This is a feature called "Beg Steal or Borrow," which is about when comic book characters are abruptly pulled from one book to another. I'm not talking about when comic book characters simply migrate from one title to another (I spotlight examples of that in my feature, "Looks Like I'm Moving"). I mean examples where a writer has a character taken out of the book against their wishes. It almost always happens in team books, but sometimes it occurs in solo titles, as well.

Today, we look at how the West Coast Avengers added an Iron Man who wasn't who they thought he was and then that Iron Man was replaced by Tony Stark in Stark's return as Iron Man (which predated his actual return as Iron Man in the Iron Man comic book series).

As I pointed out in a previous edition of Beg Steal or Borrow, Tony Stark had to be pulled from the Avengers due to the fact that his drinking problem deteriorated to the point where he could no longer serve as Iron Man any longer. His friend, James Rhodes, stepped in as Iron Man and then quit the Avengers in Tony's stead. Then Secret Wars happened and Rhodes was taken along with the other main heroes of the Marvel Universe and he proved himself to be a capable superhero.

Therefore, when the Avengers decided to expand their roster following Secret Wars by establishing a West Coast branch of the team, they figured that Iron Man would be a fine addition to the team. After all, they had JUST fought alongside him during Secret Wars, so what could be the problem? It seemed like his drinking problems were over.

In West Coast Avengers #1 (by Roger Stern, Bob Hall and Brett Breeding), Hawkeye calls Iron Man and Tigra to the new headquarters of the West Coast Avengers without telling them what they are being called there for. Once there, he informs them that he has chosen them to become members of the new West Coast branch of the Avengers...

Iron Man is about to chime in that he is not the Iron Man that they're thinking of, but they are interrupted by an intruder alert...

Rhodey decides to accept the offer and in the next issue, he spars with his fellow Avengers and there is that delicate mix between him NOT being experienced enough and him still being powerful enough to take them all on...

After it's over, Rhodey talks to himself about his feelings of inexperience while still wanting to be on the team, as he DID just prove himself during Secret Wars (which, of course, was still coming out at this point in time)...

Things changed a bit in the third issue when Tigra, who had learned Iron Man's secret identity, tries to talk to "Tony" and learns the truth...

Jim finally comes clean in the final issue of the series....

Still, he had proven himself and so he remained on the team. He was with the rest of the West Coast team when they teamed up with the East Coast branch in Avengers #250 (by Roger Stern, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott)...

However, by this point in time, Tony Stark had already sobered up, so it was likely just a matter of WHEN he would return as Iron Man. Tony said he was fine just letting Rhodey remain as Iron Man while Tony concentrated on building his business back up in California (after it fell apart during his drinking problems and Obadiah Stane destroying Stark International).

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The problem was that Rhodey was dealing with severe headaches while using the Iron Man armor. It was bad enough that Tony Stark (using an older version of his armor) actually went to the West Coast Avengers to resign on behalf of Rhodes in Iron Man #193 (by Denny O'Neil, Luke McDonnell, Ian Akin and Bryan Garvey)...

Rhodes actually figured out his headache problems but then he was caught in an explosion by the evil Obadiah Stane at the end of Iron Man #199. Thus, in Iron Man #200 (by O'Neil, Mark Bright and Akin and Garvey), Rhodes was too injured to serve as Iron Man...

So Tony was forced to finally return to being Iron Man, with him debuting a new armor at the Avengers' compound...

So obviously, they knew he was back and so when the West Coast Avengers graduated to their own ongoing series (by Steve Englehart, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott), Iron Man was back as a member...

Hank Pym even notes his cool new armor...

Here's the "twist," though. Due to a production delay on the over-sized Iron Man #200, that issue actually came out AFTER West Coast Avengers #1, so Tony's return as Iron Man AND his new "Silver Centurion" look were all spoiled by his appearance in that issue!

If anyone else has a suggestion for an example of a comic book character being ripped from a series, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!