Iron Man/YMMV

YMMVs for the comics:

 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Iron Man is one of the few superheroes whose costume looks better in live action film than it does in the comic.
 * That's a very old version of the armor. The movie version is based on the Extremis armor.
 * It still looks waaaaaaaaaaay better in Real Life than drawn.
 * Not in terms of physical appearance but in personality. Before the first film came out if you asked fanboys to list the funniest Marvel Comics characters they would would say Spider-Man, The Thing, Hawkeye, Deadpool. Tony Stark was definitely not one of them. In the movie however Tony's quips, wisecracks and timing, whether improvised by Robert Downey, Jr. or written by a writer like Joss Whedon make Tony the funniest film superhero ever and one of the most appealing ones.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: Tony Stark. Good guy, or imperialist scumbag?
 * Awesome Ego: Tony Stark.
 * Awesome Music: While the film has a serviceably action-movie score, there's a surprising track of very reverent music when Rhodes arrives at Edwards AFB in what will become the War Machine suit. Seriously, it sounds like the soundtrack for Jesus discovering the Grand Canyon or something.
 * Base Breaker: For Stark: "The Civil War". For Rhodes: "Sometimes The World Needs A War Machine".
 * Complete Monster: Obadiah Stane, in the 1980s comics. His strategies involved the cruelest forms of psychological warfare possible; even as a little boy, he murdered a chess opponent's puppy to give him an edge in a tournament. To say nothing of what he did to Tony Stark...
 * His son, Ezekiel Stane, is even worse... he makes terrorists into mini-nukes for a living.
 * The Mandarin and the Controller have also been written as this.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome:
 * Tony's had a few but one of note is the entirety of Iron Man (vol. 1) #200 where he reclaims the Iron Man mantle, faces off against his greatest enemy Obadiah Stane, out-gambits him at every turn and leads to Stane committing suicide out of sheer frustration.
 * In Iron Man (vol. 1) #293-294, as part of the Infinity Crusade story arc, Tony's confronted with the Goddess, a female cosmic being who wants to "purify" the universe of evil; she wields several Cosmic Containment Units, basically omnipotent plot devices which make her all-powerful. She's trying to bring over superheroes to her cause and one of them is Iron Man. Twice, both times completely at her mercy with his naked spiritual form like a shrimp in her fist, he tells her she is a presumptuous hypocrite and no thanks, he won't join her.
 * Iron Man's victory over the Mandarin in Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #28. Forced to wear an irremovable power-dampener to shut off his Extremis abilities, and racing against time to prevent the Mandarin from releasing an airborne form of Extremis (which will kill 97.5% of the world's population), Tony dons an outmoded armor, tracks down his old nemesis, and engages him in a particularly brutal slugfest, during which he yanks half of the Mandarin's power rings (which were fused into his spine) right out of his body, whilst sustaining a broken arm and a dent kicked in his helmet. He then downs the Mandarin temporarily with his own weapons and the Mandarin's own rings, then deliberately severs part of his own foot to get the power dampener off, fights through the pain and shock and the sensory overload of his Extremis abilities returning, then averts the Extremis outbreak. The Mandarin then gets up again and punctures a container of Extremis, prompting Tony to freeze him AND the Extremis with freon spray. Only then does he pass out. Damn...
 * Dork Age: Civil War and the aftermath. See Strawman Political, below. Before Civil War, there was his Face Heel Turn during the terrible "Crossing" storyline that led into Teen Tony and Heroes Reborn. Thankfully, much of that was retconned out in Avengers Forever.
 * The Iron Nose. It was hated so much that the comic had fans at a convention wearing armor replicas without the nose and telling Tony Stark how hideous it looked.
 * Epileptic Trees: Immediately following Civil War, Tony is fighting Mole Man creatures with his Avengers team when, all of a sudden, Ultron reveals it has invaded his biology and transforms Tony into a copy of the Wasp. Considering Tony's biggest crime during Civil War was building a cyborg with the power of Thor (as well as locking up heroes and building a giant ersatz Masters of Evil which Ultron used to lead), it's not so hard to just assume that a lot of Tony's immoral actions were the product of Ultron inside of him, influencing his actions.
 * Ho Yay: Piles, both with War Machine in the Iron Man books, and Steve Rogers in The Avengers.
 * Idiot Ball: The S.H.I.E.L.D agents, first ignoring the more advanced suit on the computer monitor and then trying to shoot at Iron Monger with handguns.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Stan Lee has stated that this was his original intention in the creation of Tony Stark. He wanted to create a character who was a bit of a bastard for his war-profiteering, womanizing, and fast lifestyle but was also pitied (especially by women) for his insecurities due to his injury and the knowledge that what he was making was killing people.
 * Magnificent Bastard: The Mandarin has been one since the 1960s. There's also Stark himself, depending on the writer.
 * Memetic Sex God: "Every time you kiss Iron Man, you taste Galactus." This list is out of date by years, since then he has bagged Maria Hill and She-Hulk, the latter who was on the list indirectly.
 * My Real Daddy: David Michelinie and Bob Layton in the early 1980s transformed the character with such innovations such as his specialized armors and his drinking problem.
 * Never Live It Down: Tony's alcoholism, although his actions in Civil War are catching up in their effect on his reputation.
 * Straw Man Has a Point (in the first film): The senator is an ass, and Hammer is an idiot, but both of them make a lot of valid points in the senate hearing. Tony is a loose canon, his suit is a weapon (whether he likes the term or not) of the sort that would ordinarily be denied a private citizen, and he is acting totally independent of anyone who could review his actions or rein him in if he gets out of control. None of these things are remotely desirable traits in someone who is trying to be a one-man police for the whole world.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: As discussed in the Strawman Political section, they could have had an interesting plot in which Tony is forced to go to more and more extreme measures to enforce an act that would hold responsibility over all other things. Something, he believes in due to his own shortcomings. Instead, they decided in some books to turn Tony into a power hungry fascist and decided accountability = slavery. Also he's a war criminal now... yeah, apparently believing in responsibility is akin to amorality.

