I'll add to that the comic book story to grab the most headlines and mainstream news coverage since the Death of Superman:

The Death of Captain America

Most of the stories Tony was central to, Steve Rogers was equally involved in.

Tell me the story of Stark's Protege'. The playmat makes me want to vote Iron Man.

I counter your counter with the fact that those storylines are all mutant based...and we know that doesn't count...come one now...

Ah, but it was the Avengers as a whole that sparked off House of M, and subsequently Decimation, by trying to 'deal' with Scarlet Witch. :p

I know you in particular said you wouldn't choose Annihilus, but I still wanted anybody browsing through to see the argument for him. From my post in the other thread:

Even if a character is more iconic than Annihilus, I think the super legend style (based on how TBS described it in the news post) fits Annihilus the best - I'm totally psyched for seeing the rest of the characters gain legendary material, but I'd rather see Annihilus get the "Doom" treatment than a team player like Captain America, Iron Man, or Red Skull, or a loner like Hulk.

The story of Stark's Protege was that when Peter Parker was asked to join the Avengers, after the events of Avengers Disassmebled and House of M, it was largely at Tony Stark's request. He felt that Peter could be a useful member of the team and would do well to be seen as a member of such an upstanding super hero group. He even got Peter a job in Stark Industries R&D (co-director or some such, though I may be misremembering), and Peter, MJ, and Aunt May all came to live in Stark Tower, which was where the New Avengers were headquartered. He then created Peter a new suit, the Iron Spider Armor pictured on the Stark's Protege card, which Peter used up through the events of Civil War until he switched sides against Tony (after revealing his true identity to the world), evidently there were more 3 more Iron Spider Armors made (which you all would know if you've been reading TBolts).

I have to disagree on this and say without a doubt that Iron Man has the most variable power level. From the original armor or just as Tony stark to the Hulkbuster armor he can be anywhere one the scale. The whole point of Iron Man is that it is an upgradable weapon that can become more powerful every few years with technology.

Having said that I think Cap can fill in 2,4,6 or 2,5,7 slots on the Avengers curve very nicely and that he also fits well on SHIELD and as unaffiliated (Nomad or The Captain). Plus he has better characters that can key off him; Sharon Carter, Bucky/Winter Soldier, Falcon, Rick Jones.

Um... Peter Parker is an idiot in search of a "father figure". He allows his blind faith in do-gooders, such as Iron Man, to drag him down a path which will change his "life" forever.

Stark first designs a horrible looking costume following the events of Spider-Man: The Other. The costume has three metal "arms" attached to its back, giving him a total of seven "arms"; an odd number of legs for a spider. The suit is filled with all kinds of devices that allow Stark to take control of its wearer if Peter ever "steps out of line". Peter accepts the costume because, well, he's a recently reborn, brain-addled idiot.

Next, Stark convinces Peter to "out" his secret identity in a ploy to deflect negative media reports stemming from the incident in Stamford and to help feed the public outcry for the SHRA (Superhuman Registration Act). This public unmasking leads directly to the Kingpin sending several hired killers out to off Peter and the Parker family. Aunt May ends up catching a bullet causing Peter to go a bit mental over the whole thing being his "fault".

After the unmasking, Peter begins to come to his senses a bit about Stark's motives. He begins to question what the mysterious Negative Zone -based prison, "42", is all about and finally decides that he has chosen the wrong "side". He ends up coming to blows with Stark over his decision to leave and Stark shuts down Pete's new duds leaving him open to a good ol' fashion Iron-Man smack-down.

Pete makes it down to the sewers where he is discovered by the Punisher, who drags him off to Captain America's hidden base of operations for a little R & R and some stitches.

Yep, Stark's a dick.

Perfect. I am voting for that.

Rep for you!

You should keep reading, stu.

hehe... nasty. I still like it. A tricky dicky anti-hero would be fun to play with. The mechanics could be sick stuff.

Do you mean "Why is there a version of Spider-Man called 'Stark's Protoge?'"

If so, here is the basic background: Tony was a father figure to Peter and built his Iron Spidey suit, the suit on the card.

More advanced version: When the New Avengers were formed, Spider-Man, while admiring Captain America and liking all the members (except maybe Logan), Tony acted like a father to him. During his own series, Spidey fought a guy who knew Peter from high school, and the guy learned or found about Spidey's identity somehow and burned down the house where Aunt May lived, where Peter had lived. During this battle, Spidey went to Tony to get permission to use a device that he knew could defeat the bad guy. Afterwards, Tony offered to let them stay in Avengers' Tower. Jarvis became close with May, and Peter was able to be closer to Tony. During "The Other", Peter died, and when he returned, they had buried his last Spider-suit, or something like that, and he had none left. But Tony started working on a new one, while Peter fought crime in one MJ had tried to sew (which he took to a costume-maker to get fixed). Eventually, Tony let him have the Iron Spidey outfit, which can glide, turn invisible, has 3-4 arms that come out of the back (originally 3, although the new ones have 4), is somewhat bullet-proof (small enough bullets) and gives him IR and other visual aids. Also, it allows him to track heartbeats, and has other capabilities that basically allow him to sense the world about him really well, and more than what his Spider-Sense would do. It also can trak police signals and what they say over the radio. Plus, it can morph into other costumes, such as costumes he's worn, or street clothes. It can also detatch itself and he can somewhat control it with his mind (See end of Sensational Spider-Man: Feral). He loved the suit and it gave him a lot.
Then, Tony revealed he was Iron Man. He also convinced Spider-Man to reveal himself as Peter Parker, because he knew it would get a lot of people to consider switching. If Spider-Man, who kept his secret identity secret for so long was revealed, and he was one of the biggest people who could have revealed his identity, Tony could get support. Although, Tony went too far, and his actions were too much for even Peter to cope with and Peter switched sides in the Civil War, although the damage had already been done, and Tony indirectly caused Aunt May to be shot, as he was the reason Peter revealed his identity. He was a mentor to Spider-Man, but now he is dead to me. Dead, you hear!

Repped.

Even though you kind of glossed over the part where Stark dragged Pete to Washington and then hired villains to attack him.

Captain America, Sickly Recruit.

There's your 1 drop. ;)

Unless you can make a serious case for Iron Man as a 9 drop he's at best equal to Cap as far as power-level variation. Tack on all Cap's allies and you've got a lot more character-based legend material.

Damn, this guy has more haters than Stu himself.