Ironhide (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity
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Ironhide. The Autobots' resident tough customer since 1984.
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Marvel The Transformers comics
Four million years ago, when the war was still young, Optimus Prime fought an uphill battle against the Decepticons. Ironhide was beside him when Optimus Prime, despite being wounded, refused to raise the white flag, and due to their courage, the tide of the war was turned. Surrender!
Ironhide was chosen to join the Ark mission to save Cybertron from an asteroid belt—a mission that saw him stranded on Earth for four million years. Upon reactivation in 1984, Ironhide immediately began bickering with Huffer. The Transformers The Autobots were soon to learn that their fuel reserves were dangerously low, and began debating how best to replenish them. Ironhide had little time for their talk, and demanded they take action. Receiving word from Bumblebee that human mechanic Sparkplug Witwicky was willing to help them with their fuel concerns, the Autobots rolled out for his garage, only to wind up battling the Decepticons there. Power Play! The Decepticons abducted Sparkplug, but Ironhide and the Autobots were too low on fuel to do pursue his abductors. Prisoner of War!
During a clash between the Autobots and Decepticons at Boulder Dam, Megatron shattered the dam and send a torrent of water heading for a nearby human town. Ironhide transformed and had Bumblebee hop in to man his laser cannon, racing ahead of the water and cutting channels into the ground that successfully drained the flood away before it endangered the humans. Decepticon Dam-Busters! Soon after, when it was discovered that Sparkplug had created usable fuel for the Decepticons during his captivity, Ironhide and Huffer found themselves aruging once more, with Huffer demanding Sparkplug pay for his treason while Ironhide suggested sympathy The Last Stand (an argument secretly observed by the time-travelling alien Dicet Alpha-zero as part of a school report on the Transformers' war The Quest!). However, this argument only provided a distraction for Sparkplug and his son, Buster Witwicky to escape; this attempt was aborted when Sparkplug suffered a heart attack. Soon, the Decepticons, fully refueled, came for the Ark, and Ironhide was one of just five Autobots selected to fight the invasion, using pooled fuel from his comrades. During the battle, Ironhide was pinned by twin fire from Ravage and Skywarp, but the Decepticons soon collapsed—their fuel, it turned out, had been poisoned by Sparkplug. The Autobots victory was suddenly robbed from them, however, when Shockwave arrived, surprising everyone, and blasted the surviving Autobots offline. The Last Stand
Ironhide and the other deactivated Autobots were strung from the ceiling of the Ark, intended by Shockwave to be used as spare parts for the next generation of Decepticons. The New Order When Ratchet, the only surviving Autobot, discovered what had become of Ironhide and his other comrades, he managed to re-take the Ark with the aid of the Dinobots, Warrior School! Repeat Performance! and Ironhide and most of the other Autobots were subsequently repaired and reactivated. To make sure all of the Autobots were back in fighting shape, Ratchet had Ironhide and the others go on a diagnostics run through the open plains. DIS-Integrated Circuits!
Soon after, Ironhide and the Autobots mobilized to rescue the captive Optimus Prime from the Decepticons' new headquarters in Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One Brainstorm! En-route, they learned that the head was to be dumped in a nearby swamp. Upon arriving to the swamp and reuniting the head to its body, the Autobots discovered that it was a decoy, planted by the Decepticons to remote-control their leader's frame! Ironhide was one of the 'bots who suffered damage at the hands of the imposter, but not so severely that he couldn't urge his leader to finish off Shockwave when Prime regained control of himself. Optimus didn't follow through on Ironhide's suggestion, instead rescuing Buster from the aerospace plant and reclaiming the Creation Matrix he had hidden within the boy's mind. Prime Time! With the Creation Matrix now back in Autobot control, an argument immediately erupted amongst the Autobots over whether or not it should be used to bolster their ranks with powerful new warriors. Ironhide sided with Prowl in favor of the plan, but Optimus refused. As tempers were still simmering, Ravage infiltrated the Autobot base; Ironhide helped pursue and capture the Decepticon feline, but was too busy chatting with Ratchet later to notice when Ravage escaped his cell. Crisis of Command!
