2011

Events that occurred in the year 2011 CE. It is the second year of the Heroic Age.
== Events ==
=== January ===
* January 7th: 
** Iron Man tracks a shipment down of first generation Tellor Propellant Rifles made by Stark Industries. The weapons were set to be destroyed after Tony Stark made the decision to no longer provide any weapons. Instead, the shipment got diverted by an unknown hacker to a different location. While the shipments get unloaded, Iron Man stops the guards and successfully destroys the weapons.
** Meanwhile Pepper Potts and Stark Industries employee Jesse Quesada try to track down the hacker, but find no trace.
* January 9th: Jesse Quesada discovers that the email was sent by hackers who mined her computer, scanned her passwords and then subsequently got access to the Stark Industries computer mainframe. The hacker exploited Tony by stealing his online identity, buying expensive art, philanthropic funding and spending money on extravagant parties. Iron Man is able to track down hacker to Genoa, Italy.
* January 10th:
** Iron Man arrives at a local carnival in Genoa which is sponsored by Tony Stark's own money via the hacker. While he circles the carnival he is spotted by Ten Rings insurgents, who are led by the wealthy businessman Cordo Gaines. Iron Man engages the Ten Rings insurgents, whose weapons are supplied with Stark Industries chips. After discovering this, Iron Man is able to remotely turn off the weapons and then defeat his attackers. Cordo Gaines is revealed to have been the mystery hacker, and he and his men are subsequently arrested. Following this event, Tony Stark decides to extend the Genoa carnival for another week.
* January 21st: 
** Nick Fury sends in a team of United States Navy SEALs to board a ship controlled by the Ten Rings in the port of Aden, Yemen. The SEALS engage the enemy but find themselves in a tight spot. Luckily, Iron Man suddenly appears and attacks the terrorists, defeating them and saving the SEALs.
=== February ===
* February 12th: A photograph of the Mark I Iron Man Armor is uploaded online.
* February 22nd: 
** Iron Man saves an airman in the Congo who was test-piloting a vehicle designed by Justin Hammer under the orders of Thunderbolt Ross. Afterward, Iron Man meets General Ross himself for the first time. 
** Tony Stark realizes the palladium core of his Arc Reactor is slowly poisoning him. Though he begins to search for a cure, he decides to keep the condition a secret from his friends.
=== March ===
* March 4th: Tony Stark trials a new system for the Iron Man suit's delivery, but it fails.
* March 30th: 
** The first promotional video is released for the upcoming Stark Expo 2011 in Flushing Meadows, New York City, due to start on May 7th, 2011. A website is launched to accompany the announcement to promote the exposition - the first Stark Expo since 1974.
** Along with the site and first video, Stark Expo 2011 releases an old promotional video for Stark Expo 74, the last Expo until now, advertising it as a "dream of tomorrow, realized today," and featuring Howard Stark. The old video invites viewers to join them for the opening in April 1974.
=== April ===
*April 1st: 
** In Germany, Tony Stark is on a business trip to make a partnership between Stark Industries and Gorani Insurance. He is stopped on the road by a policeman, who tells him that 15 million dollars’ worth of paintings have been stolen from a museum and describes the car of the thieves; he then lets Stark pass. 
** Later, Tony Stark fixes the flat tire of a young woman. Further along the road he discovers a car matching the description of the car the policemen described earlier. Stark opens the trunk and finds all the paintings inside. The criminals return and open fire on Stark, but he fends them off with the glove of the Mark IV Iron Man Armor. He manages to return the paintings to the museum and get to the meeting, where he meets the same woman whose tire he repaired. The woman is Evetta Gorani, the heir to Gorani Insurance. Her father and Gorani Insurance's current president Michael Gorani explains to him that the the paintings he recovered were insured by Gorani, meaning Stark saved the company over one hundred million dollars. He successfully starts a business partnership with Gorani.
* April 5th: In Melbourne, Australia, Cordco films its annual product presentation. Managing director Karl Oakley demonstrates a sonic fire extinguisher, adapted from Mark IV Iron Man technology for the upcoming Stark Expo 2011.
* April 7th: AccuTech release their video for Stark Expo 2011, in which CEO Charles Healey introduces the HazTech Exoskeleton, which is further discussed by Klaus Haas, head of Research and Development, explaining its uses for rehabilitative purposes.
