(2025 Update: This review was originally written in 2022, but somehow a typo meant that it was published in 2012. This has long since been corrected.)
The character of Iron Man 2020 first debuted in 1984 in the Machine Man 2020 comic that was in publication at the time and featured another Stark named Arno as Iron Man, but this Iron Man was more of a hired gun than a hero. Anyway, said Iron Man 2020 would get his own prestige one-shot ten years later and for a one-shot, it does a fine enough job to bringing newbies up to speed on this character as he tracks folks who kidnapped the daughter of one of his competitors and all hell breaks loose, I guess.
The actual plot is nothing really special; it’s just an excuse to have some nice action bits and some hints of instilling some heroic attributes to a man who has none, somewhat mirroring the direction of the original Iron Man from years past. I do chuckle at all the future technology of 2020 that the art team attempted to predict. They figured we’d have flying cars by now; instead, we had a pandemic. The Iron Man 2020 suit looks clunky as hell, though.
This was an entertaining enough read, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a vital piece of comic work. Still, someone must have remembered this thing back in 2020, because they brought the character back in an event that same year. Would wonders never cease?
dtm666 