Well the Invincible Iron Man has been a topic of some interest in the Contest of Champions thread and he's a perennial Avenger. So here we go an Iron Man thread. To start things off is a bio on Iron Man one of the founding Avengers from the Official Marvel Universe Handbook.

This one goes up through the highlights of the Iron Man saga to the late '80s early '90s so I'll provide some updates and publishing history later on.

Enjoy!

Iron Man
Real name: Anthony "Tony" Stark
Occupation: Inventor, Industrialist
Identity: Secret
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of birth: Long Island, New York
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Howard (father, deceased), Maria (mother, deceased), Morgan (cousin)
Group affiliation: Avengers
Base of operations: Seattle, Washington
First appearance: TALES OF SUSPENSE #39

History: Anthony Stark, son of industrialist Howard Stark, demonstrated his mechanical aptitude and inventive genius at a very early age, enrolling in college electrical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 15. When he was 21, he inherited his father's business, Stark Industries, and within a few years turned it into a multimillion-dollar industry complex whose chief contracts were for weaponry and munitions for the U.S. government.

Stark was sent to Vietnam to supervise a field test for one of his tranistorized weapons. While he was there Stark trip on a booby trap and a piece of shrapnel was lodged in his chest. The gravely injured Stark was taken captive by the Communist leader Wong-Chu, and was informed that within a week the shrapnel would penetrate his heart and kill them. Wong-Chu offered Stark at deal: if he built the Communist a powerful weapon, want to allow Stark to undergo an operation to save his life. Stark agreed, hoping to gain time and access to tools.

Stark was given access to a small laboratory in communist territory with another captive, the renowned Oriental physicist Professor Ho Yinsen. With the incense help Stark designed and built an electrically powered suit of armor and equipped with heavy offensive weaponry. The armor also contained pacemaker like device which enables Stark's heart to keep beating after the shrapnel entered it. Donning the suit, Stark connected it to its power source, an electrical generator. Lying on a table Stark was helpless until the suit was fully charged. His captor, Wong-Chu, sensed something was amiss and came to investigate with armed men. Realizing he was sacrificing his life, Professor Ho Yinsen went out to confront Wong-Chu, to give Stark the extra time he needed to charge the armored suit fully. As the Iron Man Stark avenged Yinsens death and scattered Wong Chu's guerilla troops. Then, still clad in his armor, which was necessary to keep his heart beating, stark made his way to the jungle, trying to escape communist territory.

James Rhodes, a pilot in the United States Marines who was stationed in South East Asia, had been shot down in the jungle nearby Communist rockets while he was on a reconnaissance mission. Rhodes managed to land safely and was attempting to get his helicopter air worthy when he encountered Iron Man. After Iron Man help Rhodes fight off an attack by communist forces, Rhodes allowed him to drain helicopters batteries to recharge his armor. The to attract to the jungle together, finally discovering a hidden Communist rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the base and flew to the nearest American base.

Back in the United States, Stark redesigned his chest plate, which contained a pacemaker like device, reducing the chest plates size and wait so he could wear it under his normal clothing. Required to wear the armor is just played at all times to keep his heart beating, Stark decided to put to rest of the armor to regular use as well. After redesigning the entire armored suit to match the letter chest plate, Starks made the existence of the suit public. He concealed the suits true origin, as well as the fact that he himself had to wear the chest plate to live. Stark made it known that he would soon manufacture the arts suit, which he called "the human machine," for sale for the public.

Soon afterward, Stark donned one of his battle suits in order to prevent thieves from stealing parts of the other copies of it. This experience made him realize that the suit was too dangerous to me made available to the public. The next day Stark revealed what had happened to him in Southeast Asia to Joanna Nivena, who was then his fiancée. Together they attended a tennis match in Forest Hills, N.Y. that afternoon. Stark brought along his armor, which he was taken to nearby laboratory for tests. The match was invaded by terrorists who threaten to kill everyone present with a bomb. Joanna urge Stark to don the armor to stop terrorist. Stark did sell, captured the terrorist, and save the spectators when the bomb went off by throwing himself atop the bomb. Iron Man thus publicly became a hero, and Stark had a new sense of purpose, having decided to combat evildoers as Iron Man.

Wishing to retain some degree of anonymity, Stark established the fiction that Iron Man was is paid bodyguard wearing a suit of armor that he had invented. Only his most trusted aides learned Stark and Iron Man were one and the same.