* April 12th: Having now settled in Rocinha, Brazil, Bruce Banner has an accident that causes a drop of his blood to fall into a soda bottle. Though he finds and cleans up some of the blood, a small amount escapes his notice and is contaminates some bottles bound for the United States. Bruce sends a sample of his blood to Dr. Samuel Sterns, who helps him by conducting further experiments with it. 
* April 17th: Cordco release the video of their Melbourne presentation 12 days prior, the fourth video released for Stark Expo 2011.
* April 23rd: Stark-Fujikawa releases the final video in the leadup to the opening of Stark Expo 2011 in a fortnight, demonstrating the virtual reality Heads Up Display glasses "Stark HUD 2020" on the streets of Tokyo, and filming the reactions of impressed users.
=== May ===
* May 7th: 
** The Stark Expo 2011 has its opening ceremony, and is due to then run for a year, followed by a closing ceremony.
** Tony Stark is summoned to a senate hearing in Washington, D.C..
* May 8th: Tony Stark appears before the United States Senate. It is chaired by Pennsylvania Senator Garry Stern, who urges him to give the Mark IV Iron Man Armor, built six months ago, to the American military, and calls Lt. Col. James Rhodes and Hammer Industries CEO Justin Hammer to testify against him. Tony refuses to surrender the suit, pointing out that although North Korea and Iran are working to replicate the technology, they are years away from being able to do so. He also reveals Hammer Industries has had its share of failures attempting to replicate the technology as well, leading to the cancellation of Hammer Industries' contacts with the Department of Defense.
* May 12th: 
** Tony Stark appoints Pepper Potts as the new chairman and CEO of Stark Industries.
** In Russia, an agent of the Ten Rings supplies Ivan Vanko assistance in infiltrating the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.
** Natasha Romanoff is ordered by Nick Fury to go undercover at Stark Industries.
* May 14th: Thunderbolt Ross' unit, having traced Bruce Banner to the bottling factory he was working at, raids Rocinha under the field command of Emil Blonsky. Bruce transforms into the Hulk, breaking his 190-day streak without incident, then defeats the task force and escapes.
* May 15th: Bruce Banner wakes up in Guatemala and decides to travel back to Culver University, where he and Betty Ross had begun working on the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, to see if any data on his original project remains. Over the next sixteen days, he travels through Central America and the US, towards Willowdale, Virginia.
* May 19th: Rhodey Rhodes tries to negotiate a compromise between Tony Stark and the Pentagon. While Rhodey and Tony are arguing, Tony challenges him to try on one of his Iron Man suits and go for a ride with him. Rhodey accepts and takes the Mark II, arguing with Iron Man throughout the flight. 
* May 20th: Bruce Banner makes his way through Chiapas, Mexico.
* May 21st: Tony Stark signs paperwork to transfer executive power to Pepper Potts, and meets his new personal assistant, "Natalie Rushman".
* May 22nd: Tony Stark updates his design log again, recounting the opening of the Stark Expo. Tony then finishes the assembling of his Mark V Iron Man Armor, and leaves to board a plane to Monaco for the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.
* May 23rd: 
** At the Circuit de Monaco, Tony Stark replaces Team Stark's regular driver in Race G (much to the driver's chagrin). Ivan Vanko, now calling himself Whiplash, attacks him during the race. Tony suits up as Iron Man in the Mark V armor using the suitcase-delivery system and defeats Whiplash. 
** Later that evening, Tony Stark questions Whiplash in custody before flying back to the United States of America with Pepper Potts.
* May 24th: 
** Justin Hammer orchestrates Whiplash's escape from prison to have him work on Hammer Industries' own weapon-suit program. He then has Whiplash board a plan bound for New York City.
** Whiplash arrives at the Hammer Industries Headquartersin New York City and meets Justin Hammer. Whiplash then begins revamping Hammer's own battle suit prototypes into unmanned, remote-controlled drones.
** Media speculation continues about Tony Stark's fitness to continue as Iron Man. Rhodey tries to convince him to hand over the Iron Man suits to the United States Air Force, but he continues to refuse.
