By Jim Beard

50 Years ago, Tony Stark became Iron Man, a historic milestone in the tapestry of the Marvel Universe.

Flash forward half a century, and the Armored Avenger has become a worldwide sensation. Beyond his prominent role across the Marvel Comics line, Shellhead hit the big screen in 2008 as Robert Downey Jr. brought Tony Stark to life in the first “Iron Man” movie. The character’s popularity grew in 2010’s “Iron Man 2” and 2011’s “Marvel’s The Avengers.”

On May 3, 2013, Tony Stark returns to theaters everywhere in “Iron Man 3.” In anticipation of this momentous occasion and to celebrate Iron Man’s 50^th anniversary, each week Marvel.com will be bringing you another chapter in the history of this complex and beloved character. Year by year, get an in-depth rundown of the trials, foes and experiences that have made Iron Man the hero he stands as today.

You can start here.

Also, be sure to visit the Marvel Digital Comics Shop and Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited to read 50 years’ worth of Iron Man adventures!

Tony Stark: one of the Avengers’ most dangerous villains? In 1996, Iron Man’s reality slammed headlong into a wall as his world crumbled around him, leading into one of the most dramatic changes in the character since his inception.

The Avengers reeled from the machinations of the man they thought to be their friend and ally in IRON MAN #324. The evil time traveler Kang worked behind the scenes to manipulate Tony Stark into madness and murder, but Earth’s Mightiest Heroes sought a solution to the attacks in AVENGERS: TIMESLIDE #1. The team flung themselves back in time to pluck a teenage Tony from an alternate Earth to save the day. When Tobias, one of Kang’s anachronauts, killed young Tony’s parents, he vowed revenge and accompanied the Avengers to the present to carry it out.

IRON MAN #325 introduced the young man to his older self’s mansion and laboratory, while the heroes organized an assault on Stark’s current headquarters, an arctic bunker. Teen Tony donned armor to confront adult Tony, but his inexperience tripped him up and the evil Stark ripped out the boy’s heart.

The Avengers massed their forces in AVENGERS #395 to combat Kang and his army, while Tony Stark himself, gaining his sanity at a key moment, sacrificed his life to save his fellows from Kang’s devices. For the teenage genius, he found a continuation of his own young life through the Iron Man armor in AGE OF INNOCENCE #1 and Stark’s friends remembered his days as a hero, attempting to put his villainy behind them.

IRON MAN #326 brought the first of two new beginnings for the Iron Man legacy, as young Tony began to attend classes at Columbia University and make new friends. Alas, a crisis involving the Zodiac criminals put him on the frontlines in armor alongside Captain America and Thor, granting him his first taste of being a super hero in a new world. Meeting an adult version of his old flame, Meredith McCall, Tony ran afoul of her ex-husband in IRON MAN #327, a battle that spilled over into IRON MAN #328 and IRON MAN #329. Frostbite found defeat therein at the hands of young Tony and his “holo armor,” a suit made up of solidified light, but in the tussle, Meredith lost her eyesight. Meanwhile Fujikawa International bought Stark Enterprises.

War Machine calling in IRON MAN #330 to talk to young Tony about his legacy, and in good time, too, as Morgan Stark returned with a super villain group of his own, Stockpile, to once again cause trouble. Luckily, War Machine’s presence helped turn the tide against Joust, Calico, Brass, Sunstreak and a new Unicorn in IRON MAN #331.

Then, in IRON MAN #332, before teenage Tony could catch his breath, he found himself embroiled in the Onslaught crisis which raged across the world and involved juts about every super hero around. His youthful genius aided the Black Panther in the creation of psi-shields to fight against Onslaught’s horrific psychic bombardments.

Together with the Earth’s other heroes, the new Iron Man risked everything in ONSLAUGHT: MARVEL UNIVERSE #1 and, like his older self before him, sacrificed himself to shut the towering villain down and save the planet. He and his brethren seemingly perished in an incredible explosion of sound and fury.

In a new IRON MAN #1, the second new beginning unfolded. Ruthless businessman Tony Stark, pumped up from a victory in court, discovered trouble at one of his plants menaced by the Hydra terrorist organization. Rushing there with his friend, scientist Bruce Banner, he witnessed the explosion of Banner’s gamma bomb first hand—and took a flying piece of shrapnel in his heart. When Bruce disappeared in the blast and the raging green behemoth calling himself the Hulk appeared in the aftermath, Tony donned an experimental suit of armor to contain the creature if he could. And to save his own life.

