Previous Post Quote: Two issues in and hes been almost entirely superfluous to the storyline, which is clearly going to be about Starlords unwillingness to accept his destiny. He hasnt added anything to it, he hasnt been needed, his appearence hasnt made the story more exciting, so he shouldnt be there as far as I'm concerned. You could say the same thing about any of the characters being superfluous to the story line with the exception of Starlord. You have to let the story build, allow the writer to develop subplots with the other characters. And the title's story is also about the team protecting Earth, so it makes sense to have a hero on the team that has vast experience with Earth. If Quasar was on the team, would you still complain that he doesn't make sense? Whether his appearance is exciting or not is going to be subjective. So far readers seem to like the series based off the sales, so you have to assume that some readers find his presence exciting. Quote: In addition to this its a bad thing because it leads to the Ironman character being confusingly spread thin and over exposed in exactly the same way as spider-man and Wolverine are, and more of that I could do without. How are you confused? It's not a bad thing to compare him to Wolverine and Spider-Man, arguably Marvel's two biggest characters in comics. Overexposure means that the character is getting more exposure than fans want. This is not the case for Iron Man at this point. Fans aren't complaining about his appearance. His appearance aren't being done just for sales and make sense story wise. Iron Man is appearing in Avengers and New Avengers, his own title, and GotG. So four titles. That's less than Batman, Superman, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. But you probably know all that. But did you also know Iron Man is in the same number of monthly titles as Hawkeye and Storm? Or that it's just one more appearance each month than Captain America, Thor, Iceman, Beast, and Kitty Pryde? Just seems nitpicky. Quote: As for the sales, I am entirely sure that the huge #1 sales are as a result primarily of the popularity of Bendis and McNiven, and the much touted publicity about an upcoming movie. It's probably a combination of several factors, including the idea that Iron Man is the most popular super hero right now. It makes sense for Marvel to capitalize on that fact.

The problem with stating that Ironman and the majority of the rest of the cast are as superfluous as each other is that, first of all, the rest of the cast ARE The Guardians of the Galaxy - which makes them kind of essential. Secondly, Starlord has a great deal of history with the rest of the Guardians having teamed with them pretty much since the first Annihilation War. Stark doesnt have that connection, hes a stranger - the odd one out.

So yeah, whilst this first arc is clearly about Peter Quills history and origins, and the rest of the team probably will spend much of their time in the background, that doesnt mean they are equally as superfluous as Stark.

I stand by the statement that Ironmans presence hasnt brought anything to the story, and I'm struggling to see how he really can. I'm also fearfully anticipating the almost inevitability that Stark all of a sudden starts calling the shots, telling everyone how smart he is, or starts making morally dubious decisions, as he has so often been criticised of doing so before. Hell, I even find his armour off putting.

I dont think a story like Guardians, which is essentially about a bunch of rebellious, swashbuckling, space adventurers can be made better by the addition of Starks angsty, bossy, pragmatistic, futurist attitude and approach. When he flew off into space it was supposed to be about him getting away from all that stuff, but I doubt were ever going to see a Tony Stark who is a carefree space wanderer.

Comparing Ironman to Wolvie and Spidey isnt a good thing, because in recent years, whilst both characters have been very popular and made Marvel alot of money, they havent been involved in many stories that I really enjoyed, and as a fan I do find it annoying how Wolverine can appear on a couple of X-teams, a couple of Avengers teams, run a school, appear in a mega crossover, and run off on his own adventures all at the same time - yet have almost all of those adventures be almost as mundane as each other.

I dont want that for Tony Stark, and i think the only people really gaining anything from the current trend of having characters appear absolutely everywhere are Marvel and their bankers.