10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About Iron Man

10. Iron Roller Skates

One of the most innovative aspects of Tony Stark's Iron Man armour is its ability to fly. How far it can fly depends on who's writing the title at the time, but regardless it's one of the lynchpin powers for all superheroes. Who wouldn't love being able to soar amongst the clouds at a supersonic speed? And what could be a better way to seek out threats and crimes-in-progress than by traversing the skies above? Those are rhetorical questions, and yet Marvel answered them in the seventies by giving Iron Man roller skates. Honestly, sticking little wheels on the bottom of those red metal boots doesn't improve the armour at all. If anything it's a massive drawback, since he'll never be able to stand still, and it'll make landings a lot more difficult whenever he opts for the much more sensible flying method of transportation. What benefit it did have was in letting Marvel cash in on the roller skating craze of the era, hoping that kids had cracked their skulls enough times whilst tripping over for them to not question the redesign. Coincidentally, that's exactly what happened the first time Iron Man unveiled his rocket-propelled skates. Having dodged a number of mandroids attacking him and his fellow Avengers, he smacked into a pile of debris and went arse over tit. He still kept them for as long as the craze lasted/until reason prevailed, whichever came first.