Who is credited with the creation of Iron Man?

I thought that - officially - it was Stan Lee and Don Heck. However, I seem to recall hearing SOMEwhere that Jack Kirby had a hand in Iron Man's design. Is that true?

Iron Man does stick out as the only early Marvel character who wasn't co-created by either Kirby or Ditko. I just wonder what's up with that. Does anyone know?

"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons."
-From The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror II"




*Edited subject line to clarify Iron Man, since we found some important Ditko Content further down the thread ~ Linda

Says Heck:

http://www.superherostuff.com/Biographies/IronManBiography.html

>> Don Heck had the honor of drawing the initial Iron Man story, a rare opportunity in the days when Jack Kirby Seemed to get first crack at just about everything. And, in fact Kirby did have a hand in Iron Man. "He designed the costume," says Heck, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like Tony Stark and his secretary Pepper Potts." Over all, it was Heck's solid craftsmanship that set Iron Man on the road to success. <<

Linda

I did not know this!

Further in the same article:
>> Kirby's original Iron Man suit, realistically bulky given the circumstances under which Tony Stark had to build it, soon changed from forbidding gray to gold. Later, it was streamlined into a red-and-gold design by Steve Ditko. <<

Linda

Yeah, I was just reading through and caught the bit about Ditko designing the streamlined costume! Of course, every subsequent costume has maintained Ditko's basic design. Wow.

Sounds like Iron Man is a classic "created by committee" character (to borrow a Byrne phrase). Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck. It's like all four Beatles writing one song!

Anyway - thanks for letting me know how Iron Man went to Heck! (Hey, I HAD to get that pun in there somewhere.)

"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons."
-From The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror II"

My mind keeps returning to this. Now, I do realize that what constitutes "creation" isn't always cut and dried. If you were to assign OFFICIAL credit for Iron Man's creation, though, to whom would you give it? Stan Lee is obviously a co-creator, but who else?

Don Heck? I'd say "yes." He did design Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, and co-plotted the first story. However -

Heck didn't design the armor! That's a pretty important part of what makes Iron Man what he is. So... who else gets credit for creating Iron Man?

Jack Kirby? Here, I'm not so sure. He designed an armor that wasn't used beyond a few issues! He didn't design Tony Stark, and I haven't read anything to indicate that he had any input on the origin.

Steve Dikto? I'm not sure here, either. He designed the stream-lined red and gold armor, and every subsequent armor has been a variation of this design. Still...Ditko didn't design the FIRST armor! It wasn't his idea to give the character armor at all! Does he deserve co-creator credit? If yes, then... does EVERY artist who redesigns a super hero's costume get co-creator credit? Hmmm?

So, who, in your opinion, created Iron Man?

1. Lee and Heck.
2. Lee, Heck and Kirby
3. Lee, Heck and Ditko
or
4. Lee, Heck, Kirby and Ditko (all four)!

Me, I'd say "all four," but again, that does bring up other issues. For example, should the X-Men be credited as "Created by Lee, Kirby, Wein, Claremont, Cockrum and Byrne?"

"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons."
-From The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror II"

It's interesting that Don Heck said,
"He designed the costume, because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first..."

Ditko has said (on the rejected cover to Amazing Fantasy #15), "I pencilled and inked the first cover after I inked the first story, the cover (always) being done last."

Why the different arrangments for the artists?

On the creation of Iron Man...
An interesting thing to ponder. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. Besides designing the costume what did he bring to the character? I would imagine he was somehow involved in the actual stories, (IE: not working from a panel by panel script), so it is something to take into account, but it seems like he was, for the most part, working within a template that was already established.
Something else to ponder...Ditko's Hulk was different than the Kirby version. In some way's maybe he could then be considered a co-creator of the Hulk? Wally Wood designed Daredevil's red costume...I don't know if he is considered one of DD's creators or not.
On a related sidenote:
Ditko did a new Iron Man story in 1997 of an "Untold Tale from his glory days" in Shadows and Light #1. A very enjoyable story, and the only recent one, I am aware of, where Ditko "revisits" one of his old Marvel characters. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out!

I really think that Everett and Ditko brought most of the visuals to their books. In the case of Iron Man, its less "expository" on his first issue cover with regards to what the visuals of the book really look like. Maybe Stan had asked Kirby to do a cover, and had THAT to hand Larry Lieber and Don Heck with Stan's plot.
Stan says: "A writer can only go so far in conceptualizing and then he needs his creation to take form within the story's panels. Luckily we had the perfect artist available at that time-Dazzlin' Donnie Heck, whose style...." (from Son of Origins of Marvel Comics)


DAD

The genessis of Iron-Man is a bit of a mystery, but it has been speculated that Iron-Man was supposed to appear earlier than he did in Suspense (or elsewhere). Kirby may have originally been coralled to design and draw the first Iron-Man story, but he may have gotten busy with another assignment and Heck was given the strip. That would explain the cover first, as it may have been a concept drawing that Lee decided to use as the cover. I've also been told that the covers were almost always done last.

Credit on the strip is tricky, although I'd assign it too Lee/Kirby/Heck. They were there at the beginning. All the other additions/changes would not have occured without the initial idea. That said, Ditko's design was very important, as it has remained the blueprint for all other redesigns.

Nick Caputo