At first Stark used his Iron Man identity only to combat spies and criminals who threaten Stark industries. Later, he expanded the scope of his alter egos activities to battle any force or person who friend the security of America or the world. Stark was instrumental in the organization and are meant of the original World intelligence and law-enforcement agency known as SHIELD, and as Iron Man he became a founding member of the team of super human champions known as the avengers. Stark donated his Manhattan mansion to the avengers for their exclusive use.

Over the years Stark constantly refined and modified the design of his armor. From all balky, transistorized Iron suit, Iron man eventually bald are relatively lightweight, integrated circuit, magnetically polarized suit with more human looking articulated musculature. Stark's natural genius at theoretical mechanics has enabled him keep his suit of armor at the state of the art. Stark eventually underwent heart transplant so that he was no longer obligated to wear his metallic chest plate.

Stark eventually decided for moral reasons no longer to manufacture are meant and devote his company to other areas of technology.

In recent years Tony Stark's greatest nemesis has been alcoholism. As a wealthy socialite, alcohol had been a constant part of his life. When his company, which had changed its name from Stark Industries to Stark international, was threatened with the takeover at the same time he was experiencing oppressive personal problems, Stark began to abuse out all. Although he managed to recover quickly from his first serious bout, the compulsion to drink remained a constant temptation. The second time he succumbed to alcoholism, the to even more devastating personal problems than the first time, Tony Stark went out on a several month binge during which he was cheated out of Stark international, he lost all the armor except one suit (the rest for destroyed), lost the leases on his various departments, and had his personal assets frozen so that he could not touch his fortune. All these results of the machinations of the mysterious European entrepreneur Obadisiah Stane, who took over Stark's company, renaming it stained international.

During this time Starks friends, James Rhodes, who had gone to work for Stark after leaving the military, assumed custody of the Iron Man are and operated as Iron Man in his stead.

When Stark finally regained his sobriety, he joined with Rhodes and two of his friends, Worley Irwin (late of Stark international) and his sister Clytemnestra Erwin of Richmond enterprises to set up a new electronics firm in Californian named Circuits Maximus in its brief existence Circuits Maximus became a prestigious and successful firm.

While the armor was in his custody, James Rhodes became increasingly enamored of being Iron Man, and, upon Stark return to sobriety, fear that stark would ask for it back. However, the severe headaches caused by the fact that the cybernetic helmet had never been properly adjusted to roads brain patterns, began to store roads thinking. As result roads began to manifest hostility toward Stark. As work therapy Stark constructed a simple suit of armor based on his original design with no intention of donning it until he felt in control of his alcoholism when roads began acting rationally, however, Stark felt obligated to put on this crude suit of armor to prevent roads from doing harm. Stark managed to subdue roads and made unnecessary recalibrate shins on the cybernetics. For a brief time Stark inroads use their respective suits of armor as Iron Men, although Stark did so reluctantly. At the suggestion of the West Coast avengers chairman Hawkeye, Stark designed and built his most sophisticated armor to date, presumably so that the avengers could find someone to where and bolster the team's strength.

However, soon after completion, Obadiah Stane, alarmed at Starks steps toward recovery, bombed Circuits Maxus injuring roads and killing Morley Erwin. Design vengeance, Stark dawned the untested new armor and sought out Stane. Stane himself put on a suitor farmer his engineers had built using Starks plans, and met Iron Man in battle as the Iron Monger. Losing the battle against Stark, Stane committed suicide.

Stark decided that although one is never truly cured of alcoholism, he could also not the nine response abilities of being Iron Man. He resumed his career as Iron Man and joined the New West Coast division of the avengers.

Stark also managed to reclaim control of his fortune, although he decided not to claim ownership of the company formally known as Stark international. Rather, he founded a new technological design and manufacturing company, Stark enterprises, based in Silicon Valley in Southern California. Stark enterprises quickly became a highly successful and innovative company.