* May 29th: 
** Nick Fury is informed that Tony Stark has 72 hours left to live due to his palladium poisoning.
** On Tony Stark's birthday, he is inconsolable over his inability to solve his palladium poisoning dilemma and gets drunk, which leads to a confrontation with James Rhodes, who dons the Mark II Iron Man Armor. The scuffle wrecks a portion of Stark Mansion. Afterward, Rhodey leaves with the Mark II suit.
** Bruce Banner passes through US customs. Nick Fury leaves the Triskelion to meet with Tony Stark, carrying lithium to slow the palladium's poisoning. Before leaving, he orders S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jasper Sitwell to continue tracking Banner.
* May 30th: 
** Dr. Jane Foster contacts Dr. Erik Selvig by email, who flies out to New Mexico to help her monitor atmospheric disturbances in the region. Her message is intercepted by S.H.I.E.L.D.
** In Asgard, Prince Thor's coronation is interrupted when King Odin senses a break-in in his treasure room. The culprits are discovered to be invading Frost Giants, and the Destroyer is sent to dispatch them. Thor is enraged at what he sees as an act of war, but Odin decides on a more cautious response. 
** Rhodey Rhodes flies to the Edwards Air Force Base and delivers the Mark II suit to the military. Nick Fury finds Tony Stark at Randy's Donuts, injects him with lithium and confines him to house arrest. Natalie Rushman, Tony's secretary, reveals herself to be Natasha Romanoff, better known as the Black Widow, and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..
** General Eric Meade orders Justin Hammer to upgrade the captured Mark II armor with new weaponry. Rhodey, however, secretly removes the suit's powering Arc Reactor.
** Tony Stark visits Pepper Potts at Stark Industries Headquarters, where she mentions Hammer is hosting a presentation at the Stark Expo the next day. Returning home, Tony makes an intuitive breakthrough on how to fix his palladium problem through the creation of a new element theorized by his father and hidden in the layout of the Stark Expo.
** Thor, Sif, Loki, and the Warriors Three travel to Jotunheim to seek justice for the actions of the Frost Giants. A fight breaks out between the Asgardians and Frost Giants, but Odin arrives riding Sleipnir to break up the fight.
* May 31st: 
** Returning to Asgard, Odin berates Thor for his reckless actions, stripping him of his godly power and casting him out of Asgard.
** Nick Fury reassigns Agent Phil Coulson from monitoring Tony Stark to investigate atmospheric activity in New Mexico. Coulson leaves that afternoon.
**Tony Stark builds a small particle accelerator to create the new element, dubbed "Starkium", using equipment owned by Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S..
** 17 days after the ambush in Rio de Janeiro, Bruce Banner arrives at Culver University. He sees Betty Ross, but decides not approach her.
** Justin Hammer's Stark Expo presentation is hijacked by Whiplash, who uses the drones to attack Iron Man and the crowd, including a 10-year-old Peter Parker.
** Iron Man flies to the Expo to stop Whiplash, defeating the Hammer Drones with the help of Rhodey, now suited up in the modified Mark II armor as War Machine, and receives additional assistance from the Black Widow and Happy Hogan. Whiplash is killed in an explosion that destroys the Oracle Pavilion, while Justin Hammer is arrested for breaking Whiplash out of prison. Tony flies Pepper Potts to safety and they kiss, agreeing to start a romantic relationship. Rhodey decides to keep the War Machine armor for himself.
** Before leaving Hammer Industries Headquarters, Black Widow downloads all of the information stored on Hammer's mainframe and destroys the facility. 
** Phil Coulson arrives at a S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost in Roswell, New Mexico to assemble his team of agents.
** Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis detect a possible Einstein-Rosen Bridge in the nearby desert and discover the powerless Thor at its epicenter. He provokes Lewis with his aggressive behavior, but they subdue him with a tazer and take him to a local hospital.
** Bruce Banner goes to his old friend and pizzeria owner Stanley Lieber to hide out. Lieber offers Bruce the pizza shop's upstairs spare bedroom.
** On his way from Roswell to Puente Antiguo, Agent Phil Coulson prevents an armed robbery at a gas station.
=== June ===
* June 1st: 
** Nick Fury sends Hawkeye to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico to assist Phil Coulson.
** In Puente Antiguo, a local man discovers Thor's hammer, Mjølnir, in a crater about 50 miles west of the town. Unable to lift it, he calls several other people to give it a try. Jane Foster helps Thor escape from the hospital where he is being held and takes him back to her workplace.
