Origin

Iron Man's Original Armor

Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark was born in Long Island, New York, to Howard Anthony Stark and Maria Collins Carbonell Stark. In his youth, Tony Stark was a precociously intelligent young boy. When Tony was 7 he was sent to a boarding school, and during this experience he found people difficult to relate to. This was when he became fascinated by machines. By the age of 15 Tony had enrolled in MIT (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated at the top of his class at age 19 with double masters in physics and engineering.

At the age of 21, his parents were tragically killed in a car accident. Afterwards, Tony inherited Stark Industries, an unparalleled mega-conglomerate that mostly manufactured weapons for the United States military. One of his first projects as the new CEO was to purchase the manufacturer who designed his parents' car and have the faulty brake system, which was seemingly the cause of their deaths, redesigned in order to prevent any further incidents, thus saving lives. Unknown to Stark, the true architect of his parents' deaths was a business move by Republic Oil (later renamed Roxxon Oil). Lacking in business skills, Tony promoted secretary Pepper Potts to be his executive assistant and left the majority of his workload on her so that he could avoid what he saw as a burden.

During the war in Afghanistan, Stark was at one of his munitions plants testing new technology for the military when he was injured by his own land mine that lodged shrapnel near his heart. Tony was then captured by a local warlord named Wong-Chu (a lackey of the Mandarin) and forced under threat of death to create a doomsday weapon for him with another captive, the famed Nobel award-winning physicist, Yin Sen. The shrapnel was going to enter his heart and kill him, but he and the physicist created an arc reactor which kept the shrapnel away from his heart. In response, Tony built a suit of armor to help himself escape captivity. In the suit, Stark took on the warlord and his men and avenged Yin Sen's death, thus Iron Man was born.

Creation

Tony Stark made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. He was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby. Tony's character was loosely based on the life of the rich and successful playboy Howard Hughes. It may be argued that Iron Man symbolized the meritocracy of capitalism. In the 1960's when Iron Man was created, the threat of Communism from the USSR was huge. Not only did Iron Man fight communists and people from the Eastern Block, but he sent the message that great things could be achieved through thrift, risk and hard work, as opposed to Spider-Man's origin story a year previous whereby Peter Parker gained powers from being bitten by a spider.

Character Evolution

When Marvel re-emerged on the comic book scene in the Silver Age (some say Marvel's re-emergence signaled the beginning of the Silver Age of Comics) a big factor in their popularity was making easily relatable characters. In many cases, this took the form of a teenage hero for whom others felt some empathy (as at the time readership was primarily for those of a younger age.) Such heroes included the X-Men and Spider-Man. When it came to portraying more mature characters, there was still an emphasis on portraying the character's humanity as much as their heroics. In the case of Tony Stark, this took on essentially two different aspects. He had to battle alcoholism and re-organize his company so as not to be a war profiteer any longer. Over the course of his publication history, he has had to deal with both aspects of his life.

Major Story Arcs

James Rhodes

After fleeing from enemy territory Tony met and befriended the pilot James Rhodes who had been shot down in his helicopter. By working together, they were able to make their escape and upon arriving back in the United States, Tony decided to continue being Iron Man in order to fight injustice. He believed that he had a limited amount of time left to live due to his injury, and therefore wanted to make the most of it. Therefore, he began making vast improvements to the technology of his power armor.

Secret Identity

Original armor painted gold.

When Tony finally admitted his double identity to his fiancee Joanna Nivena, she encouraged him to use the armor to become a super hero and save lives. Iron Man began to establish himself as one of the U.S.'s most eminent super heroes, but while halting a breakout of lions and tigers from a circus, Tony saw how his armor frightened the people he was defending. Asking his date Marion what she would do if she were Iron Man, Tony painted his armor in stainless gold. Tony Stark allowed the public at large to believe that he was no more than a rich playboy while his identity as Iron Man would remain a secret. Since Iron Man was often seen at Stark Industries, Tony circulated the idea that Iron Man was his personal bodyguard. Stark, of course, still had his heart condition which meant that any day could potentially be his last. Luckily for him, his heart condition became publicly known and he was eventually healed by way of an artificial heart transplant.

When testing his "Stark Special" race car, Tony wound up in a wreck, but was saved at the last minute by ex-boxer Harry "Happy" Hogan . To repay Happy, Tony hired him as a chauffeur, although Happy became more like a bodyguard, resenting Iron Man. At the same time, former Stark Industries scientist Gregor Shapanka menaced Tony as Jack Frost (later renamed Blizzard), a villain who could generate ice. Happy would often try to play for Pepper's affection, but she was more interested in Tony. However, as Tony's heart could fail at any time, he didn't want to commit himself to a serious relationship since he could die unexpectedly. Happy remained extremely faithful to Tony, telling Iron Man straight out that if he had harmed Tony he would regret it during a period in which Iron Man was thought to have killed Tony. Happy even almost died when delivering a device to Iron Man that would stop Titanium Man.

Formation of the Avengers

Iron Man along with the Avengers.

When Loki framed the Hulk for wrecking a train in the hope that Thor would battle him, the Hulk's friend Rick Jones sent a message to the Fantastic Four asking for their help. Loki then diverted the message to Thor. What he didn't realize was that Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp had also intercepted it. After Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp and Iron Man all defeated Loki together, Ant-Man suggested that the five of them stay together as a team, and the Wasp dubbed them the Avengers. Shortly afterwards, after a fight with the Space Phantom, the Hulk decided to quit since he thought no one trusted him. Whilst in pursuit of the Hulk and Namor (whom he had teamed up with), the Avengers came upon the body of Captain America, a legendary World War II fighter. The Avengers accepted him into their ranks, and he became close friends with Iron Man. Iron Man even gave Captain America transistors to control the flight of his shield, although Captain America later discarded them since they upset the balance of the shield. After a fight with the original Masters of Evil which ended with Baron Heinrich Zemo being killed, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp and Thor all decided to take their leave since they needed a break. Captain America stayed on and became the new leader of the Avengers, which now consisted of himself, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.

Early Encounters

When Tony was targeted by the mysterious villain Mr. Doll, who was forcing millionaires to give their funds to him, he was completely powerless against Mr. Doll's power to cause pain using a mystic doll (similar to voodoo). In order to defeat Mr. Doll, Tony completely redesigned his armor into light fitting armor rather than his previously heavy and bulky Armor. With this new armor, he was able to defeat Mr. Doll in a rematch.

Iron Man initially fought primarily against enemies that were a threat to him or his company, such as The Mandarin, The Melter, The Ghost, and Spymaster. He also fought against communist enemies (the 1960's, when Iron Man first debuted, was a time of unparalleled anti-communism) such as The Crimson Dynamo, (the first of who would defect to the U.S.A. and later gave up his life to stop the second Crimson Dynamo) Black Widow (who would later defect to the US), The Titanium Man, and others. Iron Man was also one of the founding members of the Avengers and, with Tony’s fortune, he was able to fund the team through the Maria Stark Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization named after his late mother. He also donated the use of his boyhood manor which became Avengers Mansion, staffed by Edwin Jarvis.

Alcoholism

Tony and his Addiction.

Over time, Tony evolved into a more complex and vulnerable individual as his dual life as a superhero caused him numerous personal problems. He became the victim of corporate takeovers, and would lose and rebuild his fortune multiple times. Tony would also eventually be led to an alcohol addiction when he discovered that SHIELD, who he had previously supported, was seeking to buy controlling stocks in his company, thus ensuring his continued weapons development for them.

Later, Tony would become bankrupt and homeless when he lost his company to his rival, Obadiah Stane, who had been manipulating him for some time. During this event, his friend James "Rhodey" Rhodes even took on the mantle of Iron Man. Stark would begin rebuilding his fortune when he created a company named Circuits Maximus, which specialized in computer technology. While this was happening, Rhodes was slowly going mad while using the Iron Man armor since its unique interface was designed for Stark's nervous system, and not his own. He eventually succumbs and goes on a rampage. This caused Tony to use a prototype armor that was not yet finished in order to stop Rhodey from causing any more destruction.

Tony Seeks Help.

Following this incident, Rhodes repeatedly tried to convince Tony to resume the Iron Man mantle but he kept refusing. Now somewhat fearful of his past alcoholism and how Stane had taken advantage of it, Tony felt that he had grown dependent upon the armour, whilst he had "rotted" on the inside. As a result, Tony didn't feel worthy of the high-tech armour which Rhodes used and relied on a suit of armour which visually looked almost exactly the same as his original, grey armour (but which was much more sophisticated). As Tony continued fighting crime in this suit, Stane realized that Tony wasn't as beaten as he had assumed, and repeatedly tried various tactics to destroy Tony and make him sink into alcoholism once more. This all culminated in Stane kidnapping many of Tony's allies and friends, and bombing Circuits Maximus. As a result of this bombing, Rhodes was injured too badly to use his suit of armour, and Tony's friend Morley Erwin was killed. Obadiah Stane incorrectly assumed that as a result of all his machinations, Tony would feel that he had failed and take up drinking again to cope.

The Silver Armor & Stane's Final Fate

Tony's Silver Armor

Instead, Tony finished developing a brand new suit of armor (nicknamed the Silver Centurion) which he had been working on for months, and confronted Stane face to face. Stane used his own suit of armour, which he called the Iron Monger, to battle him in response. Although Stane had an abundance of ways in which he planned to defeat Stark, Tony overcame each obstacle and managed to send Stane running. As a result, Stane killed himself by removing his helmet and blowing off his head with a repulsor ray in his gauntlet, as he had finally found a foe whom he couldn't defeat.

The Armor Wars

Tony's Armor Wars

With so many people gaining access to his armor designs, Tony had to figure out a way to stop all the misuse of his armor technology. Tony would develop a way to disable the armors of everyone else who used technology based on his designs and thus began the Armor Wars. Tony would even disable SHIELD armored technology known as the Mandroids that he had designed for their use, which causes the US Government to go after Iron Man as public enemy #1 and a threat to national security. Tony eluded capture by fooling them into believing that Iron Man had gone rogue. However Tony's good friend, both in and outside the armour, Captain America wasn't fooled and tried to persuade Tony from taking on the US Government. Tony pretended to comply but, in the end, continued his crusade, even going so far as to electrocute Captain America once he tried stopping him physically. Although Cap wasn't hurt badly in any way, this created some friction between the two which lasted for quite awhile. Tony then attacked Stingray, an armored government employee and ally of the Avengers. He realized his mistake after finding that Stingray's suit was not derived from his stolen tech, and ended up "firing" Iron Man in order to get the press and public off his back.