YMMVs for the 1994 television series:

 * Awesome Music: The second theme song to the 90's cartoon. Doubles as being Rated "M" for Manly. Triples as a Shout-Out in the first film; the only lyrics are "I Am Iron Man!"
 * Complete Monster: Dark Aegis. In the episode he appeared in, he wiped out an entire planet and showed no remorse over the deed, even expressing Fantastic Racism when Iron Man comments on it; used a superweapon to destroy a moon; and was willing to destroy a sun, not caring what'd happen to the solar system they were in.
 * Freud Was Right: The Water Strider found in the episode "Enemy Within, Enemy Without" destroys enemy ships by "ramming" into them.
 * Growing the Beard/Retool: Season two. Tony also grew a mullet.
 * Memetic Outfit: Between the show and Marvel vs. Capcom, many people associate Iron Man with the Modular Armor (which is indeed one of his most striking suits).
 * Misaimed Marketing: The recent DVD release for the series, mentions "Whiplash" on the back, probably to cash-in on Iron Man 2. Granted, Blacklash/Whiplash did appear on the show, but anyone expecting the Magnificent Bastard that is Ivan Vanko will be disappointed because not only is Mark Scarlotti not the Big Bad, but he's one of the Mandarin's many lackeys.

YMMVs for the films:

 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Not that Sam Rockwell is necessarily a looker, but his Justin Hammer is certainly a step up from the comics' much older, wrinkly version of the character.
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: Almost everything in the first movie, it has probably the fewest Ruined FOREVER of a major adaptation ever.
 * Genndy freakin Tartakovsky storyboarded the sequel.
 * Not that it needed it, but the second trailer for IM2 ended with It says something that pretty every single blog post, everywhere, about said trailer used that shot as the illustration.
 * News of Shane Black directing the third movie made several fans happy campers.
 * Awesome Music: The movie has a traditional score soundtrack, it also has a licensed soundtrack that contains nothing but best of ACDC songs used in the film one way or another.
 * Actually, there are only two ACDC songs used in the movie.
 * Base Breaker: The brusque, collected Natasha Romanoff is easily the most understated major character in the either film when it comes to personality tics. Some fans liked this, finding her icy and enigmatic while others found her bland and lacking in personality. This is difficult to gauge considering Natasha spends the majority of her time undercover so she doesn't have much time to display her true personality.
 * An interview with the director revealed that the more flirtatious scenes between Natasha and Tony were cut to preserve the Tony/Pepper relationship. A scene from the first trailer even features Natasha smiling.
 * Complete Monster: Obadiah Stane in the first film, who is totally evil and he knows it, willing to sell out Tony, his company, and even his own country just so he could be in control of ultimate power. Both of the second film's villains avert this trope, with one being an Anti-Villain and the other being an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain. The Mandarin in movie 3, on the other hand....
 * Crosses the Line Twice:
 * The scenes where Tony kept smacking into things while testing his suit was funny in all the wrong ways. "10% thrust." Splat!
 * In the sequel,
 * Also in the sequel,
 * Draco in Leather Pants / Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Judging by the internet, a significant portion of Russian viewers seems to be rooting for Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, despite his villainous status. Given that his behavior qualifies him as a Magnificent Bastard and he comes across as a much more credible and threatening villain than Justin Hammer, combined with some patriotism, this is no surprise.
 * Not to mention that he sets out to avenge his ripped off father, a much more sympathetic goal than the other villains in the films.
 * Ear Worm: The Stark Expo theme, as played over the closing credits. Make way! Make way! Tomorrow's heading our way... And written by Richard Sherman, one of the masters of the earworm, having written "It's a Small World" and many other catchy Disney songs.
 * Fan Nickname:
 * "Dynalash" for Ivan Vanko, due to being a composite of the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash.
 * A beam superweapon that spins around and destroys everything nearby? The only name for that is "Death Blossom".
 * "Iron Man Lite" for the Mark V suitcase armor.
 * The drones? Hammer 'roids.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: "Next time, baby."? Well, not so much for Terrence Howard.
 * Either this or Hilarious in Hindsight depending on the viewer, but Iron Man mistaking Stan Lee for Hugh Heffner (since he was wearing a similar getup as well as being coddled by blondes) is especially ironic when fans remember that Stan Lee is responsible for the creation of Stripperella.
 * Harsher in Hindsight: There is no reasonable way that Tony's quick whisper-chat with Rhodes (at the Senate meeting) wasn't scripted to reference a certain unpleasant dispute from the first film. "...Next time, baby."
