[3] The lyrics, composed by bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler, tell the story of a self-fulfilling prophecy in which a man travels into the future and witnesses the apocalypse.

In the process of returning to the present day to warn the human race, he is turned into steel by a magnetic field and is subsequently ridiculed and ignored by the people he intended to save.

[3] Raised in a devout Catholic family, Butler also intended the song's subject as an allegory for Jesus Christ, but rather than forgiving his doubters and tormentors, Iron Man instead seeks vengeance.

[4] Butler recalled, "I liked the Hammer horror films in the 1960s and magazines such as Man, Myth and Magic, but I had a few supernatural experiences as a child and dreams that came true and that, more than anything, shaped my interest in the occult", additionally citing H.G.

[9][10] "Iron Man" was ranked the sixth best Black Sabbath song by Rock – Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.