Iron Man

Iron Man is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The character made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963), and received his own title in Iron Man #1 (May 1968).

"Tony Stark" redirects here. For the film character, see Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Iron Man
Iron Man on the variant cover of Tony Stark: Iron Man #2 (July 2018). Art by Mark Brooks.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Larry Lieber Don Heck Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark
Place of origin	Long Island, New York
Team affiliations	Avengers A.I. Army Department of Defense Force Works New Avengers Guardians of the Galaxy Illuminati Mighty Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. Stark Industries Stark Resilient Thunderbolts
Partnerships	War Machine Rescue Ironheart Spider-Man Captain America
Notable aliases	Mark One
Abilities	Genius level intellect Proficient scientist and engineer Highly skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant Powered armor suit: Superhuman strength and durability (when using his armor) Supersonic flight Energy repulsor and missile projection Regenerative life support

A wealthy American business magnate, playboy, and ingenious scientist, Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping. When his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction, he instead creates a mechanized suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. Later, Stark develops his suit, adding weapons and other technological devices he designed through his company, Stark Industries. He uses the suit and successive versions to protect the world as Iron Man. Although at first concealing his true identity, Stark eventually publicly reveals himself to be Iron Man.

Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and industry in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have transitioned from Cold War motifs to contemporary matters of the time.[1]

Throughout most of the character's publication history, Iron Man has been a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series. Iron Man has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films. The Marvel Cinematic Universe character was portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008) in a cameo, Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in archive footage, and will reprise his role in Black Widow (2020).

Iron Man was ranked 12th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" in 2011[2] and third in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers" in 2012.[3]

Publication history

Further information: List of Iron Man titles

Premiere

Iron Man's Marvel Comics premiere in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963) was a collaboration among editor and story-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, story-artist Don Heck, and cover-artist and character-designer Jack Kirby.[4] In 1963, Lee had been toying with the idea of a businessman superhero.[5] He wanted to create the "quintessential capitalist", a character that would go against the spirit of the times and Marvel's readership.[6] Lee said,

I think I gave myself a dare. It was the height of the Cold War. The readers, the young readers, if there was one thing they hated, it was war, it was the military ... So I got a hero who represented that to the hundredth degree. He was a weapons manufacturer, he was providing weapons for the Army, he was rich, he was an industrialist ... I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him ... And he became very popular.[7]

He set out to make the new character a wealthy, glamorous ladies' man, but one with a secret that would plague and torment him as well.[8] Writer Gerry Conway said, "Here you have this character, who on the outside is invulnerable, I mean, just can't be touched, but inside is a wounded figure. Stan made it very much an in-your-face wound, you know, his heart was broken, you know, literally broken. But there's a metaphor going on there. And that's, I think, what made that character interesting."[7] Lee based this playboy's looks and personality on Howard Hughes,[9] explaining, "Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies' man and finally a nutcase."[10] "Without being crazy, he was Howard Hughes," Lee said.[7]

While Lee intended to write the story himself,[11] a minor deadline emergency eventually forced him to hand over the premiere issue to Lieber, who fleshed out the story.[8] The art was split between Kirby and Heck. "He designed the costume," Heck said of Kirby, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like Tony Stark and his secretary Pepper Potts."[12] In a 1990 interview, when asked if he had "a specific model for Tony Stark and the other characters?", Heck replied "No, I would be thinking more along the lines of some characters I like, which would be the same kind of characters that Alex Toth liked, which was an Errol Flynn type."[13] Iron Man first appeared in 13- to 18-page stories in Tales of Suspense, which featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character's original costume was a bulky gray armored suit, replaced by a golden version in the second story (issue #40, April 1963). It was redesigned as sleeker, red-and-golden armor in issue #48 (Dec. 1963) by that issue's interior artist, Steve Ditko, although Kirby drew it on the cover. As Heck recalled in 1985, "[T]he second costume, the red and yellow one, was designed by Steve Ditko. I found it easier than drawing that bulky old thing. The earlier design, the robot-looking one, was more Kirbyish."[14]

In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents. Lee later regretted this early focus.[5][15] Throughout the character's comic book series, technological advancement and national defense were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism (as in the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline) and other personal difficulties.

From issue #59 (Nov. 1964) to its final issue #99 (March 1968), the anthological science-fiction backup stories in Tales of Suspense were replaced by a feature starring the superhero Captain America. Lee and Heck introduced several adversaries for the character including the Mandarin in issue #50 (Feb. 1964),[16] the Black Widow in #52 (April 1964)[17] and Hawkeye five issues later.[18]

Lee said that "of all the comic books we published at Marvel, we got more fan mail for Iron Man from women, from females, than any other title ... We didn't get much fan mail from girls, but whenever we did, the letter was usually addressed to Iron Man."[7]

Lee and Kirby included Iron Man in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963) as a founding member of the superhero team. The character has since appeared in every subsequent volume of the series.

Writers have updated the war and locale in which Stark is injured. In the original 1963 story, it was the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, it was updated to be the first Gulf War,[19] and in the 2000s updated again to be the war in Afghanistan. Stark's time with the Asian Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ho Yinsen is consistent through nearly all incarnations of the Iron Man origin, depicting Stark and Yinsen building the original armor together. One exception is the direct-to-DVD animated feature film The Invincible Iron Man, in which the armor Stark uses to escape his captors is not the first Iron Man suit.

Themes

The original Iron Man title explored Cold War themes, as did other Stan Lee projects in the early years of Marvel Comics. Where The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk respectively focused on American domestic and government responses to the Communist threat, Iron Man explored industry's role in the struggle. Tony Stark's real-life model, Howard Hughes, was a significant defense contractor who developed new weapons technologies. Hughes was an icon both of American individualism and of the burdens of fame.[20]

Historian Robert Genter, in The Journal of Popular Culture, writes that Tony Stark specifically presents an idealized portrait of the American inventor. Where earlier decades had seen important technological innovations come from famous individuals (e.g., Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers), the 1960s saw new technologies (including weapons) being developed mainly by the research teams of corporations. As a result, little room remained for the inventor who wanted credit for, and creative and economic control over, their own creations.

Issues of entrepreneurial autonomy, government supervision of research, and ultimate loyalty figured prominently in early Iron Man stories—the same issues affecting American scientists and engineers of that era.[20] Tony Stark, writes Genter, is an inventor who finds motive in his emasculation as an autonomous creative individual. This blow is symbolized by his chest wound, inflicted at the moment he is forced to invent things for the purposes of others, instead of just himself. To Genter, Stark's transformation into Iron Man represents Stark's effort to reclaim his autonomy, and thus his manhood. The character's pursuit of women in bed or in battle, writes Genter, represents another aspect of this effort. The pattern finds parallels in other works of 1960s popular fiction by authors such as "Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond), Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer), and Norman Mailer, who made unregulated sexuality a form of authenticity."[20]

Solo series

After issue #99 (March 1968), the Tales of Suspense series was renamed Captain America. An Iron Man story appeared in the one-shot comic Iron Man and Sub-Mariner (April 1968), before the "Golden Avenger"[21] made his solo debut with Iron Man #1 (May 1968).[22] The series' indicia gives its copyright title Iron Man, while the trademarked cover logo of most issues is The Invincible Iron Man.

