10 Times Iron Man Outsmarted Everyone

10. Fighting Jim Rhodes

Seeing Tony Stark totally outdo his replacement, Jim Rhodes - who is in Tony's suit, and who has significantly greater capabilities as a result of this - is one of the most masterfully executed fight scenes in the history of the character. Having the rightful Iron Man one-up a far stronger opponent sheerly because he knows the Iron Man suit so well is a genius way for the fight to go down, and shows that, even without the suit on, Tony is now and forever Iron Man at heart.

Add to this the fact that Stark had taken time off being Iron Man because of his issue with alcoholism, and him managing to outsmart his replacement is even more impressive. It suggests that, even when he's not at peak performance, Tony is still more than capable of outwitting even people who are significantly stronger than him.

Even better, we see Iron Man outsmart Rhodes one final time by showing him what the man couldn't see on his own - that Rhodes had become obsessive over the power and prestige that the role of Iron Man gave him, and needed to forgo his role as a hero in order to overcome his fixation.