When Ironhide detected a Transformer approaching the Ark, he and the other Autobots gathered to meet it, fearing it was a hostile. None of them expected it to be the Dinobot Swoop, whose mind was being controlled by the human scientist Peter Anthony Morris. Ironhide helped subdue Swoop and Optimus Prime helped him shake the mind control, but cybo-dendron degradation then drove Swoop feral. The Icarus Theory Realizing that the other scattered Dinobots were likely experiencing the same effect, the Autobots organized a "Dinobot Hunt" to track down the rampaging 'bots. Ironhide was partnered with Jetfire to corral the berserk Slag—his red armor proving a source of agitation to the Dinobot—though he was initially untrustworthy of Jetfire, given his Decepticon origins. Suitably chastized by Jazz for his prejudice, Ironhide shelved his attitude, and saved Jetfire's life during the mission; discovering that Laserbeak was spying on them, Ironhide incapacitated the Decepticon condor with a stun-blast, then hurled him into Slag's mouth, preventing the Dinobot from roasting Jetfire with his flamethrower. Dinobot Hunt!
At one point, Ironhide went against orders and left the Ark in order to meander around Los Angeles. Stumbling across a standoff between the police and a group of terrorist, he decided to break protocol and deal with the terrorists himself, judging the officers incapable of diffusing the situation without costing the hostages their lives. He burst into the scene in his robot mode, the sight shocking the terrorists into giving up. But one of the terrorist, armed with a grenade, decided to blow himself up along with everybody else when the police then stormed the scene; their timing led him to believe that Ironhide was nothing more than a sophisticated storming tool. Ironhide froze the terrorist solid with a blast of liquid nitrogen, and barked out his frustration at the officers for nearly ruining his rescue attempt. ...Perchance to Dream Later on, at Sparkplug Witwicky's request, he would serve as a bodyguard for Buster Witwicky alongside Tracks, Smokescreen, and Brawn to prevent any reprisal attacks from the Decepticons. While the Autobots were shadowing the boy at a demolition derby, the Constructicons attacked, and Ironhide once again found himself facing Devastator. The battle did not go much better than his first encounter with the combiner, but this time, the Decepticons pulled out after Soundwave scanned Buster's mind. Devastation Derby!
When Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Prowl suddenly disappeared, seemingly disintegrated, Ironhide went with Jazz, Hound and Smokescreen to spy on the Decepticons, presuming they were responsible. As they watched, a new Decepticon - Galvatron - arrived, and they learned the incredible truth: Galvatron was from the future, and had time-travelled back to 1986, causing Prime and the others to be shunted into Limbo. Galvatron proceeded to dispose of Megatron, entombing him beneath a landslide, and took leadership of the Decepticons for himself. Galvatron's forces then captured Jazz, and when the Autobots attempted a rescue, it did not go well—Galvatron proved so unearthly powerful that they all fell before his might, with only Ironhide left conscious to hear Galvatron warning him to go and never return. Beaten and humiliated, Ironhide saw only one recourse: he dug Megatron out from under the landslide with his bare hands, and brokered an alliance between him and the Autobots. Under Megatron's leadership, the Autobots managed to capture Galvatron's lieutenant Scourge, though Ironhide was buried under a pile of sheet metal during the warehouse battle. Target: 2006
Galvatron was subsequently repelled back to his own time, but Optimus Prime was disheartened to learn how his Autobots had handled his absence, and arranged to fake his death as a test for them. A shattered facsimile construct was used to dupe the Autobots, the remains of which were loaded into Ironhide's vehicle mode. ...The Harder They Die! Ironhide soon learned at how inopportune a time Prime's ploy fell, when he greeted a team of new Autobots who had just arrived from Cybertron and learned from them that Galvatron had returned from the future. Fortunately, Prime soon returned, interrupting his own funeral by being teleported before the Autobots just as the proceedings were coming to an end. Resurrection!
Ironhide would go on to fight against Ratbat's forces on the moon shortly before the crews of the Ark and the Steelhaven joined under one banner. Totaled! Optimus Prime would once again return from the dead to retake command of his forces. Ironhide was present when Optimus, Fortress Maximus, and Grimlock held a conference to plan out an attack against the time-displaced Galvatron. The mission was postponed when the sudden appearance of Autobots from the future displaced Optimus and a handful of his soldiers to Limbo. Upon seeing the spectacular light-show caused by this mass-substitution, Ironhide jumped to the conclusion that Optimus and the other present-day Autobots had been killed by the time-travelers. Fortress Maximus ordered the troops to attack the "imposters," though thankfully cooler heads soon prevailed. Both sets of Autobots joined forces, along with Decepticons from both the future and present, in order to defeat Galvatron. Through their efforts, all time-travelers were eventually sent back to their appropriate eras. Time Wars
Although not explicitly named as being among those who were taken offline by the Underbase-powered Starscream, Ironhide probably fell victim to this fate since, when he was next heard from, he was offline, in stasis aboard the Ark. In 1990, Grimlock revived him and all the other invalid Autobots with Nucleon in time to participate in the climactic battle with Unicron on Cybertron. On the Edge of Extinction! Shortly after the planet-eater's destruction, Ironhide was seen loading supplies onto one of the ships the Autobots were about to use to depart Cybertron. A Savage Circle
Movie Future Timeline
In an alternate timeline, in the year 2005, Ironhide was stationed on Moonbase One. Just as his patience with watching and waiting was coming to an end, he was assigned to a supply run to Autobot City on Earth, to collect the energon cubes necessary to power the Autobots' impending strike against Decepticon-controlled Cybertron. An enthusiastic Ironhide departed with Prowl, Ratchet, and Brawn, but part-way into their journey, just after their shuttle had passed through an asteroid field, the Decepticons attacked, boarded the vessel, and slaughtered the entire crew. The Planet-Eater!