Tony's new armor after the Armor Wars.

During the battle with Firepower, the final armored opponent using his tech, Tony faked the death of the rogue Iron Man. After his loss against Firepower, Stark was recuperating and began work on some upgrades. Eventually, Tony defeated Firepower when he returned to action in a new Iron Man armor, now claiming to be an entirely different person under the armor. This tactic aroused suspicion and caused major distrust, especially when he tried to "re-join" the Avengers.

War Machine

Tony's War Machine

While Stark is continuing to use the Iron Man armor he discovers that its interface design was causing severe damage to his nervous system. He began remotely controlling the Iron Man armors, but after a failed mission against the Masters of Silence, he realizes that controlling the Iron Man armor is not as effective as being inside it. This leads to Tony designing the War Machine Armor, previously dubbed as the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit.” His nervous system would continue to deteriorate however, even to the point where it was life-threatening. Tony had to fake his own death and be put into suspended animation in order to survive. Even close friends like James Rhodes were unaware of his faked death, and when he would later reveal the deception it would cause a serious rift in their relationship. Also during this time, James Rhodes would watch over the company and continue Iron Man’s career by using the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit.”

Of course Tony would eventually awaken and survive with a chip he programmed and implanted in himself. An enraged Rhodes takes the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit” and begins his own career as the hero known as War Machine. Tony continues his super hero career and eventually gets into a feud with the Avengers after the Kree/Shi'ar War, resulting in him quitting the team. Tony would create a new group called Force Works, but eventually left that team as well because of another falling out. After some time, Iron Man would decide to reconcile with the Avengers and he rejoins them.

The Crossing

The Death of Tony Stark

Tony Stark was later revealed as an unwitting traitor to the Avengers while under the control of Kang the Conqueror, who had been using Stark as an unwilling undercover agent for several years. Kang used Iron Man to kill many innocent lives and other heroes, such as Rita DeMara, and his other Avenger teammates. The Avengers traveled back in time to recruit a teenage Tony Stark to fight the present-day Tony, and Kang. The teen Tony was able to steal an Iron Man armor from his older self and used it in battle against him. During the battle, the present-day Tony Stark would regain his memories and realize what he had been forced to do. As a result, he ended up sacrificing himself in order to kill Kang. The teenage Tony Stark would stay in the present time line following Iron Man's death, and continued his life as the new Iron Man. As for Stark’s company, it was sold to a Japanese rival named Fujikawa Industries.

Onslaught & Heroes Reborn

Iron Man Reborn

Unfortunately for the teenage Tony, Onslaught arrived soon after and it prevented him from gaining greater control over his life. In the final battle, many of the heroes of the Marvel Universe, including the teenage Tony, sacrificed themselves in order to defeat Onslaught. Luckily for them, Franklin Richards had created a pocket universe with all the heroes in it. There, Iron Man's origin was rebooted in a more modern setting where he faced foes such as the Hulk, the Mandarin and Madame Hydra.

Heroes Return & A New Life

Tony's new armor during "Heroes Return".

Franklin eventually restored all the heroes back to normal, including Tony Stark, whom was restored to as he was before he was manipulated by Immortus. Also, Tony was brought back to his normal adult age but still retained the teenage Tony’s memories. Tony also gained the help of Daredevil and his law firm associate, Foggy Nelson. They helped him regain ownership of his company and assets. Next, Tony reconciled with the Avengers and rejoined the team.

While trying to save an android by downloading its program into his power suit, the Iron Man armor was influenced by Ultron who had embedded himself in the androids systems without the android knowing. Ultron used the armor to cause Tony to go into a cardiac arrest after a shock from villain Whiplash. That shock awoke the suit and gave it a mind of its own. It knew that Tony was in cardiac arrest and saved him. Tony welcomed the live armor until it committed murder, and until it began wanting to merge itself with Tony, making him a human machine. Tony decided to battle the armor that had gained a mind of its own. During the battle however, Tony suffered another heart attack. The armor, which still cared about its creator, decided to save him and gave Tony its own cybernetic heart, replacing his own. This worked effectively but meant that Tony had to constantly recharge the battery power in order to keep his new heart functioning. After this incident, Tony decided to return to his original armor.

Tony would fall in love with a woman named Rumiko Fujikawa, the daughter of the man who had previously taken over his company. She only began dating him to rebel against her father however, and did not truly share his feelings for her. Due to the lack of any real intimacy between the two, their relationship soon became tumultuous, with Rumiko even cheating on Tony with one of his business rivals because she thought he had become boring. Strangely, Rumiko was murdered by an Iron Man impostor.

Public Identity Revealed and Secretary of Defense

Stark would later reveal his identity to the world when saving a puppy from a speeding car since he was unable to completely mask himself in time. Afterwards, Tony discovered that the Government was once again using his technology, and was able to do so legally due to a copyright loophole that Tony exposed himself to by revealing his secret identity. Tony decided to accept a Presidential appointment to serve as the President's new Secretary of Defense so that he could monitor and direct the use of his technology by the Government.

Avengers Disassembled & Extremis

Tony helps Cap form the New Avengers.

During Avengers Disassembled, in which the Scarlet Witch goes insane and kills several of her teammates on the Avengers, Wanda made Tony Stark confront the Ambassador of Latveria while drunk at the United Nations. After this incident, Tony was forced to resign his duties as Secretary of Defense. Later, Stark claimed to be stepping down as Iron Man as well while someone else was stepping into the role, thus allowing him to continue operating as Iron Man in secret. Also during this event, Avengers Mansion was destroyed which had been Tony's boyhood manor up until he donated it to the Avengers to be the teams base of operations. After the reformation of the Avengers into the New Avengers, Tony built a new operational headquarters for the group which is now located in Stark Tower.

Extremis utilized.

After being seriously injured during a battle with an extremis-enhanced adversary, Stark calls upon Maya Hansen to inject his nervous system with a modified version of the extremis enhancile (a techno-organic virus) in order to save his life. Extremis allows Stark to store the inner layers of the new Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones, and to control the armor through direct brain impulses. Extremis also integrates Stark's existing lock-chip (a personal networking implement implanted in his forearm) directly into his nervous system. Once achieved, Tony's abilities as Iron Man are significantly increased. He now has the ability to communicate with his suit much faster than any normal human reaction time.

Iron Man and Cap during Civil War

It was revealed that Stark, in the days following the Kree- Skrull war had formed a secret society or group called the Illuminati, which is a governing body of super heroes. The other members of this still functioning group consist of Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Namor. Their first meeting was in Wakanda where the group also offered membership to the Black Panther, whom politely rejected it. However, although the rest of the members had different views and did not believe that an alliance like this would be of much use, they still agree to work together and at least share information. In one case, shortly before the events of Civil War, the Illuminati decided to launch the Hulk into outer space feeling. He soon found out that the government was making decisions on the Super Human Registration Act. At first, Stark is very much against the idea, even going so far as to hire the Titanium Man to attack him in order to manipulate public opinion in his favor. Tony also tries to talk the government out of Registration but his appeal is ignored after the tragedy at Stamford, Connecticut, in which members of the New Warriors confronted a villain named Nitro in a residential neighborhood, setting off an explosion that killed many innocent lives. When the heroes unite in the face of this tragedy in Stamford , they move around some of the rubble to find if there are any survivors. Meanwhile, Tony tells Wolverine who has caught Nitro’s scent to go after him. The trail leaves cold next to the water, but Iron Man lets Wolverine borrow one of his suits to traverse underwater.

After the Stamford incident and another in which Tony's armors are hacked and used to attack innocent people, Stark reconsiders his position and the morality of super human registration. He reversed his decision and publicly spearheading the support for the Super-human Registration Act. Support among the super hero community is mixed however, and the conflict leads to the Civil War in the Marvel Universe.

Stark was able to convince many heroes including Spider-Man to join the pro-registration side and ban the law. Tony also convinced Spider-Man to show the whole world his identity. They begin to hunt down heroes who on the anti-registration side who have gone rogue, led by Captain America. Tony also worked with Mr. Fantastic to build a prison in the The Negative Zone to hold rogue superhumans, but many heroes begin to question the methods of Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic when a Thor clone they created kills Bill Foster, the second Goliath, a friend on the anti-registration side, the combined trauma of witnessing Foster's death, the firsthand view of the Prison 42 and a heated fight with Captain America causes Spider-Man to see the error of his ways. He publicly admits his mistake and joins Captain America's anti-reg forces much to Iron Man's anger. Further questions about their motives arise when it is discovered that they are using former villains to hunt down anti-registration forces. When the anti-registration heroes decide to attack the Negative Zone, it triggers the final battle of the Civil War. While Iron Man is facing off against Captain America his armor is shut down by the Vision. Captain America begins savagely beating Iron Man until he realizes the damage that the war has caused. Captain America then decides to surrender in order to prevent any more bloodshed but still refuses to register. Afterwards, Maria concedes her position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

While Captain America was being brought into SHIELD custody he was shot by Crossbones, later revealed to be working for the Red Skull. Many of the anti-registration heroes even go so far as to presume Iron Man to be involved with regards to Steve’s death. While Iron Man was grieving over Steve’s dead body in a SHIELD facility, Wolverine breaks in and tells Stark that if I ever found him to be involved in any way to Steve’s death, he will personally kill him.

Later, Iron Man decides that there must always be a Captain America and that the dream must live on. He asks the newly resurrected Hawkeye if he would like to take over the mantle. Hawkeye refuses and eventually Bucky is given the role.

Hulk vs. Iron Man in the HulkBuster Armor.

As stated, before the start of the Civil War, Iron Man and several other members of the secret group of heroes known as the Illuminati deemed the Hulk a threat to Earth due to the destruction which accompanied his many rampages. The Illuminati lured the Hulk into a space-faring vessel and launched him into outer space in order to send him to a world where his power would not be a threat to the sanctity of innocent lives. The World War Hulk story occurs upon his return as the Hulk seeks revenge on Iron Man and the other Illuminati members.

