 Byrne launched a second "Armor Wars" story arc, restored the Mandarin as a major Iron Man nemesis, and featured the 1950s "pre-superhero Marvel" monster Fin Fang Foom.During the course of his run, Byrne became the first writer to retcon Iron Man's origin, removing explicit ties to the Vietnam War (while maintaining a Southeast Asia setting), and linking Wong-Chu, the man who captured Tony Stark, to the Mandarin.<ref></ref><ref></ref>

In the early 1990s, Byrne began creating a series of original, creator-owned works for publisher Dark Horse Comics.This was during a general trend in the industry for established creators working for Marvel and DC to bring their original works to other publishers or create their own companies to publish the works themselves (one prominent example is Image Comics).