** Phil Coulson arrives in New Mexico and discovers the site of Mjølnir. S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly quarantines the area and erects a portable laboratory over the site to study the hammer. Hawkeye arrives later in the day.
** Loki discovers his true heritage: Laufey, the King of the Frost Giants, is his real father. After confessing the truth Odin collapses and enters the Odinsleep. Sif and the Warriors Three suspect Loki's treachery.
** Bruce Banner poses as a pizza delivery man to get access to Culver University's computer labs and research database. On the way, he is accidentally seen by Betty Ross, and she has him stay the night at her home. Ross' boyfriend Leonard Samson secretly informs the military of Bruce's whereabouts.
** Following the battle with Whiplash at the Stark Expo the night before, Tony Stark updates his design log one final time for "Day 199", recounting the duel with Rhodey on his birthday, and the fight with Whiplash.
** Thor, posing as Dr. Donald Blake, and Jane Foster head towards the site of the S.H.I.E.L.D. installation erected around Mjølnir. Thor sneaks in and tries to lift Mjolnir, but fails and is captured. Loki appears before Thor, who is being held at the S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, and claims Odin is dead. Later, Erik Selvig goes to the installation and manages to get Phil Coulson to release Thor into his custody.
** Emil Blonsky receives an unauthorized "low dose" injection of Weapon Plus Serum, the product of unauthorized experiments carried out by Thunderbolt Ross during the early 2000s.
** Predicting an imminent move from General Thunderbolt Ross, Nick Fury sends Black Widow to spy on Bruce Banner.
** After a night of drinking with Erik Selvig, Thor explains the concept of the Nine Realms to Jane.
* June 2nd: 
** Sif and the Warriors Three arrive on Earth to find Thor. Loki sends the Destroyer after them.
** At Culver University, Betty Ross walks Bruce Banner to the bus station in the early morning. As they are crossing the campus, they are attacked by Thunderbolt Ross' forces and Emil Blonsky, who seems to adapt well to the Weapon Plus upgrade. Bruce transforms into the Hulk and engages the military to defend Betty, making sure to swallow the data he had retrieved earlier in order to keep it safe. Despite his new superhuman abilities, Blonsky is still beaten by the Hulk, getting nearly every bone in his body pulverized. Black Widow witnesses Bruce's transformation and Blonsky's enhanced performance from afar. The Hulk escapes the military with an unconscious Betty, hiding in a cave deep in the Smoky Mountain National Forest. News of the battle quickly spreads across cable news channels and the Internet. 
** Black Widow informs Nick Fury about Emil Blonsky's enhanced attributes, having witnessed his performance during the Culver University incident.
** The Destroyer attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed at Puente Antiguo. Thor and his fellow Asgardians fight it, and during the battle, Thor proves himself worthy of his godly heritage and his powers are restored, allowing him to defeat the Destroyer.
** Throughout the day, S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to monitor the Hulk and the crater site in New Mexico, as well as sites in Latveria, Wakanda, and the Atlantic Ocean.
** Tony Stark has a debrief with S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury. He is offered an advisory position as a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative, which he accepts on condition that Senator Garry Stern honors him with a medal for his services. Three hours later, Stern begrudgingly gives Tony his medal.
** Hawkeye discovers the Destroyer's inanimate body in Puente Antiguo. Later that day, with the help of Phil Coulson, they transport the body to Roswell, New Mexico.
** The Frost Giants begin an invasion of Asgard. Laufey finds Odin, but Loki turns on him and kills him before Laufey is able to kill Odin. Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three return to Asgard, where Thor reveals Loki's plan to seize the throne. Unfortunately, in the ensuing battle between the brothers, Thor is forced to destroy the Bifrost by cracking the Rainbow Bridge in two, preventing Loki from destroying Jotunheim and eliminating the Frost Giants or Midgard. This action strands him in Asgard, unable to return to Earth. Loki falls into space but is saved by Thanos and is brought to the Sanctuary.
* June 3rd: 
** Nick Fury holds a meeting in Roswell, telling S.H.I.E.L.D. about the new refocusing of the agency towards planetary defense from extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional threats.
** Bruce Banner and Betty Ross hide out in a small town motel, as news of the previous day's battle continues to spread. Within 36 to 40 hours of sustaining his injuries, Emil Blonsky has fully recovered.
