Iron Man (Marvel)

Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, better known as Iron Man, is one of the main protagonists of the . He is the titular main protagonist of the Iron Man franchise, one of the main characters in The Avengers franchise, and has appeared as a supporting character in other individual comics.
He is a wealthy businessman whom after surviving an incident where he was injured, decided to become an armored superhero to protect the world from threats. Since his heroics, Iron Man has been a founding member of the Avengers, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and has been a member of the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, the Illuminati, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Throughout most of the character's publication history, Iron Man has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series. Since his debut, Iron Man has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films.
He was created by the late Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and the late Don Heck, and first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 in March of 1963.
==Overview==
===Background===
Stark: an inventive genius, industrialist, and multi-billionaire, went to Vietnam to oversee a field test for one of his transistorized weapons, that his company-Stark Industries made. While there he accidentally stepped on a bobby trap, and a piece of shrapnel became lodged in his chest. Injured, Stark was captured by Communist forces under Wong-Chu, and was made a prisoner. While in prison, Tony created a mechanical suit of armor so that he could escape, as well as using his technological know-how to create a pace-maker like device to keep his heart beating and thus, Stark could stay alive.
Using the Iron Man Armor, Stark was able to escape the Communist forces, and once back in America, he perfected his work, making a practically invincible iron suit much like he has today, and started saving the world from various threats.
==Biography==
===Birth and Adoption===
Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark was born to two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Jude and Amanda Armstrong, but Jude was secretly a double-agent who fell in love with Amanda. The two began a relationship and she became pregnant, and Jude revealed his true allegiance, and the discussion escalated with Amanda killing Jude. After birthing her child in a local hospital, Amanda asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to ensure her baby would be safe, but Nick Fury followed the procedure of unwanted pregnancies and left him in an orphanage in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Fury's associate Howard Stark learned of the child, and decided to find the baby and adopt him, and kept the name Amanda wished he retained, Anthony. In reality, Howard and his wife Maria needed a healthy boy to act as a decoy in place of their firstborn, Arno Stark, whose birth was difficult and was made possible with the help of the robot, Rigellian Recorder 451.
Arno became ill afterward due to Howard interact with 451's machinations, as the robot had genetically modified the baby, and put somewhat of a kill switch. The Starks decided to keep Arno hidden in the Maria Stark Foundation Hospice, and adopted Tony to fill in the void and prevent 451 from learning of Howard's meddling if he returned. The Starks kept Tony's first name, and presumably gave him the middle name Edward from Howard's brother.
===Early Childhood===
Tony lived with his adopted parents in Stark Manner in New York City and was completely unaware of his biological parents or Arno. Howard and Maria lived a busy life, leaving Tony in the care of the family butler Edwin Jarvis. 
Maria loved Tony unconditionally, but Howard and Tony had a strained relationship, due to his alcoholism, pressure from his work, and Tony's sensitive and reclusive nature battling Howard's glorification and physical prowess.
Howard saw Tony as a weakling, and would often berate his adopted son for any infraction, sometimes leading to verbal abuse due to mood swings. Howard's abusive nature has even had a mantra that he would tell a young Tony, stating that "Stark men were made of iron." Despite his abuse, Howard did care for Tony, educating his adopted son, and showed care and love on occasions.
As a result of Howard's abuse and with his adoptive parents being mostly busy, Tony turned towards electronics as a coping mechanism when he was around five years old. He preferred to around technology, as he believed hardware to be reliable and comprehensible, as people were unpredictable. He also began reading tales of King Arthur, which became an obsession for Tony, and he later put a model of the iron men from the tales.
Tony had his first alcoholic drink when he was young, as Howard forced him to drink a glass of bourbon on Christmas Eve. He also had a pet dog named Leo, and cried when he died, causing Howard to yell at him, as Jarvis encouraged Tony to use his grief in more positive ways. This would make Tony see inventing as a way to deal with pain and loss, something that would show as he got older. Around this time, Tony started to take an interest in girls and had a girlfriend that was a relationship of childhood innocence.
