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Anthony “Tony” Stark/Iron Man first lived, walked, and conquered in March 1963 and has gone through numerous armours and shot to mainstream superstardom thanks to Robert Downey Jr.  

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Quick Facts:
Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck’s questionable hero has fought many colourful villains over the years, such as many iterations of his Soviet counterpart, the Crimson Dynamo. First appearing as Doctor Anton Vanko and mirroring escalating tensions between America and Russia, versions of this villain have long-dogged Iron Man and directly influenced his live-action counterpart, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke).

The Review:
Our story is set mid-way through the infamous “Cold War”, a period of animosity between the United States and Soviet Russia. Nikita Khrushchev (“the “Mr. Big” of the Iron Curtain”), visits Professor Anton Vanko (the titular “Crimson Dynamo”), a man even Khrushchev hates and fears. However, since Vanko is the “world’s greatest expert on electricity”, Khrushchev begrudgingly tolerates Vanko’s lofty arrogance. Amusingly, the animosity and resentment between the two is mutual, though Khrushchev begrudgingly sets his hostilities aside to see Vanko’s latest breakthrough. Although Khrushchev is initially sceptical when Vanko dons an elaborate, spiked, armoured suit said to give his control of electricity, the First Secretary is amazed when the Crimson Dynamo obliterates a robotic duplicate of Iron Man. Khrushchev’s nerves are further shot and his doubts fully settled when the Crimson Dynamo commands a tank to stop mere inches from the First Secretary’s face and then reduces it to wreckage. Though impressed by the demonstration, Khrushchev is left rattled and secretly vows to dispose of Vanko once he’s outlived his usefulness as he presents a threat to Khrushchev’s position. Before that, Khrushchev appeals to Vanko’s vanity and orders him to head to America and scupper Tony Stark’s operations at Stark Industries, and destroy his “bodyguard”, Iron Man, to weaken America’s military and eliminate one of their greatest scientific minds and heroes. The story jumps ahead two weeks and halfway across the world to the testing site of Stark’s latest missile, where Stark’s chauffeur, Harold “Happy” Hogan, and his secretary, Virginia “Pepper” Potts, are busying arguing as Pepper decides to question Happy’s courage and be unnecessarily mean to him. Still, inspired by their concerns over the missile’s safety, Stark heads to his office to slap on a special “collapsible extensible armour” to oversee the missile launch as the gold-plated Avenger.

And good thing, too, as the Crimson Dynamo just happens to be waiting in the nearby forest. As soon as the missile launches, the Crimson Dynamo messes with its circuits, causing the missile to suddenly plummet to the ground, endangering the crew onboard (making it more of a rocket than a missile…) and those below. Luckily, ol’ shellhead intercepts the missile and slows its descent, allowing it to land clumsily, but far less dangerously. The effort leaves Iron Man dazed and provides the Crimson Dynamo with a perfect demonstration of his abilities. While Stark puzzles over what could’ve fried the missile’s circuits, the Crimson Dynamo spends days targeting Stark’s plants, destroying his rockets, electrical equipment, weapons, and facilities (all with no loss of life, conveniently), all from a distance and anonymously. Stark’s so dumbfounded by the massive, nationwide assault that he suspects every enemy nation is targeting him. As if the risk of losing his military contracts isn’t bad enough, the fat cats in Washington, D.C. also decide to investigate Stark, fearing he may be sabotaging his plants to weaken the American military (because paranoia was rife during the Cold War!) Though Happy and Pepper vow to stick by Stark, he’s desperate for his unseen adversary to expose himself. Similarly, Vanko is frustrated that Iron Man didn’t show up during his rampage so he dons his armour once more and openly attacks Stark’s research centre, correctly conveniently surmising that ol’ shellhead must be there. After urging Happy and Pepper to flee, Stark slips on his armour and finally comes meets his armoured foe, immediately recognising that the Crimson Dynamo wields similar electric powers to him.