 * Hilarious in Hindsight:
 * The formal event in the middle of the first film takes place at the Disney Concert Hall (guess who owns Marvel now?). Also, the fighters pursuing Tony go by "Whiplash" One and Two (the Walt Disney Concert hall has nothing to do with the Disney company and was endowed by a private foundation in Walt's name, but it's still pretty funny).
 * Downey is also seen at the Disney Hall in The Soloist with Jamie Foxx a year later.
 * Played straighter in the sequel, where Howard Stark is literally an Expy of Walt Disney himself.
 * Tony to Rhodes: "That lovely lady you woke up with, what was his name? Ivan?"
 * This blogger speculated in jest that Oracle CEO Larri Ellison is Iron Man in Real Life. This was in March 2008. Two years later, Ellison makes a cameo at Tony Stark's birthday party in Iron Man 2.
 * Hongkong's Andy Lau may be in Iron Man 3. This was from a role he did way before that.
 * Magnificent Bastard:
 * Obadiah Stane, aka Iron Monger.
 * In the sequel, Ivan Vanko, the Genius Bruiser.
 * And last but not least, the Mandarin himself
 * Marty Stu: Subverted. On the surface, Tony Stark is a textbook example: he is, at the same time, incredibly smart, handsome, muscular, and rich. He rides cool cars, gets lots of poon, and, when the times is right, can easily kick evildoer butt. However, unlike bona fide Marty Stus, he has huge personality flaws (like being a dick even to the closest friends) and health issues, which make him a much more believable and likeable character.
 * Memetic Mutation:
 * TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!!
 * I am Iron Man!
 * IVAN VANKO BUILT HIS IN HIS BASEMENT! ...WITH A BURD!!!
 * I vant my burd!
 * Dhrone Bettuh.
 * Tony Stark created a new element.
 * Moral Event Horizon: Weirdly, this is completely innocuous in the world of business (not exactly nice, but sometimes it's a very necessary move). However, the reason it is the Moral Event Horizon is because
 * Nightmare Fuel: See here.
 * Pandering to the Base: Some people accused the second movie of setting up the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe more than its own, despite the fact that Nick Fury doesn't appear until more than an hour in and even then his purpose is more to get Tony off of his ass and create the element that will eventually save his life than to convince him to join The Avengers. Heck, it's even more realistic for a government agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. to have more on its plate to deal with than simply Tony Stark.
 * Retroactive Recognition: Raza, the terrorist leader, is Captain Richard "Star Trek's Chuck Norris" Robau??
 * Sequelitis: Mostly averted. General consensus seems to be that the second movie is still a rousing film, if not exactly as fresh as the first one. It may help if you think of it as the second in a trilogy.
 * Those opinions might be because of the time the movies were made in, namely post-9/11 America. In the first movie, Tony kicks the crap out of terrorists and militia in the Middle East who live in caves and personally saves an Air Force pilot's life. In the second, he doesn't want the military to have the greatest weapon platform that world had ever seen, something that could go a long way to keeping more servicemen and women alive.
 * Except actually making something like the Iron Man suit in real life would be ridiculously expensive and would never actually be built let alone save lives.
 * And, Fridge Brilliance: The main powersource for the Iron Man armor...is TOXIC! He just doesn't want anyone to know, considering.
 * Special Effect Failure: A fairly minor one, but when Partially justified in the fact that
 * Squick: Pepper having to replace Tony's reactor core was more than a little gross for some. Made even worse with her comment about pus, even though there was none (it was just inorganic plasmic discharge, and it was from the device, not him).
 * Unfortunate Implications: In the beginning when Obidiah is talking about Tony's past at an award ceremony and a newspaper of car crash briefly appears on the screen the movie is implying that this is how Tony's parents died except his mother isn't mentioned by Obidiah in fact Tony's mother is NEVER mentioned. Tony is a "Well Done, Son" Guy trying to compete with his father's fame and genius but his mother doesn't get a mention at all. Tony and pretty much everyone else come across as not caring about the mother and only interested in the genius inventors.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: With Tony taking the fight to Middle-Eastern terrorists in the first film and refusing to hand his property over to the government in the second, there are some who see him as the ultimate conservative/Republican/Libertarian super hero.
 * However, the second film might also have one of the most Egregious examples of Straw Man Has a Point in film history. Make of that what you will.
 * However, the second film might also have one of the most Egregious examples of Straw Man Has a Point in film history. Make of that what you will.