Tony Stark is the first hero to confront the Hulk upon his return, hoping to prevent any further loss of life on Earth. Donning a modified "Hulkbuster" armor, Iron Man engages the Hulk in combat in Manhattan (whose population was previously evacuated to safety by S.H.I.E.L.D. upon Stark's orders). Iron Man makes an attempt to use specially designed nanobots to deactivate the Hulk's powers, but this proves unsuccessful due to the nanobots being sabotaged beforehand by a member of the Initiative. His new Hulkbuster armor and Stark Tower are destroyed in the battle that ensues. While being held captive in Madison Square Garden arena, Tony Stark manages to contact Dum Dum Dugan via his extremis enhanced powers and informs Dugan of a last resort plan to prevent the Hulk from attacking the rest of the world. The plan is to send the entirety of Manhattan into the Negative Zone. The plan would have the affect of killing himself, the Hulk, the Warbound, and all heroes and agents on the island. He trusts Dugan to know if and when he should execute the plan. Stark is later seen fighting with his fellow Illuminati members in the arena, defeating a gigantic tentacle monster. After the battle, the Hulk forces Tony and Mr. Fantastic to face off in combat via the obedience disks implanted into each of them. Mr. Fantastic defeats Tony, and the Hulk orders him to kill Stark. It was in that instant that the Sentry came in the arena and begin to battle the Hulk and after Hulk goes on a berserker rampage over the wounding of his friend, Rick Jones, by his fellow Warbound, Miek, Stark orders his satellite to fire a gamma inducing energy onto the Hulk, thus knocking him unconscious.

Murder Inc.

Mayhem in the Philippines

For More Information: The Invincible Iron Man

Swiftly dealing with the entirety of the members of AGM, Iron Man faced their leader, MODOK, and had little trouble into dispatching him to space, and shutting down their operation. Concerned that all the members of AGM lacked passion, and zealotry, he was certain that they were not the ones behind the massacre. The prediction proved accurate once again, when, during an honorary ceremony in , another set of repulsor technology infused suicide terrorists, this time disguised as monks, caused mass destruction, and killed all the members of the country’s heroic squad.

Once there to investigate, Iron Man, War Machine and Pepper confirmed Tony’s suspicions, with more clues that the technology was repulsor based, but also improving and growing at a significant rate. The man behind it all was none other than Ezekiel “Zeke” Stane, the teenage son of Tony’s old adversary, Obadiah Stane (a.k.a. the Iron Monger). Who, with the use of cheap Stark based technology equipment he acquired from black market exchanges, was methodically trying to destroy Tony’s operations from the root, and most importantly, end his Tony’s life.

Putting the investigation for the culprit of the two suicide bombings aside for a while, Tony and Pepper attended a charity gala at Tony’s penthouse in. After a small argument, Pepper stepped outside the building, with Tony coming after her. He was then stopped by Zeke Stane himself, who had managed to sneak in the building. Distracting Tony for a while, he achieved his true goal: another set of suicide bombers entered the building, and everyone inside was caught up in a huge explosion.

Pepper Potts At The End Of The World

For More Information: The Invincible Iron Man

Man on Fire

Managing to activate the Extremis under sheath, and call his armor from the other room in virtually no time, Tony not only managed to escape, but also see the figure of Zeke Stane, sarcastically smirking at him, at the exact point of the detonation. Searching for Pepper, he located her through her Stark ID badge, buried under the debris. As he watched the ambulance carrying Pepper away from the scene, Tony was stunned to see another survivor: Zeke Stane himself. Tony was certain that Stane was the man behind the attacks, but had no substantial proof of it. Stane on the other hand, escaped the medical facility he was kept in after causing significant mayhem. It was revealed that Stane had undergone a procedure enabling him to store far greater amounts of energy to his body, and channeling the energy as a weapon through his hands, but the intense amounts of heat, caused his skin to burn out. As a solution, Zeke decided it was time to create a uniform in order to absorb and redirect the energy from his body.

In the meantime, Tony was informed that Pepper’s condition was critical – a shrapnel penetrated her chest cavity, and was closing into her heart. Adding the other injuries she sustained during the explosion, made an operation about the removal of the shrapnel, impossible. Determined to save Pepper, Tony awaited for her to regain consciousness in order to explain the situation, and offer her a solution: adding a derivation of the repulsor that kept him alive after his own accident years go, to her chest, to prevent the shrapnel from reaching her heart, while she was recuperating. Later on, Tony went to , where another explosion took place. At that time, and while giving Maria Hill insight about his past with Zeke’s father, Obadiah, Tony started to suspect that Zeke had been using parts from his own original technology to achieve what he had done. Scanning the site for Starktech, he found one more damaged repulsor, what came to be Zeke’s trademark, until that point. Tony’s search came to an abrupt end after he was attacked by remote controlled androids, commanded by Chinese agents, while accused of unauthorized access. Defeating them without much trouble, Tony headed back to Pepper’s side, where the doctor informed him that all went well. Little did Tony know that Zeke Stane had managed to complete his suit by that point, and was setting up the final pieces in order to retract his revenge against him.

Irrational Actors

For More Information: The Invincible Iron Man

A Painful Price

Knowing that with the evacuations half completed, more lives would be at stake had Stane decided to order the other hits swiftly after the one in , Tony remotely controlled an empty armor to fight off Stane, while he was closing in to the facility himself. It was then that, in a stroke of genius, he proved what he meant in his earlier conversation with Reed Richards: He needed to be in four places at once. He needed to be an army. And by using the spare units in his armory, he did just that. Using the armors to contain damage, help in the evacuations, locate and prevent the suicide bombers from going off, and stopping Stane from giving the OK for the bombings to proceed, he handled every task at hand successfully. In the meanwhile, Stane, realizing he had been played, and gave the OK for the hits to start, while fighting off multiple older armors. It was at that point that Tony finally arrived at the scene, landing on top of Stane himself, and bracing for the final fight. Quickly immobilizing him, Tony asked him to cal off the hits, but Zeke refused. Holding yet another ace up his sleeve, Tony had planted devices in each location, to unleash electromagnetic pulses, and thus shutting down every piece of Stark equipment, from regular computers and advanced suits of armor, to even the suicide bombers. The fight continued without armors, neither for Tony, nor for Stane, with Iron Man finally putting Zeke down, mano-a-mano. With the entire crisis avoided, Iron Man could not help but think that Stane actually provided him with a fifth nightmare: what kind of a man he had to become, in order to stop his four nightmares from coming true, and the price with which those actions came to pass.

The Mighty Avengers

Iron Man as the Director of SHIELD is also given access to form a government sponsored Avengers team. He meets up with Ms. Marvel and tells her that she is to be the team leader. Together they become the poster boy and girl for the registration side and handpick the Avengers using the compiled database. Iron Man visits Thor in Asgard to both ask him to register and became an Avenger again. Thor defeats Tony and causes his armor to malfunction. He states that he no longer complies to man’s laws and that if Iron Man ever came to Asgard again he would get an even worse welcome next time. Tony then asks him how is get back home where Thor tells him to walk.

In assembling the Avengers, Iron Man states that they need a “Thor” and a “Wolverine” to which Carol that she knows someone who is both a Thor and a Wolverine. They go together to recruit Ares, God of War who is doing construction work. Iron Man threatens him to register with the government and join the Avengers and that if doesn’t comply he will get a beating along with his cover being blown amongst his coworkers. Ares states that Tony is bluffing and that he can’t defeat him. Tony wonders how Ares will fare against multiple opponents at Iron Man's level or above. Ares is somewhat amused by Tony’s attitude and states that if he will match his pay in the Avengers, then he will join. Iron Man and Ms. Marvel also select the Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, and the Sentry (whom Iron Man states needs guidance although Carol is initially opposed to the idea). Together, they confront some very serious threats such as Ultron and Doctor Doom. The team is later disbanded in the aftermath of Secret Invasion, and Tony becomes a wanted man.

Tony the Skrull?!

Tony Stark survives but is later confronted while in the hospital by Spider-Woman who reveals a dead Skrull that had been impersonating Elektra. Tony has Spider-Woman join his Avengers squad, and gathers the Illuminati in order to inform them of the impending invasion. Fellow Illuminati member, Black Bolt, is also revealed to be a Skrull, but is killed by Namor. Afterwards a squadron of Skrulls attack. The Illuminati are forced to kill the Skrulls during the ensuing battle. In the aftermath, the Illuminati members realize they can no longer trust even each other since they cannot tell who is real and who is a Skrull importer. They go their separate ways, hoping to defeat the Skrulls on their own terms. Tony also wonders if Captain America during Civil War was a Skrull.

When an unidentified flying object lands in the Savage Land, Stark summons the Avengers to go and investigate. However, the unregistered heroes beat them to it and Iron man arrives just as soon as Luke Cage is about to open the door to the spaceship. Stark tells Cage to back off and that he is to be arrested. Luke Cage states that Stark’s repulsor beam can’t hurt him and that the real Stark would know that, implying that Iron Man is a Skrull. The two Avengers teams are about to go into a brawl, but Jarvis revealed to be a Skrull imposter deactivates Iron Man armor which electrocutes Tony inside. Meanwhile, the door to the spaceship opens and various heroes emerge sporting their classic incarnations.

The emerged heroes accuse the ones standing outside to all be Skrulls. This quickly turns into a battle but the characters get scattered once a dinosaur rampages through. Iron Man tells Ms. Marvel to head back to the city as he suspects that this was a successful trap to get the Avengers far away from the main action. Ms. Marvel states that she can bring him back as well but he states that it will be faster if she goes alone. Carol flies off and Iron Man heads towards his lab in the Savage Land to repair his armor. He is followed into his lab by Spider-woman, who reveals her herself to be the Skrull Queen Veranke. She states that Stark is a Skrull sleeper agent and he has done his job well preparing for the invasion. In efforts to break him, she kisses him telling him that he volunteered for this and that she promised to personally end his misery once his mission was completed. Just when she is about to kill him, Black Widow and Wolverine break in and save Stark whereas the Queen decides to retreat.

Black Widow injects the defeated Stark with a dose of adrenaline and questions him about where his allegiance lies. He states that sleeper agent or not, he doesn’t believe in the Skrulls ideology and will fight against them. Meanwhile, Mr. Fantastic is able to build a new Skrull detecting device as the previous ones proved to be outdated in use against them. He arrives on the Savage Land and scans the proximity of the area which reveals that all the heroes that emerged from the spaceship to be Skrulls. They are quickly defeated and the heroes return back to the city to confront the final climactic battle of the Invasion. Iron Man gathers some of his old equipment and rushes off to Central Park where the Skrull force has united for a final confrontation. He calls for the Avengers to assemble but they are also united with the rogue Avengers, Nick Fury, Thor, Captain America and even villains such as the Thunderbolts and the Hood. During the battle, Norman Osborn is able to get the killing shot on the Skrull Queen, which literally becomes the shot heard around the world thanks to media coverage of the event. Public opinion of Osborn changes into that of a patriot and a war hero whereas Iron Man's becomes synonymous to failure.

