Iron Man's Original Origins in Vietnam
March 1963 was Iron Man's first debute in Tales of Suspense #39. The cover showed Tony grabbing pieces of his bulky grey armor, with the catch line, "He Lives! He Walks! He Conquers!"
Anthony Stark was born in Long Island, New York. He entered into MIT at the age of 15 and graduated at the top of his class in electrical engineering. At 21 Tony's parents were killed in freak car accident, resulting in Tony inheriting his father's company, Stark Industries. The first thing Stark does is buy out the company that made the faulty brakes on his parents' car and corrects the mechanical problem.
After Tony's father dies, Stark Industries (with Tony at the wheel) continues it's production of military weaponry. This leads to Stark taking a visit to Vietnam for some weapons testing.
Stan Lee was somewhat of a visionary when he chose Vietnam for the setting for the origin of Iron Man. In 1963 few Americans were interested in Vietnam, much less aware of where it was on a map, but before long the Vietnam war would become the most crucial and controversial event of the 1960s.
While testing experimental transistor powered weapons in the jungles of Vietnam (he went to see first hand a test of a device that he has created for the military, a tiny transistor that dramatically increases the power of a small magnet to the point where heavy munitions such as mortars can be carried through the jungle as easily as a flashlight), Stark is injured by an exploding booby trap (the original IEDs) and is captured by a Vietnamese Communist named Wong-Chu.
 Wong-Chu finds out that his prisoner is Tony Stark, a "famous Yankee inventor," and he decides that even though doctors determine he only has days to live before "shrapnel reaches his heart," Stark will be put to work in service of the communist insurgency.
Stark is pressed into building weapons for Wong Chu, along with a fellow prisoner, the renowned physicist Yin Sen, a famous physicist whom Stark had read about while he was in college.
Instead of building weapons for Wong Chu, Stark and Yin Sen use the workshop to secretly design and construct a suit of powered armor that enhances Stark's strength while giving him some extra capabilities. The suit will not only keep Stark's heart beating (free from the shrapnel), but is primarily used to escape the evil clutches of Wong-Chu. Yin Sen sacrificed himself to buy Stark time to charge the bulky suit of armor... ok, poor Yin Sen basically got himself shot about 150 times by about 12 AK-47s giving Stark time to find an outlet to charge his suit up.
Iron Man escapes, killing Wong Chu and his men in the process. On his way back, Iron Man encounters a wounded American Marine helicopter pilot named Jim Rhodes. Introducing himself as Stark's bodyguard, Iron Man and Rhodes manage to defend themselves against the pursuing North Vietnamese soldiers before making it back to Rhodes' helicopter.
Rhodes allowed Iron Man to drain the helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two then trekked through the jungle together where they stumble upon a hidden enemy rocket base. They steal an enemy helicopter, and also manage to destroy the rocket base, and flew to the nearest American encampment. Before leaving Vietnam for the United States, Stark offered Rhodes a job as a pilot as soon as his military stint was over.
Upon returning to the U.S., Stark continues to improve upon the Iron Man armor, establishing a dual identity as the adventurer and superhero Iron Man. He also greatly expands his father's company, Stark Industries, eventually renaming it Stark International. |