Earthforce
While he lay in stasis aboard the Ark, Ironhide's mind was hacked into by a Galvatron from an alternate timeline, who was looking for potential soldiers with dark sides he could corrupt. As an unintended consequence of the mental probing of Galvatron's mind bug, Ironhide and the other Autobots Galvatron had studied were reactivated and put an end to the future Decepticon's scheme. ...Perchance to Dream The sudden shock of this event, so soon after a long semi-dead period, would leave Ironhide with post-traumatic stress. The experience also left him more willing to listen and less grouchy. 1991 Ironhide profile
Ironhide went on to become a founding member of Grimlock's Earthforce, fighting against Megatron and Shockwave's rival Decepticon armies. Break-Away! For his first mission, Ironhide headed to an island in the Bahamas alongside Bumblebee, where he used his knowledge of Decepticon automated defence rings and riddles to get into a Decepticon facility and end their attempts at creating a new Devastator. Desert Island Risks! Following this, the Earthforce had its first formal gathering at their new base in Northern Canada, where Grimlock read them all the Autobot Code... then promptly chucked the book out a window. Once upon a Time...
As one of the Autobots who snuck into the Decepticon Enclave, Ironhide came up with a devious plan to stop Megatron and Shockwave from uniting their two factions. Knocking out Headstrong and using him as a patsy, Ironhide and the other Autobots faked a sniper attack on Megatron, prompting the Decepticons to shoot back at the rock cropping where they were hiding. The Autobots then dropped Headstrong off the ledge as if he'd been hit, framing him and Shockwave's army for trying to assassinate Megatron, and the Decepticons were soon at each other's throats. Once the Decepticons' in-fighting had taken them out of the cave they had held their festivities in, the Autobots took the opportunity to have a party of their own, nabbing the snacks their enemies had left behind. The Bad Guy's Ball!
Ironhide joined Earthforce and the Survivors in taking down the Mayhem Attack Squad in order to rescue the Survivors' Decepticon ally, Carnivac. Where Wolf? He later gathered with the rest of the Earthforce for Wheeljack's demonstration of the new defenses he had installed in and around their base... only to find that they couldn't get back in once the defenses were active. The House that Wheeljack Built!
When Snarl fell victim to Corrodia Gravis, Ironhide was part of a team sent to protect Starscream from Decepticon assassins, since the treacherous Decepticon was the only compatible donor who could give Snarl a life-saving systems boost. External Forces! Megatron and Shockwave interceded in the fight, and Ironhide found himself going up against the original Decepticon leader; several fusion cannon hits brought him down, and he would have been executed by Megatron if Slag had not come to his rescue. The Lesser Evil! Later, Ironhide was seen working out with Jazz in the Combat Room against a robot drone when reporter Irwin Spoon paid a visit to the base. Front Line!
As an old fogey, he's become quite creaky. 1991 Ironhide profile
Another Time & Place
Ironhide was part of a commando unit sent to Hydrus Four after the Dinobots. He and a small group of Autobots surprised Fangry and tore him limb from limb, before proceeding to eliminate the last few surviving Decepticons. With Bludgeon's defeat and Megatron's revival aborted, the war finally came to an end. Another Time & Place
Marvel Generation 2 comic
When Optimus Prime and Grimlock discovered the threat of the Cybertronian Empire, they called in Autobots scattered across the galaxy, including Ironhide. And, when Grimlock chose to disobey Prime's directives and make a tactical first strike against Jhiaxus's ships, Ironhide went with him. They were quickly found out and captured, though, leaving it to Optimus to bail them out of trouble. Devices and Desires!
