10 Best Iron Man Quotes From Marvel Comics, Ranked

Summary

• Iron Man is one of Marvel Comics’ A-list heroes, and his quotes are just as iconic as he is.
• Tony Stark’s most stand-out quotes range from arrogant to heartfelt, and all of them paint the bigger picture of who Iron Man is as a character.
• From those that highlight his snarky wit to moments of true honesty and vulnerability, these are Iron Man’s 10 best quotes in Marvel Comics.

Tony Stark is one of the most brilliant minds in the Marvel Universe, which is how he became the A-list superhero Iron Man, and how he’s able to run his multibillion-dollar company, Stark International, pioneering the most advanced tech in the world. Needless to say, Stark is pretty smart, while also being one of the greatest superheroes on the planet – and worst of all, he knows it.

While an unquestionable hero, Tony is also incredibly snarky and more than a little arrogant, which is a direct result of his intelligence and upbringing. That being said, Stark has also experienced some great hardships in his life, which has reframed his outlook and helped him become the hero he was always destined to be (though without losing that classic ‘Stark charm’). There are many layers to Tony that shine through during his storylines, and most of them are present in his seemingly limitless amount of utterly iconic lines of dialogue. Here are Iron Man’s 10 best quotes, ranked!

10 “Have you never seen an Iron Man before?”

Tales of Suspense #39 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck

‘Snarky’ might as well be Tony Stark’s middle name, as he always has something smart-alecky to say in any given situation, even while he’s battling enemies as Iron Man – and this example is one of his earliest. Tony Stark became Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39, so when he asked the question, “have you never seen an Iron Man before?” the answer was very clearly ‘no’.

This is also one of the few times Iron Man was meta in Marvel Comics, with this question being posed as much to the reader as the in-world character Iron Man was talking to. Though no matter the recipient, this question perfectly captures Iron Man’s snarkiness while also acting as a declaration of his historic arrival in Marvel Comics canon.

9 “My armor’s maneuverable – fast – and lots of fun at parties.”

Iron Man #253 by Danny Fingeroth and Gene Colan

Iron Man is fighting an Iron Monger-type villain with way less advanced armor, and Tony decides to rub it in his face in the most smart-alecky way imaginable. Especially during the early days of his Marvel Comics history, Tony Stark loved nothing more than to save the day as Iron Man before jetting off to a wild party. Add to that his need to prove his intelligence by showing off how advanced his armor is, and what fans are left with is a depiction of Tony Stark that is captured by this quote.

This quote is the perfect ‘one-stop-shop’ for someone attempting to understand the kind of man Tony Stark was closer to the beginning of his superhero career – a wise-ass party animal who could kick-ass and humiliate his opponent while doing so.

8 “I… HATE… Magic”

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #3 by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, and Ron Lim

When Iron Man teams up with Doctor Doom to wield the power of Excalibur to stop an extradimensional entity from destroying the world, he is faced with an overwhelming amount of the one thing he cannot stand: magic. Tony Stark is a man of math and science, someone who can build practically anything that he sets his mind to. He’s a superhero because he’s smart enough to build a suit that can rival the power of gods, yet in this story, he’s surrounded by unquantifiable and incalculable magic.

Tony Stark doesn’t understand magic, he can’t wield magic, and he certainly doesn’t like magic. But since the world literally hung in the balance, Iron Man had no choice but to surrender to his absurd situation, while still allowing himself to proclaim with justifiable frustration, “I… HATE… Magic“.

7 “It worked…! I mean – of course, it worked!”

Hulk Vol. 3 #4 by Mark Waid and Mark Bagley

Tony Stark is brilliant, that much is clear, but even he isn’t always 100% confident that his devices – that should work in theory – will actually do as they’re designed in the field, especially if those devices are built on the fly. Of course, there’s no way a man as cocky as Tony could ever let his teammates know that, as he’s hellbent on keeping up the facade of ultra-confident genius who can always save the day. And this quote captures that perfectly.

Iron Man and the Avengers are fighting the Abomination, and Stark builds a teleporter that would theoretically send the villain into space – and it actually worked. Iron Man clearly had his doubts, but after initially seeming surprised, he quickly gathered himself and turned on that ‘Stark confidence’ he’s so famous for.

Iron Man #164 by Dennis O’Neil and Luke McDonnell

During what could only be described as an existential identity crisis, Tony Stark stands in private with his Iron Man armor, holding the helmet in his hands, thinking to himself, “Sometimes I wonder which is the real me… this splendid metal skin I’ve created – or the frail thing of flesh that wears it“. This is a sobering thought for Tony Stark, someone who – on the surface – seems so self-confident with a genius-level intellect to match.

