Iron Ring

The Iron Ring is an organization from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Not to be confused with the Ironic Ring, who are just a bunch of hipsters.

When Joe Colton, thought dead, reemerged as the fearsome Baron Ironblood, he became the founder and overseer of the villainous Iron Ring to counter Optimus Prime's annexation of Earth into the Council of Worlds. Forced to go outside the law and betray his ideals in the name of Earth's sovereignty, Colton assembled a motley group of ne'er do wells from a variety of sources: ex-Cobra operatives, supervillains, mercenaries, ninja, mad scientists, and even a handful of aliens.

Drawing on Garrison Kreiger's I.R.O.N. assets and based out of Count "Iron Klaw" van Rani's Iron Castle, they stand poised to take down Cybertron itself — and may very well succeed.

They're very on-point with their theming game.

My dear! Conquest may be our objective... but the costumes set us above the rabble.Miles Mayhem explains panache to Lady Shazraella, "Hitting the Big Time"

Notes

• Pre-release solicitations and interviews for First Strike claimed that Baron Ironblood would be leading a resurgent version of Cobra, but that wasn't borne out in the comic itself — though Cobra forces like the Dreadnoks and Destro's Iron Grenadiers are members of the coalition, G.I. Joe: First Strike makes it clear that the bulk of Cobra is on Earth under the control of the new Cobra Commander.