Stark then left the role as Iron Man to his pilot James Rhodes while he engaged in a playboy lifestyle, dating Matt Murdock (Daredevil)’s ex-girlfriend Heather Glenn (in Iron Man #171) amongst others.

With Iron Man #215 in 1987, David Michelinie and Bob Layton returned as co-plotters of the series with Michelinie handling the scripts and Bob Layton the inking and occasionally full art. They immediately got rid of a woman named Cly from O’Neil’s run by having her sell Tony Stark and Iron Man out to the A.I.M. organization in a crazed bid for revenge for the death of her brother. She got killed in a bomb blast in Iron Man #216.

Tony Stark re-established himself as head of the new Stark Enterprises in California to replace the Stark International company he had lost to Obadiah Stane. In Iron Man #219, it was also established he was the kind of man women would lust after when he took a jog down a beach, and whenever he came across a beautiful woman in his subsequent business dealings, the woman or him would often ask the other out for lunch. Two of those women were of particular note, Brie Daniels who crashed one of Tony Stark’s parties in Iron Man #222, and hairdresser to the rich and famous Rae Lacoste whom Tony Stark met in Iron Man #223, because they made repeat appearances in Tony Stark’s circle of girlfriends.

Fatal attraction
By Iron Man #233, Tony Stark had engaged in quite a few lunches with quite a few women when a Kathleen Dare introduced herself to him while he was on a polo playing date with Rae Lacoste. The very next issue, Kathy Dare turned up again and Tony Stark went on a date with her. In #235, Kathy Dare got jealous when she learned of Rae Lacoste and in the next issue, the tires had been slashed on Rae’s car. In #238, Kathy got jealous of another girl at a racetrack and threw a bucket of ice water at her.

Things got serious when Tony told Rae in Iron Man #239 that Kathy was jealous and possessive and the relationship was becoming uncomfortable. Rae said she herself didn’t feel threatened so long as she had her place in his life. Their date was interrupted by Kathy Dare, of course, making Tony upset with Kathy who got jealous of Rae yet again, and within a few pages, Rae got in an accident because her car brakes weren’t working.

Then Kathy started stalking Tony who found her in his bed while in Rome in #240, so in the next issue he broke up with her. In retaliation, she shot him in Iron Man #242, and he temporarily ended up in a wheelchair while she was arrested. All of Tony’s girls, including Brie Daniels, turned their back on Tony while he was crippled, except Rae Lacoste who stood by him all the way.

At a court hearing in Iron Man #248, Kathy Dare claimed she shot Tony Stark in self-defense because he had been abusive of her, but it was revealed she had been a mental case since the age of 18 and she was placed in the care of a psychiatric institution until she would be able to stand trial.

Rae Lacoste was no angel, either
In Iron Man #244, a flashback revealed a tale of romance from Tony Starks past. He had been engaged to a Joanna Nivena when he first became Iron Man, and because of his need to constantly wear the chestplate to keep his heart beating and he wanted to be a hero, she broke up the engagement because she wanted a husband and children. When Tony Stark accidentally met her again in the present, she had achieved her dream of having a family with another man.

After Iron Man #250 in 1989, David Michelinie stopped working on Iron Man and Bob Layton soon followed suit. But in 2013, they returned to the book to write four issues numbered 258.1 to 258.4 to wrap up some of their unfinished plots, including what became of Rae Lacoste. Well, it turned out the reason she stood by Tony Stark through thick and thin was because she was spying on him for his business rival Justin Hammer. Tony never found out, though, because she died in Iron Man #258.2 and it was hinted that she had also been the new Madame Masque whose identity had perplexed Tony since Iron Man #245 where former Madame Masque, Whitney Frost, was reported dead. Readers never did see the body of Tony’s former lover, though. However, Rae’s body was shown burnt to a cinder.

The one that got away
Famous artist turned writer, John Byrne started writing Iron Man with issue #258, lasting for 20 issues. He thought Iron Man should have a handicap like he once had to wear a chestplate to keep his heart beating. Now it was a little more severe, though, with Tony Stark having to wear an electro-web exo-suit to function, which left little room for romance in his life, as he was dying from a damaged nervous system.  Still, he felt attracted to his Chinese doctor Su Yin and told her he loved her completely out of the blue, but although he tried to win her over in Iron Man #272, it was revealed in Iron Man #275 she already had a handicapped husband to take care of at home and Tony Stark realized she had no use for him and gave up on trying to romance her.

When the Iron Man series was relaunched in 1998 by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Sean Chen, Tony Stark was dating a variety of women, including Countess Stephanie de la Rosa in #2 and 3, the young Rumiko Fujikawa whom he met in #4 and got serious with in #13 and the villainous Sunset Bain whom Tony had an affair with in his youth as revealed in #19. In #23, Tony Stark even kissed the now divorced Pepper Potts, but only to discover in the next issue that his feelings for her were now purely as a friend.

In #11 and 20, dead Madame Masques identified as Whitney Frost turned up again, picking up from Iron Man #245, but there was no resolution to this subplot before Iron Man got a new creative team beginning with Iron Man vol. 3 #1/2 and 26 in 2000. Instead, writer Kurt Busiek wrapped the plot in Avengers vol. 3 #31 to 34 in 2000 where it was revealed that Madame Masque had hidden away since Iron Man #116 and dealt with the world by sending out bio-duplicates and those were the ones that had turned up dead. However, new Iron Man writer Joe Quesada had Tony Stark engage in a relationship with Rumiko Fujikawa whom Tony Stark professed to love in #31.

The end of Tony Stark’s love life
The ultimate best Iron Man writers were obviously David Michelinie and Bob Layton. In a lecture given to Danish fans in Copenhagen on 29 June 2023, Bob Layton said that their two character defining runs on the title saved the series from cancellation both times. Bob Layton also revealed that the only time the now non-existent Comics Code Authority interfered with their stories was when an opened condom wrapper was lying on a desk next to a bed with Tony Stark and a woman in it. They demanded it be removed from the drawing, although it meant that playboy Tony Stark was then not portrayed as being responsible in his hedonistic pursuits.

Anyway, who better to imagine the end for Tony Stark than those two plotters, and in the 48-page one-shot Iron Man: The End from 2009, that’s exactly what they did. In that issue, readers met an aging Tony Stark in a future where he had married Bethany Cabe who was now a senator. He found a successor to be Iron Man and devoted his life to the love of his life. A fitting end, having the playboy finally settling down. Although he had sired no children, his legacy lived on with his Stark Universal company.