Iron Man Complete Series DVD Review

Together with Volume 5 of X-Men, Buena Vista has released the complete 1994 Iron Man animated series on DVD. For one reason or another, I never watched this show in 94 so I was very interested in seeing it. Unfortunately, the cartoon isn’t as coherent or watchable as the X-Men show. If you’re like most people these days and get your image of Iron Man from the new films, I’d stay away from this one.

I never knew how crazy the villains of Iron Man were until I watched a few episodes of this cartoon. I read very little comics growing up (and never read an Iron Man at all) so I was surprised to see the villains were so lame and brightly colored. I know this show probably isn’t representative of all the Iron Man comics, but it makes me appreciate the job Jon Favreau has done with the films even more.

This three-disc set contains all 26 episodes from the show, including appearances by Nick Fury, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, and Whiplash. I don’t blame Disney for trying to capitalize on the release of Iron Man 2, and I really appreciate them releasing this as a complete-series DVD set. However, if you have a kid who is obsessed with the films, I wouldn’t recommend this series, because I think it will just disappoint them. Instead, I’d go with the more recent Iron Man: Armored Adventures.

Disclaimer: This review was based on a free review copy. Read my blog disclosure statement for more.