When Tony was seven years old, Howard sent him to a private boarding school to toughen him, much to Maria's dismay. There, Tony learned of discipline and strength, but was bullied by his peers and mocked by teachers who saw him as too childish. Despite his, Tony spent most of his time reading alone, and would continue to enjoy stories about King Arthur, and took interest in other historical figures such as Marco Polo, Vasco da am and the Wright Brothers. He also became friends with Tiberius Stone, and the two developed a friendly competition in athletics and academics. During his youth, he became a well-known genius and gained attention from a girl named Jules, but also gained the ire of Miles who was Tony's second.
===Adolescent Years===
After boarding school, Tony breezed through high school, and became his classes valedictorian and later joined an undergraduate program at MIT. He effortlessly graduated and double majored in physics and engineering, but became bored and felt things were too easy for him. Tony later went to a Dr. Derenik Zadian talk at Oxford University and met another student named Bruce Banner. The two became rivals lifelong scientific rivals, and the two became close, but their different backgrounds caused them to drift apart.
During this time, Tony began a relationship with Meredith McCall, the daughter of Creighton McCall, who was the competitor of Howard Stark. Meredith was Tony's first love, but both their parents disapproved of their relationship and interfered with their relationship. Creighton later sent Meredith off to live with her parents, and later to a private school, hurting Tony. During his 20s, Tony became a thrill-seeker to search for a challenge in his life and lost interest in skiing, parachuting, and hang-gliding after mastering those hobbies.
===Becoming CEO===
When he was twenty-one, Howard and Maria died in a car crash, and he inherited Stark Industries and turned the company into a multinational corporation within years. Also, Tony bought the company that built the car his parents were driving and fixed the flaws in their brake system. Despite becoming the CEO of a company that brought new challenges, he found the jobless excited after the company began to grow.
As a result, Tony squandered the company and it started to seeing cost overheads, but this was noticed and corrected by Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Afterward, Tony hired her and made her his personal secretary, and their relationship was mostly one-sided, as she had a crush on him, as Tony exploited her skills to keep the company aloft while he continued to party.
===Becoming Iron Man===
Tony continued leading Stark Industries to great heights and would go on tours to see his technology be used in foreign countries. Most accounts state that Stark went to Southeast Asia, while another account states that he traveled to the Middle-East. During the tour, Tony tripped on a booby trap that lodged shrapnel in his chest, and he was taken captive by the terrorist leader Wong-Chu.
Wong-Chu falsely promised Tony that he if built a powerful weapon, he would be allowed to undergo an operation to save his life. Tony only agreed so that he could get access to tools, as he knew Wong-Chu was lying about saving his life. However, another account states that Ho Yinsen saved his life by doing surgery, and Wong-Chu offered Tony a chance to work for him, but he refused. Wong-Chu then ordered his men to beat Tony, causing the shrapnel to get closer to his heart, and Yinsen managed to convince Wong-Chu to stop, and that they would work on what he wanted. Once able to help Yinsen, Stark was given access small laboratory, and Tony designed and built an eclectically powered suit of armor that had a pacemaker-like device to keep his heart beating. After finishing the armor, Tony donned the suit and connected it to an electrical generator for a power source. Yinsen sacrificed himself to distract Wong-Chu, who decided to check up on the prisoners, thus giving Tony more time to charge the suit. As Iron Man, Tony avenged Yinsen's death and defeated Wong-Chu's troops, and marched up to the front lines to escape enemy territories.
While wandering, Iron Man encountered U.S. Marine Corps pilot James Rhodes, whose helicopter was shot down by rockets while on a mission. Tony helped Rhodes fight off enemy forces and was allowed to drain the helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two made it back to American forces and stumbled upon a hidden rocket base, which they destroyed after stealing an enemy helicopter.
Tony returned to the United States, and redesigned his chest plate, making it smaller so that he could wear under normal clothing. As a result of having to wear the armored chest late to keep his heart alive and beating, Tony decided to create more armor. After improving and redesigning his armor, he revealed it to the public but didn't reveal its origin and that he had to wear a chest plate.
===Heroic Career===
Tony realized that his suit was too dangerous to made available to the public, as he had to fight thieves who were attempting to steal parts and make copies of his suit. He became a public hero to the public after stopping a terrorist attack, as he was attending a tennis match with this then-fiancé, Joanna Nivena. Stopping the terrorist and being hailed a hero made Tony have a new sense of purpose, and decided to stop evil and villains like Iron Man.
