Most Terrible Things Iron Man Has Ever Done

Many people dislike Tony Stark, but almost everyone wants a piece of that sweet, sweet Iron Man armor—especially Justin Hammer, head of Hammer Industries and Stark's chief rival. In the late '80s "Armor Wars" storyline, Hammer almost gets what he wants, too, forcing Tony to go to extreme measures to reclaim what's rightfully his.

In Iron Man #255, Tony learns that, thanks to his carelessness, supervillains are using stolen Stark Industries technology to make themselves more powerful. Even worse, the man behind the theft—Hammer, of course—is too well-protected for law enforcement agencies to get him, leaving Iron Man to take out anyone who's using his technology by himself.

Given how rarely Tony Stark makes the right decisions, things go about as well as you'd expect. In the next issue, Iron Man goes after the hero Stingray, who's not only not using Stark Industries designs in his armor, but also happens to work for the United States government. As authorities demand Iron Man's resignation, Tony gives S.H.I.E.L.D. false information about Iron Man's identity, and then springs a trap on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mandroid army.

Over the course of his crusade, Iron Man assaults and almost kills the Guardians, who work as prison guards, beats up Captain America, inadvertently kills a Russian superhero, gets kicked off of the West Coast Avengers, and takes a nuclear missile to the chest. All that, and at the end of the day, it doesn't actually do much good: everyone who died thanks to Stark Industries tech is still dead, and all Tony can do is wallow in his own guilt—and try not to pour himself a drink.