Iron Man #4
Iron Man Vol. 2 #4 marks the first appearance of the Heroes Reborn reimagining of General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross within that pocket-universe continuity, while simultaneously featuring the death of its version of Arthur Parks, the Living Laser — giving the issue both a debut and a conclusion in a single chapter. The issue is also a product of the broader Heroes Reborn experiment, in which Marvel temporarily handed production of its flagship Avengers-family books to Jim Lee's WildStorm studios, making every issue of this short-lived volume a document of a genuinely unusual moment in mainstream corporate comics publishing. Within the series itself, issue #4 is the first chapter fully penciled by Ryan Benjamin, signaling the creative handoff from Whilce Portacio that would define the middle stretch of the run.
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Heroes Reborn grew out of Marvel's desire to revitalize flagging sales on its Avengers and Fantastic Four titles following the 1996 Onslaught crossover, with the publisher outsourcing Iron Man and Fantastic Four to Jim Lee's WildStorm Productions and Captain America and Avengers to Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. The in-story rationale — that Franklin Richards had saved the heroes by transporting them into a self-contained pocket universe — gave the creative teams latitude to retell origin-adjacent stories free of decades of continuity. For Iron Man specifically, the plot was developed jointly by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell, with Lobdell handling the scripting and editorial oversight residing with Marvel editor-in-chief Bob Harras; issue #4 is the first chapter where Ryan Benjamin took over penciling duties from Whilce Portacio, who had anchored the opening arc.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published February 1997 (released December 1996) as part of Iron Man Vol. 2, the Heroes Reborn series produced by Jim Lee's WildStorm Productions for Marvel.
- Story title: 'Bring Me the Head of the Hulk!' — plot by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell; script by Scott Lobdell; pencils by Ryan Benjamin; inks by Saleem Crawford; cover by Whilce Portacio and Scott Williams.
- First appearance of the Heroes Reborn continuity version of General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross.
- Features the death of the Heroes Reborn version of the Living Laser (Dr. Arthur Parks), who had transformed himself to exact revenge on Tony Stark for a hostile corporate takeover — his arc concludes in this single issue.
- Cameo appearances by the Heroes Reborn versions of Bruce Banner, Elizabeth 'Liz' Ross, Pepper Potts, Jasper Sitwell, Dr. Leonard Samson, and Whirlwind (Dave Cannon).
- This is the first issue in the series penciled entirely by Ryan Benjamin, replacing series-launch artist Whilce Portacio, who returns later in the run.
- Carries the Marvel Legacy legacy number of Iron Man #336, reflecting its place in the unbroken numbering from the original 1968 series.
- Collected in the Heroes Reborn: Iron Man trade paperback (2006, ISBN 0-7851-2338-5), which reprints Iron Man Vol. 2 #1–12.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Mega Marvel #19 (2/1998) (1998), Iron Man #4 (1998), Iron Man #4 (1999), Heroes Reborn: Iron Man #[nn] (2006), Heroes Reborn Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Heroes Reborn: Iron Man #[nn] (2020)
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