The Early Crimson Dynamo

Iron Man was a true hero (secretly industrialist Tony Stark), but he did inspire some incredible menaces in his time.  One of those was the Crimson Dynamo, who was the Russian counterpart to America's armored Avenger.

Here are the first two men to wear the Crimson Dynamo armor.

Anton Vanko

Anton Vanko debuted in Tales of Suspense #46 (October, 1963), becoming "The Crimson Dynamo!" in a tale by Stan Lee and Don Heck, under a cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.  Here, under orders from the Soviet Premier, Vanko was sent to the United States to ruin Tony Stark and take care of Iron Man.  Khrushchev was also planning on eliminating Vanko after taking care of Iron Man. 

While in battle with Iron Man, Tony found the frequency that Khrushchv was communicating with his other agents with, and shared the fact that the Soviet Premier was planning on eliminating Anton after he took care of Iron Man.  

Thus, Iron Man convinced Vanko to defect.

Boris Turgenev

Boris Turgenev fell into the role of Crimson Dynamo via manipulations not his own, in Tales Of Suspense #52 (April, 1964) in the "The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!" by Stan Lee and Don Heck (with a cover by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman).  Furious that Vanko defected, Khrushchv sent his agents, the Black Widow and Boris Turgenev to eliminate Vanko, as well as Tony Stark and Iron Man.  Vanko, working at Stark Industries, was set upon by Boris, who took on the armor to ruin Vanko's work for Stark.  

This led to a battle between the new Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man (who had upgraded from his gold to his red and gold armor).  Boris knocked Iron Man unconscious, and he, along with Natasha, were taking Vanko and Iron Man back to Russia.  But, Iron Man revived, and, with the sacrifice of Anton Vanko, defeated Boris, leaving Natasha an agent alone in the United States.

The Crimson Dynamo would return, with improved armor, with other people under the armor, to face off against Iron Man, Black Widow and more, usually in conjunction with the Titanium Man and other Soviet agents!

Monster Kirby Diablo And Blip

Monsters were coming fast and furious to the Marvel Universe, as it lacked any heroes to protect it in the pre-Iron Man and pre-Ant-Man age, but again, average humans arose to meet the challenge of the unknown...

...and, here are two more monsters that faced humanity at that time (doubling up this time, as they both only had one appearance before the Fantastic Four).

Tales Of Suspense #9 (May, 1960)

First, "I Saw Diablo! The Demon From The Fifth Dimension!" (with a little help from Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers).  Diablo was a smoke demon from another dimension who came to Earth, simply looking for room (as his dimension was overcrowded).  Diablo landed in Mexico, and here, he was confronted by Ulysses Bloodstone (though this character wasn't invented until later, it was just a generic monster hunter in this issue).  Bloodstone lit a cigarette lighter and blew it out, making Diablo think humans could easily defeat him, so he went home.

Diablo seemed to have had enough of Earth.

Though all evidence shows he has not returned to Earth, Diablo was one of many aliens duplicated by Xemnu (including Goom, Taboo and our next monster) that Hulk faced in Hulk Annual #5 (November, 1976), and Bloodstone debuted in Marvel Presents #1 of July, 1975 

Tales To Astonish #15 (January, 1961)  

With this issue, "I Learned The Dread Secret Of The Blip!" as told by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.  As Diablo was sentient smoke, Blip was living energy.  Going home from exploring another galaxy, Blip got trapped in a spacewarp and exhausted his energy getting free, and ended up on Earth to recharge.  As Blip did, he caused electrical outages for Oakville, attracting the attention of a radar operator who wasn't getting any signals.  He found Blip, learned of his story, but the pair were confronted by an angry mob.  Blip, horrified by the humans, attacked them, and then left, letting them know that their savagery convinced him not to share his secrets of the universe with humans.

Blip hoped humans would advance the next time he saw them.

There were a few other members of Blips race who encountered the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, and he too was duplicated by Xemnu, but Blip himself did return to help humanity against the Leviathons during the Monsters Unleashed 5 issue event of 2017.

Monster Kirby Goom

Before the Fantastic Four, the Marvel Universe was a strange place.  After the various members of the Invaders (and All-Winners Squad) disappeared, the humans of Earth were left to fend for themselves against all the various aliens of the galaxy.

Goom was one of those aliens, and here is his story.

Tales Of Suspense #15 (March, 1961)

In his first appearance (by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers), "Goom! The Thing From Planet X!" came to menace Earth after being drawn there by the broadcasts of scientist Mark Langley.  Langely and his wife Helen confronted the monster, as it then showed Earth its various powers.  Langley felt any society advanced enough for space travel should be a peaceful one, so he broadcasted again, earning the ire of Earth officials, who plan to execute him.  Langley was right, as other aliens arrived to stop the execution, take custody of Goom and leave.

But, this was not the end of Goom!