This allows Iron Man to erect an invisible force field to negate the Crimson Dynamo’s electrical bolts and also propels him into the air to avoid being fried when the Crimson Dynamo electrifies the ground. Iron Man then emits static to interfere with the Crimson Dynamo’s electric signals and challenges him to counter his abilities, frustrating Vanko and driving him to boast of his mission to destroy Stark’s operations, allowing Iron Man to take a recording of the confession for later. Aware of the universal truth that “all Commies are chronically suspicious of each other”, Iron Man lures the Crimson Dynamo into the woods, uprooting and chopping down giant oak trees to cage his armoured foe since, for all Vanko’s vaulted genius, he never built a pair of rocket boots or a rocket pack into his armour! Iron Man then grabs the Crimson Dynamo and flies him to the coast, threatening to dunk him in the water and kill them both from the resultant electric shock. The Crimson Dynamo immediately begs for his life and is convinced to surrender, much to Iron Man’s pleasure. Once safely on the pier, Iron Man offers the Crimson Dynamo a pair of special earplugs to eavesdrop on Khrushchev’s orders to execute Vanko once he’s defeated the armoured Avenger. Although this is another ruse by Iron Man, the Crimson Dynamo buys the deception and is incensed to learn that his Communist masters planned to kill him; he even doubles down and thanks Iron Man for opening his eyes! Incredibly, Iron Man offers Vanko the chance to put his genius to work for a country that appreciates him and the Crimson Dynamo accepts, revealing that the Commies are holding a fortune in gold for sabotage purposes and being given a job at Stark Industries for his intel! Naturally, Khrushchev is left incensed by this betrayal and vows to make Iron Man pay for stealing away his top scientist.

Final Thoughts: 
Well, this was shit. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh, but this was such a nothing, throwaway story that really could’ve been so much more. The Crimson Dynamo should’ve been positioned as Stark’s equal and Communist opposite, a brilliant inventor and industrialist who’s deeply committed to his country and willing to do anything to defend it, even if it means launching pre-emptive attacks against the United States. Imagine a Tony Stark without a moral compass, a man who puts his genius and technology to work to destroy, rather than defend. That could’ve been a really unique twist, especially if the story had been spread out over two issues. Instead, we get this mess of a story that’s full of weird moments. Like, why is there a crew onboard the missile? What sense does that make? Wouldn’t they die once it hits its target? They’re literally there to add some stakes when the Crimson Dynamo sabotages the missile, but just changing the dialogue to say it’s a “rocket” would’ve made all the difference. Then, the Crimson Dynamo attacks a whole bunch of Stark’s facilities and Iron Man isn’t there for any of them? Stark seemingly makes no effort to try and track down their saboteur, instead assuming it’s multiple assailants all acting in conjunction and spending his days worrying about losing his lucrative military contracts. He’s left blindly hoping for his foe to make a mistake, which isn’t a great strategy, and lucks out when Vanko gets annoyed by Iron Man’s absences. I also didn’t like seeing the American government suspect Stark of being a traitor. This cropped up a lot back then and I get it’s emblematic of the Cold War, but it was stupid to think Stark would cost himself millions of dollars and willingly destroy his reputation, and it made Iron Man’s belief that all Communists are distrustful of each other that much weaker. If the Reds had been betrayed as backstabbing, immoral assholes and the Yanks as united, honourable people, it would’ve made the parallels and differences between Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo that much more impactful. As is, it just reads like we’re all as bad as each other. Which is true, but still…

The Crimson Dynamo certainly look the part. He’s got pretty cool, spiked armour like an iron maiden and all these fancy, somewhat vague “electrical powers”. He can blow up robots with a button, tear tanks apart with electrical bolts, screw up circuitry from afar, and destroys many of Stark’s facilities without being seen. His armour is pretty cool, being all red where Iron Man is all gold and having ridges and spikes all over him while Iron Man is sleek and smooth. Vanko is said to be this renowned expert in electricity and he certainly bothers Khrushchev, who’s intimidated by Vanko’s ambition, arrogance, and power. However, while the Crimson Dynamo deals a heavy blow against Stark, he’s undone by his arrogance as he gives up his one advantage so he can satisfy his desire to destroy Iron Man and is immediately humiliated once the fight starts! Seriously, Iron Man barely breaks a sweat with this guy as he deflects his one attack, messes up his systems, and easily cages him with trees because Vanko can’t fly! What the hell kind of flaw is that? How do you base so much of your armour and weaponry on Iron Man but omit the fucking rocket boots!? Then, Vanko is easily tricked into surrendering, and betraying his country, and revealing Commie secrets, all because he was made to believe that Khrushchev wanted him dead! I assume that Vanko is later revealed to be working as a double agent or something; that’s the only explanation for the abrupt ending, which barely acknowledges the crimes Vanko committed! I was expecting so much more from this story, a true mirror match and clash of politic and moral ideologies from these similar, but radically different scientists and investors. Instead, it’s another bog-standard, “villain-of-the-week” story designed to show how awful the Soviets are compared to the righteous and capable Americans.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Were you also disappointed by the Crimson Dynamo’s first appearance? Did you also think that Vanko failed to live up to his full potential as a dark counterpart to Stark? Were you also amazed at how ineffectual the Crimson Dynamo was against Iron Man? What are some of your favourite Iron Man vs. Crimson Dynamo stories? Which of Iron Man’s armours is your favourite and how are you celebrating Iron Man this month? Share your thoughts in the comments, like this review, and donate to my Ko-Fi to support the site.