What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man #1
Chad Burdette
Recap
From assembling as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to taking a fateful space voyage as Marvel’s First Family, Mickey Mouse and the gang have been putting their own spin on foundational Marvel stories this past year in hit DISNEY & MARVEL WHAT IF…? one-shots. The fun continues this May when Donald Duck soars the sky as the Invincible Iron Man in MARVEL & DISNEY: WHAT IF…? DONALD DUCK BECAME IRON MAN #1.
Comic Watch Review:
- What If…? Donald Duck Became Thor #1: By The Will Of The Gods, I Am Alive! I Am Invincible! I Am Donald!
- Marvel & Disney: What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1
- Marvel & Disney: What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel #1
- Marvel & Disney: What If…? Mickey & Friends Became the Avengers #1
Inspired by the very first appearance of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, MARVEL & DISNEY: WHAT IF…? DONALD DUCK BECAME IRON MAN #1 sees a team of acclaimed Disney comic creators—writer Luca Barbieri and Steve Behling and artist Donald Soffritti—deliver a quack-tastic twist on Tony Stark’s groundbreaking origin story. Packed with all the mischief and hijinks fans expect from a Donald Duck adventure, the one-shot spotlights a rare side of the world’s most famous duck as Donald uses his genius intellect to become a high-flying armored avenger!
DONALD DUCK finds himself in the clutches of the BEAGLE BOYS, forced to build a machine designed to crack into his UNCLE SCROOGE’s Money Bin! Donald has other plans and builds the ultimate suit of armor! Can the fearless fowl foil the plans of the Beagle Boys and make it to his date with DAISY DUCK?
Review
What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man #1, the latest installment of the Disney/Marvel What If? Series once again finds Donald Duck suiting up in the Iron Man (Duck) armor. Set once again in Duckberg, Donald is tasked by Uncle Scrooge for a task to pay off some of his debts.
The issue hits all the main origin story points of Strange Takes #39, the origin of Iron Man, with the Donald Duck twist with Donald stepping in for Tony, getting captured by the Beagle Boys, and being forced to try and come up with one of Gyro Gearloose’s inventions to help them steal Scrooge’s gold. While s fun story and recognizing that Marvel and Disney are celebrating Donald’s anniversary, it is still a stretch to Donald in the Iron Man role, especially since he was Thor twice, first recreating Thor’s origin and then in the What If Mickey and friends became the Avengers ( where Micky plays the role of Iron Man (Mouse), who would have probably been a better character to use as the story’s main character.
It was also out of character for Donald to not only act cool and calm after being taken hostage, but to also have the knowledge and where-with-how to put together a suit of armor given the materials the Beagle Boys gave him to work with.
That aside, the art and design of Donald’s Iron where interesting and the concept well thought out and put onto the page.
Final Thoughts
What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man #1 - is an enjoyable and interesting use of the What If concept but trips up a bit in the overall execution by using Donald as the main character to don the armor for this story to really feel true to both Donald and Iron Man
What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man #1
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 7/107/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10