Once, the Skrull Queen is murdered, the Skrulls begin to lose faith in the prophecy that states Earth to be their new home. They begin to retreat but many are thwarted by the Skrull Captain Marvel who doesn't believe in their ideology and War Machine whom is sent by Iron Man. While destroying Skrull ships, War Machine finds many of the replaced heroes during the Skrull infiltration such as Elektra, Hank Pym, Spider-woman, Mockingbird and Dum Dum Dugan. War Machine is able to safely transport them back to Earth. Secret Invasion does not end without its casualties however and one of the most notable Avenger, the Wasp dies while attempting to use the size changing device that the Skrull Pym gave her. Iron Man attends her funeral and gives a speech honoring her memory and stating that far too many of their best have fallen in recent years including Steve. Hank Pym, however, cuts Tony’s speech short by interrupting and stating that he is very much responsible for their deaths. He also states why it is so that Tony hasn't died; Tony has no answer but feels his lost just the same. Finding this to be an opportune moment, Osborn also attending the funeral offers membership to Hank for his new Avengers. Hank curses him out in public and leaves.

Most Wanted

In the aftermath of the Secret Invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. is disbanded and replaced with the agency known as H.A.M.M.E.R. Both Tony and Maria Hill lose their positions in favor of Osborn. On Tony's last day, Osborn questions him about the Superhuman Registration database and how he could access it. Stark tells Norman that he would be breaking the law and thus would need to get proper authorization first. Frustrated, Norman tells him to leave his office.

Later, Stark has a conversation with Maria Hill and Pepper Potts discussing what Osborn is up to. He states that he deleted the Registration Database from the computers and that if Norman tries to access it all of his systems will get a virus. However, he tells that another instance of the database exists within his brain and that he has a plan to get rid of it but needs their help. Tony tells Pepper to put down Stark Industries and sends Maria Hill on an errand to retrieve a jump drive from FuturePharm, a pharmaceutical subsidiary and then deliver its contents to Captain America. In the meantime Tony works towards slowly deactivating his brain. Osborn calls for Tony to appear in public and answer accusations that he throws at him, and then for his lack of appearance issues an arrest warrant and order for H.A.M.M.E.R. to seize all of Stark’s assets.

Before leaving for her assignment, Maria Hill has sex with Tony. When she wakes up, she finds a note from Tony telling her to blow up her armory and notices that Stark has already gone off with one of his older suits. Meanwhile, Pepper is frustrated about the state of the company and in her anger destroys a mirror only to discover a secret passageway leading to a secret armor that Tony has designed for her. With the armor, Pepper escapes capture from H.A.M.M.E.R. and Tony, Pepper and Hill, all three become fugitives on the run from H.A.M.M.E.R. and Osborn.

During his run, Tony is continually forced to downgrade his armor as he loses the skills to monitor his more advanced armors. He also stages a fight with War Machine to make sure that Rhodey is not hunted, as well as runs into Namor who plans to deliver him to Osborn. Tony manages to escape and goes into Russia where the Crimson Dynamo (former enemy turned ally) buys him some time. Frustrated by Dynamo’s denial to allow H.A.M.M.E.R. into his country, he sends Madam Masque who has a history with Tony to find and kill him. Masque finds him with Pepper, whom she holds hostage with a gun on her head and asks Tony to tell her if he has ever loved her.

Tony stated that he used to but that he no longer does. However, since he has lost most of his memories he cannot recall enough of his past. While they are talking, Pepper manages to break free and tells Tony to run. They exchange a momentary kiss and Iron Man leaves Pepper as Rescue to deal with Madam Masque. Tony then finds refugee in Afghanistan and switches into his oldest armor. Norman Osborn finally manages to confront him and as the Iron Patriot severely beats him in camera. This changes public perception as well as what most of the heroes had thought about Tony. Doctor Donald Blake arrives to cure Tony’s vegetable state.

Also during Dark Reign, Loki impersonated the Scarlet Witch and chose Iron Man to join a new Avengers team. Although he helped on the first mission, he left the team and made Hank the team leader and wished him well.

Stark: Disassembled

After the events of " World's Most Wanted" , Tony Stark is beaten to within an inch of his life, thanks to the Iron Patriot, including a skull fracture and a concussion. The most serious issue is that he's in a persistent vegetative state. His body no longer knows how to breathe on its own. He is in a hospital, in Broxton, Oklahoma, on life support. Osborn wants to pull the plug and kill Stark, but he's unable to due to Tony having a living Will, which grants life or death decisions to his personal physician, Dr. Donald Blake. Blake is at Tony's bedside along with Pepper Potts, Maria Hill, and Captain America. It is revealed that Stark 's body went into the vegetative state on its own, to prevent Osborn from getting any information from Stark, namely the identities of all Registered super-heroes, and the ever-exclusive Repulsor Technology. Stark pre-recorded a transmission into the Rescue armor, that details the steps needed on how to bring back, or "Reboot" Stark.

The first step involves taking the Repulsor battery out of Pepper, and into Tony. This is referred to as the "Heart" of the operation as the battery will fuel Tony's biology. The next step involves the data that Maria Hill recovered. The data was a hard drive that plugs into Stark's neck. Prior to upgrading to the Extremis armor, Tony backed himself on the hard drive. This serves as the "Brain" of the operation. The final step involves starting up the Repulsor generator. War Machine assists with the stripping of parts from the Rescue armor, specifically, the cables for channeling the Repulsor current. Tony is wheeled to the top of the hospital roof. The Shield of Captain America is placed near Stark , with the cables connected from the Shield to Tony's chest. Dr. Blake transforms into the Mighty Thor, and calls upon a lightning bolt on Cap's Shield. The Shield absorbs the lightning and the current flows from the Shield onto Tony. The operation is unsuccessful, and Stark is still in a coma. Afterwards, Captain America calls a consult, Dr. Stephen Strange to offer his alternative methods.

Meanwhile, inside Tony's mind, we are given the image of a barren wasteland. Tony is trying to dig up something. He is joined by a couple , Howard and Maria. Every time Stark begins to dig, they are found by machines of his own design and they are blasted. Everything goes white, and the dream begins again and again, with Stark digging a little closer. Eventually, Stark and company are able to dig up an iron chestplate. Fearing the machines, they travel to a empty house. Tony puts on the chestplate, but nothing happens. Howard and Maria are found by the Starktech machines and are captured. Stark escapes capture by hiding in an underground bunker. He is then greeted by Dr. Strange, in astral form, who pledges to help bring Tony back , as "the world needs its Iron Man".

Considering Stark's current state a victory and no longer seeing him a threat, Norman Osborn orders The Hood and his gang to call off their hunt. Madame Masque doesn't accept this and enlists the services of Thunderbolt Ghost, to sneak in and pull the plug on Stark.

Dr. Strange continues to help Tony find himself inside his own mind, asking Tony to repeat the words, "I am Iron Man" over and over again. The two then journey to the bureaucrat to help Howard and Maria. Ghost then locates where Tony's body is being held, shooting Rhodey in the chest as he makes his way to Stark. Tony and Strange then run into one of the Stark sentries, Tony then ask if Strange was scared, which replies by saying that he wasn't actually there, and ask if Tony likes feeling afraid, which Tony tells him that he hates that feeling and fires off a Uni-Beam, destroying the sentry. Tony then looks at Strange, telling him "I am Iron Man." Tony and Strange then make their way to a large complex, Strange then hears something like thunder and disappears. Tony then continues on, but runs into a group of people, who are walking in a pile of blood, that he knows, two of which were Happy Hogan and Yin Sen. Tony then makes it to the top, finding Howard and Maria inside, telling him to take a seat, that this is who they are, who he is, his legacy. Tony then tells them that he's not like them, not anymore, telling them that he chooses his own path, Tony is then consumed by a bright light.

Back in the real world, Strange and Maria try to hold off Ghost from killing Stark, but Ghost stabs Strange in the chest, and goes forward and begins to try to choke Stark to death. He is then stopped again by Maria, who he easily defeats, but Pepper Potts then claims that she is calling H.A.M.M.E.R. as they speak. Tony then wakes up, taking Ghost's "Ghost Phone" and tells him that he number to Stark Industries Seoul was 82-2-738-1059, saying "It's funny the things you remember." Tony then uses the phone and sends Ghost to that number.

Captain America then arrives, asking Dr. Lisk how Stark was, Lisk then ask Cap if anyone knew how old that back-up Tony used to reboot himself was, saying that there's data missing. That when he talked to Stark, he told him that Cap was back, but didn't specifically say he had died, he then tells Captain America that there are simply things Tony Stark doesn't know. Pepper and Maria then find Tony on the computer, looking up things from the Civil War to Captain America's assassination, and about other recent things, shocked by what he is learning.

Iron Man during Siege

Tony Stark was recovering from his reboot in Broxton, Oklahoma under the care of Dr Donald Blake when Norman Osborn's strike force assaulted the floating city of Asgard. When Captain America showed up to fight Osborn, the young avenger Speed ran to deliver Tony's armor to him.

After donning an older Iron Man suit Tony arrives at the battle and permanently shuts down the Iron Patriot armor that Osborn had stolen from him. After the arrival of the Void, Tony used his armor to crash the HAMMER Helicarrier into the Sentry/Void, reverting him to Bob Reynolds. This gives Thor the break he needed to bring down the Void for good. during the aftermath, Tony stops Moonstone from escaping and oversees the imprisonment of Norman Osborn.

Heroic Age and Fear Itself

In the aftermath of Siege, the super human registration act was repealed thanks to the efforts of Steve Rogers, who now took over the position of the overthrown Norman Osborn. Iron Man reunited with Thor and Steve Rogers and rekindled their relationship while setting their past differences aside. Iron Man and Thor were assigned to Avengers along with Bucky Barnes as Captain America while Steve Rogers headed the Secret Avengers. Iron Man was slightly troubled that he may not be able to take orders from Steve, but Steve told him that Maria Hill would oversee the Avengers.