Tales Of Suspense #17 (May, 1961)

Goom hadn't finished with Earth, as the Langleys had to "Beware Of Googam, Son Of Goom!" (by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers).  Goom left behind his offspring, Googam, in a cave, and it slowly began to mature.  Leaving the cave, Googam found Billy Langley, the son of Mark and Helen, and took him hostage at the Langley home, waiting to mature to menace the Earth as his father did.  If Billy hadn't managed to trick the alien into following him in a game of tag, then leading Googam into quicksand, the Earth would have been doomed!

Still, Goom himself would return!

A duplicate of Goom would return to menace the Hulk in Hulk Annual #5 (October, 1976), along with other monstrous duplicates of Groot, the Blip, Diablo and Taboo (all created by Xemmu, the Living Titan), but (after a meeting with Venus in the Marvel Valentine Special and later retroactive adventures with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers) the real Goom would join with Groot, the Living Mummy, Brother Voodoo, the Gorilla Man (and more) in Nick Fury's Howling Commandos.  Goom even faced Kitty Pryde and Magik in the Uncanny X-Men, and returned again with other monsters to menace the whole Marvel Universe during the Monsters Unleashed event!

Iron Man Vs. Captain America

Iron Man and Captain America have battled many times over the years, but the first was the best.


Tales of Suspense #58 (October, 1964) featured Iron Man "In Mortal Combat With Captain America", with an incredible cover by Jack Kirby, and story by Stan Lee (and interior art by Don Heck and Dick Ayers, with Kirby doing a few Cap figures in the story).



The two heroes were tricked into battle by the Chameleon (a foe who first menaced Spider-Man, back in Amazing Spider-Man #1, getting New Yorkers to mistrust Spider-Man)...and the Chameleon manipulates Iron Man and Cap to battle here!

Everything turned out okay, as starting with Tales of Suspense #59 (November, 1964), Iron Man and Captain America started to share the title, each with single stories in an issue...


...until Tales of Suspense #99 (March, 1968), after which, Cap took over the title with Captain America #100 (April, 1968) and Iron Man went to Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1 (April, 1968), and then into his solo Iron Man comic in May, 1968.


So, when are we getting the Sub-Mariner movie?

Black Widow Tales of Suspense

Black Widow got her start with Iron Man in the second movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe....and she got her start with Iron Man in the comics as well!

Tales of Suspense

With Tales of Suspense #52 (April, 1964 by Stan Lee and Don Heck), the Black Widow was introduced into the world of Iron Man!  

Natasha Romanoff was sent along with Boris Turgenev to kill Anton Vanko (the original Crimson Dynamo), as well as Tony Stark and Iron Man (not knowing they were one and the same.

Boris ended up becoming the next Crimson Dynamo for a time, and Natasha had established herself as a femme fatale in Iron Man's life....though not quite as active Black Widow has been seen!

Black Widow returned in Tales of Suspense #53 (May, 1964, by Stan Lee and Don Heck) in the aptly titled "The Black Widow Strikes Again!", and was a little more active in this appearance, using an anti-gravity device to battle the Armored Avenger...

...but still not being able to defeat him!

While quite stylish, an evening gown, gloves and fur are not the best way to battle a man in armor!  Next time around (in Tales of Suspense #57, September, 1964 by Stan Lee and Don Heck), Natasha uses her feminine wiles on the battling bowman known as Hawkeye, taking a misunderstanding he had with the police in his introduction to turn Hawkeye into a criminal, and set Hawkeye and Iron Man at odds!

Natasha was there again, setting Hawkeye against Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #60 (December, 1964 by Stan Lee and Don Heck), and things just got worse for Hawkeye, but it did seem Clint Barton and Natasha were getting closer for real...so much so, that when she appeared next in Tales of Suspense #64 (April, 1965, by Stan Lee and Don Heck), Natasha had a costumed identity of her own...but she didn't appear to be as much help as one would have thought, as she had been injured (enough that she wasn't as close to Hawkeye in their next appearance in a flashback in Avengers #16...and then Hawkeye joined the Avengers!  

Black Widow didn't appear in Avengers until Avengers #29...

....and didn't join the team until much later..

..though she did hang around with Earth's Mightiest Heroes for a time, and met Hercules, as well as the team finding her husband, the Red Guardian...the Russian version of Captain America).

It took a while of working on and off with the Avengers, and Natasha leaving Clint Barton (now as Goliath), and a chance meeting with Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #86 (July, 1970, by Stan Lee and John Romita) for Natasha to get a new uniform, and start her own series in Amazing Adventures (that ran for 8 issues, from Amazing Adventures #1 to #8 from August, 1970 to September, 1971, sharing space with the Inhumans, no less), before moving over to Daredevil (from Daredevil #81 to #124, during which, Natasha finally joined the Avengers in Avengers #111 in May, 1973 briefly, and then moved on to a new super-hero team, the Champions).