The Hulk battled the opponent he dubbed “Iron Man” in IRON MAN #2 over Niagara Falls, and Tony, beaten and battered from the onslaught, utilized electrical current to recharge his weakening armor. After a surge of energy knocked out both Iron Man and the Hulk, the two combatants plunged into the falls, seemingly to their deaths. Not really the greatest way to begin a career and end a year.

Check out IRON MAN (1968) on the Marvel Digital Comics Shop, plus more Iron Man is available to subscribers of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

Uncanny X-Men #1 cover by Chris Bachalo

By Brett White

With mutantkind bouncing back from the brink of extinction, one man has shown the willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure their survival.

That man? Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, the former figurehead of the mutant race whose recent actions have taken him from messiah to pariah. Now the self-appointed leader of a revolution, Cyclops has gathered a team of X-Men with one purpose: recruit the next generation first.

UNCANNY X-MEN, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Chris Bachalo, marks the return of the long-running, flagship X-Men series, just in time to chart the course of mutantkind’s future.

Cyclops and his team have already recruited a number of new mutants in the pages of ALL-NEW X-MEN, and they will be front and center in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN. Among them: a healer named Christopher Muse, a time manipulator named Eva Bell and a shape-changer named Benjamin Deeds.

Brian Michael Bendis tells us just how eager these new mutants will be to jump into battle.

Marvel.com: These new recruits been whisked away to this world that has Magneto and a demonic sorceress and all these controversial people in it. How much are they going to be looking back at their former lives?

Brian Michael Bendis: An excellent question. They’ll be doing that right away. “Can I go get my stuff? Can I go talk to my mom?” A lot of Australians seem to be very happy that Eva’s from Australia. I wasn’t aware that there was such a dearth of Australian heroes. I got so much happy mail and tweets from Australian people. We will be going back to the Gold Coast in issues #2 and #3 of UNCANNY X-MEN to find out what the deal with Eva is. I like Eva a lot. I like writing her a lot. For people who liked Jessica Jones and Maria Hill, I think they’re going to get a kick of out of Eva and where’s she coming from. She has a very unique power that will cause a lot of trouble for her and the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men #1 preview art by Chris Bachalo

Marvel.com: Are we going to be seeing these new mutants powers in a combative way?

Brian Michael Bendis: Yes.

Marvel.com: For a guy like Christopher, whose healing power is not very combative, will he be hanging back more?

Brian Michael Bendis: Well, for those of us who played “City of Heroes,” you know your healer can’t just sit back and heal. They have to do more or they’ll just die on the battlefield. We also don’t know the extent of their powers. We don’t know how much they can do or how often they can do it. Someone who has control over time, even on a limited scale, can be a very dangerous thing. How much time, and where does this time come from? All these things will be examined.

Marvel.com: These new mutants that we’re seeing are older and more established. They’re not like Kitty Pryde who was very young when she was recruited.

Brian Michael Bendis: They’re mostly in college. There’s a new one who’s young and scared out of his mind. He’s the version of mutant that I imagine if you were an X-Men fan for real, and the X-Men came and got you, you’d never stop [expletive] your pants. He has these cool powers that manifest these solid gold balls that fly out of him and smash the [expletive] out of everything and then disappear. We’re going to look at that and find out how he does that too.

Marvel.com: You mentioned that we’re going to see a proposition made to the teachers at the Jean Grey School. Is the same going to be done from the staff at the Jean Grey School to the students at the Xavier School?

Brian Michael Bendis: I wasn’t just talking about the faculty; I was talking about the students as well.

Marvel.com: So there’s potential for everything to get shaken up.

Brian Michael Bendis: Yes. I’m working very closely with Jason Aaron on this.

Marvel.com: Is there anything you’d like to add about UNCANNY X-MEN?

Brian Michael Bendis: There’s a group dynamic that’s holding them together. It’s a very prickly dynamic held together by an ideal. The ideal is that this race has to survive. We almost died out and there were only a couple hundred of us left. We have a chance now and we just need to hold it together. Otherwise, every punch we’ve taken and mistake we’ve made will be for nothing. All we’ve fought for and all the mistakes won’t matter.