Avengers vs. X-Men

Bleeding Edge armor

Iron Man, with Thor, the Protector and Ms. Marvel save a crashing plane from destroying the city after Nova crash lands on Earth. Tony and Captain America advise the President that the Phoenix Force is heading back towards Earth as they head to Utopia to take Hope. After Cyclops strikes the first blow at Cap, Iron Man and several other Avenger teams descend from the Helicarrier and attack the X-Men. Tony stops Emma Frost from using her telepathy by using nanites before she turns to diamond and punches him in the stomach. Magneto arrives but is unable to take control of Tony's suit as it is made of carbon nano-fiber tubing. However, Erik does drop a tower of Utopia on top of Iron Man. Tony comes through the rubble and fires 2 million high grade neodymium magnets to stop Magneto but he overpowers them. Iron Man resorts to using his satellites to drain the magnetic power from Jupiter to charge a unibeam and fires on Erik. Magneto still does not go down and destroys the satellites, using them to create his own suit of armor and resorts to a punch out with Iron Man. Tony winds up knocking out Magneto soon after.

After the battle at Utopia, Iron Man argues with Captain America about the methods he's using to pursue Hope. Tony remains at Avengers Tower, working on a way to stop the Phoenix Force. He discovers that the Phoenix Force was created in the microseconds between cosmic death and rebirth after the Big Bang. He continues working on a "Phoenix Killer" but has to crack universal expansion in order to do so. Iron Man joins Cap and the Avengers on the Blue Side of the Moon when they discover that Hope was there. They arrive same time as the X-Men but the fighting stops when Thor crashed onto the Moon from space and the Phoenix Force arrives. He later brought his Phoenix buster suit to destroy the Phoenix once and for all. But rather it split the Phoenix into fragments the are wielded by Cyclops X-tinction team. He later assisted in the final battle against Cyclops after the latter became the Dark Phoenix.

Marvel NOW!

The Marvel NOW! suit

As part of the Marvel NOW! event, Iron Man dons a new black and gold suit. Together with Captain America (Steve Rogers) he creates the roster of the new Avengers team. He is also part of Illuminati in the New Avengers series. He also joins Guardians of the Galaxy, using his space adapted new suit.

While in space, Tony is put on trial for killing the Phoenix (hence the title "Godkiller"), but manages to evade execution. He later encounters 451, who offers to tell Tony of his real origin after revealing that he knew his parents. In the unfolding tale, it initially seems that Tony had been genetically bred to pilot a suit of armor known as the Godkiller, but this was revealed to be a red herring, and that the subject was actually Tony's previously-unknown brother, Arno. Howard had gone against 451's pans and sabotaged the experiment, resulting in Arno being crippled from birth. Tony seeks out his brother and eventually works with him to rebuild Mandarin City into a utopia.

The space armor

Around this time, Iron Man helps the Guardians stop an invasion from the Badoon, and later has a brief fling with Gamora. During the Infinity crisis, he spearhead the defense of Earth against Thanos' invasion force, and helps take down the Builders. Once the attack is over, he resigns from the Guardians to spend more time on Earth. He elects Captain Marvel and Venom to act as his replacements, reasoning that it is advantageous to have members of the Avengers periodically serve alongside the Guardians in order to prevent future invasions.

As time goes on, it's revealed that Iron Man helped reassemble the Avengers out of partial guilty over an incident where he and the other members of the Illuminati mindwiped Captain America after he objected to their morally dubious plans to protect their universe from incursions. The Original Sin event restores Captain America's memory of this incident, resulting in Stark being branded a traitor and expelled from the Avengers. Captain America then vows to bring Tony and the rest of the Illuminati to justice, resulting in an escalating conflict between the two groups.

Superior Iron Man

Tony as the Superior Iron Man

During the events of AXIS, the Red Skull (now in possession of the mind and powers of Charles Xavier) uses his psychic abilities to force Tony to create a new breed of adamantium Sentinels to hunt down the Avenger and X-Men. The Sentinels are also shown programmed with the contingency plans Tony concocted to take down his fellow heroes during the Civil War. Though the Red Skull (now known as Red Onslaught) is defeated at Genosha, his final clash with Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange results in an Inversion wave that alters the personalities of all the heroes and villains present at the island.

Heading to San Francisco, Tony sets up shop and dons a new silver suit of armor as the Superior Iron Man. The Inversion causes Tony to return to his original boozy, arrogant playboy personality, with an emphasis on profit over the safety of others. He releases his new Extremis app to every citizen in the city, and then begins charging people 99 dollars a day to use it.

Just before the final Incursion, Captain America engage in a duel to the death, with both heroes perishing just before the planet explodes. Iron Man is later reborn on Battleworld, with his Inversion seemingly undone.

Iron Man's Rebirth

All-New, All-Different Iron Man

Following an eight month time skip, Tony is now having financial trouble. He builds a new suit of armor capable of changing size and shape to fit any situation, and sets out to make himself an Iron Man for the modern era.

Along the way, he forms a new team of Avengers with Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, the new Captain America, Nova, Vision, and the new Thor.

Civil War II

Tony's fate

After a new Inhuman named Ulysses begins displaying signs that he can predict the future, the heroes are divided on how to proceed. Tony is skeptical of Ulysses' abilities and wishes to take a more cautioned route, while Carol Danvers wants to use the boy's powers to end future threats before they can occur. An ideological rift forms between the various heroes, and tensions quickly escalate after War Machine is killed by Thanos during a confrontation spurred on by one of Ulysses' predictions. Tony bitterly blames Carol for Rhodey's death, and a second superhuman Civil War soon breaks out after another of Ulysses' predictions leads to Hawkeye killing Bruce Banner.

At the climax of the story, Tony battles Carol after she attempts to arrest Miles Morales, one of Tony's teammates on the Avengers, after Ulysses predicts that Miles will kill Steve Rogers (who unbeknownst to the heroes, has been turned into a HYDRA sleeper agent by the Red Skull). The fight ultimately ends with Tony critically injured, which sends his body into a special coma. The other heroes have no idea how to awaken him, as they worry that their lack of familiarity with whatever Tony did to himself could kill him if they interve.

While Tony is comatose, his legacy is carried on by a young girl named Riri Williams.

Personal Data

Characteristics

Height: 6'1" (without armor); 6'6" (with armor)

6'1" (without armor); 6'6" (with armor) Weight: 225 lbs (previously without armor); 250 lbs (with armor)

225 lbs (previously without armor); 250 lbs (with armor) Eyes: Blue

Blue Hair: Black

Status

Identity: Publicly known

Publicly known Place of Birth: Long Island, New York

Long Island, New York Citizenship: USA

USA Marital Status: Single

Single Education: PhDs in Physics and Electrical Engineering

PhDs in Physics and Electrical Engineering Occupation: Avenger, adventurer, inventor, industrialist, CEO of Stark Resilient, founder of the Maria Stark Foundation; former liason between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, Executive Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.; CEO of Stark Industries, Stark International, Stark Enterprises, Stark Solutions, and Circuits Maximus, US Secretary of Defence, computer technician, mechanical engineer

Avenger, adventurer, inventor, industrialist, CEO of Stark Resilient, founder of the Maria Stark Foundation; former liason between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, Executive Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.; CEO of Stark Industries, Stark International, Stark Enterprises, Stark Solutions, and Circuits Maximus, US Secretary of Defence, computer technician, mechanical engineer Known Relatives: Howard Anthony Walter Stark (father, deceased), Maria Collins Carbonell Stark (mother, deceased), Morgan Stark (cousin), Arno Stark (brother), Edward Stark (uncle, deceased), Isaac Stark Sr., Isaac Stark Jr. (ancestors, deceased)

Powers and Abilities

Armored Avenger

Tony Stark's intellect allows him to constantly upgrade his armor designs. Stark recently had to inject himself with the Extremis techno-organic virus to save his life. The effects are that now the inner layers of the Iron Man suit can be stored in the hollows of his bones, and he can control the suit with his mind through direct brain impulses. He can also remotely connect to just about any communication device, including satellites and computers, across the world. Stark can even regenerate organs due to the enhancement. Extremis also allows Stark to interface with his armor in a faster and more efficient manner as well, thus dramatically increasing his response time. Without his armor Tony Stark is considered to be above peak human and has displayed superhuman capabilities such as super human reflexes, His speed, strength and agility without his armor is now considered to be at peak human levels.

Iron Man's abilities are constantly changing because of his constant technological upgrades on the armors.

The armor is very durable, capable of withstanding tremendous amounts of punishment. Tony Stark's armor has a muscularly aligned matrix of crystallized iron enhanced by magnetic fields over layers of other metals like titanium, which grants him endurance capable of withstanding high caliber bullets with ease. He can withstand rockets, torpedoes and such, although he does take damage.

The armor also enables Iron Man to fly at high speeds, exceeding the speed of a jet airplane, due to the rocket propelled boots that are placed on the bottom of the armor's boots.

Iron Man's suit has many power sources, such as solar converters, electrical batteries and an on-board generator that uses beta particle absorption as a fuel source. The suit is also able to convert nearby energy sources, such as heat or kinetic energy into electricity, or even drain electrical energy directly into the batteries for recharge. Although the suit has some open holes to allow the wearer to breathe normal air, it can be sealed off, allowing the pilot of the suit to go underwater or into space by granting its own life support and limited air supply systems.

As mentioned, Tony Stark controls the suit mostly by movement as if the armor is his skin and through the Extremis upgrade(before it started to fail), essentially making the suit an extension of his own body. In addition to this however is an internal artificial intelligence operating system that provides strategies, background information on opponents, and on surroundings and the current status of the suit.

The Extremis upgrade gave him a healing factor and enhanced abilities and could expel the inner-most armor layer in his body then "will" the rest of the Extremis armor to attach to him. While wearing the suit, Tony's strength levels are boosted to significant superhuman levels between 50 and 500 Tons of lifting capacity, based on the available power stores and design specifications of the suit in question.

Stark also has equipped the suit with numerous weapons over the years, making the suit more powerful each time. The most often used weapons are the repulsor rays (magnetically channeled beams of super-heated plasma) that are fired from Iron Man's palms or gauntlets. Other weapons that are built into the armor include the uni-beam projector in its chest (controlling the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum from blinding searchlights to cutting lasers), pulse bolts that pick up kinetic energy along the way, so that they hit harder the further they have to travel, an electromagnetic pulse generator and energy shield, the generation of ultra-freons, the creating and manipulating of magnetic fields, sonic blasts, and a holographic generator to create decoys.

