"if we save one life, we save an entire universe."
made by @ironladders / @dailyironlad
this guide aims to help readers interested in nate richards--iron lad, kid immortus, etc. in other words, the nathaniel richards variant that strives to be far more heroic than his viler time-conquering counterparts.
a (mostly) spoiler-free history of nate richards
one day in 3016, Nathaniel "nate" richards jr. was being relentlessly attacked by some of his bullies. when nate fought back, one of the bullies attempted to slit his throat, only to be stopped in the nick of time by the villain kang the conqueror. it was then that kang revealed to the sixteen-year-old that he was nate's future self, and gave nate his neurokinetic armor and a glimpse into what was meant to be his future. kang intended to recruit the boy, giving himself an earlier start on the glory of conquering.however—despite kang's hopes that nate would commit his first kill, then join kang's side—nate was horrified by the vile nature of his future self. stealing the armor, nate rejected kang and used the armor's ability of time-travel to escape to the 21st-century earth. knowing kang would be coming after him, nate sought out the avengers in hopes they would be able to assist him. but nate found out that he landed at a point after the avengers had disbanded, and none of the living former members were easily reachable.nate took matters into his own hands and (after robbing tony stark) tracked down three other super-powered teens: billy kaplan, teddy altman, and eli bradely. with them recruited, nate founded the young avengers and took on the codename iron lad, squatting in the abandoned avengers mansion. as the founder and leader of the young avengers, nate would take the small team through several training exercises to try and prepare for the inevitable threat of kang. later, the team would add kate bishop and cassie lang to the roster, the latter of whom sparked a brief romance with nate.eventually, nate would have to leave the young avengers, eli and kate taking the positions of co-leader. but his story doesn't end there: traveling throughout different time periods and worlds, nate vowed to spend the rest of his life reversing kang's conquests, liberating all enslaved by kang, and erasing every last version of kang he can find from existence.at some point, nate ended up with the young avengers again during avengers: the children's crusade. but after the ending of that story, he would leave the young avengers again and go off on his own. nate bounced around other places for a while, before eventually ending up involved in the league of free realities, fighting against an evil variant of kristoff vernard who was trying to get the m'krann crystal. at a great cost, nate prevented kristoff from getting the crystal, saving many lives.following the debacle with the crystal, nate retired the codename "iron lad" and began going by immortus; though, in order to avoid confusion with the older immortus, he is referred to by kid/teen immortus. unlike the older version of himself, nate's role as immortus is not villainous either.currently, nate is residing at the avengers academy, joining the roster after an initial meeting with shela sexton and brielle brooks. even though he has not seen the young avengers after the events of children's crusade, they are still the people nate trusts & loves the most out of the entire multiverse.
reading guides:
!! for more of nate's first ever friends, the young avengers, check out this reading guide !!
every notable nate appearance:
(anything not highlighted is skippable)
young avengers (2005) #1–6
- contains nate's first appearance as iron lad & his origin story.
- while nate isn't in the last 6 issues, i would highly recommend reading the rest of the run for more context on the team, especially if you're reading children's crusade next.young avengers special (2006)
- trigger warning for (off-screen) sexual assault.
- takes place after issue 8 of young avengers volume 1. fleshes out the backstories of the other young avengers members, with nate making several small appearances throughout them.the mighty avengers (2007) #33
- if you haven't read stories with cassie or jonas + previous issues in this run for context, you might be lost.
- nonetheless, while this is not what i would deem essential, it does touch on nate & cassie's relationship, planting seeds for the love triangle in children's crusadeavengers: the children's crusade - young avengers (2010)
- takes place before nate appears in issue 4 of A:TCC, but whether you read this before or after reading children's crusade is up to you.
- very nate-centric; fleshes out his personality, relationships with the og4 (especially billy), and what led to his return.avengers: the children's crusade (2010) #4–9
- the next big young avengers story after their first initial run + young avengers presents. read the previous issues for context on what is happening.
- i am not sure how i feel about nate's characterization in this one (especially issue 9) but nonetheless it is important for his historyff (2013) #8-16
- after children's crusade they made nate have a brief villain arc as kid immortus, working with doom. this does not make sense considering what happened in children's crusade
- nate went back to being iron lad after this anyways and i don't think anyone at marvel remembers this happened so just skip this oneavengers (2012) #34
- will be confusing if you didn't read the previous issues in the run beforehand.
- i'm tempted to mark this as skippable since his involvement here hasn't been followed up on yet, but i like how he's written here, there are some nice moments with steve rogers nate has in this issue, and this issue establishes nate as "the last avenger." up to you i guess.infinity wars (2018) #1
- also easily skippable, he just kinda stands in the background after saying a few things.
- his best quote (so far) is from herethe last annihilation: wiccan & hulkling (2021)
- nate appears on the very last page as a cameo
- if you like billy and teddy's relationship you will enjoy this. maybe read empyre first thoughmarvel's voices infinity comic (2022) #5, #10
- aka "young avengers: paradox lost." the most recent important young avengers story, with nate's involvement being extremely important as his actions are the catalyst for everything that happens in it.
- the in-between issues all are centered around individual young avengers members, whether you choose to read them is up to you but i would recommend it if you enjoy the team as a whole.
- important note: this story is digital-exclusive and not available in print, if you want to read it legally you will need to access the marvel unlimited app.
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exiles!nate:
exiles (2018) #1-12- the favorite amongst nate fans. in exiles, this nate never formed the young avengers, choosing to stay in his time period and get revenge on his bullies instead. however, things change when he is recruited by the mutant blink, and nate goes on a journey with the rest of the team that transforms him into the hero he's destined to be.
- warning: he suffers here
dormouse!nate:
avengers fairy tales (2008) #3- "what if cassie had a dream where she was alice in wonderland, with nate as a dormouse?"
- shockingly, he doesn't suffer here
runaways!nate:
what if? house of m (2008) pg. 28-38
what if? fallen son (2008) pg. 25-29
what if? newer fantastic four (2008) pg. 35-40
what if? spider-man: back in black (2008) pg. 27-32- basically nate, but if he recruited the runaways team to be the young avengers instead of billy, teddy, and eli.
- warning: he suffers here again
kang's origin:
kang the conqueror (2021) #1-5- while this is less about nate as iron lad and more about how Nathaniel richards became kang the conqueror, this still features nate pre-kang and it's my belief that every nate fan should at least know kang's background.
- warning: nate ALSO suffers here