This initial series ended with issue #332 (Sept. 1996). Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell, and Jeph Loeb authored a second volume of the series which was drawn primarily by Whilce Portacio and Ryan Benjamin. This volume took place in a parallel universe[23] and ran 13 issues (Nov. 1996 – Nov. 1997).[24] Volume 3, whose first 25 issues were written by Kurt Busiek[25] and then by Busiek and Roger Stern, ran 89 issues (Feb. 1998 – Dec. 2004). Later writers included Joe Quesada, Frank Tieri, Mike Grell, and John Jackson Miller. Issue #41 (June 2001) was additionally numbered #386, reflecting the start of dual numbering starting from the premiere issue of volume one in 1968. The final issue was dual-numbered as #434.[26] The next Iron Man series, Iron Man vol. 4, debuted in early 2005 with the Warren Ellis-written storyline "Extremis", with artist Adi Granov.[27][28] It ran 35 issues (Jan. 2005 – Jan. 2009), with the cover logo simply Iron Man beginning with issue #13, and Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., beginning issue #15. On the final three issues, the cover logo was overwritten by "War Machine, Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D.",[29] which led to the launch of a War Machine ongoing series.[30]

The Invincible Iron Man vol. 1, by writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca, began with a premiere issue cover-dated July 2008.[31] For a seven-month overlap, Marvel published both volume four and volume five simultaneously.[32] This Invincible volume jumped its numbering of issues from #33 to #500, cover dated March 2011, to reflect the start from the premiere issue of volume one in 1968.

After the conclusion of The Invincible Iron Man a new Iron Man series was started as a part of Marvel Now!. Written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Greg Land, it began with issue #1 in November 2012.[33]

Many Iron Man annuals, miniseries, and one-shot titles have been published through the years, such as Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man (Feb. 1996), Iron Man: The Iron Age #1–2 (Aug.–Sept. 1998), Iron Man: Bad Blood #1–4 (Sept.–Dec. 2000), Iron Man House of M #1–3 (Sept.–Nov. 2005), Fantastic Four / Iron Man: Big in Japan #1–4 (Dec. 2005–March 2006), Iron Man: The Inevitable #1–6 (Feb.–July 2006), Iron Man / Captain America: Casualties of War (Feb. 2007), Iron Man: Hypervelocity #1–6 (March–Aug. 2007), Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #1–6 (Nov. 2007–April 2008), and Iron Man: Legacy of Doom (June–Sept. 2008). Publications have included such spin-offs as the one-shot Iron Man 2020 (June 1994), featuring a different Iron Man in the future, and the animated TV series adaptations Marvel Action Hour, Featuring Iron Man #1–8 (Nov. 1994–June 1995) and Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1–12 (July 2007–June 2008).[34]

Fictional character biography

Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963): Iron Man debuts. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck.

Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963), the debut of Iron Man's first red-and-gold suit of armor. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky.

Origins

Anthony Edward Stark is the son of wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, and Maria Stark. A boy genius, he enters MIT at the age of 15 to study engineering and later receives master's degrees in engineering and physics. After his parents are killed in a car accident, he inherits his father's company.

Stark is injured by a booby trap and captured by enemy forces led by Wong-Chu. Wong-Chu orders Stark to build weapons, but Stark's injuries are dire and shrapnel is moving towards his heart. His fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work Stark had greatly admired during college, constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart. In secret, Stark and Yinsen use the workshop to design and construct a suit of powered armor, which Stark uses to escape. During the escape attempt, Yinsen sacrifices his life to save Stark's by distracting the enemy as Stark recharges. Stark takes revenge on his kidnappers and rejoins the American forces, on his way meeting a wounded American Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Back home, Stark discovers that the shrapnel fragment lodged in his chest cannot be removed without killing him, and he is forced to wear the armor's chestplate beneath his clothes to act as a regulator for his heart. He must recharge the chestplate every day or else risk the shrapnel killing him. The cover story that Stark tells the news media and general public is that Iron Man is his robotic personal bodyguard, and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company (e.g., Communist opponents Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo, and the Titanium Man), as well as independent villains like the Mandarin (who becomes his greatest enemy). No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man, as he cultivates a strong public image of being a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of the series' 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, James Rhodes finds his own niche as Stark's personal pilot, ultimately revealing himself to be a man of extraordinary skill and daring in his own right.

The series took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as public (and therefore, presumably, reader) opposition rose to the Vietnam War.[5] This change evolved in a series of storylines featuring Stark reconsidering his political opinions, and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the U.S. military. Stark shows himself to be occasionally arrogant, and willing to act unethically in order to 'let the ends justify the means'.[35][36] This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities. Stark uses his vast personal fortune not only to outfit his own armor, but also to develop weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D.; other technologies (e.g., Quinjets used by the Avengers); and the image inducers used by the X-Men. Eventually, Stark's heart condition is resolved with an artificial heart transplant.[37]

1970s and early 1980s

Stark expands on his armor designs and begins to build his arsenal of specialized armors for particular situations such as for space travel[38] and stealth.[39][40] Stark also develops a serious dependency on alcohol in the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline.[41] The first time it becomes a problem is when Stark discovers that the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. has been buying a controlling interest in his company in order to ensure Stark's continued weapons development for them. At the same time, it is revealed that several minor supervillains armed with advanced weapons who had bedeviled Stark throughout his superhero career are in fact in the employ of Stark's business rival, Justin Hammer, who begins to plague Stark more directly.[42][43] At one point in Hammer's manipulations, the Iron Man armor is taken over and used to murder a diplomat.[43] Although Iron Man is not immediately under suspicion, Stark is forced to hand the armor over to the authorities.[44] Eventually Stark and Rhodes, who is now his personal pilot and confidant, track down and defeat those responsible, although Hammer would return to bedevil Stark again.[38][45] With the support of his then-girlfriend, Bethany Cabe, his friends and his employees, Stark pulls through these crises and overcomes his dependency on alcohol.[46] Even as he recovers from this harrowing personal trial, Stark's life is further complicated when he has a confrontation with Doctor Doom that is interrupted by an opportunistic enemy sending them back in time to the time of King Arthur.[47] Once there, Iron Man thwarts Doom's attempt to solicit the aid of Morgan Le Fay, and the Latverian ruler swears deadly vengeance—to be indulged sometime after the two return to their own time.[48] This incident was collected and published as Doomquest.