Tony Stark has also created many specialized models of the armor. Other models that are in his possession include a model for deep-sea diving, for stealth, space travel, etc. He has also enhanced the armor on a few occasions for unique circumstances. For example, Tony Stark has modified suits like the "Hulkbuster" heavy armor, composed of add-ons to his so-called modular armor, designed to enhance its strength and durability to allow it to take on the Incredible Hulk in combat. One time, when Stark had to face Thor, he made an armor modeled on the Destroyer and used a mystical power source.

While the Iron Man suit is very durable, high amounts of lighting or electricity can make the suit overload, as well as magnets, as this would happen to a regular machine.

Tony stark is effectively a genius, able to constantly create new and improved technologies and make upgrade after upgrade to his suit of cybernetic armor. Iron Man is able to harness his intelligence and ingenuity in order to allow him to defeat more powerful foes and escape their dangerous traps and machinations. Stark is also a powerful leader, able to command the loyalty and respect of others. Stark has been expertly trained by Captain America in hand-to-hand combat, making him a formidable opponent even without the power suit.

For more information on Iron Man's various armors see: Iron Man Armor.

Iron Man/War Machine

One of the most requested and sought after battles in the Marvel Universe has always been War Machine vs Iron man. We've seen them battle only a few times but it's not always been

Iron Man Vs. War Machine

James Rhodes in the War Machine armor, in Iron Man vol. 2 it's been Parnell Jacobs.

Inventions

Tony Stark's ever-evolving Iron Man armor is just one of his amazing inventions which include:

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

As one of the brilliant minds behind the international peacekeeping force, Tony designed weapons systems and technology for the agency for years, before he changed his company's focus to less lethal innovations. Working with Director Nick Fury, Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, and X-Men member Forge, Tony created one of the agency's most lauded innovations. With room for up to 1,000 crewmen, and utilizing revolutionary vortex-beam technology, the helicarrier served as the mobile headquarters for S.H.I.E.L.D's operations.

Mandroids

Built by Tony Stark to protect S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers from superhuman attacks, the armored Mandroids were first employed against the Avengers.

Hawkeye's Arrows

Although most of the Earth's Mightiest Marksman's trick arrows are designed by the archer himself, some of his more technological arrows were devised by Stark.

Captain America's Shield

When the government stripped him of his title, Steve Rogers asked Tony to build him a replacement shield. However, due to the falling out the two soon had over Tony's dangerous actions in the "Armor Wars" storyline, Steve ended up angrily returning the shield.

The Quinjet

The Quinjet, the Avengers' efficient shuttle, was originally designed by T'Challa, the Black Panther, and has since been redesigned by Tony Stark for use by the New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers. The jet is capable of vertical takeoff and can reach speeds of more than Mach 2.

Other Inventions

Particle beam torpedo

Evader personal protection unit

Friday: a virtual personal assistant

HOMER(Heuristically Operative Matrix Emulation Rostrum) computer system

The Works: State-of-the-art "smart building"

Guardsmen armor

Plato(Piezo-Electrical Logistic Analytic Tactial Operator) artificial intelligence

Flying Prowler(and other flying automobiles)

Vroom Room: Virtual reality training center

Sentinel landmine

Uranus II rocket

Jupiter Landing Vehicle

Anti-missile Missile Gun

SK-1 stealth jet

Experimental Sea Tank

Hex Ships Pegasus and Chimera

SHIELD satellite

Life Model Decoys

Armor negator packs

Transistorized blast gun

Iron Spider armor

Holo-Communicator

Encephalo-circuitry

Transistor-powered roller skates

Warwagon tank

Alternate Realities

Earth-1610

For More Information: Ultimates, Ultimate Iron Man

Iron Man: Earth-1610 (Ultimate).

Earth-1610: The Iron Man of the Ultimate universe is a member of the Ultimates, that universe's version of the Avengers. In the Ultimate Universe, Antonio "Tony" Stark is a wealthy industrialist and a brilliant inventor. Like the original Marvel Universe Tony, he has a dependency on alcohol and a life-threatening affliction. In this case however, his condition is an inoperable brain tumor which could kill him at anytime. For that reason he decides to use his remaining time to the best of his ability, becoming a philanthropist and superhero using the armor he creates.

In the Ultimate Iron Man limited series, it's revealed that the reason for Tony's unprecedented brilliance is that his body contains a regenerative virus which caused him to grow extra neural tissue throughout his body, effectively expanding his brain. However, a side-effect causes him constant pain, which is mitigated by alcohol one reason why he drinks so heavily. On the upside, the virus also lets him regrow lost limbs and organs with incredible speed, as long as he has enough protein available. His skin is also impregnated with a "bacterial armor" that makes him resistant to impact, though it apparently isn't fireproof. The bacteria would eat the skin of anyone who can't regenerate in minutes, which is why he hasn't mass-produced the design.

Super-Human

While forming the original Ultimates, Tony Stark along with Nick Fury are present for the thawing out of Captain America. He goes on to recruit Hank Pym and his wife Janet as they take on their first mission, to stop a rampaging Hulk in Manhattan. Iron Man slams into the Hulk after Giant Man is taken down. Hulk gets up and practically tears Tony from his armor. Tony retaliates with his thought scramblers to buy a quick moment. This buys Wasp some time to get inside Hulk’s head to deliver her sting. Tony hosts a dinner which Captain America and Thor attend. They discuss the Ultimates when Tony reveals his brain tumor to them. He also presents Cap with a gift, his helmet from World War II.

Homeland Security

Tony, Nick Fury and Captain America check in on Wasp who was hospitalized after a domestic dispute with Hank. Later on at the Triskelion, Fury introduces Hawkeye, Black Widow, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to the rest of the team as the newest members. He briefs them on their next mission, the Chitauri, shape shifting aliens who had infiltrated the Nazis have been found.

The Ultimates and an army of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents head to Micronesia to attack a base but were setup and are taken out by an explosion. The Chitauri launch their invasion and Wasp is taken captive from the hospital by their leader Herr Kleisser. Wasp gets a call out to Tony who saved the group with his force field. The Ultimates teleport to Phoenix, AZ for their final stand against the invasion. Tony catches a large ship and uses all of his power to slow it down and change it’s course to avoid a town. He succeeds but drains all of his power and has to plug into the local grid for a recharge. The Hulk is then brought in to finish Herr Kleisser while Tony handles the Chitauri’s last resort bomb. He comes to the resolution that he can’t disable it and has Thor teleport it to another dimension. Kleisser is defeated and the invasion is stopped.

Ultimatum

When Magneto reverses the axis of the Earth's magnetic feilds, it for some reason causes the world to flood. Tony saves Captain America from drowning and they later team with what is left of SHIELD, The Ultimates, and The X-Men to fight Magneto.

Ultimate Comics: Ultimates

The Republic Burns: for more information: Ultimate Comics Ultimates

While attending a gala in Tokyo hosted by Shinobi Shaw, Tony steps out to his car and takes control of Iron Man via remote. At Fury's orders, he leads a squad of Rocketmen at a blockade in Montevideo. Once boarding the lead ship, Iron Man discovers it was set on a remote course and was armed with a Stark nuclear bomb which detonates. Jarvis revives Tony in the car and once he comes to Tony suits up and flies off to his armory. It is at this time that the Children of Tomorrow from the City have destroyed Asgard, killing its inhabitants. Tony arms Thor with his old power suit and hammer as he is now powerless. Iron Man, alongside Nick Fury, Black Widow, Spider Woman, Hawkeye and Thor lead a wave of helicarriers in a full scale assault on the city. The Ultimates are overpowered as Fury sounds the retreat. Later on Tony has a talk with Thor about fate when he suddenly teleports himself back to the city alone. Tony tells Fury that Thor has left and he plans to join him. Nick convinces him to stay as they cannot face the Children without him.

Earth-2149

For More Information: Marvel Zombies

Iron Man: Earth-2149 (Zombiverse).

In the Marvel Zombies reality Iron Man has been turned into a zombie as have most of Earth's heroes. Iron Man is one of the main characters of the Marvel Zombies storyline. Iron Man appears to be one of the uninfected heroes in the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier where the uninfected had met to hear Nick Fury's plan to save Earth from the virus. Iron Man is infected with the virus and he joins the infected zombies on the rampage to find food and consume it. He appears to be one of the zombies left in the Earth after everything was consumed and is one of the zombies to see Silver Surfer come to Earth to tell them that Galactus was coming to eat the planet. The zombies attack him and Iron Man loses his bottom half of his body during the fight but is thrown into the fray by Wolverine. After Silver Surer is subdued, Iron Man becomes one of the few to feast on the Silver Surfer and soon is able to fly again since he had gained a portion of the Surfer's powers. He is one of the zombies seen fighting Galactus, and he retreats to think of a plan to defeat Galactus. He thinks of making a machine where it combines all the zombies new Silver Surfer powers and unleash against Galactus. Iron Man, along with Hulk and Giant Man, build the machine while Galactus is fighting the others. They complete it and the zombies that had gained the Surfer's powers combine their powers into the machine and shoot a beam of the energy at Galactus. Galactus staggers a bit and they shoot a couple more until Galactus falls. Iron Man is one of the zombies that fight the villain zombies to see who would eat Galactus. The heroes easily win and they feed on Galactus, who was becoming conscious and Iron Man becomes one of the few who had gained Galactus's powers. He is seen appearing in an alien world flying with the zombies that had gained Galactus's powers. Later, Iron Man and the zombies are returning to Earth after forty years of consuming the universe. They return to Earth to see that there are still survivors and they attack the remaining survivors. They face opposition from Spider-Man and Luke Cage along with the survivors. Iron Man was the one who had breached the facility they were in and battles Forge, T'Channa (controlled by Colonel America's brain), and several acolytes. The zombies swarm in after the breach has occurred. Giant Man realizes his hunger had disappeared and and tells all the zombies that their hunger is gone. The zombies realize it too and they agree that they stop attacking and spare the survivors. However, an enraged Hulk appears and is hungry for food. Hulk assaults the survivors, but the zombie heroes intervene to save the survivors. Iron Man fights Hulk, but ultimately is killed by Hulk.

