Iron Man

Iron Man was created in the years after a permanent arms industry developed in the United States, and this was incorporated into the character's backstory.

The character was introduced as an active player in the Vietnam War.

Larry Lieber developed Iron Man's origin and wrote the first Iron Man story, while Jack Kirby and Don Heck were responsible for the initial design.

Kirby and Heck then incorporated elements of the actor Errol Flynn's physical appearance in the design.

When first designing the character, Lee wanted to create a modernized Arthurian knight.

He wanted to design a character who should be unpalatable to his generally anti-war readers but to make them like the character anyway.