Editing Iron Man (section)

===1980s and 1990s===
Michelinie and Layton remained on the series until ''Iron Man'' #153 (1981).{{Sfn|Johnson|2007|p=44}} Michelinie later said, "The reason I quit is that we felt we'd done everything with it that we'd set out to do."<ref name=CFeature51>{{cite magazine|first=James |last=Van Hise |title=With Armor and Shield |magazine=[[Comics Feature]] |issue=51 |date=January 1987 |publisher=Movieland Publishing |pages=33–35}}</ref> Through the 1980s, writers for Iron Man focused on the character's role as a businessman, reflecting the economic changes associated with [[Reaganomics]], and many of his challenges involved threats to his company.{{Sfn|Zanco|2015|pp=165–166}} [[Denny O'Neil]] was put in charge of ''Iron Man'' beginning with issue #158 (1982). His run explored Stark's psychology, having him relapse into alcoholism and suffer at the hands of business rival [[Obadiah Stane]].{{Sfn|Ridout|1992|p=7}} O'Neil wrote Stark out of the role entirely beginning with issue #170 (1983), having him temporarily retire as Iron Man and replacing him with his ally [[War Machine|James Rhodes]].{{Sfn|Chambliss|2015|p=152}} Stark was relegated as a side character until he returned to heroism in ''Iron Man'' #200 (1985).{{Sfn|Costello|2009|p=145}}

The 1987 "[[Armor Wars]]" story arc followed Iron Man as he reclaimed his technology, which Justin Hammer distributed to several villains.{{Sfn|Donovan|Richardson|2010|pp=189–190}} This story blended the character's superhero and businessman aspects more directly when Stark sought legal recourse against his rivals.{{Sfn|Zanco|2015|pp=165–166}} Michelinie and Layton returned to the series with issue #215 (1988) through issue #232 (1989).{{Sfn|Johnson|2007|p=44}} Again, they experimented with variations on the Iron Man armor{{Sfn|Ridout|1992|p=7}} and focused on down to Earth stories with realistic situations.<ref name=CFeature51/>

In 1990, Michelinie and Layton handed the series over to [[John Byrne (comics)|John Byrne]], one of the most highly regarded comic book writers at the time. He wrote three story arcs across 20 issues: "Armor Wars II" (which had already been announced by Michelinie and Layton), "The Dragon Seed Saga", and "War Games".{{Sfn|Darowski|2015b|pp=171–173}} Byrne revisited Iron Man's opposition to communism but portrayed it as less of a threat,{{Sfn|Darowski|2015b|p=175}} and he rewrote Iron Man's origin to remove references to communism and the Vietnam War. He lost interest in the series by 1992 as his collaborators [[John Romita Jr.]] and [[Howard Mackie]] had moved on to other projects.{{Sfn|Darowski|2015b|pp=171–173}} Iron Man's supporting character War Machine was spun off into his own comic book series in 1994.{{Sfn|Gilbert|2008|p=269}}

The ''Iron Man'' series rejected broader ideological themes by the 1990s, and individualist values replaced Stark's allegiance to American democracy for its own sake. He remained [[anti-communist]], reiterating his support for democracy and refusing to do business in China following the [[Tiannamen Square Massacre]] in 1989.{{Sfn|Darowski|2015b|pp=176–177}} The absence of Cold War politics was not immediately replaced by another theme, and post-Cold War Iron Man stories often explored different ideas regarding technology for a short time before moving on.{{Sfn|Mulligan|2015|p=218}} When [[terrorism]] became more prominent in the public mind, writers shifted Iron Man's symbolism from anti-communism to anti-terrorism.{{Sfn|Chambliss|2015|p=148}}

As part of a company-wide reorganization in 1996, Marvel's major characters, including Iron Man, were given to former Marvel writers [[Jim Lee]] and [[Rob Liefeld]] in a profit-sharing agreement. Lee and Liefeld were given charge of the "[[Heroes Reborn (1996 comic)|Heroes Reborn]]" branding that renumbered Marvel's long-running periodicals at issue #1.{{Sfn|Howe|2012|p=373}} This new ''Iron Man'' series, labeled volume two, was set in an alternate universe created during the "[[Onslaught (Marvel Comics)|Onslaught]]" event. It ran for 13 issues, written by Lee and [[Scott Lobdell]] and illustrated by [[Whilce Portacio]].{{Sfn|Zehr|2011|p=181}}{{Sfn|Gilbert|2008|p=280}} The following year, Marvel introduced the "Heroes Return" event to bring the characters back from the alternate universe, which again reset characters such as Iron Man to issue #1.{{Sfn|Howe|2012|p=394}}{{Sfn|Gilbert|2008|p=285}} [[Kurt Busiek]] became the writer for volume three while [[Sean Chen (artist)|Sean Chen]] was the artist.{{Sfn|Zehr|2011|p=181}}{{Sfn|Gilbert|2008|p=289}}