Some time later, a ruthless rival, Obadiah Stane, manipulates Stark emotionally into a serious relapse. As a result, Stark loses control of Stark International to Stane, becomes a homeless alcoholic vagrant and gives up his armored identity to Rhodes, who becomes the new Iron Man. Eventually, Stark recovers and joins a new startup, Circuits Maximus. Stark concentrates on new technological designs, including building a new set of armor as part of his recuperative therapy. Rhodes continues to act as Iron Man but steadily grows more aggressive and paranoid, due to the armor not having been calibrated properly for his use. Eventually Rhodes goes on a rampage, and Stark has to don a replica of his original armor to stop him. Fully recovered, Stark confronts Stane who has himself designed armor based on designs seized along with Stark International, dubbing himself the 'Iron Monger'. Defeated in battle, Stane, rather than give Stark the satisfaction of taking him to trial, commits suicide.[49] Shortly thereafter, Stark regains his personal fortune, but decides against repurchasing Stark International until much later; he instead creates Stark Enterprises, headquartered in Los Angeles.

Late 1980s and 1990s

In an attempt to stop other people from misusing his designs, Stark goes about disabling other armored heroes and villains who are using suits based on the Iron Man technology, the designs of which were stolen by his enemy Spymaster. His quest to destroy the stolen technology—originally called "Stark Wars" but is more commonly known as the "Armor Wars"—severely hurts his reputation as Iron Man. After attacking and disabling a series of minor villains such as Stilt-Man, he attacks and defeats the government operative known as Stingray. The situation worsens when Stark realizes that Stingray's armor does not incorporate any of his designs. He publicly "fires" Iron Man while covertly pursuing his agenda. He uses the cover story of wanting to help disable the rogue Iron Man to infiltrate and disable the armor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives known as the Mandroids, as well as the armor of the Guardsmen. In the process, Iron Man and Jim Rhodes allow some of the villains in the Vault to escape. This leads the United States government to declare Iron Man a danger and an outlaw, and severely sours Stark's relationship with Steve Rogers (Captain America, who was in his "Captain" persona at the time). Iron Man travels to Russia where he inadvertently causes the death of the Soviet Titanium Man during a fight. Returning to the U.S., he faces an enemy commissioned by the government named Firepower. Unable to defeat him head on, Stark fakes Iron Man's demise,[50] intending to retire the suit permanently. When Firepower goes rogue, Stark creates a new suit, claiming a new person is in the armor.

Soon after, Stark is nearly killed by Kathy Dare, a mentally unbalanced former lover. She shoots him dead center in his torso which injures his spine, paralyzing him.[51] Stark undergoes special surgery to have a nerve chip implanted into his spine to regain his mobility.[52] Unbeknownst to the industrialist, the nerve chip is a clandestine means by which to gain control over his body. Rival businessmen the Marrs Twins and their cohort Kearson DeWitt are behind the machinations in what came to be known as "Armor Wars II."[53] After several successful tests by DeWitt at manipulating Stark, Tony finds that using his Encephalo Armor can counteract DeWitt's controls.[54] In response, DeWitt suddenly releases his control resulting in excruciating agony throughout Stark's body.[55] The constant "battle" for control of Stark's nervous system and subsequent abdication on DeWitt's end lead to massive nerve damage throughout Tony's body. Stark's nervous system continues its slide towards failure, and he constructs a "skin" made up of artificial nerve circuitry to assist it.[56] Stark begins to pilot a remote-controlled Iron Man armor, but when faced with the Masters of Silence, the telepresence suit proves inadequate.[57] Stark designs a more heavily armed version of the suit to wear, the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit", which becomes known as the War Machine armor. Ultimately, the damage to his nervous system becomes too extensive. Faking his death, Stark places himself in suspended animation to heal as Rhodes takes over both the running of Stark Enterprises and the mantle of Iron Man, although he uses the War Machine armor.[58] Stark eventually makes a full recovery by using a chip to create an entirely new (artificial) nervous system, and resumes as Iron Man in a new Telepresence Armor.[59] When Rhodes learns that Stark has manipulated his friends by faking his own death, he becomes enraged and the two friends part ways. Rhodes continues on as War Machine in a solo career.

The Avengers story arc "The Crossing" reveals Iron Man as a traitor among the team's ranks, due to years of manipulation by the time-traveling dictator Kang the Conqueror. Stark, as a sleeper agent in Kang's thrall, kills Marilla, the nanny of Crystal and Quicksilver's daughter Luna, as well as Rita DeMara, the female Yellowjacket, then Amanda Chaney, an ally of the Avengers. The "Avengers Forever" limited series retcons these events as the work of a disguised Immortus, not Kang, and that the mental control had gone back only a few months.[60]

Needing help to defeat both Stark and Kang, the team travels back in time to recruit a teenaged Anthony Stark from an alternate timeline to assist them. The young Stark steals an Iron Man suit in order to aid the Avengers against his older self. The sight of his younger self shocks the older Stark enough for him to regain momentary control of his actions, and he sacrifices his life to stop Kang.[61] The young Stark later builds his own suit to become the new Iron Man and remains in the present day.

During the battle with the creature called Onslaught, the teenage Stark dies, along with many other superheroes. Franklin Richards preserves these "dead" heroes in the "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe, in which Stark is once again an adult hero; Franklin recreates the heroes in the pocket universe in the forms he is most familiar with rather than what they are at the present. The reborn adult Stark, upon returning to the normal Marvel Universe, merges with the original Stark, who had died during "The Crossing", but was resurrected by Franklin Richards. This new Anthony Stark possesses the memories of both the original and teenage Anthony Stark, and thus considers himself to be essentially both of them. With the aid of the law firm Nelson & Murdock, he regains his fortune and, with Stark Enterprises having been sold to the Fujikawa Corporation following Stark's death, sets up a new company, Stark Solutions. He returns from the pocket universe with a restored and healthy heart. After the Avengers reform, Stark demands a hearing be convened to look into his actions just prior to the Onslaught incident. Cleared of wrongdoing, he rejoins the Avengers.[62]

2000s

At one point, Stark's armor becomes sentient despite fail-safes to prevent its increasingly sophisticated computer systems from doing so.[63] Initially, Stark welcomes this "living" armor for its improved tactical abilities. The armor begins to grow more aggressive, killing indiscriminately and eventually desiring to replace Stark altogether. In the final confrontation on a desert island, Stark suffers another heart attack. The armor sacrifices its own existence to save its creator's life, giving up essential components to give Stark a new, artificial heart. This new heart solves Stark's health problems, but it does not have an internal power supply, so Stark becomes once again dependent on periodic recharging. The sentient armor incident so disturbs Stark that he temporarily returns to using an unsophisticated early model version of his armor to avoid a repeat incident.[64] He dabbles with using liquid metal circuitry known as S.K.I.N. that forms into a protective shell around his body, but eventually returns to more conventional hard metal armors.[65]

During this time, Stark engages in a romance with Rumiko Fujikawa,[66] a wealthy heiress and daughter of the man who had taken over his company during the "Heroes Reborn" period. Her relationship with Stark endures many highs and lows, including infidelity with Stark's rival, Tiberius Stone, in part because the fun-loving Rumiko believes that Stark is too serious and dull. Their relationship ends with Rumiko's death at the hands of an Iron Man impostor in Iron Man (vol. 3) #87.

