September 24, 1994 (1994-09-24) – February 24, 1996 (1996-02-24)
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.[1][2] 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.[1]
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.[3] The show is generally held to have been at its best when telling characters' backstories.[4][5][6]
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.
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.[7][8] Additionally, Iron Man was redesigned to resemble artist Mark Bright's depiction of the character from the late 1980s.[9]
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.[10][11]
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; at one point, they are transported to the Beyonder's Battleworld before being returned to Earth with no memory of the events.[12]
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
Tony Stark struggles to repair his armor while Mandarin's minions and Force Works fight to find him first.
13
"The Wedding of Iron Man"
Ron Friedman
December 17, 1994 (1994-12-17)
Tony and Julia get married.
Season 2 (1995–96)
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
14
1
"The Beast Within"
Richard Trueblood
Greg Johnson
September 23, 1995 (1995-09-23)
Fin Fang Foom betrays the Mandarin and he and his dragon brethren try to kill the human race. In the end the dragons are killed and the Mandarin is presumed dead. Iron Man's team leave except for War Machine and Spider-Woman. The Mandarin survives and begins to reclaim his rings.
Howard Stark suddenly reappears. But Tony's excitement is short lived, because A.I.M. and their chief enforcer Crimson Dynamo are determined to kill Howard.
When Ultimo severely injures Hawkeye, Iron Man must go inside Hawkeye to save him. But a miniature Ultimo is after Iron Man.
20
7
"Distant Boundaries"
Bob Arkwright
Greg Johnson
November 11, 1995 (1995-11-11)
Iron Man heads to the distant planet Elysian.
21
8
"The Armor Wars, Part 1"
Dan Thompson
Len Uhley
November 18, 1995 (1995-11-18)
After a battle with Crimson Dynamo Iron Man realizes someone is selling his technology. Soon Iron Man goes after every armored superhero or super villain, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. hunting Tony down.
Tony Stark also had a cameo in "The Spot" episode of Spider-Man.[14]
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"[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]
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.[20]
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).[21]