Uncanny X-Men #1 preview art by Chris Bachalo

I look at it like a rock band. If they can just hold it together for a summer, they’ll make a million dollars. It’s like Guns ‘N Roses. They just can’t get it together. They can’t get on stage together. If they got it together, they’d be the biggest band in the world. They just hate each other so much they can’t do it. This group is obviously not in that situation and Cyclops is not Axl Rose. Some people might think he is, but he’s not. I see it that way. If these guys can just hold it together, they’ll have such a great thing here. If they can get over their issues, they can do something really special. I think that idea is something a lot of people can relate to. It’s a little different from where the X-Men have been before. I think the X-Men need to be in a different place from where they were before.

The X-Men need to get over all their personal [expletive] to save their race. It’s such a great, noble cause. It’s worth Cyclops taking all the [expletive] in the world from Logan and everyone else to do this right. It will be worth it if he can save these kids.

All of this is building up to next fall when we have the 50th Anniversary of X-Men. I tweeted that the other day. Nick Lowe, myself, and Jason have gotten together and started to craft a very large, very X-Men related celebration that we think is worthy of this anniversary. That’s coming fast and furious and we’re very excited about that.

Pre-order UNCANNY X-MEN #1 now!

Download episode #67 of This Week in Marvel from Marvel.com

Download episode #67 of This Week in Marvel from Marvel.com, check out Marvel Podcast Central, grab the TWiM RSS feed and subscribe to This Week in Marvel on iTunes or Zune, so you never miss an episode!

This Week in Marvel will focus on delivering all the Marvel info on news and new releases--from comics to video games to toys to TV to film and beyond! New episodes will be released every Thursday (or so) and TWiM is co-hosted by Marvel Digital Media Group Executive Editorial Director Ryan "Agent M" Penagos and Marvel.com Editor Ben Morse, along with Marvel.com Associate Editor Marc Strom and Associate Producer Blake Garris.

Have you taken the next step in your comics reading experience by experiencing Augmented Reality via the Marvel AR App for iOS and Android devices? If not, you’re missing out! Here’s Marvel Content Producer & Manager of the AR App Judy Stephens to give you the overview:

“The Marvel AR App brings new, exciting and free content to your print comics by using an iOS or Android device. To access any of the content, all you need is your phone/tablet, the app and an internet connection. Hold your device over the panel with the AR icon and watch the future unfold! With Marvel NOW!, we're kicking off a schedule of even more Marvel goodness for your eyes and ears! Each week stay tuned for bonus content including videos from the creators, original sketches & pencils, art evolutions, surprise celebrity appearances and more! 

Got an idea for a Marvel AR video or bonus content? Let us know on twitter @Marvel!”

Have you got your Marvel AR App downloaded and your iOS and Android ready to go? Then check out the exciting AR content available this week!

ALL-NEW X-MEN #7

Cyclops of the original X-Men wanders out into the Marvel Universe and encounters Mystique in this new issue by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez! Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, stars of Comedy Central’s “Key & Peele,” weigh in with their thoughts on the X-Men, plus Marquez demonstrates a proper aikido throw!

AVENGERS #5

Jonathan Hickman and Adam Kubert shine the spotlight on the new Smasher! Get all the relevant flashback details and hear from Kubert on designing the character.

FEARLESS DEFENDERS #1

It’s a new adventure for Valkyrie and Misty Knight as Cullen Bunn and Will Sliney introduce their take on the Defenders! Sliney provides both an introduction to the series and an Art Evolution while various Marvel editors pitch who they think belong on the team.

IRON MAN #6

Tony Stark has gone out of this world in the first chapter of “Godkiller” by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land! Gillen shares his thoughts on the creative team along with sketches for Iron Man’s latest armor.

NEW AVENGERS #3

It’s up to the Illuminati to hold back the end of reality as Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting continue their epic! Get the full scoop on Parallel Worlds Science from Doctor Oberg as well as a crash course on the Infinity Gauntlet.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #3

Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman pit the new Spider-Man against his first major foe—and old friend—the Vulture! Colorist Edgar Delgado steps up to the play to talk about his role in the creative process.

THUNDERBOLTS #4

The situation continues to get more intense for Red Hulk’s team as Daniel Way and Steve Dillon bring Madman into play! Way gives his take on Venom and Elektra.

Want a taste of AR for yourself? Check out this video of Key & Peele talking about ALL-NEW X-MEN #7…

(click here to watch the video)

Each Marvel NOW! comic with Marvel AR also features a special look at what’s led up to the issue and what to expect within that you can access just by aiming your device at the cover. And don’t forget to pick up the AVENGERS VS. X-MEN hardcover collection, on sale now with over 100 AR Executions!

Enjoy this week’s AR, and we’ll see you next week for another round!