Dr. Issues learns we don’t have the licensing budget for good music, and Anthony discovers he’s like Iron Man, but not in the cool, mechanized suit-wearing kinda way.

Show notes:

• Introduction
• Background on Tony Stark
  • Starts off as Howard Hughes analogue – pro-war industrialist
  • 1969 – Artificial heart
  • Demon in a Bottle – Grapples with alcoholism
  • Loses company, becomes homeless – Rhodey takes over suit
  • Armor Wars – Takes out armored heroes/villains, battles Edwin Cord
  • Creates War Machine armor, but becomes paralyzed and loses Rhodey
  • The Crossing – kills several people (later retconned)
  • Heroes Reborn – comes back healthy and with new look
  • Secretary of Defense – leads to Avengers Disassembled
    • First time Stark Tower used as Avengers base
  • Civil War – Superhuman Registration Act
  • Dark Reign – Brain “rebooted”
  • Heroic Age – Bleeding Edge armor/Stark Resilient
  • Comics Tony turns into a clone of RDJ
  • Secret Wars II – Incursions, end of Ultimate Universe
  • Civil War II – Tony vs. Carol
  • Marvel NOW – Tony is in coma, brain is AI, Riri is Ironheart
• Primary Issues
  • Arrogance
  • Alcoholism
  • Reliance on technology creates distance
  • Tendency to over-intellectualize everything
• How to address issues
  • Want to solve problems without breaking him down
  • Narcissism makes for delicate handling
• Tony on Dr. Issues’s couch