Stark learned that before his death the industrials by calling self Spymaster had stolen the plans for the many secret technological innovations Stark to devise annualized in his Iron Man are. Spymaster's had then turn these plants over to Stark most powerful and antagonistic business rival, Justin Hammer, in turn, had made available to many criminals. These criminals had then incorporated the stolen technological innovations into their own armored battle suits. Oh raged that his inventions were being used for criminal activity, and even for killing, Stark determined to deprive these criminals of his secrets. He planted a computer virus in Hammer's computer system that would wipe out all traces of the plans for Starks Iron Man technology. As Iron Man Stark sought out and caught many criminals and others (such as the United States government's Guardsmen) who wore battle suits utilizing his technology, implanted devices on their armor that to use the circuits, rendering the suit useless. With the computer records of the plans for his technology gone, presumably it could not be used in reconstructing the suits. Iron Man accidentally killed the second titanium man (also known as the gremlin) in the course of these "Armor Wars." United States government branded Iron Man as an outlaw as a result of these and vigilante actions, and Stark publicly claimed that he had fired Iron Man in displeasure over his illegal activity. Shortly afterward, Iron Man was apparently destroyed in combat with government forces.

In fact, however, Stark had survived. He created an even more sophisticated armored battle suit to wear as Iron Man, using technology far in advance over that which spymaster had stolen from him. Star continued to go into action as Iron Man, but he publicly claimed that the previous Iron Man was dead and that another employee of his whose identity is being kept secret was now wearing the armored suit.

Later, Stark was shots by Kathleen Dare, a former lover of his with an unstable mind. The gunfire severely injured Starks spying, and it appeared here be crippled the rest of his life, and able to walk. He could, however, still function normally within his Iron Man armor. The microchip device was later implanted in Stark spine that enables him to walk a move normally once again.

Height: 6 ft. 1 in.
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Strength level: Without his armor Tony Stark possesses the normal strength of a normal human man his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. His armor magnifies Stark strength to superhuman levels, enabling him to lift (press) roughly 85 times.

Known superhuman powers: none

Other abilities: Tony Stark is a genius who is a responsible for numerous major discoveries, inventions, and other achievements in various areas of technology.

Weapons and paraphernalia: Iron Man wears a sophisticated suit a body armor containing various offensive weaponry. The Iron Man armor is outfitted with repulsor ray projectors in the palms of the gauntlets. A variation on the repulsor rays are the pulse bolts which are plasma energy bolts that gain power the further they travel. The gauntlets can also project laser beams from the fingertips. The chest mounted uni-beam provides a variety of fuctions from a mere spotlight through a range of several uses including infrared, electromagnetic, and tractor beams. The armor has an extensive array of sensors and communication equipment. Flight capabilities are provided by jet thrusters in the boots capable of tremendous speed and maneuvarability. Other weapons and other types of systems have been incoroprated into the various Iron Man armors over the years, but these above mentioned ones are those that are common to the bulk of the various Iron Man armor designs.

When did ole Tin Man change his big round Silver suit for the Gold and Red one? Like what comic?

Also, all the stuff that happened in the war with the chinese, was that in his own Iron Man series, or was it a part of "Tales of Suspense"?

Tales of Suspense issue 39 is the first appearance of Iton Man in his original gray armor. Issue 40 is the introduction of the gold colored armor (repainted gray suit with upgrades). Issue 48 is the first appearance of a long series of gold and red colored armor. From then on Shellhead's regular armor (excluding suits for special missions deepsea, outer space, stealth, etc.) would all have the red and gold color scheme except for the red and silver suit of armor of the introduced in Iron Man issue 200 and was destroyed in the first Armor Wars and the black and white "War Machine" armor.

As for the heavy Chinese, Soviet, and presence of other communist countries, the Iron Man series always had a very strong political and espionage tone making it rather much a kind of super hero 007 series from the character's first appearance into the late '80s. It occurred abundantly throughout the character's tenure as a feature in the Tales of Suspense series and continued on into the late '80s in Iron Man effectively winding down with the first Armor Wars storyline.

Cpuld you supply a little more background info on War Machine?

I see his comic all the time but I'm hesitant to pick it up without knowing about it first.

Yeah i was wondering about War Machine too. That title is published under the "max" label that Marvel uses to release mature comics. Is it more violent or something?

War Machine intrigued me, just like other doppelgangers int he Marvel Universe such as Thunderstrike. It used to give me hope that Spiderman and the Scarlet Spider could co-exist.

To the best of my knowledge that particular War Machine series is set in an alternate reality. War Machine (James Rhodes) was originally Stark's pilot and close friend. When Stark's alcholism was at it's worst Rhodes became the new Iron Man for a length of time. Rhodes became Iron Man again when Stark was presumed dead. When Stark returned Rhodes kept the suit of Iron Man armor he had used during his second tenure as Iron Man (known as the War Machine armor) and took the name War Machine. This particular armor had a black and white color scheme, complete improvements on the abilities and systems of the previous Iron Man armors, and had more conventional firepower as well (shoulder mounted gatling guns, mini missile launchers, etc.) The War Machine armor was later lost and Rhodes took to using an alien combat suit for a time which was disincorporated in an attempt to prevent Fujikawa a corporation which was taking over Stark Enterprises from acquiring the Iron Man armor technology. The original War Machine armor resurfaced and was used for villainous purposes by a new individual calling himself War Machine.