Despite enjoying the praise he got as a hero, Tony wished to keep his alter-ego a secret, and told the public that Iron Man was a paid bodyguard that was wearing armor that he invented. Tony only told his most trusted allies of his alter-ego, such as Happy Hogan, who eventually fell in love with Pepper, and later married her. During his early career as a hero, Tony fought spies such as the Actor, the Melter, Mr. Doll, the original Crimson Dynamo, and Mandarin, who became one of his most recurring enemies.
===The Avengers===
Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp received a transmission that the Norse God Loki made Thor receive, but it was originally called by Rick Jones, who wanted to save the Hulk. Once meeting with the other heroes, Rick managed to convince them to help them, and Tony took them to Stark Industries office in Texas. The heroes battled against the Hulk until Thor came and revealed that Loki was part of the whole ordeal, but the trickster attempted to defeat the heroes.
After defeating Loki, the group decided to become a team to stop threats like Loki, and Wasp came up with their name the Avengers. Iron Man invited his allies to use his employer Tony Stark's mansion as their headquarters, which was later dubbed as the Avengers Mansion. Later on, Tony was one of the many who discovered a frozen Captain America, and once unthawing him, he became a member of the Avengers. Also, Tony sponsored the membership of Hawkeye and later became a member when Stark and other founders decided to take leaves of absence.
Over the years, Tony continued to refine and modify the design of his armor, making it more lightweight and less bulky like his original suit. In addition, Tony underwent heart transplant surgery, allowing him to no longer wear the chest plate.
==Personality==
Tony Stark is a billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. He does have some bad sides, as he is arrogant, and is a alcoholic. Generally, however, he is a hero, who will risk his life to save others, and will do whatever it takes to protect the universe from threats. 
==Powers and Abilities==
Although Tony Stark himself doesn't have superpowers, his armor gives him enhanced strength and durability, all thanks to his powered RT Node. It allows him to lift in excess of 100 tons, as well as flight via rocket thrusters. His armor is also equipped with the most advanced technology and weaponry to give him an advantage over the mega villains he battles. The armor is also considered the most sophisticated piece of technology created by humanity.
When injected with the Extremis virus, he has granted his body a regenerative ability and an increased sense of strength and speed which gave him an advantage of enhanced maneuverability and retention rates. It is also frequently associated with his Extremis armor which forms around his body.
==Love-Interests==
*Pepper Potts
*Janet van Dyne
*Natasha Romanoff
*Maria Hill
*Patsy Walker
*Emma Frost
*Nan
*Babs
*Cynthia
*Janice Cord
*Meredith McCall
*Sunset Bain
*Whitney Frost
*Marianne Rogers
*Joanna Nivena
*Bethany Cabe
*Brie Daniels
*Heather Glenn
*Rae LaCoste
*Indries Moomji
*Kathy Dare
*Su Yin
*Veronica Benning
*Rumiko Fujikawa
*Calista Hancock
*Anna Wei
==Portrayals==
===Films===
*In the Ultimate Avengers animated films, he was voiced by Marc Worden.
**Worden reprised his voice for the character in The Invincible Iron Man, Planet Hulk and Marvel Heroes.
*In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr., who also played Alex Finch in Chances Are, Sherlock Holmes in the titular Guy Richie films, and John Dolittle in the titular 2020 film.
**Downey also voiced the character in the Iron Man tie-in video game and one of the Lego Marvel video games.
*In Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, he was voiced by Matthew Mercer, who also voiced Kurtis Stryker in Mortal Kombat (2011), Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Resident Evil: Vendetta and Resident Evil: Death Island, Robin in Batman: Arkham Knight, Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan, and Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4.
**Mercer reprised his voice for the character in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher.
===Television===
*In The Marvel Super Heroes, he was voiced by John Vernon.
*In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, he was voiced by the late William H. Marshall.
*In the titular 1994 animated series, he was voiced by Robert Hays.
**Hays reprised his voice for the character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Incredible Hulk.
*In The Avengers: United They Stand, he was voiced by Francis Diakowsky.
*In Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, he was voiced by David Kaye, who voices Max Tennyson in the 2016 Ben 10 reboot series, and voiced Clank in the Ratchet and Clank franchise, Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, Duckworth in DuckTales, James Gordon in Batman: Arkham City, Sesshomaru in InuYasha, Clay Bailey in Xiaolin Chronicles, and Wes Rivers in Barbie in Princess Power.