In Iron Man (vol. 3) #55 (July 2002), Stark publicly reveals his dual identity as Iron Man, not realizing that by doing so, he has invalidated the agreements protecting his armor from government duplication, since those contracts state that the Iron Man armor would be used by an employee of Tony Stark, not by Stark himself. When he discovers that the United States military is again using his technology, and its defective nature nearly causes a disaster in Washington, D.C. which Iron Man barely manages to avert, Stark accepts a Presidential appointment as Secretary of Defense. In this way, he hopes to monitor and direct how his designs are used.[67]

In the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, Stark is forced to resign after launching into a tirade against the Latverian ambassador at the United Nations, being manipulated by the mentally imbalanced Scarlet Witch, who destroys Avengers Mansion and kills several members. Stark publicly stands down as Iron Man, but continues using the costume. He joins the Avengers in stopping the breakout in progress from the Raft and even saves Captain America from falling.[68] Tony changes the Avengers base to Stark Tower.[69] The Ghost, the Living Laser and Spymaster reappear and shift Iron Man from standard superhero stories to dealing with politics and industrialism.[70]

New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (June 2006) reveals that years before, Stark had participated with a secret group that included the Black Panther, Professor X, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Namor. The goal of the group (dubbed the Illuminati by Marvel) was to strategize overarching menaces, in which the Black Panther rejects a membership offer. Stark's goal is to create a governing body for all superheroes in the world, but the beliefs of its members instead force them all to share vital information.

"Civil War"

In the "Civil War" storyline, after the actions of inexperienced superheroes the New Warriors result in the destruction of several city blocks in Stamford, Connecticut, there is an outcry across America against superhumans. Learning of the Government's proposed plans, Tony Stark suggests a new plan to instigate a Superhuman Registration Act. The Act would force every superpowered individual in the U.S. to register their identity with the government and act as licensed agents. The Act would force inexperienced superhumans to receive training in how to use and control their abilities, something in which Tony strongly believes. Since his struggle with alcoholism, Stark has carried a tremendous burden of guilt after nearly killing an innocent bystander while piloting the armor drunk. While Reed Richards and Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym both agree with Stark's proposal, not everyone does. After Captain America is ordered to bring in anyone who refuses to register, he and other anti-registration superheroes go rogue, coming into conflict with the pro-registration heroes, led by Iron Man. The war ends when Captain America surrenders to prevent further collateral damage and civilian casualties, although he had defeated Stark by defusing his armor. Stark is appointed the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D.,[71] and organizes a new government-sanctioned group of Avengers. Shortly afterwards, Captain America is assassinated while in custody.[72] This leaves Stark with a great amount of guilt and misgivings about the cost of his victory.[73]

"Secret Invasion"

To tie into the 2008 Iron Man feature film, Marvel launched a new Iron Man ongoing series, The Invincible Iron Man, with writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca. The series inaugural six-part storyline was "The Five Nightmares", which saw Stark targeted by Ezekiel Stane, the son of Stark's former nemesis, Obadiah Stane.[74]

In the "Secret Invasion" storyline, after Tony Stark survives an attempt by Ultron to take over his body, he is confronted in the hospital by Spider-Woman, holding the corpse of a Skrull posing as Elektra. Realizing this is the start of an invasion by the Skrulls, Tony reveals the corpse to the Illuminati and declares that they are at war. After Black Bolt reveals himself as a Skrull and is killed by Namor, a squadron of Skrulls attack, forcing Tony to evacuate the other Illuminati members and destroy the area, killing all the Skrulls. Realizing that they are incapable of trusting each other, the members all separate to form individual plans for the oncoming invasion.[75]

Stark is discredited and publicly vilified after his inability to anticipate or prevent the secret infiltration and invasion of Earth by the Skrulls, and by the Skrull disabling of his StarkTech technology, which had a virtual monopoly on worldwide defense.[76] After the invasion, the U.S. government removes him as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and disbands the Avengers, handing control of the Initiative over to Norman Osborn.

"Dark Reign"

Main article: Dark Reign (comics)

See also: The Invincible Iron Man

With his Extremis powers failing, Stark uploads a virus to destroy all records of the Registration Act, thus preventing Osborn from learning the identities of his fellow heroes and anything that Osborn could use, including his repulsor generators. The only copy of the database is in Stark's brain, which he tries to delete while on the run from Osborn.[77] Stark goes so far as to inflict brain damage on himself in order to ensure that the relevant information is wiped. When Osborn catches up to the debilitated Stark and beats him savagely, Pepper Potts broadcasts the beatings worldwide, costing Osborn credibility and giving Stark public sympathy. Stark goes into a vegetative state, having previously granted Donald Blake (alter ego of the superhero Thor) power of attorney.[78] A holographic message stored in Pepper's armor reveals that Stark had developed a means of 'rebooting' his mind from his current state prior to his destruction of the database, with Blake and Bucky resolving to use it to restore him to normal. Meanwhile, Stark is trapped in his subconscious, where figments of his own mind prevent him from returning to the waking world. When the procedure fails to work, Bucky calls in Doctor Strange, who succeeds in restoring Stark back to consciousness. The backup Stark created was made prior to the Civil War, and as such he does not remember anything that took place during the event, although he still concludes after reviewing his past actions that he would not have done anything differently. His brain damage means he is now dependent on an arc reactor to sustain his body's autonomous functions.[79]

2010s

"Siege"

Main article: Siege (comics)

In the "Siege" storyline, Tony Stark is seen under the care of Dr. Donald Blake and Maria Hill when Asgard is attacked.[80] Thor is ambushed by Osborn and the Sentry, but rescued by Hill. Osborn declares martial law and unleashes Daken and the Sentry on Broxton to root out Thor and Hill. Hill returns to Stark's hiding place to move him to a safer location and are joined by Speed of the Young Avengers, who has a set of Iron Man's MK III armor that Edwin Jarvis had given Captain America. While Osborn is battling the New Avengers, Stark appears and disables Osborn's Iron Patriot armor. Osborn orders the Sentry to annihilate Asgard, rather than allow the Avengers to have it. After Asgard falls, Stark stands alongside his fellow heroes, as Osborn exclaims they are all doomed and he 'was saving them from him' pointing up towards a Void-possessed Sentry.[81] As the Void tears apart the teams, Loki gives them the power to fight back through the Norn Stones. The Void kills Loki, enraging Thor. Tony tells Thor to get the Void away from Asgard, which allows Tony to drop a commandeered H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier on the Void. Thor is forced to killed Sentry when the Void resurfaces. Sometime later, the Super-Human Registration Act is repealed and Tony is given back his company and armor. As a symbol for their heroics and their new unity, Thor places an Asgardian tower on Stark Tower where the Watchtower once stood.[82]

"Heroic Age"

Main article: Heroic Age (comics)