There is a new series coming out about Crimson Dynamo. Is this the same Crimson Dynamo that is one of Ironman's enemies? A guy named Warren Ellis is supposed to write the series.

The new Crimson Dynamo series is about a man who recently finds a spare suit of the original Crimson Dynamo armor. While this armor is very powerful it is immensely antiquated in comparison to the other super powered armors currently in use in the Marvel Universe.

So there have only been two people to be the Crimson Dynamo then? What about the Titanium Man and Mandarin? Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo were partners since they were from Russia right?

Since the Mandarin is Shellhead's greatest foe, we should have a Mandarin bio. Oh, look there happens to be one below. Now what's the chance of that happening?

Mandarin

Real Name: Unrevealed
Occupation: Would Be Conqueror
Identity: The Mandarin's real name is not known to anyone alive today.
Legal Status: Usually considered to be an enemy of the state in the People's Republic of China. Wanted by legal authorities in the rest of the world.
Former Aliases: Gene Kahn
Place of Birth: Unrevealed village in mainland China before the Communist Revolution
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Former ally of the Sandman, employer of the Swordsman, Power Man, Living Laser, Enchantress, Executioner, and Unicorn
Base of Operations: The "Palace of the Star Dragon" in the "Valley of Spirits," somewhere in the People's Republic of China
First Appearance: TALES OF SUSPENSE #50

History: The Mandarin is the son of one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China (who claimed to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan), and an English noblewoman. Both parents died soon after their son's birth, and he was raised by his father's sister, who was embittered against the world. He displayed scientific aptitude at an early age and used his inheritance for education in various sciences in China and abroad. As an adult he became a high government official, or mandarin, and became renowned throughout China for his administrative brilliance.

However, with the success of mainland China's Communist revolution, the Mandarin was deprived of his position, his palace, and his wealth. Hoping to find a means of restoring himself to a position of power, the Mandarin explored the forbidding "Valley of Spirits," where no one had dared set foot for centuries. There he found the skeleton and starship of Axonn-Karr, an intelligent dragon-like alien from the planet Maklu-4, who had come to Earth centuries ago and died. Over the following years the Mandarin studied Makluan science until he had mastered it. He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship which were apparently its propulsion source, among other things. The Mandarin then subjugated the villages around the Valley, and, through his science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge. He then embarked on a long series of attempts to achieve world domination.

The Mandarin saw technology as the surest means to achieve his goals. Over the years, he would frequently attempt to turn various nations' missiles and weapons against them. Among the Mandarin's earliest schemes was the sabotage and theft of American missiles and spy planes built by Anthony Stark. To restore public confidence in his workmanship, Stark donned his Iron Man armor and flew to China to investigate. Iron Man soon became the Mandarin's principal opponent in his plans for world domination. On three occasions in their early confrontations, the Mandarin managed to take Iron Man (or his alter ego Tony Stark) captive, but failed to kill him. Conversely, Iron Man thwarted the Mandarin's various schemes, but was unable to bring him to justice. Other of the Mandarin's early technological achievements was the launching of a small orbiting satellite whose "death-ray" he aimed at Stark Industries, and the building of Ultimo, a 30-foot android possessing vast destructive powers. The Mandarin would employ Ultimo four times without success.

The Mandarin's teleportation technology, derived from Makluan science, enabled him to kidnap people at will or teleport himself out of threatening situations. The Mandarin teleported Harold "Happy" Hogan, a friend and confidant of Iron Man, to his castle in China half a world away, precipitating his fifth encounter with Iron Man. Hogan had been wearing the Iron Man armor at the time to help protect his employer's secret identity, and the Mandarin mistook him for his true foe. Rescuing Hogan, Iron Man physically bested the Mandarin for the first time in personal combat and redirected the missiles that the Mandarin had launched at the Mandarin's castle, destroying it. The Mandarin escaped by means of his teleportational machinery, and materialized aboard his orbiting satellite. There he constructed a gemlike device capable of broadcasting "hate-rays" toward Earth, and assembled several superhuman allies to perform certain missions for him, the Living Laser, the original Power Man, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. The Avengers managed to thwart the Mandarin's scheme and destroyed his satellite.