Earth-20051

For More Information: Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet, Marvel Adventures Avengers, Marvel Adventures Iron Man

In the Marvel Adventures reality Iron Man is a member of the Avengers along with Captain America, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine, Storm and Giant Girl. He also has many solo adventures against villains from his own rogue's gallery.%26nbsp%3B

Earth-2020

For More Information: Exiles #83

The Iron Man that was a member of the Weapon X team that appeared in Exiles was from this reality. He was one of the few Weapon X members that returned to his home reality alive at that time.

Earth-9997

For More Information: Earth X, Universe X, Paradise X

In the Earth X reality, Tony Stark is one of the few remaining humans. In this universe, he founded the Iron Avengers.

Earth-5012

For More Information: Marvel Team Up

Iron Man: Earth-5012

This version of Iron Man is known as Iron Maniac. His armor resembles that of Doctor Doom, He killed Magneto, and he is more of a villain than a hero.

Earth-982

For More Information: A-Next

Earth-982 Tony

In the MC2 reality Tony Stark is retired, but he created Mainframe in order to take his place in the Avengers.

Earth-398

For More Information: Avengers

Earth-398 Tony

Anthony Stark of Earth-398 was known as Iron Knight and was a member of the Queen's Vengeance.

Earth-8410

For More Information: Machine Man, Iron Man 2020

In this reality, Iron Man is Arno Stark, nephew of Tony Stark. He calls himself Iron Man 2020.

Earth-9119

For more information: Iron Man: The End

In this future reality, Tony has aged and married Bethany Cabe. The pair have no kids and Tony health is starting to fade. He throws all his time and effort into making a space elevator, but sabotage makes him don the Iron Man suit once again. He fights Ultra-Dynamo (Arkady Vostok) but is beaten and forced to retreat.

Tony then makes Nick Travis, one of his promising employees an offer, become Iron Man. Nick refuses at first but soon starts studying under Tony, until Tony realizing he might be replaced fires Nick. Sometime later the space elevator is finally finished and on the day of the big unveiling Arkady attacks again this time Nick shows up in the new Iron Man suit and defeats the Ultra-Dynamo saving Tony's life.

Tony realizes Earth is in good hands and takes the space elevator to retire in in space, never to step foot on Earth again.

Earth-311

For More Information: Marvel 1602

In the year 1602, there is a Spanish Iron Man named Lord Iron, who became a prisoner in Jerusalem during the English-Spanish war, where he had to make weapons and is also being tortured by David Banner, the Hulk in this universe

Earth-295

For More Information: Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Tony is a member of the Human High Council. The injury to his heart was caused by a mutant in this reality.

Earth-12

For More Information: Exiles #14

In this reality, Iron Man is the friend of Mimic, the member of the Exiles.

Earth-355

For More Information: Avengers #355

In this reality, Iron Man is killed by Black Panther, who is called Coal Tiger.

Earth-929

In this alternate reality, the Fantastic Four never existed. Without them, Namor remains a wandering amnesiac and Captain America is forever a captive in his icy tomb. So when the original Avengers take their leave, it falls on Iron Man to stay on and lead the Avengers' new recruits: Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye.

Earth-2189

For More Information: Exiles #47

In this reality, Iron Man died defending his reality against Namora, who plans on invading that earth.

Earth-9200

For More Information: Hulk Future Imperfect

In this reality where the Hulk is now called the Maestro and rules the world, Iron Man was one of the superheroes that was killed during the Maestro's rise to power.

Earth-691

For More Information: Guardians Of The Galaxy

Tony is horrified by the invasion of the Martians and threw all of his armor into space, where it was found by a group of aliens and they used the armor to become pirates calling themselves the Stark. They battle the Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Earth-2122

For More Information: Excalibur #21 and Excalibur #22

In the Crusader X, where the British still control North America, Tony Stark is a freedom fighter of the group called the Sons of Liberty.

Earth-58163

For More Information: House of M

Iron Man: Earth-58163 (House of M).

In the House of M, Tony is still the owner of Stark Industries and is the winner of the Sapien Death Match, a reality TV show where humans will fight with powerful armor. Magneto became grateful to Tony and his teammates when they prevented a terrorist plot to commit genocide on hundreds of mutants using a "Gene Bomb".

Earth-2301

For More Information: Marvel Mangaverse

Manga Iron Man

In the Marvel Mangaverse, Tony fought Namor and then disappeared. He was replaced by his twin sister, Antoinette "Toni" Stark, a former SHIELD agent. When she was killed by the Hulk, Tony appeared again and is now in the familiar armor. He explained that he had cancer in the spinal cord and is in life support inside the armor.

He design a giant-sized mecha for the Avengers, first, was a robot that is composed of transforming vehicles but was destroyed by the Hulk. The second robot was only a single unit and it battle the Galactus spores before being destroyed along with the Avengers by Doctor Doom.

Earth-983

For More Information:

On another Earth, the Red Skull assassinated Hitler and won World War II for the Axis powers. He eventually turned his power over to a young Victor Von Doom who used the power of the cosmic cube to enslave and keep any resistance under control in the world. In this world, Tony Stark's father, Howard worked along side the Red Skull until he stepped down from power. Tony used his advanced technology to serve his world's Dr. Doom and eventually created an armor and became known as the "Iron Nazi". With his armor he was able to match any hero who opposed him or Doom's power. He was eventually defeated by Mainframe who used his superior technology to over power his armor and shut him down. He escaped and hasn't been seen since but he is apparently butting heads with his world's Reed Richard's over control of Doom's armies.

Other Media

Television

The Marvel Super Heroes

For More Information: The Marvel Super Heroes

Iron Man's animated debut.

Iron Man's first appearance on television and in animation was starring in the recurring Iron Man segments of the 1966 series The Marvel Superheroes Show, alongside Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Namor.

Guest Appearances

Iron Man appeared on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends in the early 1980's, and guest starred on Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Fantastic Four, and The Incredible Hulk animated series in the 1990's voiced by Robert Hays. He also guest starred on Avengers: United They Stand at the end of that decade. He has since made an appearance on the Fantastic Four: Worlds Greatest Heroes episode 'Shell Games' voiced by David Kaye.

Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man

For More Information: Iron Man The Animated Series

Iron Man: The Animated Series

Iron Man starred in his own animated series beginning in 1994 which ran for two seasons and was a part of the Marvel Action Hour along with the Fantastic Four animated series. Tony Stark was voiced by Robert Hays (Airplane) and the show included the team Force Works as featured in Marvel Comics of the time. The second season was heavily retooled with a new art style and more serious tone, and Force Works written off (though War Machine and Spider-Woman remained).

This iteration of the character also appeared in the Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk cartoons that were airing at the time, with Robert Hays reprising his role.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

For More Information: Iron Man Armored Adventures

Teenage Iron Man

This series is a retelling and re-envisioning of the Iron Man franchise, it's most similar to the Ultimate Iron Man in regards to Tony (voiced by Adrian Petriw) creating the Iron Man armor as a young teen. It is currently airing and has it's own toy line currently in stores. The show came back for a second season which will have Tony, and friends, looking for the last five rings of the Mandarin.

The Super Hero Squad Show

Iron Man gives MODOK a shock

For More Information: The Super Hero Squad Show

Iron Man appears as the leader of the Squad and is voiced by Tom Kenny. He's portrayed more as a softy and usually sleeps in his suit.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

For More Information: The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Iron Man in A:EMS

Iron Man is one of the main characters is the new Avengers series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Here, voiced by Eric Loomis, Tony Stark is a founding member of the team and current leader. The show airs on Disney XD and had 20 micro-episodes released online prior to the shows premiere. This versions personality and origin closely resemble those of the Iron man films with Tony possessing a sharp irreverent wit and having his identity known to the public as well as his biggest goal (at the beginning of the series) being the destruction of stark weapons technology that has fallen into the wrong hands. He also possess absolute belief in science and it's ability to explain away magic. Like the comics he funds the avengers out of his own pocket and has a strong resentment against S.H.E.I.L.D (though he also has a love hate relationship with Maria Hill) He is strong friends with Hank Pym, enough so that he teases him about flirting with wasp though they clash with the ideology and goals of the Avengers. He also has a strong bond with Captain America even taking to heart one of Caps lessons about not forgetting the past while looking to the future. He respects Thor but often clashes with him over the existence of magic and his relationship with Black Panther is similar to that of the comics. He is often frustrated by the Hulks destructive behavior and trades friendly barbs with hawkeye.

Marvel Anime: Iron Man

Poster for Marvel Anime: Iron Man, Featuring Iron Man and Iron Man Dio

Iron Man is the first show from a production deal between Marvel and the Japanese anime studio Madhouse. The series consists of 12 episodes, was directed by Yuzo Sato, and written by Warren Ellis. The show premiered on Animax in Japan in late 2010, and will be aired in the US on G4 in early 2011.

Ultimate Spider-Man

For More Information: Ultimate Spider-Man

Iron Man in Ultimate Spider-Man

Iron Man appears in several episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man, starting with "The Flight of the Iron-Spider". He is voiced by Adrian Pasdar.

Avengers Assemble

For More Information: Avengers Assemble

Iron Man in Avengers Assemble

Iron Man is a main character in Avengers Assemble which is the sequel to Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He acts as a mentor to the Falcon (and helps the youth develop his wings and flight suit), and is responsible for bringing the Avengers back together after the team disbanded. He frequently clashes with Captain America, who dislikes Tony's smug attitude, as well as his reliance on technology. He is voiced by Adrian Pasdar, who reprises his role from Ultimate Spider-Man.

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

For More Information: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Iron Man also appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. as a guest-star and a member of the Avengers. He is voiced by Arian Pasdar.

Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers

For More Information: Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers

Iron Man and Akira

Iron Man is one of the main characters in this Japanese anime series, acting as a member of the Avengers. After being trapped in a S.H.I.E.L.D. disc containment unit, Iron Man is partnered with a Japanese middle school student named Akira. Iron Man is voiced by Eiji Hanawa, while Akira is voiced by Mitsuki Saiga.

Marvel Future Avengers

Iron Man with the Future Avengers

Iron Man appears as a major character in the Japanese anime series, voiced by Eiji Hanawa in the Japanese original and by Mick Wingert in the English dub. He serves as one of the mentors of the three main characters, Hurricane, Charade and Codec.