In the 2010–2011 "Stark: Resilient" storyline, Tony builds the Bleeding Edge armor with the help of Mister Fantastic. This new armor fully uses the repulsor tech battery embedded in his chest to power Tony's entire body and mind, thus allowing him access to Extremis once more. Furthermore, the battery operates as his "heart" and is the only thing keeping him alive.[83] Tony announces he will form a new company, Stark Resilient. He states that he will no longer develop weapons, but will use his repulsor technology to give free energy to the world. Justine and Sasha Hammer create their own armored hero, Detroit Steel, to take Stark's place as the Army's leading weapons-builder. Stark's plan consists of building two repulsor-powered cars. The Hammers try to foil his efforts. The first car is destroyed by sabotage, while Detroit Steel attacks Stark Resilient's facilities while Tony tests the second car. Through a legal maneuver, Tony is able to get the Hammers to stop their attacks and releases a successful commercial about his new car.[84][85]

"Fear Itself"

In the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Earth is attacked by the Serpent, the God of Fear and the long-forgotten brother of Odin.[86] In Paris, Iron Man fights Grey Gargoyle, who has become Mokk, Breaker of Faith, one of the Serpent's Worthy. Mokk leaves Iron Man unconscious and transforms Detroit Steel and the citizens of Paris into stone.[87][88] To defeat the Serpent's army, Tony drinks a bottle of wine (thus 'sacrificing' his sobriety) to gain an audience with Odin, who allows Tony to enter the realm of Svartalfheim. Tony and the dwarves of Svartalfheim build enchanted weapons.[89] Tony upgrades his armor with uru-infused enchantments and delivers the finished weapons to the Avengers, who use them for the final battle against the Serpent's forces. Iron Man watches as Thor kills the Serpent, but dies in the process. After the battle is over, Tony melts down the weapons he created and repairs Captain America's shield, which had been broken by Serpent, and gives it back to Captain America.[90] During a subsequent argument with Odin about the gods' lack of involvement in the recent crisis, Odin gives Tony a brief opportunity to see the vastness of the universe the way he sees it. As thanks for Tony's role in the recent crisis, Odin restores all the people that the Grey Gargoyle killed during his rampage.[91]

Return of the Mandarin and Marvel NOW!

In the storylines "Demon" and "The Long Way Down", Stark is subpoenaed by the U.S. government after evidence surfaces of him using the Iron Man armor while under the influence. Mandarin and Zeke Stane upgrade some of Iron Man's old enemies and send them to commit acts of terrorism across the world, intending to discredit Iron Man. General Bruce Babbage forces Stark to wear a tech governor, a device that allows Babbage to deactivate Stark's armor whenever he wants. To fight back, Tony undergoes a surgical procedure that expels the Bleeding Edge technology out of his body and replaces his repulsor node with a new model, forcing Babbage to remove the tech governor off his chest. He announces his retirement as Iron Man, faking Rhodes' death and giving him a new armor so that he becomes the new Iron Man.[92] This leads into the next storyline, "The Future", in which the Mandarin takes control of Stark's mind and uses him to create new armored bodies for the alien spirits inhabiting his rings, but Stark allies himself with some of his old enemies, who have also been imprisoned by Mandarin, and manages to defeat him. The final issue of this storyline concluded Matt Fraction's series.[93]

In the ongoing series that premiered in 2012 as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Tony Stark has hit a technological ceiling. After the death of Dr. Maya Hansen and the destruction of all of the Extremis Version 2 kits that were being sold to the black market, Tony decides that the Earth is not safe without him learning more from what's in the final frontier. He takes his new suit, enhanced with an artificial intelligence named P.E.P.P.E.R. and joins Peter Quill and The Guardians of the Galaxy after helping them thwart a Badoon attack on Earth.[94]

Superior Iron Man

Tony Stark's personality is inverted during the events of AXIS, bringing out more dark aspects of himself like irresponsibility, egotism and alcoholism.[95] Stark relocates to San Francisco and builds a new, all-white armor. He supplies the citizens of San Francisco with the Extremis 3.0 app, a version of the techno-virus that offers beauty, health or even immortality, free.[96] When every person in the city viewed Iron Man as a messiah for making their dreams come true, he ended the free trial mode and started charging a daily fee of $99.99, causing many to resort to crime to pay for the upgrade.[97] Daredevil confronts Stark at his new Alcatraz Island penthouse, but is easily brushed off.[98] Iron Man uses Extremis 3.0 to temporarily restore Daredevil's sight, just to prove his point.[99] Daredevil deduces that Stark had added Extremis to the water supply and the phones only transmit an activation signal, but Stark subjects Murdock to minor brain damage to prevent him from sharing this revelation with others.[100]

After discovering that new villain Teen Abomination is the son of Happy Hogan, Stark decides to help him,[101] but this minor act of redemption is too late for Pepper Potts, who attacks Stark with the aid of an A.I. based on Stark's mind.[102] This culminates in a confrontation between the two Starks, as Stark calls on the unwitting aid of all 'infected' with the Extremis upgrade while the A.I. uses Stark's various old armors to attack him.[103] Although Stark technically wins the battle as he destroys his other armors and deletes the A.I. backup, Pepper states that she plans to reveal the truth about his goals with Extremis, bluntly informing him that if he continues his Extremis upgrade project, he will have to do it alone, accepting his fate of being regarded as a monster by all who know him.[104]

Time Runs Out

During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, an attempt at reclaiming Wakanda from the Cabal that Namor had created to destroy incursive Earths results in Tony being held captive in the Necropolis.[105] After the Cabal are apparently killed, the Illuminati free Tony, who is forced to flee due to the Illuminati's unwillingness to let Stark be there with them when they meet Rogers and the Avengers. When the Shi'ar and their allies arrive to destroy Earth, the Avengers and the Illuminati unsuccessfully try to retaliate. Iron Man uses Sol's Hammer to destroy the fleet.[106] The incursions continue, and Rogers confronts Stark about what he knows. A fight ensues between them and Stark admits that he had lied and had known about the incursions all along. During the final incursion, Earth-1610's S.H.I.E.L.D. launches a full-scale attack on Earth-616, during which Stark and Rogers are crushed by a Helicarrier.[107]

All-New, All-Different Marvel

After the events of the Secret Wars crossover, Stark returns to his normal self with no signs of his inverted personality. Eight months following the return of the universe as seen in the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" event, Tony works in his laboratory non-stop after his position as an innovator had been put in doubt. Because an M.I.T. student reverse-engineered some of his technology, Stark develops a new armor which can change shape according to the situation he would find himself. When Stark's new A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y. informs him that Madame Masque has broken into the ruins of Castle Doom, he travels to Latveria to invfestigate and runs into some revolutionaries who are then defeated by a man in a suit. To his amazement, Iron Man's armor computer identifies him as Doctor Doom with his face restored. Doctor Doom claims that he wanted to help Iron Man.[108]

After learning from Doctor Doom that Madame Masque has taken a decoy of the Wand of Watoomb, Tony Stark confronts Madame Masque. Upon learning that Madame Masque is not allied with Doctor Doom, Tony is attacked by her with a burst of energy that damages his armor.[109] F.R.I.D.A.Y. manages to gain control of the suit and takes Tony to a safe location. Iron Man tracks Madame Masque to Marina del Rey. After finding a tape recorder with her messages, Tony is attacked by several black silhouettes with swords.[110]

Iron Man escapes the ninjas that are attacking him and manages to defeat most of them, but they kill themselves before he can interrogate any of them. Iron Man and Doctor Doom arrive at Mary Jane Watson's newest Chicago night club Jackpot when Madame Masque attacks it.[111] As Mary Jane distracts Madame Masque by knocking off her mask, Iron Man and Doctor Doom discover that Madame Masque is possessed by a demon. Doctor Doom is able to perform an exorcism on her.