The Mandarin then established a base in China's Gobi Desert and turned his attentions to the Hulk for a time, hoping to make the dull-witted brute an accomplice. Two attempts at controlling the Hulk proved futile, however, including one where the Mandarin allied himself with the American criminal the Sandman. The Hulk destroyed the Mandarin's desert base. When the Mandarin next attacked Iron Man, he employed an android in the Hulk's likeness rather than the real Hulk. The Mandarin set up a makeshift base of operations in America, and attempted to publicly discredit Anthony Stark. Holding Iron Man captive for the fourth time, the Mandarin tried to learn if Iron Man was actually Stark, but Stark fooled him with a rubber mask over his own features. His plans thwarted, the Mandarin tried to kill Stark's current girlfriend Janice Cord but the Mandarin's betrothed Mei Ling saved her at the cost of her own life.

Returning to China, the Mandarin sought a means to increase his rings' power and learned of the legendary Eye of Yin, a talisman of power created by an ancient group of Chinese sorcerers. The Mandarin maneuvered the Royal Family of the Inhumans (who at the time lived in the nearby Himalayan Mountains of Tibet) into locating the idol for him. But before he could fully incorporate the Eye's power in his rings, Black Bolt overpowered him, stripped him of his ten rings, and hid them. Unable to find the rings, the Mandarin journeyed back to the "Valley of Spirits" and the ruins of the Makluan starship wherein he first acquired the rings. There he found a headband containing technology which enabled him to recover the rings. The Mandarin used his newfound power to restore his castle to its original state. The Unicorn, another frequent opponent of Iron Man, sought the Mandarin's aid in curing him of a progressive disease. The Mandarin and the Unicorn traveled to America to attack their common enemy Iron Man, but in the heat of battle, the Mandarin found that the headband had somehow exchanged his consciousness with that of the Unicorn. The Mandarin was forced to flee, desperate to rescue himself from the Unicorn's dying body.

When the Mandarin arrived at his castle in China, he found that it had been taken over by the Yellow Claw, another Oriental mastermind. The Mandarin was forced to find another laboratory to try to restore his brain back to its rightful body. With the unwilling aid of the Japanese mutant Sunfire, the Mandarin restored his mind to its rightful body. In battle with Iron Man again, the Mandarin's interim headquarters was destroyed. The Mandarin then launched an attack on the Yellow Claw in an attempt to regain his own castle. The Mandarin was fatally injured when the Yellow Claw robot he had been battling exploded. As the Mandarin lay dying, he used the headband's mind-transferring capacities to transfer his consciousness into his ten rings. When the rings were confiscated by the Yellow Claw's power-hungry servant Loc Do, the Mandarin's consciousness entered Loc Do's body, permanently driving out Loc Do's. Using his matter-rearranger ring, the Mandarin transformed Loc Do's body into a younger duplicate of his original one.

The Mandarin returned to his castle, discovering that it had again been destroyed. After rebuilding it, the Mandarin attempted to capture Iron Man by his teleportation devices, but once again caught someone else clad in his armor. This time it was Michael O'Brien, later to become a friend of Stark's. Iron Man flew to O'Brien's rescue, clad in an old set of armor, thwarted his attempt to bomb the United States, saved him, and for a second time bested the Mandarin in personal combat. Perhaps due to the effect of the Mandarin's mental domination ring on him, Iron Man did not take the Mandarin into custody, but permitted him to remain free to launch further threats against the world

The Mandarin later schemed to involve turning the Vibranium mound in the African country of Wakanda into the isotope that destroys the molecular cohesion of metals, and an attempt to destroy China's entire rice crop in an attempt to provoke war. In the second of these plots, the Mandarin encountered James Rhodes, during his custodianship of the Iron Man armor.

More Later, while Stark was trying to set up a branch of Stark Enterprises in Hong Kong, Iron Man and the Mandarin came into conflict. The Mandarin had taken the name of Zhang Tong, and had become a financial leader in Hong Kong. As Tong, he controlled a number of government officials and industry leaders of Hong Kong.

The Mandarin thwarted all of Stark's attempts to set up a business branch, even resorting to murder. The Mandarin now employed a group of followers, called the Hand, to do his dirty work. When on a mission, a Hand member was allowed to take one of the Mandarin's rings and use its powers. If the Hand member was captured, he would fanatically try to kill himself. If the Hand member was killed or knocked out, the ring would automatically teleport back to the Mandarin.

