Anthony Stark was born in Long Island, New York. A boy genius, he entered the undergraduate electrical engineering program at MIT at the age of 15 and graduated at the top of his class. At 21, he inherited his father's company, Stark Industries, after his parents were killed in a car accident. One of the first projects was to buy the company that made the faulty brakes on his parents' car and correct the mechanical problem.
In the first version of his origin, Stark was visiting Vietnam (later updated to the Gulf War, and then later updated again to Afghanistan) to observe his new mini-transistors assisting the American war effort. Stark was injured by a booby trap and captured by a Vietnamese warlord named Wong Chu. Dying from a piece of shrapnel lodged in his heart, Stark was ordered to build weapons for Wong Chu, along with a fellow prisoner, the famed physicist Yin Sen (later called Ho Yinsen). However, Stark and Yin Sen used the workshop to secretly design and construct a suit of powered armor — an iron exoskeleton that saved Stark's life by keeping his heart beating. It also gave him tremendous strength which facilitated his escape. Yin Sen sacrificed himself to buy Stark time to charge the bulky suit of armor, and as Iron Man, Stark killed Wong Chu and his men. On the way back, Iron Man encountered a wounded American Air Force helicopter pilot, Jim Rhodes. Iron Man Introduced himself as Stark's bodyguard, and he and Rhodes defended themselves against the pursuing North Vietnamese before returning to American lines. On his return to the U.S., Stark continued to improve the armor, establishing a dual identity as the adventurer and superhero, Iron Man. He also greatly expanded his father's company, Stark Industries, eventually renaming it Stark International.
The cover for Iron Man is that he is Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company, Communist opponents such as the Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man as well as independent villains like the Mandarin. Both the Widow and the Dynamo eventually defect to the United States, and even erstwhile villain Hawkeye, originally a pawn of the Widow, reforms and joins the Avengers. No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivates an image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast at this point are his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, to both of whom he eventually reveals his dual identity. Meanwhile, Jim Rhodes would find his own niche as Stark's personal pilot of extraordinary skill and daring.
The comic took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as opposition rose to the Vietnam War. This change evolved in a series of stories with Stark profoundly reconsidering his political opinions and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the military. Stark, however, often shows himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to let the ends justify the means. This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities.
Stark has a vast personal fortune, and is also known as a philanthropist. He donates the use of his boyhood manor as Avengers Mansion, and funds the Avengers' operations through the Maria Stark Foundation, a non-profit organization named after his late mother. The Foundation is not linked to any of Stark's businesses, and has continued to operate even when those businesses have failed. Stark also provides technology to other superheroes, including designing various replacement shields for Captain America, the Quinjets used by the Avengers, the image inducers used by the X-Men and Spider-Man's second armored costume.
Eventually, Stark's heart condition was discovered by the public and cured with an artificial heart transplant. However, Stark also developed a serious dependency on alcohol. The first time it became a problem was when Stark discovered that the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. had been buying a controlling interest in his company in order to ensure Stark's continued weapons development for them. At the same time, Stark's business rival Justin Hammer hired several supervillains to attack Stark. At one point, the Iron Man armor was even taken over and used to murder a diplomat. Although Iron Man was not immediately under suspicion, Stark was forced to hand the armor over to the authorities. Eventually Stark and Rhodes, who was now his personal pilot and confidant, tracked down and defeated those responsible, although Hammer would return to bedevil Stark again. With the support of his then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, his friends and his employees, Stark pulled through these crises and overcame his dependency on alcohol.
Changing fortunes
Some time later, a ruthless rival, Obadiah Stane, manipulates him emotionally into a serious relapse. As a result, Stark loses control of Stark International, becomes a homeless vagrant and gives up his armored identity to Rhodes, who becomes the new Iron Man for a lengthy period of time. Eventually, Stark recovers and starts a new company, Circuits Maximus. While Stark concentrates on new technological designs, Rhodes continues to act as Iron Man but steadily grows more aggressive and paranoid. Rhodes's problems are initially thought to be the result of his using armors whose cerebral interfaces are calibrated for Stark's brain, but are later revealed to be purely psychological in nature. Rhodes goes on a rampage, and Stark has to don a prototype suit to stop him. When Circuits Maximus comes under assault from Stane, Stark uses the completed next-generation armor to confront Stane in personal combat. Stark's skill proves superior over Stane's unpracticed use of his own variant suit (known as the Iron Monger) and Stark regains his company when Stane commits suicide rather than be captured.
