Iron Man (TV Series)

''Iron Man'', also known as ''Iron Man: The Animated Series'', is an American animated television series based on Marvel Comics' superhero, Iron Man. The series aired from 1994 to 1996 in syndication as part of '' The Marvel Action Hour'', which packaged ''Iron Man'' with other animated series based on Marvel properties, the ''Fantastic Four'' and '' The Incredible Hulk'', with one half-hour episode from each series airing back-to-back. The show was backed by a toy line that featured many armor variants. Off the heels of the release of the live-action ''Iron Man'' film in 2008, reruns began airing on the Jetix block on Toon Disney.

Although only lasting two seasons, ''Iron Man'' was the subject of a major overhaul between seasons when its production studio was changed. The result was a massively changed premise, tone, and general approach, which left the disparate seasons scarcely recognizable as being two halves of the same series.

First season

The first season of ''Iron Man'' involves Iron Man battling the Mandarin and his minions, who seek to steal his technology. The Mandarin's army consists of Dreadknight, Blizzard, Blacklash, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind, Living Laser, MODOK, Fin Fang Foom, Justin Hammer and Hypnotia (original character). Iron Man has a group of allies who are based on Force Works and include Century, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Spider Woman.

The season consisted mostly of episodic, original stories, with the exception of "The Origin of Iron Man". This late-run recounting of the title character's origin is symptomatic of what is generally thought of as the season's greatest weakness – despite the series' large cast of characters, few of them are developed, leaving viewers unaware of their origins and powers. The show is generally held to have been at its best when telling characters' backstories.

Throughout the season, the Mandarin spies on Force Works and almost deduces Iron Man's secret identity before Iron Man tricks him with an android duplicate of himself.

In this first season, the theme song was composed by progressive rock artist Keith Emerson, known for his work on the supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer and for his soundtrack for Dario Argento's horror '' Inferno''.

Second season

The second season had a new animation studio, Koko Enterprises; a new head writer, Tom Tataranowicz; and a new electric guitar theme composed by William Kevin Anderson. Additionally, Iron Man was redesigned to resemble artist Mark Bright's depiction of the character from the late 1980s.

In the season premiere, "The Beast Within", Iron Man is struck by a missile, weakening his body and forcing him to wear cybernetic tech on his chest. Throughout the season, he utilizes various armors built for specific situations that he can change on the fly.

The Mandarin is given a significantly reduced role after losing his rings. His remaining appearances see him attempt to recover his rings and disable technology worldwide before being killed by bandits.

Another change was that Force Works is mostly written out of the series, parting ways with Iron Man after works with the Mandarin to battle Fin Fang Foom. Julia Carpenter and War Machine are the only ones who continue to work with Stark, with the latter temporarily developing claustrophobia after almost drowning in his armor.

''The Incredible Hulk'' (1996 TV series) and ''Spider-Man'' (1994 TV series) crossovers

Iron Man and War Machine appear in ''The Incredible Hulk'' episode "Helping Hand, Iron Fist", where they help the Hulk and Rick Jones battle a squad of Hulkbusters.

Iron Man and War Machine appear in ''Spider-Man''. Throughout the series, they serve as allies to Spider-Man. As Dorian Harewood was already voicing Tombstone in the series, James Avery reprised War Machine. In the "Secret Wars" episodes, Iron Man transported to the Beyonder's Battleworld before being returned to Earth with no memory of the events.

Cast

Main

* Robert Hays – Iron Man / Tony Stark, Living Laser
* James Avery – War Machine / James Rhodes (Season 1, episodes 1–5), Whirlwind (Season 1, episodes 1–10), Blacklash (1994–1995)
* Ed Gilbert – Mandarin (Season 1), Grey Gargoyle, Ultimo
* Robert Ito – Mandarin (Season 2)
* Jim Cummings – MODOK, Century ("The Beast Within" only), many additional supporting characters (including Bill Clinton) and stand-in vocals for War Machine, Whirlwind, Grey Gargoyle, and Justin Hammer
* Dorian Harewood – War Machine / James Rhodes (Season 1, episode 6 onwards), Whirlwind (Season 1, episode 11 onwards), Blacklash (1995–1996), Stilt-Man
* John Reilly – Hawkeye / Clint Barton, Beetle
* Katherine Moffat – Scarlet Witch / Wanda Frank (Season 1), Rachel Carpenter
* Linda Holdahl – Hypnotia (Season 1)
* Jennifer Darling – Scarlet Witch (Season 2), Hypnotia (Season 2)
* Casey Defranco – Spider-Woman / Julia Carpenter (Season 1)
* Jennifer Hale – Spider-Woman / Julia Carpenter (Season 2), Ghost (shared)
* James Warwick – Century (Season 1), Sam Jaggers, General Hirsch
* Tom Kane – H.O.M.E.R., Century ("Hands of the Mandarin" only), Stingray, Ghost (shared), Sunturion