But even Tony has moments of crisis, especially when it comes to his identity as both Tony Stark and Iron Man, as those two personalities are clear-cut cases of ‘who I am’ vs ‘who the world sees me as’, and not even Tony Stark is aware which one is real.

5 “I take back 50% of all the bad things I ever said about you.”

Iron Man #308 by Len Kaminski and Tom Morgan

One of the best things about Tony Stark is the fact that he can maintain his sense of humor even in the most dire circumstances imaginable, especially if the joke in question leaves someone feeling vaguely insulted. When Stark’s body was overtaken by a malicious entity, Tony was forced to upload his consciousness into a machine with the help of a Stark Enterprises employee, Philip Grant. When the transfer was successful, Iron Man told Philip, “I take back 50% of all the bad things I ever said about you“.

It’s as if fans can hear this line of dialogue coming out of Robert Downey Jr.’s mouth, that’s how perfectly ‘Iron Man’ it is. It’s endearing, it’s funny, it’s vaguely insulting, and it’s said at the most inappropriate time – all-in-all, one great Iron Man quote.

4 “The Mark I Armor isn’t about pretty. It’s about power. It’s about iron and the man wielding it.”

Tony Stark: Iron Man #13 by Gail Simone and Paolo Villanelli

Tony Stark has a reputation for wanting to look nice, whether that be in a suit or a suit of armor. However, this quote reminds fans of Tony Stark’s origin as Iron Man, one which had nothing ‘nice’ about it, appearances or otherwise. When he was a POW, Stark had to build his first ever Iron Man suit with little more than scraps, all with a loaded gun to his head. He didn’t have the time nor the desire to build something ‘pretty’, Stark’s first Iron Man suit had to only be one thing: strong.

This quote proves that Tony Stark has not forgotten his roots as Iron Man. Even with suits that contain a flair of his personal style, and a sleekness that could only come from someone who loves attention, Stark still understands the true purpose of Iron Man.

3 “I’ve been killing myself for years. That’s not news. But I’m going to stop.”

Iron Man #182 by Danny O’Neil and Luke McDonnell

The greatest battle Tony Stark ever fought wasn’t when he was a prisoner of war, or had anything to do with being Iron Man at all, it was his alcoholism. Tony is an alcoholic, and before he became sober, he came very close to drinking himself to death. The culmination of his years-long struggles with alcoholism was shown in this Iron Man issue, and this quote marks the moment Tony decided that he wasn’t going to allow his disease to kill him.

It’s moments like these that remind fans how human someone as seemingly god-tier as Iron Man truly is. Even for a man who battles aliens and fights alongside literal gods, his greatest battle is with his own addiction, which is also the most constant threat to his life. And here, readers see Tony Stark at one of his lowest points, and also his bravest.

2 “Did the great Captain America just pickpocket someone? I love it.”

Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #53 by Jeremy Adams and Patch Zircher

One of the best parts of Tony Stark’s character is the relationships he makes with those around him, and there is no better duo than Iron Man and Captain America. These two have an incredibly close friendship, one that can survive even an all-out war. While pushing the limits of their friendship to the extreme is a great way to show how genuine it is, an arguably better way to show that is through the subtle moments, just like the one connected to this quote, which highlights their friendship perfectly.

While on an undercover mission with Tony, Captain America pickpockets a target to obtain information. This ‘shocking’ act prompts Tony to say this line, as he’s tickled to see a ‘boy scout’ like Captain America pick-pocketing someone, no matter the reason behind it – and it’s fair to say that Tony is proud of his friend for doing so.

1 “The Starks built an empire off the manufacture of weapons. Technology with no moral compass. This armor – the armor we wear, all three of us – works as a correction against that. Always has.”

Iron Man Vol. 6 #22 by Christopher Cantwell and Angel Unzueta

There is no better representation of what Iron Man stands for, and who he is as a hero, than with this quote. Tony Stark experienced the brunt of the kind of pain and suffering his family’s company unleashed upon the world for profit when he was a prisoner of war, forced to make his Mark I armor out of pieces of his own company’s weapons just to survive. That first suit is the perfect metaphor for what Iron Man is, and this quote is a brilliant articulation of that metaphor.

Tony Stark took the violence and the greed of his and his family’s past, and molded it into something heroic, something that could stand as a symbol of safety and protection against any force of evil threatening to destroy the world. That’s what Tony Stark stands for, that’s who Iron Man is, and it’s never been said better than in this line of dialogue, making it the best Iron Man quote in Marvel Comics history.