Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

IRON MAN versus MAGNETO

Family Reunion (Marvel)
Where: Avengers West Coast #57 When: April 1990
Why: John Byrne How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
The emotional strain of learning her children were plied from the fractured energies of Mephisto -- only to lose them to the reincorporated devil -- takes a terrible toll on the Scarlet Witch!

Estranged from an emotionless, reconstructed Vision, she suffers a mental break -- but not alone! Magneto returns under the manipulations of Loki to reclaim his daughter and ease her from her suffering. A family reunion that inevitably pits the Master of Magnetism against Wanda's most trusted allies - The Avengers!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Iron Man 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Iron Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Draw 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 2 (Average)
Fighting: Iron Man 4 (Trained)
Energy: Magneto 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Iron Man 31 (Super)

At some point every fan wonders the same thing: What happens if Iron Man fights the Master of Magnetism? It's a done deal, right? Magneto controls metal, Iron Man relies on a metal suit. Case closed. Well, not so fast hotshot...

Tony Stark may have made his first suit of armor out of iron, but times change, and as most of the planet learned through the hugely successful live-action film series -- he's not so much an iron monger as a master of industry and technological advancement (with a flair for weaponry).

This all comes down to your definition of an "Iron Man", and the simple truth is, like a lot of metal products in our modern way of life, his suits probably contain many non-ferrous materials, such as plastics, fiberglass, carbon fibers, and titanium alloy. The net result is a suit that can probably handle magnetic fields without too much trouble -- especially if he has time to prepare.

Let's assume Iron Man has super-durable plastic armor ready to go and any elemental advantage Magneto might have is null & void. What then?

Well, just because Iron Man isn't a walking lump of metal doesn't mean there isn't plenty of iron to go around!

Magneto has made a career out of turning found objects, and his environment, into a weapon. He's hurled broken machines at the Sub-Mariner, skewered Quicksilver with a flagpole, encased his students in X-Mansion wreckage, and flung industrial scrap metal & cranes at a cosmic-powered Spider-Man!

If that's not enough to give Iron Man a good fight, we've also seen Magneto use his metal-bending powers to craft his own makeshift suit of armor in the Age of Apocalypse timeline. A defensive & offensive addition to his trademark helmet.

In a real pinch he can manipulate people through the iron in their blood, or even disrupt the Earth's magnetic axis, but he isn't walking around doing these things, so we'll put the theory aside and get practical on this Marvel main event.

The Tape: Iron Man Ranking: Iron Man (#3)

What Went Down...

A portion of the cottage floor - where Vision and Scarlet Witch had set up home on the Avengers compound - becomes a makeshift platform as Magneto blasts clear of the domestic dwelling, riding it skyward with his daughter & son in tow.

Wonder Man hopes to make pursuit, but The Avengers have just stared defeat in the face. Hank Pym insists they come up with a plan, but nobody told Iron Man that!

The Golden Avenger makes his high-flying arrival -- spotting Magneto and his erstwhile teammates, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, making their bombastic escape! He contemplates their complicated history and makes chase!

Sharing the misapprehension of the public that there is a new man inside the Iron Man armor -- Magneto dissuades The Avenger from engaging with them. He feels they have no quarrel, but the armored hero is not about to back down.

'You make me sad, Iron Man. My purpose in life is the preservation of mutantkind, not the destruction of humanity. But if you insist upon placing yourself in the status of an enemy...'

Iron Man strings along the illusion that he's a new opponent, hoping to take tactical advantage of Magneto under estimating him. When the Master of Magnetism inevitably strikes -- he does indeed assume too little of his foe.

Though his aim is true -- Magneto's blast has no effect on Iron Man!

The Avenger flies clear, spiraling overhead to trade condescension with his opponent, safe in the knowledge that his armor's "ferrous polymers" have been treated with a "special demagnetizing agent".

Magneto can do nothing directly to harm the armored hero.

As he glides through the clouds, Iron Man appears to have the upper hand, but Magneto is not the only person on the floating chunk of floor.

With a simple gesture of her hand, Scarlet Witch casts a hex spell that answers the question of what would happen if his automatic systems suddenly suffered a massive failure.

Iron Man begins to plummet!

Quicksilver races to petition for capture, but the speedster is too slow. His sister's hex spell has already sent Iron Man plunging towards the Earth below.

Magneto observes the unfortunate irony. That he might have been able to reach out with his mutant gifts to save the falling Avenger, but the protections against his powers leave him as powerless to rescue as he is to assault.