Armor
- See also: Iron Man's armor
Iron Man possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength and durability, flight, and an array of weapons. The armor is invented and, with occasional short-term exceptions, worn by Tony Stark, an American industrialist billionaire and military contractor known not only for his lifestyle, but also for his incredible ingenuity and inventive genius. Other people who have assumed the Iron Man identity include long time partner and best friend James Rhodes, close associates Harold "Happy" Hogan, Eddie March, and (briefly) Michael O'Brien.
Iron Man's appearance and abilities have changed over time, as Stark modified and upgraded his equipment, most notably his powered armor. The Iron Man armor was originally grey, but Stark found that this appearance frightened the public, so he spray-painted it gold (Tales of Suspense #40). This bulky armor was changed in Tales of Suspense #48 into a more form-fitting design, sporting a red and gold color scheme that it has mostly retained since. One notable exception is the "Silver Centurion" armor, with a red and silver color scheme, created for use against Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger suit and retained until the end of the first Armor Wars.
Iron Man's powers and abilities derive from the advanced powered armor that he wears. The armor has evolved from a bulky iron suit to a molecularly aligned matrix of crystallized iron enhanced by magnetic fields over layers of other metals like titanium, creating a shell that is pliable, yet capable of great resilience and protection. The suit grants him superhuman strength and flight capabilities, and is powered by a combination of 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. Tony also adds jet skates that are now so powerful Iron Man could skate forward towing an entire train behind him. Miniature panes can protect Iron Man's eyes when needed. In addition, the suit can be completely sealed for operations in vacuum or underwater, providing its own life support, and is shielded against radiation.
The onboard systems of the armor are controlled by Tony Stark's brain patterns, read from a cybernetic interface in his helmet. Sophisticated computers with an artificially intelligent operating system of Stark's own design provide tactical information as well as constant feedback on the suit's status, using internal and external sensors. As noted above, Stark has tried to put safeguards in to make sure that the systems do not actually achieve sentience, although these were once circumvented.
The weapons systems of the suit have evolved over the years, but Iron Man's standard offensive weapons have always been the repulsor rays that are fired from the palms of his gauntlets. Other weapons built into various incarnations of the armor include the uni-beam projector in its chest; 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 an energy shield. Other capabilities include generation of ultra-freon, creating and manipulating of magnetic fields, sonic blasts and a holographic generator to create decoys.
In addition to the general-purpose model he wears, Stark has developed several specialized suits for space travel, deep-sea diving, stealth and other situations. 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. A later model designed for use against Thor is modeled on the Destroyer and uses a mystical power source. Stark also develops an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when attached to armors that use Stark technology, will burn out those components and render the suit useless. This pack is ineffective on later models, however.
After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injects his nervous system with a modified techno-organic virus (the extremis process) that not only saves his life, but also fuses Stark's armor to his body. This allows him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses. Stark can control the layer of the armor underneath his skin and make it emerge from numerous exit points around his limbs as a gold-colored neural interface under-sheath. While in this form, Stark can control the armor cyberpathically and suit up at any time, even if the armor is 100 miles away. Furthermore, the Extremis process has increased his body's recuperative and healing abilities. He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved. Stark also has a "phera-sense" which he gained by using information he garnered from the analysis of Spider-Man's neurophysiology by the "Spider-Armor" Stark gave him and uses this to not only create his own 'spider-sense' but can also neutralize Spider-Man's and create "false positives" in Spider-Man's spider-sense.
Skills
Apart from the powers granted him by the suit, Stark is an inventive genius while his alcoholism is under control, constantly creating new technology and looking for ways to improve it. This extends to his ingenuity dealing with difficult foes and deathtraps, where he is capable of using his suit in unorthodox and effective ways. He is well-respected in the business world, able to command people's attention when he speaks on economic matters. He is known for the loyalty he commands from and returns to those who work for him, as well as impeccable business ethics. He also strives to be environmentally responsible in his businesses, and in two cases, immediately fired employees who made profitable but illegal sales to Doctor Doom and A.I.M in a safe-guard to prevent lawsuit.
