In this feature we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that. Here is an archive of all the When We First Met features so far! Check 'em out!
Reader Steve asked a fascinating question. Did you all know that Iron Man initially WASN'T Tony Stark's bodyguard? So when did that start? Read on to find out!
Obviously, when Iron Man first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber and Don Heck), he was alone in a foreign country, so no one knew anything about him...
In the next issue (by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Jack Kirby and Don Heck), Iron Man and Tony Stark are completely separate from each other...
But the next issue (by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) establishes that Tony knows Iron Man well enough to volunteer his services for a charity event...
In #43 (by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Jack Kirby and Don Heck), Stark continues to talk about his friendship with Iron Man...
In the next issue (by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein and Don Heck), he calls upon that friendship to explain how he can get Iron Man to help out in a situation...
And he even explains why he has to play up the friendship in the next issue (by Lee, Bernstein and Heck)...
In Tales of Suspense #48 (by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Dick Ayers), we see the first sort of indication of where this will be going in the future, as Tony Stark has to come up with a reason for why he has to be left alone while he is a target of the evil Mr. Doll...
Ouch! Poor Pepper!
It gets even worse when Iron Man saves the day and he forgot about Pepper being left alone in that room this whole time!!
Go to the next page and learn where the bodyguard thing got even MORE solidified before it was made just official...
In Tales of Suspense #51 (by Stan Lee and Don Heck), the Scarecrow believes Iron Man to be Tony Stark's bodyguard...
And in the next issue (by Stan Lee and Dons Rico and Heck), the Russians believe that to be the case, as well...
In the next issue (by Lee, Rico and Heck), some military guys sure seem to imply that Iron Man works for Tony Stark...
And finally, in Tales of Suspense #54 (by Stan Lee and Don Heck), it is confirmed...
So there you go, Steve!
If anyone else has a question related to comic book debuts, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com