[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by whswhs

However, Tony Stark had his Vietnamese adventure as a civilian consultant, and didn't have the experience of frontline combat or guerrilla warfare. And he was back from Nam and flying around in an iron suit early enough so that the anti-war protests hadn't really taken off. I think he was there when Kennedy was still in the White House, and buddy buddy with the South Vietnamese Catholic despots, and anticommunism was a widespread American attitude even among liberals.

Indeed. IIRC, the anti-war sentiment didn't take off until late in LBJ's term or early in Nixon's.

And IIRC, Stark became Iron Man in '62, when Kennedy was still active, though I don't think Marvel actually referenced the sitting President in the early stuff until LBJ took office.

Fantastic Four and Hank Pym came in '61 (though Pym didn't take the Ant-Man identity until '62); Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Sgt. Fury started in '62 (though the latter was set in WWII); and I'm pretty sure Daredevil, the X-Men, and Doctor Strange started in '63. The Avengers didn't form until late '63, IIRC. In Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Hulk's titles, communists - either Chinese or Russian - were frequent bad guys. Getting back on topic, Black Widow started as a Soviet KGB operative working against Stark, and maneuvered Hawkeye into conflict with shell-head through her feminine wiles (among other skills in her arsenal).