Doctor Strange arrives and tells Iron Man he will take Madame Masque with him to fix her metaphysically and then hand her over at S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man also informs him of Doctor Doom's help who had left the scene some time ago. Three days later, Iron Man offers Mary Jane a job to make up for the damage to her nightclub.[112] After speaking with War Machine, Tony Stark meets up at a diner with Amara Perera when they are unexpectedly joined by Doctor Doom who wanted to make sure that the demonic possession that affected Madame Masque has not affected Stark or Amara.[113] Stark shows Mary Jane the demonstration on the people that he will be working with. They are interrupted by F.R.I.D.A.Y. who tells Tony that War Machine is missing. Before heading to Tokyo, Tony receives from Mary Jane the emergency number for Peter Parker. In Tokyo, Iron Man is contacted by Spider-Man at War Machine's last known location as he is being observed by ninjas.[114]

During the Civil War II storyline, Iron Man protests the logic of using precognitive powers to stop future crimes after the recently emerged Inhuman Ulysses predicted Thanos's attack on Project Pegasus. Three weeks later, Iron Man is summoned to the Triskelion after War Machine is killed in battle against Thanos. When Iron Man learns that War Machine and the Ultimates used Ulysses' power to ambush Thanos, he vows to stop anyone from using that power again.[115] Iron Man infiltrates New Attilan and makes off with Ulysses. At Stark Tower, Iron Man vows to find out how Ulysses' precognition works. The Inhumans attack Stark Tower but are stopped by the Avengers, the Ultimates, and S.H.I.E.L.D. During the confrontation, Ulysses has another vision which he projects to Iron Man and everyone present, showing a rampaging Hulk standing over the corpses of the defeated superheroes.[116] The heroes confront Banner, who is killed by Hawkeye. Barton claims that Banner was about to transform and Banner had previously asked Hawkeye to kill him if he should turn back into the Hulk. Tony is disgusted at this use of Ulysses' power. When his analysis of Ulysses brain is completed,[117] Tony reveals that Ulysses does not actually see the future, but simply assembles large quantities of data to project likely outcomes. While Danvers continues to use the visions as a resource, Tony objects to the concept of profiling people. This results in a stand-off when Tony's side abducts a woman from custody after Ulysses' visions identified her as a deep-cover HYDRA agent, despite the lack of supporting evidence.[118]

Iron Man learns that his biological mother was actually Amanda Armstrong, who had given him up for adoption and that his biological father was a Hydra double agent named Jude. S.H.I.E.L.D. had Armstrong's baby adopted by Howard and Maria Stark.[119]

Marvel NOW! 2016

In July 2016, it was announced that Tony Stark would hand off the mantle of Iron Man to a 15-year-old girl named Riri Williams. Riri is an MIT student who built her own Iron Man suit out of scrap pieces and, as such, attracted Stark's attention. Early depictions of Williams' suit depict it without the Arc Reactor, but leaves the power source for the suit unclear.[120] Another Iron Man-based series titled Infamous Iron Man debuted featuring Doctor Doom sporting his version of the Iron Man armor.[121] This is revealed to be the result of serious injuries sustained by Stark during his final confrontation with Captain Marvel. Danvers' beating leaves Stark in a coma, but he is left alive due to unspecified experiments Stark has carried out on himself over the years.[122]

Existing as an A.I.

Following the revelation that Stark experimented on himself at the end of Civil War II, Beast concludes that the only option is to let the experiments do their job in healing Tony and recover on his own. In Invincible Iron Man #1, an employee of Stark sends Riri Williams an artificial intelligence housing a copy of Tony Stark's consciousness to help her control and mentor in her own version of the Iron Man armor. This A.I. is directly copied from Tony's brain, granting sentience, with Williams commenting on Stark existing as a "techno-ghost". As an A.I., Stark can walk around as a hard-light object and gains the ability to remote control his vast armory of Iron Man suits. In The Mighty Captain Marvel #3, the Tony Stark A.I. goes to Antarctica and visits Captain Marvel with the intent on settling their differences from the Second Civil War, she apologizes to him for her regrets, reconciles with him eventually and they become allies once more. Then in Secret Empire, the Tony Stark A.I. suits up as Iron Man once again and learns of Captain America's betrayal to Hydra and how he ended up like this. As Hydra tightens its grip across America, the Tony Stark A.I. leads a team known as the Underground to find the Cosmic Cubes to restore Rogers to his normal self. When things start to escalate, Tony and his crew go rogue and in search for answers for the Cube. As Iron Man and the Underground search for them they are intercepted by Captain America and his Hydra team. With both teams encountering each other, they are captured by the Ultron/Hank Pym hybrid, who forces both teams to sit at a dinner table. During "dinner", Ultron reveals information about the Hydra Avengers - such as Odinson working with Hydra to reclaim Mjolnir, Scarlet Witch being possessed by Chthon, and Vision being affected by an A.I. virus. Ultron argues that he is doing this because the Avengers have become less of a family over the years as so many of them jump to obey Captain America or Iron Man, despite past experience confirming that this is not always a good idea, but Tony counters that the only reason the team failed as a family was because of Hank's abuse towards Wasp. Enraged, Ultron is about to kill everyone, but Ant-Man is able to calm him down by arguing that Hank remains his own inspiration. Ultron allows the Underground to leave with the fragment, arguing that neither side should have an advantage over the other. Back in America, Hydra Supreme has put Namor in a position where he will be forced to sign a peace treaty that gives Rogers access to the Cosmic Cube fragment in Atlantis, but Hydra Supreme muses that he is unconcerned about who will acquire the fragments, as he has an inside man in the Underground. After the Mount was attacked by Thor and the resurrected Hulk led by Hydra, the Underground evacuated the civilians thanks to Hawkeye and the rest of the heroes. Captain America and Iron Man fight as the Mount collapses around them. The Tony Stark A.I. initiates the Mount's "Clean Slate Protocol", and blows up the Mount, killing Madame Hydra, then apologizes to Steve Rogers about their past differences, but the A.I survives and, in the aftermath, helps the heroes pull the pieces back together to take down Hydra. When Iron Man confronts Hydra Supreme, he and the other heroes are easily overpowered by him and watch the original Captain America defeat his Hydra self and into celebrating their victory.[123]

Marvel Legacy

Mary Jane Watson and other Stark employees find that Stark's body has completely vanished from its pod, despite tests taken mere hours ago showing no sign of improvement or brain activity.[124] It was discovered that Tony Stark's comatose body was taken to the Stark Industries Complex in Dover.[125] Upon awakening when his biological systems rebooted, Tony Stark went into hiding until he fully recovered.[126] Wanting to make sure that James Rhodes was in a similar state that he was in, Tony Stark exhumed his body from Arlington Cemetery and kick-started the biological systems in him. Afterwards, Iron Man and War Machine fought Hood to keep Stark Industries from falling into Hood's hands where he switched to a version of his Extremis armor. Then he proceeded to defeat Jude when he turned up alive.[127]

