Now the time is here
Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the Grave
Kills the people he once saved

Heavy bolts of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron Man lives again!!!!!!!

I though I would began today by sharing a few bars of Black Sabbath's Iron Man, one of my favorite songs.

Iron Man and Vader are two opposite beings. Iron Man is a hero and Vader is a villian who was redeemed. But they are very alike.

First of, I will talk extensively on their suits. They both didn't choose to wear their suits. In Iron Man's first appearence, in Marvel's Tales of Suspense, Tony Stark, a great inventor, becomes Iron Man after a visit to Vietnam during the war. A booby trap inserts shrapnel in his body and he is close to death. A North Vietnamese leader claims he can save him if he will build them weapons. Instead, he builds a suit to keep him alive. Vader obtains his suit after he is burned during his duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar.

They also are slowed down by their suits. Iron Man changes his suit many times because the charge that keeps the suit running comes close to running out many times because of the suit's weight. Similarily, in Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, by James Luceno, Vader is clumsy and has no real form when he duels. So because their suits slow them down, they tinker with them a lot. In his first 30 appearences in Suspense, Iron Man makes 3 major changes to his suit. First of all, he paints his suit gold because the gray color made people afraid of him. He also changes his suit completley because his classic suit is to heavy. And last of all, he changes his helmet. In Dark Lord, he has parts of his suit rebuilt because it made him slow and was not well built.

There is also a similar emotional level. They both go on killing rages and seek revenge. After Iron Man comes back from the dead, he kills many because they didn't help him when he was dying even when he had helped them. Anakin also goes on a killing rage and kills most of the Jedi and the Tusken Raiders that killed his mother. Iron Man seeks revenge because the people didn't help him, and Vader trys to kill Obi-Wan because he believes he turned Padme against him and because Tusken Raiders killed his mother. They are both troubled by their suits, which creates emotional problems for them. Tony Stark is limited by his suit, because he has to wear the chest plate all the time to live, which makes him angry. Also the fact he can't tell anyone who he is troubles him. Vader wishes he could live without the suit because he believes the suit it just giving him false life and he's living on borrowed time. The same with Iron Man. They also have many personal problems such as again Tony Stark not telling anyone he's Iron Man and being an alcoholic, and Vader having a wife and slaying those Tuskens to avenge his mother.

I'm beginning to wonder if Iron Man might have been an early inspiration for Vader, once he was given a suit by Ralph MacQuarrie.
It's not very obvious at first that there alike, but they really are.

MTFBWY and good day (I guess it's night now though) and good luck from MS.