Recurring

* Philip Abbott – Nick Fury
* Neil Dickson – Dreadknight
* Linda Holdahl – Hypnotia (Season 1)
* Chuck McCann – Blizzard
* Neil Ross – Fin Fang Foom, Wellington Yinsen, Howard Walter Stark (Season 1), Blizzard ("The Beast Within" only)
* Tony Steedman – Justin Hammer (Season 1)
* Efrem Zimbalist Jr. – Justin Hammer (Season 2), Firepower

Guests

* Dimitra Arliss – Martha Stark
* Sarah Douglas – Alana Ulanova
* Jeannie Elias – Veronica Benning
* Matt Frewer – Leader
* William Hootkins – Crimson Dynamo (1st time)
* Jamie Horton – Controller, Ghost (shared)
* Julia Kato – Dr. Su-Yin
* Todd Louiso – The Hacker
* Gerard Maguire – Titanium Man
* Neal McDonough – Firebrand / Gary Gilbert
* Ron Perlman – Hulk / Bruce Banner
* Peter Renaday – Howard Walter Stark (Season 2)
* Stu Rosen – Crimson Dynamo (2nd time)
* Marla Rubinoff – Elastika
* W. Morgan Sheppard – Dum Dum Dugan
* Scott Valentine – Dark Aegis
* David Warner – Arthur Dearborn
* Lisa Zane – Madame Masque

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1995–96)

Crossovers

''Incredible Hulk''

''Spider-Man''

* Tony Stark also had a cameo in "The Spot" episode of ''Spider-Man''.
* Although he never spoke, Iron Man had a few cameos in a few of the ''Fantastic Four'' episodes, including the Season 2 episodes "To Battle the Living Planet" and "Doomsday".
** He also cameos in "Tolerance is Extinction Part 3" of X-Men '97 where he is with Captain America at the White House and protects President Robert Kelly from the Prime Sentinels attacking.

Home media

Europe

On October 8, 2007, Maximum Entertainment released a three-disc DVD set that contained all twenty-six episodes of the series. Maximum released all twenty-six episodes as separate three-disc sets in April 2008, with each disc also including two ''Iron Man'' segments from ''The Marvel Super Heroes''. These discs also came bundled together as a boxset titled ''Iron Man: The Ultimate Super Hero''. The third was also released separately as ''Iron Man: Special Edition''. In April 2008, Maximum released a 5-disc boxset containing both complete series sets for this show and the one for ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' segments.

Clear Vision later took over European rights and released a 4-disc complete series set exclusively to their website on April 19, 2010. A six-disc set that was released on the same day bundled both series together.

Australia

Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the entire series on Region 4 DVD – which spans three separate volumes – on March 30, 2010

United States

Buena Vista Home Entertainment later released the series on Region 1 DVD on May 4, 2010. This complete series release was made to cash-in and coincide with the release of '' Iron Man 2'', which opened in theaters a few days later, on May 7.

Streaming

The complete series is available to stream on Disney+ although all seasons are erroneously grouped under season 1, as of the service's launch on November 12, 2019.

Comics

An eight-issue comic-book series based on the show was published by Marvel:
* ''Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man'' (November 1994 to June 1995).Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man – Comic Vine
/ref>

References

External links

*
*



Marvel Animation Age – ''Iron Man''




TVShowsonDVD.com

''The Marvel Action Hour'' (1994–1996) , Iron Man TV , Iron Man World , UGO.com

"Iron Man: The Complete 1994 Animated Television Series"
– Animated Views

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Man
1990s American animated television series
1990s American children's television series
1990s American superhero television series
1994 American animated television series debuts
1996 American television series endings
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated science fantasy television series
American children's animated superhero television series
Animated television series based on Marvel Comics
Animated series produced by Marvel Films
First-run syndicated animated television series
Iron Man television series
Television series by Saban Entertainment
Television series set in the 1990s
Animated television series set in Los Angeles
Works by Len Wein