Tales of Suspense is an Anthology Comic from Marvel Comics, debuting in 1959. The series introduced Iron Man and gave Captain America his first modern solo stories.
The comic began as a science-fiction series with multiple unrelated stories in each issue. In 1963, Issue #39 introduced an ongoing Iron Man series, firmly set in the shared Marvel Universe, with one-off stories remaining as back-up strips. The alien known as The Watcher, who had been introduced in Marvel's Fantastic Four series, became the narrator for the one-off stories.
A year later, in Issue #59, a solo Captain America story was added alongside Iron Man, at which point the comic completely dropped the standalone back-up stories and adopted a split-book format.
The series effectively ended with Issue #99, when Iron Man was relaunched in his own comic. At that point, Tales of Suspense was retitled to become a solo Captain America comic, but kept its original numbering.
Tales of Suspense contains examples of the following tropes:
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One-off stories
- Anthology Comic: Initially, there were multiple short science-fiction stories in each issue. Once the Iron Man series took the lead, they remained as back-ups.
- The Watcher: Uatu the Watcher, the Trope Namer, acts as the narrator for some of the later one-off stories.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: In Issue #54, a radioactive cloud that the Watcher could have stopped is hit by a runaway uninhabited planet, destroying both and saving populated worlds. The Watcher is quick to extol the virtues of doing nothing.
Captain America
See here.
Iron Man
- Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: In Issue #49, guest starring Angel of the Uncanny X-Men, Angel is accidentally caught in Tony Stark's nuclear weapons test. His immediate first thought afterwards? He can feel his personality getting eviler. And no, it's not just implied by his actions, he literally states the radiation made him evil. At no point does he mention feeling anything, like crippling radiation sickness.
- Bigger Bad: Many of Iron Man's enemies during this period are agents of the USSR leadership. More than once, orders are directly given by none other than Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev himself.
- Breakout Character: Issue #39 introduced a hero in a grey armored metal suit. Tony Stark, alias Iron Man. He went on to become one of Marvel's Long-Runners, a founding member of The Avengers, and a key character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Combat by Champion: How the Grand Finale of Don Heck's run on the book ends as Iron Man represents the US in a one-on-one fight against the Titanium Man who represents the USSR. The Titanium Man's defeat leads to the Soviet Union receding as a direct antagonist for Iron Man.
- Evil Counterpart: The Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man are both Soviet attempts to create their own version of Iron Man.
- Dirty Communists: The majority of Iron Man's enemies at the time, mostly from the Soviet Union but also occasionally from Maoist China as well.
- Heel–Face Turn: Early enemies Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Anton Vanko (the original Crimson Dynamo) all eventually become allies to Iron Man.
- Heroic RRoD: Tony's heart condition is an ongoing worry during his time as Iron Man, giving the impression that even when attacks don't affect the armor, the strain of battle could nonetheless make Tony's heart give out at any second.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Both Anton and Happy risk their lives to save Iron Man from a villain. While Happy ultimately barely survives, Anton's actions cost him his life.
- Legacy Character: After Anton Vanko defects from the USSR, the Soviets enlist Boris Turgenov to become the new Crimson Dynamo to kill Vanko, Tony Stark, and Iron Man (who the Soviets are unaware are the same person). There would be no less than ten men who continue on the mantle of the Crimson Dynamo.
- Love Triangle: Pepper's dual feelings for both Tony and Happy serve as the major romantic plot for the book. She eventually chooses Happy.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Carla Strange, the daughter of Doctor Strange (No relation to Dr. Stephen Strange, the Mad Scientist who threatened both America and the USSR with nuclear armageddon. Eventually, she turns against her father's ambitions and helps Iron Man defeat him.
- Mighty Glacier: Boris Bullski, the creator and operator of the Titanium Man armor, is an unnaturally huge man who is able to create an armor capable of handling Iron Man without figuring out how Stark is able to miniaturize his armor functions by just making them bigger to where only his large frame can work the Titanium Man armor. This backfires during the later fight when, after Iron Man applies an upgraded transistor to his armor that upgrades its capabilities past what Bullski can handle, his armor is too bulky and heavy for him to retreat to safety.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: An unnamed Nikita Khrushchev arrives to personally give the Crimson Dynamo, Anton Vanko, his orders to sabotage Stark Industries. Later, when the Crimson Dynamo defects to America, Khrushchev returns to enlist the Black Widow and a new Crimson Dynamo, Boris Turgenov, to kill Vanko in revenge.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Senator Harrington Byrd is a consistent thorn in Stark's side with constant attempts to force Stark Industries to hand over the Iron Man armor to the US Government
- Superpowered Evil Side: In an attempt to save Happy from the injuries he sustained from the battle between Iron Man and Titanium Man, doctors use Tony's Enervator on Happy. The effect genetically alters Happy into a violent hulking monster named the Freak that attacks Iron Man. Tony uses the Enervator again to transform Happy back.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Tony isn't above faking evidence that the USSR is plotting against Anton Vanko in order to convince Vanko to defect to the US. It does help though that the USSR really is plotting against him and later sics the next Crimson Dynamo against Vanko and Stark.
- Yandere: The Countess Stephanie De La Spirosa to the point of stealing a crucial upgrade to the Iron Man armor on the eve of his big battle with Titanium Man just to get Tony Stark's attention. It backfires when Iron Man just sends Happy to go retrieve it from her.
- Yellow Peril: The Mandarin is a Diabolical Mastermind in the mold of Fu Manchu down to the Chinese heritage and handlebar mustache.
