Romita's early popularity began with his run on "Iron Man" with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton which began in 1978. The creative team introduced several supporting characters, including Tony Stark's bodyguard girlfriend Bethany Cabe and rival industrialist Justin Hammer. In the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on the series "The Amazing Spider-Man" and also was the artist for the launch of the "Dazzler" series. He and writer Dennis O'Neil introduced Madame Web in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #210 (Nov. 1980) and Hydro-Man in issue #212 (Jan. 1981). In 1982, Romita Jr. drew "Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions" the first limited series published by Marvel Comics. Working with writer Roger Stern on "The Amazing Spider-Man", he co-created the character Hobgoblin. From 1983 to 1986 he had a run on the "Uncanny X-Men" with Dan Green and author Chris Claremont and co-created Forge. Romita has downplayed the significance of his run, saying that few of the characters introduced during this time were co-created by him and that his style has had no discernible influence on succeeding X-Men artists. His relationship with Claremont was rather cool at the time, as Claremont did not like his work as much as the artists he had previously worked with. He would return for a second run on "Uncanny X-Men "in 1993, which he said he liked better "because of getting to work with Scott Lobdell.