Iron Man: Who Are the Avenger’s Most Powerful Villains?

[[{“value”:”

The Armored Avenger called Iron Man has long been one of Marvel Comics’ most enduring heroes. Both on his own and allies like War Machine and even Captain America, Tony Stark has fought the good fight for decades and saved the world more times than fans can count.

In this crusade for justice, Tony’s run up against his fair share of big bads. But there are more than a few villains in old Shellhead’s rogues’ gallery that are capable of putting Iron Man’s Invincible moniker to the test.

10

Ghost

Created by David Michelinie & Bob Layton

A Bonafide genius and expert computer scientist, the cybernetic spook known only has the Ghost has been a thorn in the sides of Tony Stark and many of his other avenging allies for years. Though the Ghost isn’t naturally superpowered, his spectral tech more than makes up for a lack of inherent abilities as some of the most advanced stealth tech in Marvel Comics’ lore.

The suit gifts its wearer appropriately ethereal abilities like invisibility, intangibility, and levitation while extending his technological savvy with an array of scanners, an armory of firearms, explosives, and electrical blats, and limited mechanokinesis that allows him to possess outside technology by phasing into it. Ghost may not be one of Iron Man’s most bombastic baddies, but the threat he poses is no less haunting.

9

The Controller

Created by Archie Goodwin & George Tuska

A rogue scientist obsessed with control after an illness-ridden childhood, Basil Sandhurst a.k.a. Controller began his life of villainy after a lab accident left him deformed. Set up with an automated home and lab by his brother, Basil would develop his Controller armor, the first in many mad schemes of world domination that would be thwarted by Iron Man.

Thanks to this armor, Controller’s strength and durability are increased to superhuman levels with the added ability to increase his strength by absorbing the psychic energy of his victims, but Basil’s real weapon is his proclivity for mind control. Originally a product of his technological “slave discs” that also allowed him to channel his victims’ energies into telepathic and telekinetic skills, Sandhurst eventually developed the power to control and read minds directly – bringing him one step closer to total control.

8

Iron Monger

Created by Dennis O’Neil & Luke McDonnell

Originally a ruthless business rival of Howard Stark, the future Iron Monger called Obadiah Stane was quite literally one of Tony Stark’s biggest foes thanks to the massive armor at his disposal. Developed from Tony’s Iron Man notes by a team of scientists within Stane’s employ following his hostile takeover of Stark International, the Iron Monger is a massive machine featuring many features typical of Iron Man’s armored accouterments on a larger scale.

Incredibly durable thanks to its omnium steel frame, this armor granted Stane the superhuman strength to lift about fifty tons with built-in jets that could propel him up to two-hundred and seventy-five miles per hour as well as its own impressive assortment of repulsor tech. Though Stane ultimately took his own life, his impressive armor, makes a decent argument that sometimes bigger really is better.

7

Titanium Man

Created by Stan Lee & Don Heck

An undeniable mountain of a man even without his formidable armor, Boris Bullski, better known as Titanium Man, is one of Iron Man’s most enduring foes and a terrifying opponent to boot. Granted superhuman strength by the Soviet government in order to effectively wield the Titanium Man armor, Bullski stands over seven feet tall and can lift well over a ton with his armor only increasing his strength fifty-fold.

Further enhancing his speed and durability to superhuman levels much like his American counterpart, Titanium Man’s armor also imbues him with the traditional flight and energy projection capabilities associated with Iron Man armor, while also providing him with a specialized cloaking system that can camouflage the armor as traditional clothing via hologram. So those who cross the Titanium Man may never see him coming.

6

Living Laser

Created by Stan Lee & Don Heck

A literal human laser beam that lives up to his name, Arthur Parks started his criminal career as an opponent of the Avengers before earning a particular enmity with Iron Man himself. True to his moniker, the Living Laser’s body is made up of countless photons possessed of a human consciousness that grant him incredible energy-based abilities. Even before his life of crime, Parks was a gifted scientist who knew how truly blinding the light could be, but the Living Laser’s powers are greater than simple energy projection.

Along with simply blasting lasers, Arthur’s got the added abilities of invisibility, intangibility, photorealistic illusion projection, forcefields, and even solid-light construct generation not unlike DC Comics’ Green Lanterns. Further, the Living Laser can naturally move at the speed of light, and he even has limited telepathic capabilities. More recently, he’s veered closer to anti-hero territory, but a true return to form for Living Laser for Iron Man.