At one point, the mutant hero Psylocke passed through the mystic portal known as the Siege Perilous. The portal transformed Psylocke slightly and relocated her to an Asian shore, where she immediately encountered the Hand assassin Kwannon and the two somehow merged their minds/personalities. The Hand brought Psylocke to the Mandarin, who oversaw Psylocke's transformation into the Hand's ultimate assassin. Psylocke was eventually rescued by her X-Men teammates Wolverine and Jubliee, and Psylocke defeated the Mandarin, causing events which led to Mandarin's exile from the Hand.

Somehow, the Mandarin had discovered the Heart of Darkness, an orb of apparently mystic energy, which he used to turn back time in China. Iron Man, with his team Force Works and ally War Machine, broke his power, but not before the Mandarin discovered that Tony Stark was the man inside the Iron Man armor. Iron Man infected Mandarin with a techno-organic virus, and the orb, seeing him infected with technology, rejected the Mandarin and imploded. Iron Man believed him dead, but in reality the Mandarin was transported and transformed by the last flare of the orb's magic, turned into a janitor in the Hong Kong branch of Stark Enterprises.

Eventually, Mandarin's memories returned to him and instead of trying to crush technology, Mandarin believed that the feudal system of yesterday had merely been transformed into the capitalism of today. Mandarin set into motion plans to create a giant flying fortress called the Dragon of Heaven through which he could conquer Russia and eventually the world. During this time, Iron Man reappeared after being believed dead in a battle against the psychic menace Onslaught. The Mandarin initiated a series of attacks on Iron Man, cumulating in a battle in the Dragon of Heaven. Mandarin's primary purpose was not conquering Russia, but to test Iron Man and prove him worthy as a foe and to justify Mandarin's own thoughts on capitalism. Mandarin staged his own death as Iron Man escaped.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 215 lbs.
Eyes: Blue-black
Hair: Black

Strength Level: The Mandarin possesses the normal human strength of a man of his physical age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Known Superhuman Powers: None

Abilities: The Mandarin is one of the world's greatest scientific geniuses. Not only has he made himself into an authority on Makluan science, but he has also built upon this knowledge by making further discoveries based upon it. Although the Mandarin has no natural superhuman powers of his own, he is a superb athlete with tremendous skill in the various Oriental martial arts. Through repeated practice he has toughened all the striking surfaces of his body, especially his hands, which are covered with thick callus. Without artificial aids he can split wood, cinderblock, or even mild steel with a blow of his hand. When he surrounds himself with a thin but intense protective force field, he can even split Iron Man's magnetic-beam reenforced alloy armor with repeated blows of his hand.

Weapons: The principal personal weapons of the Mandarin are the ten rings which he wears on his fingers. The rings' operations cannot be explained by contemporary Earth science, but it is known that they served as near-limitless energy sources for the warpdrive engines of the starship of Axonn-Karr, a dragon-like alien of the Makluan race. The Mandarin learned how to convert the rings to his personal uses, and to make them respond to his mental commands.

does iron man still have to depend on the artificial heart of his to survive or has he found some other way to sustain himself?

To the best of my knowledge he still relies on the artificial heart. This situation could have changed as I have not yet read the past five issues of the series. I haven't heard different from fans of the series yet.

I don't know about the heart thing, but the upcoming storyline is suppossed to have Iron Man become the US Secretary of Defense.

That is correct. I'll post some details up as soon as I can find some comprehensive information.

In the meantime a bio of one of Shellhead's classic villains... the uncanny Unicorn!

Unicorn

Real Name: Milos Masaryk
Occupation: Ex-intelligence agent, now subversive
Identity: Secret
Legal Status: Czechoslovakian citizen with no criminal record
Other Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Former agent of Count Nefaria, the Red Ghost, the Mandarin, and the Titanium Man
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: TALES OF SUSPENSE #56
History: Milos Masaryk was a Soviet intelligence agent assigned to security duty at the private laboratory of inventor Anton Vanko. Vanko was engaged in the development of advanced technological weaponry and armament. His first completed project was a full body suit of armor which he himself would later wear as the Soviet operative code-named the Crimson Dynamo. His second finished project was a helmet and harness into which offensive radiation-beam weaponry called a "power horn" was integrated. Vanko offered this invention to Masaryk, and with government approval, began to instruct the Soviet agent on its use.