Later, when Prime had the brilliant idea that Megatron would be willing to "just talk" after laying waste to much of the planet Earth, Ironhide joined the rescue party Grimlock threw together to bail him out. The Gathering Darkness He was also involved in the defense of Ethos against the Cybertronians. Ironhide took several shots to the chest while protecting that world. Escalation!
Classics
Ironhide came to Earth, along with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, to bolster Optimus Prime's forces as Megatron began reassembling his army. Ironhide was seen defending a human settlement from the Seekers as Megatron and the captive Ratchet watched on. At Fight's End
Deciding that there was no more room for rogue heroics among the Autobot ranks after he had been given command of Cybertron, Prowl traveled to Azure alongside Silverbolt and Ironhide to reel Grimlock back into the Autobot forces. The trio tracked down Slag and Sludge and arranged through them a meeting with their leader. This meeting wound up being cut short by a distress call from Earth, and Grimlock agreed to accompany the Autobots aboard the Graviton to respond to it. Grimlock's profile in Club magazine #50
When the machinations of an evil parallel universe incarnation of Ultra Magnus resulted in the destruction of the entire universe, Ironhide was fortunate enough to still be aboard the starship Graviton, which was inadvertently pulled—along with Earth—into the evil Magnus's native Primax -408.24 Epsilon universe. Set adrift in time and space, the Graviton materialized over the prehistoric Earth of this new universe, where it was promptly shot down by the Talon, a Decepticon ship captained by Megatron himself which had also been pulled through into the alternate dimension. The Autobots adopted organic alternate modes to avoid the ambient Energon radiation on the planet, and though Ironhide wasn't keen on the idea, he took the form of an elephant. Shattered Time On discovering that three stasis pods were missing from the ship, the Autobots set out to find them, but after suffering a Decepticon attack on the way, they arrived to find Megatron had already activated them as Decepticons. Prowl, Silverbolt, and Ironhide were blasted by Autojetter, and it was only the arrival of Depth Charge and Ultra Magnus's subsequent recovery that saved them. Shattered Expectations
The Autobots retreated across a rock bridge, and watched as Magnus faced off against Megatron, dealing their foe a temporary defeat. Back at the Graviton, Depth Charge gave the "Maximals" more of an explanation regarding his presence, though it gave Ironhide a bit of a headache. Shattered Paths When they located their missing energy purifier, the Maximals went out to fetch it. Despite the new ability of Ironhide, Prowl, and Silverbolt to merge into Magnaboss, they were trounced by God Neptune. Shattered Hope Returning to the ship, the Maximals fueled up before joining Depth Charge, who had located the Matrix he was seeking. The Maximals kept a security system occupied long enough for Magnus to retrieve the Matrix in question, however a short time later they were confronted by Megatron piloting a giant mech. Shattered Balance Ironhide again took part in merging into Magnaboss, but the combiner was soundly defeated by Megatron's Gigastorm Armor. The Maximals were moments later pulled into a dimensional rift created by Ultra Magnus. Shattered Destiny
The rift returned the Autobots to the present-day Cybertron of Primax -408.24 Epsilon, where Ironhide had to immediately restrain Grimlock to prevent him from savaging Blaster: their Blaster, they soon discovered, from their deceased home universe, one of the Transformers who had survived its destruction and had allied themselves with the heroic Decepticons of this new world. Getting to grip with this strange parallel reality, Ironhide was a little bummed to find out his own native counterpart was already dead. Deciding to head to their Earth to help in the fight against Ultra Magnus's evil counterpart, the team were given new vehicular alternate modes by Needlenose and Spinister. Falling into Place Once in his new form—and finding leather on his interior a little odd after his time as a pachyderm—Ironhide took the stellar spanner to Earth with his buds, and they landed smack-dab in the middle of a battle with the evil Magnus's forces. Distant Fissures He was present when Nexus Prime arrived and reclaimed the Terminus Blade, defeating Ultra Magnus. Restoration
After relocating to Ironworks, Ironhide and the Autobots escaped an apparent planetary collapse aboard one of Grimlock's shuttles. The Future Buried...
Regeneration One
Ironhide was part of the Autobot detachment that Optimus Prime took with him to confront Megatron on a devastated Earth in 2012. While the two leaders clashed, Ironhide and the others battled Megatron's zombie army of "Ex-Bots". Loose Ends #5 Some time later, he was by Ultra Magnus's side for one final push against the invading armies of Bludgeon, and joined in the cheering when the villain's Warworld exploded. Destiny, Part Five
Transformers '84
Ironhide was seen fighting one of the early battles of the war on Cybertron against the Decepticons. Later, he would join the crew of the Ark before it was sent crashing into the Earth by Optimus Prime. '84 #0