5

Iron Man 2020

Created by Tom DeFalco, Herb Trimpe, Kieron Gillen, & Dale Eaglesham

Though he may now seem a relic of the past, Arno Stark’s Iron Man 2020 wields one of the most powerful Iron Man armors ever developed in Marvel Comics lore. A super genius who used a modifier iteration of Extremis to rewrite his physical form to near-perfection, Stark’s 2020 armor was forged from the remnants of his brother Tony’s Godbuster Armor – supposedly the most powerful armor Iron Man had ever developed.

With the armor granting Stark the standard abilities associated with Iron Man at seemingly substantially heightened levels, it is Arno’s genius in combination with his suit that truly made him such a massive threat. And while the original iteration hailed from elsewhere in the Multiverse, but Earth-616’s Arno Stark earned his place as one of Tony Stark’s most dangerous opponents.

4

The Mandarin

Created by Stan Lee & Don Heck

One of the most prominent evil masterminds in the Marvel Universe and arguably Iron Man’s greatest nemesis, the international criminal supergenius known as the Mandarin is a master martial artist with superhuman capabilities enhanced by his manipulation of his own Chi. Physically and intellectually capable though he may be, it’s the Mandarin’s signature Makluan power rings that make him one of the deadliest villain on Earth-616.

Each containing the soul of a dead cosmic warrior, each ring grants the Mandarin a different ability such as a disintegrating energy beam, electromagnetic energy manipulation, control over fire and ice, telepathy, and even molecular rearrangement. With power like this literally in his hands, it is no wonder that the Mandarin has long been considered Iron Man’s arch-rival even if the jewelry makes the man.

3

Ultimo

Created by Stan Lee & Adam Austin

Hailing from a race of gigantic alien robots, the creature called Ultimo is one of the greatest threats that Iron Man has ever tackled. Discovered by the Mandarin, who claimed Ultimo as his invention, Ultimo is nearly unstoppable and has troubled not just Tony, but his Force Work allies like War Machine, Mockingbird, and U.S. Agent on his own and under the control of entities like Mandarin or MODOK.

Having grown in stature over time, Ultimo is hundreds of feet tall with incredible strength to match. Further, he’s incredibly fast, capable of interstellar flight under his own power, and extremely durable with massive energy absorption, conversion, and projection abilities that raise him to an Avengers-level threat. And considering his is additional abilities that allow him to self-heal as well as infect, control, and convert both technology and organic matter, Ultimo is arguably Iron Man’s ultimate danger.

2

Korvac

Created by Steve Gerber, Len Wein, & Jim Starlin

A human technician from an alternate future elsewhere in the Multiverse Michael Korvac was transformed into a cyborg by the Badoon after betraying the Earth for their invasion force in the year 2977. These newfound cybernetic abilities granted him considerable power, including flight, energy absorption, enhanced adaptation, and technopathy even before he harnessed power from the Grandmaster and gained time travel capabilities.

Eventually Korvac would go on to siphon and wield a portion of the Power Cosmic, much like the Silver Surfer, ascending to near-godhood and confronting Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy time and again. While these incalculable power levels should make Korvac Tony’s most powerful foe, it’s his own human weakness that keeps him from claiming the top spot. After all, it was Korvac’s realization of the emptiness of his constant quest for more power that caused him to take his own life – ending his threat to Iron Man for good.

1

Fin Fang Foom

Created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

A Makluan shapeshifter hailing from the same race that created the Mandarin’s all-powerful rings, Fin Fan Foom is not only Iron Man’s most powerful foe, but a menace to other heroes such as Thor, the Hulk, and even the Justice League during a fan-favorite inter-company crossover. With a vast strength, incredible durability, and a potent healing factor, Foom is incredibly hard to put down for good, but those are only a few abilities he has at his disposal.

In addition to his solely physical abilities, Foom’s spirit can possess the bodies of others should his ever be destroyed as additional telepathic and energy absorption abilities fueling his incalculable power along with a transmogrifying beam emitted from his eyes that can transform living and inanimate matter. He can even reproduce asexually, so even if Fin Fang Foom goes down, Marvel Comics‘ Iron Man will likely still have to deal with the rest of the family.

“}]] Tony has quite a few villains who test his mettle.  Read More