Some time after Vanko defected to America, the Soviet government dispatched Masaryk to avenge the disgrace caused by the inventor. Masaryk was given a special, heavily insulated costume and code-named the Unicorn because of the head-mounted discharge cone of the weapons system he wore. The Unicorn confronted Iron Man, the person instrumental in getting Vanko to defect, and coerced him into accompanying him back to the Soviet Union where the secrets of Iron Man's armor could be unlocked. Iron Man escaped, however, and permitted the enemy agent to go free.

The Unicorn then entered a short-lived alliance with Count Nefaria in hopes of acquiring some funds for his subversive activities. Their scheme, however, was thwarted by the X-Men. Returning to his native Czechoslovakia, Masaryk voluntarily underwent a special treatment by the experimental "hyper-activator" device designed by the government to augment physical strength. Masaryk's several month delay in reporting back to his superiors had raised suspicions as to his loyalty, and so he was forced to undergo weeks of brainwashing before serving as a test subject for the hyper-activator device. The treatments not only endowed him with superhuman strength, but it also undid the effects of his brainwashing. Thus, as soon as the treatments were finished, Masaryk turned on the scientists who had empowered him and destroyed their machine so they could not create any more such as him. Donning a redesigned version of his power-horn weaponry he fled, hoping to find a means to cure himself of an unfortunate side-effect of the treatment, accelerated cellular deterioration.

Returning to America, the Unicorn first tried to coerce the Congress of the United States into giving him funds to finance the investigation of the causes of his advanced aging. Iron Man managed to thwart this plan, but the Unicorn once again eluded capture. The Unicorn then sought the help of the renegade Soviet scientist, the Red Ghost. The Red Ghost attempted to use the Unicorn as a mere henchman, but the Unicorn ultimately managed to overpower him. When the Ghost proved incapable of curing his ailment, the Unicorn left him and sought the Mandarin. The Mandarin turned the Unicorn into his "body-slave" and used him in one of his many attacks on Iron Man. Through a mind transference device he had devised, the Mandarin was even trapped in the Unicorn's body for a short time.

The Unicorn then contacted the Titanium Man, who promised to find a cure for him if he defeated Iron Man. The disease having begun to affect his brain, the Unicorn readily agreed. For the first time Iron Man managed to apprehend his longtime foe. Iron Man placed the Unicorn in a cryogenic cylinder and gave him a chemical bath designed to arrest his cellular deterioration. By the time the Unicorn was accidentally freed months later, the treatment was apparently successful. However, the disease had damaged the Unicorn's mind enough so that he was now insane. After yet another battle with Iron Man, the Unicorn, deprived of his rocket belt, escaped. He was last seen heading out to sea, hoping to rendezvous with the Titanium Man, who, unknown to him, had been deported to the Soviet Union months before.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 220 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red

Strength Level: The Unicorn possesses superhuman strength and can lift (press) 15 tons.

Known Superhuman Powers: The Unicorn is superhumanly strong and his body's soft tissues are dozens of times tougher than normal. His body can repel .50 caliber machine gun fire, withstand open flame to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and resist Iron Man's repulsor rays at maximum blast at a distance of 20 feet.

Abilities: As a former Soviet intelligence agent, the Unicorn has been trained in hand-to-hand combat, is proficient with numerous types of weaponry, and is skilled in the arts of espionage.

Weapons: The Unicorn wears headgear equipped with an energy projector that tunes to various frequency and power levels including infrared and ultraviolet lasers, microwaves, laser-path guided electron and neutron beams. The e-beam and n-beam have tremendous concussive power (on the order of 50 pounds of TNT at effective ranges of 75 feet). The power supply is a flat array of nuclear powered thermoelectric cells in Unicorn's belt which turn out about 1.2 kilowatts.

The Unicorn also wears a rocket belt equipped with twin, high-efficiency electric micro turbines which use a small supply of very volatile fuel that enables the wearer to cruise at 180 miles per hour (or with its maximum take-off weight of 450 pounds: 75 miles per hour) to an altitude of about 3,000 feet for a maximum of 200 minutes. The dense osmium gyroscopes located in the rear of the belt provide some stability and allow navigation through computer-aided terrain-following mini-radar.

Are The Mandarin's rings any match for Green Lantern's? How about when Hal Jordan stole a bunch of them on his way to becoming Parallax?