George Tuska had a habit of drawing Iron Man's face very flat, especially in profile. One day, Stan, looking at some pages, said "Shouldn't he have a nose?" Meaning "Shouldn't it look like there is room of a nose under the mask?" Unfortunately, this was during an odd period at Marvel when Stan's word was Law -- to the extent that people hesitated to ask for clarification. So rather than somebody just asking him what he meant, they added a nose to the mask.

One of the first things Shooter did when he got some power was to say that the nose was stupid and should be gotten rid of. "Never!" came the reply. "Stan said he has to have a nose!" Already familiar with a lot of foolish "Stan said" legends floating 'round the office, Shooter took a recent cover down to Stan's corner office and asked him what he thought of it. "What's with the nose?" Stan asked. "Since when does Iron Man have a nose?"