The comic cover that started the MCU meme. Notice he isn’t landing, he’s just punching the ground.
Iron Man volume 3 #73
Marvel Comics (March, 2004)
“The Best Defense” part 4: “Advice And Consent”
WRITER: John Jackson Miller
ARTIST: Jorge Lucas
COLORIST: Antonio Fabela
LETTERER: Randy Gentile
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Sumerak, Schmidt, and Wiley
EDITOR: Tom Brevoort
Not much to summarize here. While Tony gets grilled by the Senate Burch races to unlock as many sealed patents as he can, with no concern for safety. One of his drones even goes missing and he doesn’t care. He’s more interested in his pet project: a series of Iron Man armors reconstructed from a stockpile thought destroyed in an earlier story. Meanwhile, Burch’s buddies in the Senate manage to get Tony’s nomination thrown out.
What they got right: I’m sure this is what happens in a Senate confirmation hearing, right down to the riffing the senators do with each other trying to tear Stark down.
What they got wrong: But it’s so boring to read for a majority of the issue. Our “villain” is some jerk whose name I can’t even remember half the time while writing this and have to look up, and his various cronies. How utterly uninteresting for an Iron Man comic.
Other notes: I’m not kidding in the caption gag. This is the cover that inspired that famous pose in the Iron Man movie that everyone rips off. Only from looking at the image it doesn’t look like Iron Man landing. It looks more like he’s getting low and punching the ground. I’m not as impressed by this increasingly overused pose as others seem to be. It’s even shown up in non-Marvel movies. Can we stop it now?
Recommendation: This is like reading Iron Man without Iron Man. All we get is a short flashback to see how Birch’s team is stealing patents. If you want a superhero story this isn’t it.
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