Marvel's Spider-Man

For More Information: Marvel's Spider-Man

Iron Man and Spidey

Iron Man guest-stars in the episode "Stark Expo," voiced by Mick Wingert. He and Spider-Man team up to fight Ghost at the Stark Expo. At the end of the episode, he is given the Venom symbiote by Max Modell, which he takes back to Avengers Mansion to study. He returns several more times throughout the series, usually as a member of the Avengers.

In the Season 3 two-parter "Vengeance of Venom," Iron Man is one of the Avengers who becomes possessed by a Venom symbiote.

Film

The Invincible Iron Man (2007)

Invincible Iron Man: The Animated Movie

For More Information: The Invincible Iron Man

In this movie, Iron Man was never called Iron Man although he was called the Iron Knight by some. Tony Stark raises a ancient Chinese city in China. However, the excavation site was continuously attacked by the jade dragon. Tony stark then travels to china to investigate but he is captured by the jade dragon and he is saved by Rhodes and Yin Sen, and tony has a chunk shrapnel in his heart just like in the comics. Yin Sen then explains that the dragons are trying to prevent the mandarin, a Chinese ruler from returning from death. If the four rings of the mandarin is brought together, the mandarin will be resurrected and returned to life and the world will be in danger of the mandarin. The Invincible Iron Man, released on DVD in 2007 to mixed response from fans.

Iron Man (2008)

For More Information: Iron Man

Iron Man: The Movie

In this film, Tony Stark is played by Robert Downey Jr. The film is an adaptation of the retconned Iron Man origin that had him abducted in the Middle East by Islamic radicals. Another doctor, who was also a captive, conducted the surgery on him to save his life, but was unable to remove some of the shrapnel from within his chest. He uses components that were intended to make a weapon to complete a new core that would save his life. The first armor that he made is similar to the original suit of armor from the comics. At the end of the movie, he starts to try and tell the pres the classic bodyguard excuse, but in a surprise move admits he's Iron Man to the press. The villain of the film was Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). The movie was released on May 2, 2008 and was rated PG-13. The film was a hit at the box office and comic fans alike.

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The Incredible Hulk (2008)

For More Information: The Incredible Hulk

Tony Stark makes a brief cameo at the end of the movie, where he approaches General Ross and tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D. is putting together a team to help take down the Hulk. This was later retconned in the short film The Consultant, which reveals that Stark was actually sent by Agent Coulson at the behest of Nick Fury to intentionally sabotage the meeting. Chronologically, the scene is set after the events of Iron Man 2.

For More Information: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 Poster (2010)

The world is aware that billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored superhero Iron Man. Though under pressure from the government, media, and the military to share his technology, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will fall into the wrong hands. Among other worries is his discovery that the mineral that at the core of his personal Arc Reactor is slowly killing him and no other mineral exists as a replacement. With Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new adversaries, such as Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Ivan Vanko/ Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). Click here to continue

The Avengers

For More Information: The Avengers

Iron Man in The Avengers

Robert Downey Jr reprises his role as Tony Stark once more in this movie.

When the Asgardian god Loki steals the Tesseract, an almost infinite source of power, Iron Man collaborates with his fellow heroes - Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk and Thor - in order to prevent Loki from conquering Earth with the aid of an alien race named the Chitauri and reclaim the Tesseract. Iron Man is the snarkiest of the heroes, which initally puts him at odds with Cap; later, however, the two warm up to each other and work with the others to defeat Loki and the Chitauri. It is in this film that Tony becomes friends with Bruce Banner.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

For More Information: Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

Tony is featured in the film, voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in the Japanese version and Matthew Mercer in the English dub.

Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United

For More Information: Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United

Iron Man is once again featured as a main character, with Adrian Pasdar reprising his role from Avengers Assemble.

Iron Man 3

For More Information: Iron Man 3

Tony in Iron Man 3

Tony returns in Iron Man 3, set a year after the Chitauri Invasion. Traumatized by his near-death at the end of The Avengers, Tony has isolated himself in his lab, designing increasingly sophisticated suits of armor to prevent himself from ever feeling that vulnerable in battle ever again. This increasingly paranoid and reclusive behavior begins to put a strain on his relationship with Pepper, but leads to the creation of a new remote control system which allows Tony to summon and don his armor without the need of an assembly line.

Tony is drawn into a conflict with the Mandarin and Aldrich Killian (a scientist Tony had humiliated years earlier) after they destroy Tony's home and abduct Pepper, and is forced to use various improvised weapons after his armor is damaged. At the climax of the film, Tony uses his remote control feature to control the Iron Legion (an army of his suits) in a battle against Killian's Extremis soldiers.

The film ends with Tony and Pepper defeating Killian, and Tony subsequently destroying his armors to show his commitment to the woman he loves.

Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher

For More Information: Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher

Iron Man appears in a small supporting role as a member of the Avengers, with Matthew Mercer reprising his role.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

For More Information: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Tony himself does not appear in the film, but it is mentioned by Nick Fury that he had designed the three new Helicarriers launched by S.H.I.E.L.D. during the movie. During a brief cameo sequence, it is also shown that Stark Tower has been upgraded and rebuilt into Avengers Tower.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

For More Information: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Iron Man in Age of Ultron

Robert Downey, Jr. returns for the Avengers sequel, taking place after the events of Iron Man 3 and The Winter Soldier. Following the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the rise of HYDRA, Tony is forced to reassemble the Avengers in order to protect the world.

Early on in the film, Tony experiences a premonition of the Avengers dead at the hands of the Chituari, which causes him to utilize the mysterious crystal in Loki's scepter to create Ultron, a sentient computer that he plans to use to control the new Iron Legion. He plans to have the Legion form "a suit of armor around the world," allowing the Avengers to retire while the planet remains protected. This proves to be disastrous, as Ultron quickly rebels against his masters and vows to destroy the heroes. During the course of the movie, he and Banner also create the Vision to help combat the threat of Ultron.

At the close of the film, Tony retires from the Avengers in order to spend more time with Pepper. Rhodey ends up taking his place on the team as War Machine.

Captain America: Civil War

For More Information: Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War

Robert Downey, Jr. once again reprises his role in Civil War.

A year after the events of Age of Ultron, Tony is still in retirement, but has broken up with Pepper. It is revealed that Tony's unwillingness to stay retired even after Iron Man 3 put a strain on their relationship, which was only worsened by the incident with Ultron and Tony's decision to return to the Avengers to help take down Hydra.

Tony becomes involved in the plot after a botched incident in Nigeria leads to the nations of the world crafting the Sokovia Accords, a series of laws designed to keep the Avengers in check. Tony comes out in favor of the Accords after he meets a woman named Miriam, whose son was killed during the final battle between the Avengers and Ultron.

When Captain America and the other Avengers opposed to the Accords become fugitives, General Ross (now the new Secretary of State) gives Tony 36 hours to bring them in. Tony suits up as Iron Man once more, and recruits a team of heroes (consisting of War Machine, Black Widow, Vision and the newcomers Black Panther and Spider-Man) to capture Cap and the others. This leads to a massive battle at an airport in Leipzig, which ends with Cap and Bucky escaping and Rhodey being badly injured.

After learning that the entire situation has been manipulated by Helmut Zemo, Tony tracks down Cap and Bucky in order to broker a truce at a Hydra base in Siberia. However, once there, Zemo shows the heroes video footage proving that Bucky (while brainwashed by Hydra) had killed Howard and Maria Stark in 1991. Tony goes berserk with rage and tries to kill Bucky, leading a brutal final battle. Tony blasts off one of Bucky's arms, but is defeated when Captain America disables his armor. The movie ends with the Avengers shattered and the heroes unsure of their futures.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

For more information: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Iron Man and Spider-Man

Robert Downey, Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark in a supporting capacity. The film sees him acting as a mentor to Spider-Man after the events of Civil War.

Avengers: Infinity War

For more information: Avengers: Infinity War

Iron Man vs Thanos

Robert Downey, Jr. returns once again. When the film opens, Tony is still seeking to find a way to protect the earth after the dissolution of the Avengers. When Bruce Banner returns to Earth (having previously ended up Sakaar after the events of Age of Ultron) with dire warnings about the coming threat of Thanos, Tony prepares himself for another fight. He, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man eventually end up on the alien world of Titan, where they encounter the Guardians of the Galaxy. Tony concocts a plan to lure Thanos into a trap by using Strange's Time Stone as bait, hoping they can steal the Infinity Gauntlet from the villain. The plot ultimately fails, as Strange is forced to surrender the Time Stone to Thanos in order to save Tony's life. When Thanos finally completes the Infinity Gauntlet, he wipes out half of all life in the universe, which kills most of Tony's allies on Titan (including Spider-Man). With he and Nebula as the only survivors on Titan, Tony is last seen shaken and despondent over what has happened.

Avengers: Endgame

For more information: Avengers: Endgame

Tony's last stand

Picking up shortly after the events of Infinity War, the fourth Avengers movie sees Tony in dire straights. After attempting to leave Titan in the Benatar, the deceased Guardians of the Galaxy's ship, Tony becomes stranded in space. He is eventually rescued by Captain Marvel, who takes him back to Earth. Back at Avengers HQ, Tony angrily blames Steve for causing the rift in the Avengers, which he claims helped lead to Thanos' victory.

Five years later, Tony and Pepper now have a daughter named Morgan Stark, who Tony loves very much. Despite being content in his retirement, Tony's guilt over the deaths of Peter and Thanos' other victims causes him to reunite with the Avengers as part of a plan to travel back in time and steal the Infinity Stones. During a stopover in the 70s to steal the Tesseract, Tony briefly encounters his father and has a conversation with him. Once back in the present, Tony suits up as Iron Man one last time during the battle with Thanos' forces. Following a lengthy fight, Tony sacrifices himself to defeat Thanos once and for all, using the Infinity Stones to destroy Thanos and his army. Mortally wounded, Tony dies with Pepper, Pepper and the resurrected Peter by his side. At the end of the film, the Avengers hold a funeral for Tony, honoring his memory and sacrifice.

Video Games

Captain America And The Avengers

For More Information: Captain America and the Avengers

Captain America and the Avengers

Iron Man is selectable as a playable character in Captain America and the Avengers for the NES and arcades.

Marvel Super Heroes War Of The Gems

For More Information: Marvel Super Heroes War of the Gems

War of the Gems

Iron Man is a playable character in Marvel Super Heroes War of the Gems for the SNES.

Marvel Super Heroes

For More Information: Marvel Super Heroes

Marvel Super Heroes

Iron Man is a playable char