Ever since the release of the successful 2008 movie, Iron Man has quickly become one of the most mainstream superheroes. While he's been the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his animated adaptations have not always been successful. They've also made extensive changes to Iron Man's origin, as was the case for Iron Man: Armored Adventures. The CGI series recast Iron Man and his supporting cast as teenagers, slightly recalling a controversial storyline from the comics while also alienating fans. Removing Tony's warzone origins, the series equally makes changes to the development of his armor.
Iron Man's Armored Origins
In the show's pilot episode, "Iron, Forged in Fire: Part 1," Howard Stark is seemingly killed in a plane crash that also gravely injures his teenage son, Tony. Tony's life is saved when an experimental battle suit that he designed implants its power source into his chest. In addition, Howard had been investigating the mysterious Makluan Rings beforehand, making his sudden death all the more coincidental.
Tony moves in with his best friend Rhodey, with former business rival Obadiah Stane taking over Stark International. At the new school he attends, Tony meets Pepper Potts, who informs him about how she believes Stane is secretly a criminal who's wanted by the FBI. Tony anonymously investigates her claims while wearing the armored suit from earlier, and he is thankfully around to stop a runaway train from crashing into Stark Tower. The media dubs him Iron Man, and from there, he operates as a superhero while looking into both Stane's ambitions and his father's disappearance.
Changes to the Iron Man Comics
In the comics, Tony is an adult when he becomes Iron Man. Likewise, the injury which causes him to become Iron Man typically occurs in a warzone, specifically during the Vietnam War in his 1963 debut. This change in the cartoon appears to have been made to make the show more kid-friendly.
In the comics, Tony's father, who typically dies in a car crash, is already long since deceased by the time Tony becomes Iron Man. Likewise, Tony already knows Pepper in the comics, whereas in the show, he meets her during his teenage origin story. On the other hand, in the comics, he does not know Rhodey by the time he becomes Iron Man, as the character was a later addition to the mythos.
Iron Man's first armor is also his traditional red and gold suit, looking similar to the iconic armor from the first movie. However, in both the movies and comics, Iron Man's initial suit is a bulky, gigantic armor made out of spare parts. These changes added up to a series that was vastly different from what comic and film fans were used to in terms of the Iron Man mythos. While this could've set the show up for failure, it ran for two seasons with 52 episodes in total.