During "The Ultron Agenda" arc, Iron Man went up against the Ultron/Hank Pym who begun a plan to merge humans with robots while taking up the name "Ultron Pym." Iron Man was briefly fused with his armor. After using Stark Unlimited's atomic separator on himself, Iron Man figured out that Hank Pym was dead the moment he accidentally fused with Ultron. Not wanting to prove Tony right, Ultron Pym surrendered to Iron Man and the Avengers. As it turned out that Iron Man actually died during the Civil War II storyline, Arno Stark used this to his advantage to acquire Stark Unlimited through a merger with Baintronics. With the combined resources, he built the Iron Man Armor Model 66 as his attempt to recreate the Godbuster Armor. Now having a new destiny, Arno Stark became the latest person to take on the Iron Man mantle.[128]

Because of his revelation that he is now a simulated A.I., Tony Stark became Mark One and started to establish the A.I. Army which also consists of Albert, Awesome Android, H.E.R.B.I.E., M-11, Machine Man, Machinesmith, Quasimodo, the Dreadnoughts, a Sentinel, several Constructo-Bots, several Nick Fury LMDs, and an unnamed bomb disposal robot. This group of robots and androids want to obtain equal rights with organic beings through whatever way possible. Mark One provided them with a hideout on Floor Thirteen, a solid light construct that can only be accessed by robots and androids. With the establishment of Floor Thirteen, Mark One keeps the A.I. Army safe from their enemies and oppressors.[129]

Powers, abilities, and equipment

Armor

Main article: Iron Man's armor

The Bleeding Edge Armor, like the Extremis Armor before it, is stored in Stark's bones, and can be assembled and controlled by his thoughts

Iron Man possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength and durability, flight, and an array of weapons. The armor is invented and worn by Stark (with occasional short-term exceptions). Other people who have assumed the Iron Man identity include Stark's long-time partner and best friend James Rhodes;[130] close associates Harold "Happy" Hogan; Eddie March;[131][132] (briefly) Michael O'Brien and Riri Williams.

The weapons systems of the suit have changed 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 the farther they travel, the harder they hit); an electromagnetic pulse generator; and a defensive energy shield that can be extended up to 360 degrees. Other capabilities include: generating ultra-freon (i.e., a freeze-beam); creating and manipulating magnetic fields; emitting sonic blasts; and projecting 3-dimensional holograms (to create decoys).

In addition to the general-purpose model he wears, Stark has developed several specialized suits for space travel,[38] deep-sea diving, stealth,[39][40] and other special purposes. Stark has modified suits, like the Hulkbuster heavy armor. The Hulkbuster armor is composed of add-ons to his so-called modular armor, designed to enhance its strength and durability enough to engage the Hulk in a fight. A later model, created with the help of Odin and the Asgardian metal Uru, is similar to the Destroyer. Stark develops an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when attached to armors that use Stark technologies, will burn out those components, rendering the suit useless. This pack is ineffective on later models. While it is typically associated with James Rhodes, the War Machine armor began as one of Stark's specialty armors.

The most recent models of Stark's armor, beginning with the Extremis armor, are now stored in the hollow portions of Stark's bones, and the personal area networking implement used to control it is implanted into his forearm, and connected directly to his central nervous system.

The Extremis has since been removed, and he now uses more conventional armors. Some armors still take a liquid form, but are not stored within his body. His Endo-Sym Armor incorporates a combination of the liquid smart-metal with the alien Venom symbiote, psionically controlled by Stark.

Post-Secret Wars, Stark uses a more streamlined suit of armor that uses nanotechnology to shape shift into other armors or weapons.[133]

Powers

After being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injects his nervous system with modified techno-organic virus-like body restructuring machines (the Extremis process).[134] By rewriting his own biology, Stark is able to save his life, gain an enhanced healing factor, and partially merge with the Iron Man armor, superseding the need for bulky, AI-controlled armors in favor of lighter designs, technopathically controlled by his own brain. His enhanced technopathy extends to every piece of technology, limitless and effortlessly due to his ability to interface with communication satellites and wireless connections to increase his "range". Some components of the armor-sheath are now stored in Tony's body, able to be recalled, and extruded from his own skin, at will.

During the "Secret Invasion" storyline the Extremis package is catastrophically shut down by a virus, forcing him again to rely on the previous iteration of his armor, and restoring his previous limitations. Furthermore, Osborn's takeover of most of the few remaining Starktech factories, with Ezekiel Stane systematically crippling the others, limits Tony to the use of lesser, older and weaker armors.[135]

After being forced to "wipe out" his brain to prevent Norman Osborn from gaining his information, Tony Stark is forced to have a new arc reactor, of Rand design installed in his chest. The process greatly improves his strength, stamina and intellect. The procedure left him with virtually no autonomic functions: as his brain was stripped of every biological function, Tony is forced to rely on a digital backup of his memories (leaving him with severe gaps and lapses in his long-term memory) and on software routine in the arc reactor for basic stimuli reaction, such as blinking and breathing.[136][137] The Bleeding Edge package of armor and physical enhancement is now equal in power, if not a more advanced, version of the old Extremis tech.[83]

Skills

Tony Stark is an inventive genius whose expertise in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science rivals that of Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner, and his expertise in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering surpasses even theirs. He is regarded as one of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe. He graduated with advanced degrees in physics and engineering at the age of 17 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)[138] and further developed his knowledge ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum mechanics as time progressed. His expertise extends to his ingenuity in dealing with difficult situations, such as difficult foes and deathtraps, in which he is capable of using available tools, including his suit, in unorthodox but effective ways. He is well respected in the business world, able to command people's attention when he speaks on economic matters, having over the years built up several multimillion-dollar companies from virtually nothing. He is noted for the loyalty he commands from and returns to those who work for him, as well as for his business ethics. Thus he immediately fired an employee who made profitable, but illegal, sales to Doctor Doom.[47] He strives to be environmentally responsible in his businesses.

At a time when Stark was unable to use his armor for a period, he received some combat training from Captain America and has become physically formidable on his own when the situation demands it.[139] In addition, Stark possesses great business and political acumen. On multiple occasions he reacquired control of his companies after losing them amid corporate takeovers.[140]

Due to his membership in the Illuminati, Iron Man was given the Space Infinity Gem to safeguard.[141] It allows the user to exist in any location (or all locations), move any object anywhere throughout the universe and warp or rearrange space.

Supporting characters

Main article: List of Iron Man supporting characters

Other versions

Main article: Alternative versions of Iron Man

In other media

Main article: Iron Man in other media

See also: Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, as depicted in the film Iron Man 3.

