Created Iron Man To Be Completely Unlikable
The late Stan Lee admitted he created Iron Man for Marvel Comics to challenge himself to make an utterly unlikable hero a fan favorite. It worked.
Iron Man is one of the most beloved Marvel heroes, but the late Stan Lee admitted he originally created Tony Stark as a challenge to make one of the most unlikable characters a likable figure in the comics. In an interview promoting the first Iron Man film, Lee said he dared himself in the 1960s to create a character that readers were supposed to hate, and Iron Man was the result.
Iron Man debuted in Tales of Suspense #39, introduced as a billionaire weapons dealer who turned into a hero after forging his own armor that led to his freedom from capture. At face value, Tony Stark doesn't seem like someone readers would grow an immediate attachment to, as he was a self-absorbed industrialist who sold extremely dangerous weapons to the highest bidders. Initially, Stark was a selfish egotist who rarely thought about the consequences of his actions. However, over time, Stark evolved into a beloved character for Marvel Comics - made even more beloved after being brought to life by Robert Downey Jr. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In an interview from 2013, Lee admitted he intentionally created Tony Stark to be unlikable as a dare to make readers love someone who wasn't a good guy. He said that readers weren't exactly fans of war and the military when Iron Man was created during the midst of the Cold War. In response, he made a hero who represented all of the bad things about war. Lee said he shoved Stark down readers' throats to make them like him - and it worked.