The Hammer...

Lucky for Iron Man the specifics of Scarlet Witch's hex don't affect his onboard parachute -- which allows him to crash through the glass ceiling of a North Hollywood condominium unharmed. Faux pas!

Although his landing is relatively safe, it's a pretty humbling defeat -- just not from the opponent we were all focused on.

There are better examples of Magneto fighting Iron Man -- including a more compelling rematch a few issues later in Avengers West Coast #60, but this encounter does provide a short, sharp response to the elemental component that makes it a popular point of curiosity.

In the end: Magnetism just isn't a big factor!

As noted in The Tape; time and technological advancement only makes this an easier issue to explain away. These days we encounter strong, durable nonferrous materials in our day-to-day lives all the time. In the pages of 1990, writer-artist John Byrne was content to keep it vague, citing the ol' "demagnetizing agent". A bit dodgy in vernacular, but good enough in principle.

I'm sure we'll be citing it when we return to the Iron Man/Magneto match-up in its earlier and later incarnations. I'm particularly interested to look back at their first meeting: A bizarre episode from Magneto's wilder days that may or may not challenge his affirmation that he's not about 'destroying humanity'.

Interestingly enough, in today's fight Tony Stark is maintaining the lie that a new man now inhabits the Iron Man armor. That was actually the case in a prior face-off when Jim Rhodes was wearing the red & gold during Secret Wars. Not that Iron Man, or Magneto, would necessarily know to correct the other. That, and perhaps Byrne isn't really concerned with the "toyetic" 12-issue maxi series. I don't know.

Our featured fight is bookended by two far more compelling battles within the same issue, but since I've got Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection on my mind, I was a little more interested in coming down the centre for the marquee fight with two characters who feature prominently in those games. At some point, we'll come back to see how the other Avengers fared in their skirmishes.

As for Scarlet Witch -- it's not a very flashy demonstration of her powers, but still a chilling display of how quickly & effectively she can disarm an opponent given the right mindset.

On approach, Iron Man had considered the possibility that Scarlet Witch may have reverted to her earlier days with The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but apparently still wasn't expecting to be magically kayoed by her hex powers. His bad!

This is part of a Dark Phoenix-style heel turn for the heroine, which sees her getting a little more assertive in ways that will make Magneto uncomfortable soon enough. A tangled web that positions her between the machinations of Mephisto, Loki, and Immortus, in addition to her father.

The least complicated elements of this general storyline were inspiration for the WandaVision television series, and have been recurring in storylines such as House of M, but not the Marvel vs Capcom games...

Despite Marvel Super Heroes being loosely adapted from The Infinity Gauntlet - where Scarlet Witch teamed with Cyclops and Iron Man - she still hasn't appeared playable in the long-running Capcom crossover series. That's presumably a reflection of the challenges in translating vague magical powers into unique, visual game mechanics -- especially when those abilities depend on subverting the strict rules that govern day to day life, and well-balanced fighting games.

This speaks to my general theory that superhero fighting doesn't really translate well to the side-to-side arena of standard fighting games. It thrives in chemical interaction, environmental conditions, and is ultimately determined by narrative consideration that has little regard for tournament-ready balancing.

Yet, the bombastic, hyper-kinetic, hyper-visual explosive style of Capcom's Marvel video games certainly do a good enough job at making that type of superhero fighting a very good time!

I'm tremendously pleased I'll be able to play all of those classic fighting games again with the convenience of still-current hardware, and I wonder if we might see a brand new follow-up to 2017's slightly underwhelming Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite sometime in the near future. With a big enough roster, perhaps we might see Scarlet Witch finally make the cut. That could be interesting.

If you'd like see more from Scarlet Witch, the Capcom characters, or some of the other follow-up subjects I mentioned throughout this section -- perhaps you'd like to become a supporter on Patreon. In addition to having a tremendously positive effect on me and my ability to produce these entries -- you'll also get my ear to help inspire future choices even at the lowest tier.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1,000 characters! You can find them all for free by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of battles in order of publisher, series, and issue -- or by hitting links to your favourite topics found throughout each entry.

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Special note for you rankings watchers: Quicksilver is present throughout this battle, but doesn't really have a lot to contribute outside of a too-late reaction that might've helped Iron Man. For that reason, we aren't going to count any result for him. You can find rankings updates at the bottom of all new entries.

Winner: Scarlet Witch (w/ Magneto)
#164 (+293) Scarlet Witch
#90 (--) Magneto [+1 assist]
#4 (--) Iron Man