In 1966, Iron Man was featured in a series of cartoons.[142] In 1981, Iron Man guest appeared in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, but only as Tony Stark.[143] He went on to feature again in his own series in the 1990s as part of the Marvel Action Hour with the Fantastic Four; Robert Hays provided his voice in these animated cartoons. Iron Man makes an appearance in the episode "Shell Games" of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Apart from comic books, Iron Man appears in Capcom's "Vs." video games, including Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Iron Man is a playable character in Iron Man, the 1992 arcade game Captain America and the Avengers, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and its sequel, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, as well as being featured as an unlockable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and Tony Hawk's Underground.[144] In the 2009 animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, most of the characters, including Tony Stark, are teenagers. An anime adaptation began airing in Japan in October 2010 as part of a collaboration between Marvel Animation and Madhouse, in which Stark, voiced by Keiji Fujiwara, travels to Japan where he ends up facing off against the Zodiac.[145]

Iron Man suit Mark VI from Iron Man 2 (premiered in 2010)

In 2008, a film adaptation titled Iron Man was released, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and directed by Jon Favreau. Iron Man received very positive reviews from film critics,[146] grossing $318 million domestically and $585 million worldwide, and became the first in a series of over 20 films known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[147] The character of Tony Stark, again played by Robert Downey Jr., appeared at the end of the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. Downey reprised his role in Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the upcoming Black Widow (2020).[148][149]

In 2009, Playtech released an online casino slot machine game called Iron Man. After that they created two more games, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3.[150]

In October 2016, Eoin Colfer released a young adult novel called Iron Man: The Gauntlet.[151]

Cultural influence and legacy

Basically I'm here to announce that we are building Iron Man.

— The 44th President of the United States Barack Obama made a surprise announcement at a press conference at the White House, when he revealed details of the creation of "Manufacturing Innovation Institutes" in Chicago and Detroit.[152]

• The rapper Ghostface Killah, a member of Wu-Tang Clan, titled his 1996 debut solo album Ironman, and has since continued to use lyrics related to the Iron Man comics and samples from the animated TV shows on his records.[153][154] He has adopted the nickname Tony Starks as one of his numerous alter-egos,[154] and was featured in a scene deleted from the Iron Man film.
• Paul McCartney's song "Magneto and Titanium Man" was inspired by the X-Men's nemesis and the original version of the Iron Man villain. Another Iron Man villain, the Crimson Dynamo, is mentioned in the lyrics to this song.[155][156]
• The British band Razorlight mentions Tony Stark in a verse of their song, "Hang By, Hang By".[157]
• The character of Nathan Stark on the television show Eureka is inspired by Tony Stark.[158]
• In 2011, IGN ranked Iron Man 12th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.[2]
• Two Iron Man-themed trucks compete in the Monster Jam monster truck racing series. Debuted in Atlanta on 9 January 2010, they are driven by Lee O' Donnell and Morgan Kane.[159]
• In 2015, University of Central Florida engineering student Albert Manero, who builds and donates affordable 3D-printed bionic limbs to those in need, constructed a bionic arm based on Iron Man's suit for 7-year-old Alex Pring, a superhero fan who was born with a partially formed right arm. He then delivered the Iron Man arm to Pring with the help of Robert Downey Jr. in character as Tony Stark.[160]
• For Major League Baseball Players Weekend in August 2018, New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres designed his custom cleats after Iron Man's suit.[161]
• A TV show demonstrated a hovering bullet-mitigating suit with some of the official Marvel design features in 2019.[162][163]

See also

• List of Iron Man enemies

References

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2. "Iron Man – Top 100 Comic Book Heroes". IGN. 2011. Archived from the original on March 29, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
3. "The Top 50 Avengers". IGN. April 30, 2012. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
4. DeFalco, Tom; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1960s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 91. ISBN 978-0756641238. Set against the background of the Vietnam War, Iron Man signaled the end of Marvel's monster/suspense line when he debuted in Tales of Suspense #39...[Stan] Lee discussed the general outline for Iron Man with Larry Lieber, who later wrote a full script for the origin story. Don Heck...designed the new character."CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
5. Lee, Stan (1975). Son of Origins of Marvel Comics. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 45. ISBN 978-0671221669.
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8. Lee, Son of Origins of Marvel Comics pp. 46-48
9. "Mask of the Iron Man". Game Informer (177): 81. January 2008.
10. Lee, Stan (December 1997). "Stan's Soapbox" from "Bullpen Bulletins" Marvel Comics.
11. Lee, Son of Origins, p. 47.
12. Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 99. ISBN 9780810938212.
13. Coates, John (2014). Don Heck: A Work of Art. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1605490588.
14. Heck, quoted in Peel, John (March–April 1985). "A Signing Session with Don Heck". Comics Feature (34). p. 18.
15. Wright, Bradford (2001). Comic Book Nation. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 336. ISBN 0-8018-6514-X.
16. DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 99: "Following the tradition of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu and Atlas' own Yellow Claw, the Mandarin first appeared in Tales of Suspense #50 in a story written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Don Heck."
17. DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 100: "The Black Widow was a Russian spy assigned to capture American industrialist Tony Stark...Her story was plotted by Stan Lee, written by...Don Rico, and drawn by Don Heck."
18. DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 101: "A case of mistaken identity led the police to assume [Hawkeye] was part of [a criminal] gang. The Black Widow saved him from capture but also tricked him into fighting Iron Man"
19. Lewis, A. David (January 2008). "Graphic Responses: Comic Book Superheroes' Militarism Post 9/11". Americana: The Institute for the Study of American Popular Culture. Archived from the original on March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
20. Genter, Robert (December 2007). "'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility:' Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics". The Journal of Popular Culture. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. 40 (6): 953–978 and 965–969. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00480.x.
21. Beard, Jim (July 12, 2007). "Spotlight on Iron Man/Tony Stark". Marvel Comics. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
22. DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 128: "Hailing 1968 as the beginning of the 'Second Age of Marvel Comics,' and with more titles to play with, editor Stan Lee discarded his split books and gave more characters their own titles."
23. Manning, Matthew K. "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 280: "Part of the 'Heroes Reborn' event, Iron Man was relaunched into a new universe courtesy of writer Scott Lobdell and Jim Lee, with pencils by Whilce Portacio."
24. Iron Man (II) Archived 2013-09-29 at the Wayback Machine in the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
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Further reading

• Will Cooley and Mark C. Rogers, "Ike's Nightmare: Iron Man and the Military-Industrial Complex," in Ages of Iron Man, Joseph Dorowski, ed., 2015. ISBN 978-0-7864-7842-2
• Tom DeFalco, Avengers: The Ultimate Guide, Dorling Kindersley, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7566-1461-4
• Mark D. White (ed.), Iron Man and Philosophy: Facing the Stark Reality, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 978-0-4704-8218-6

External links

• Iron Man at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Iron Man (Tony Stark) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• "Stark Reality: A Different Hero for Different Times" by Ian Chant - PopMatters.com
• Advanced Iron (fanzine)
• Iron Man Library
• Tony Stark on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki
• Tony Stark at Spider-Man Wiki