* June 4th: 
** Bruce Banner and Betty Ross arrive in New York City, bypassing roadblocks at the Holland Tunnel by bribing a boat owner to take them across the Hudson River to lower Manhattan. They head uptown to meet with Mr. Blue, whose real name is Samuel Sterns. Sterns tries an experimental process to cure Bruce, though it only succeeds in reversing the transformation, not ridding him of it completely.
** Thunderbolt Ross and his forces finally succeed in capturing Bruce, but Emil Blonsky forces Sterns to inject him with the blood products he developed from Bruce's blood sample. The process mutates Blonsky into the Abomination, while Sterns is infected with Bruce's blood through an open wound on his head, gaining his own mutation. Bruce convinces General Ross to let him try and stop the Abomination. The two creatures fight in Harlem, with Hulk defeating the Abomination and fleeing the scene immediately afterwards.
** Black Widow discovers the mutated Samuel Sterns in his laboratory, subdues him and takes him into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
* June 5th:
** The World Security Council grants Nick Fury new funds for S.H.I.E.L.D.. This will provide the resources he needs to examine the Tesseract fully, as well as to put into action the "Avengers Initiative".
** Ben Urich writes a front page article for the New York Bulletin called "Harlem Terror", describing the battle between Abomination and the Hulk.
* June 7th: Nick Fury approaches Erik Selvig to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in an advisory capacity to study the Tesseract. Selvig, under the spell of Loki's mind-controlling Scepter, agrees, in order to learn more about the cosmic object and the power source inside of it. 
* June 23rd: Thunderbolt Ross suffers a heart attack and undergoes 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass to save his life. 
=== July ===
* July 4th: Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell discuss how to prevent Emil Blonsky from being assigned to the Avengers Initiative.The World Security Council have ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to make Blonsky part of the team as they consider him a war hero, ignoring the terrifying acts he committed as the Abomination. Coulson and Sitwell decide to send Tony Stark to meet with Thunderbolt Ross within 24 hours to ruin any chance of Blonsky's recruitment going through. 
* July 5th: 
** Bruce Banner settles in an off-the-grid cabin deep in the woods of Bella Coola, British Columbia, where he works on gaining control of the Hulk.
** Following Hulk's incident in Harlem, Tony Stark arrives in New York City and approaches Thunderbolt Ross about the Avengers Initiative. Tony pretends to be on a mission to recruit Blonsky for the team, but his intentionally irritating behavior enrages Ross so much that he refuses to release Blonsky into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. 
** Coulson and Sitwell reunite and discuss the success in having Tony dissuade Ross from including Blonsky in the Avengers Initiative.
* July 14th: Tony Stark gives James Rhodes a new version of the War Machine Armor.
=== September ===
* September 11th: Tony Stark and Pepper Potts have a romantic dinner in Stark Mansion where she gives him a set of magnets that can keep magnetic power permanently and were made in Japan.
* September 12th: Tony Stark investigates the magnets that Pepper gave him the night before and decides to incorporate some of their properties into his next set of Iron Man Armor, the Mark VII. 
* September 13th: War Machine fights a militant group allied with the Ten Rings in Mumbai, India.
=== October ===
* October 5th: In the Arctic, a Russian oil team discovers the crashed Valkyrie, lost since 1945. Eighteen hours later, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are dispatched to the area. They explore the wreckage and find the body of Steve Rogers, who is still alive and cryogenically preserved in the ice.
* October 6th: 
** S.H.I.E.L.D. continues their analysis of Whiplash's technology, Samuel Sterns' mutation, and Jane Foster's Nine Realms theory. Scavenged parts from the Destroyer are used to craft a hand-held weapon.
** Hawkeye is sent to join Erik Selvig at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility to assist with his research of the Tesseract.
* October 7th: Steve Rogers's body is thawed out of the ice and he is taken to New York City.
* October 8th: Steve Rogers wakes up and tries to run away from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Manhattan Headquarters but is calmed down by Nick Fury in Times Square.
* October 9th: Steve Rogers is sent to stay at the Retreat, previously used by Bruce Banner, for some time.
=== December ===
* December 15th: Construction officially begins on Stark Tower in Manhattan, New York City. 
* December 18th: The Iraq War officially ends. 
Category:21st century
Category:Heroic Age