**Kaye reprised his voice for the character in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.
*In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, he was voiced by Adrian Petriw, who also voiced Ken in Barbie: A Fairy Secret and Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale, Prince Liam in Barbie: The Princess and The Popstar, Prince Edmund in Barbie in Rock'n Royals, and Ezra Bridger in Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales.
*In The Super Hero Squad Show, he was voiced by Tom Kenny (who voices SpongeBob SquarePants and Gary in the titular animated franchise, and also voiced The Mayor of Townsville in The Powerpuff Girls and Ryan Sumozski in Clarence) and Tara Strong (who voices Harley Quinn in numerous media, and also voiced Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents, Dil Pickles in Rugrats, Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony, Raven in Teen Titans, DC Super Hero Girls and Teen Titans Go!, Ben Tennyson in Ben 10, Dexter in Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion, and Juliet Starling in Lollipop Chainsaw) as a baby.
*In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he was voiced by Eric Loomis.
**Loomis reprised his voice for the character in the Iron Man 2 tie-in game, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
*In the Japanese version of the Iron Man anime, he was voiced by the late Keiji Fujiwara and Adrian Pasdar.
**Pasdar reprised his voice for the character in Ultimate Spider-Man, Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel, Avengers Assemble for the first three seasons, and the Lego Marvel video games.
*In season four of Avengers Assemble, he was voiced by Mick Wingert, who also voiced Po in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and the first two tie-in games.
**Wingert reprised his voice for the character in Marvel Contest of Champions, Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled, Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Future Avengers, Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, and What If...?.
*In Marvel Future Avengers, he was voiced by Eiji Hanawa.
*In M.O.D.O.K, he was voiced by Jon Hamm, who also played Don Draper in Mad Men and Tim Jones in Keeping up with the Jonseses, and also voiced Brogan in Shrek Forever After.
===Video Games===
*In Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, he was voiced by Christopher Britton.
*In the 2005 Punisher video game, he was voiced by the late John Cygan, who also voiced Dash Rendar in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and Canderous Ordo in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
**Cygan reprised his voice for the character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
*In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, he was voiced by Crispin Freeman, who also voiced Siegfried Schtauffen in Soulcalibur III, King Leonidas in 300: March to Glory, Scott Lang in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Will Turner in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts III.
*In the 2008 tie-in game of Iron Man, he was voiced by Stephen Stanton (who also voiced Legolas in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, Happy in Happy in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Rebels) as Robert Downey, Jr. provided the voice work for Tony Stark.
*In Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, he was voiced by John Schwab.
*In Marvel Avengers Academy, he was voiced by Dave Franco.
*In Marvel's Avengers, he was voiced by Nolan North, who also voiced Hades in 2005s God of War, Desmond Miles in the Assassin's Creed series, Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, Edward Richtofen in Treyarch's Call of Duty zombie series, The Hero of Bower Lake in Fable II, The Prince in 2008s titular game, Alex Mason in Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified, Superboy in Young Justice, and Superman in Young Justice: Legacy.
===Motion Comics===
*In Iron Man: Extremis, he was voiced by Jason Griffith, who also voiced Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic Rush, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, 2006s Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic X.
*In Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, he was voiced by the late Kirby Marrow, who also voiced Goku in the Dragonball Z Ocean dub, and Anakin Skywalker in Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles.
**Marrow reprised his voice for the character in the Eternals motion comic.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Ranked 3rd in The Top 50 Avengers.
*Iron Man has been a playable character in Capcom-based fighting video games since Marvel Super Heroes, however, he was intended to appear as a playable character in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, but Capcom couldn't get him in due to license issues and was replaced by Cyclops.
**One year later, Capcom wanted to use Iron Man in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, but they've been told they can't use him again also due to license issues. They okay to use War Machine so they put him in instead. Iron Man's time in a Capcom crossover finally came in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, standing along with War Machine.
**Because of the license complications and Capcom's desire to use Iron Man in the Vs. series, but ending up with War Machine instead, War Machine's sprites are a palate swap of Iron Man, with the exception of specific attacks and animations uniquely created.
*Ranked 12th on IGN's Top Comic Book Heroes in 2011.
*Stan Lee based Stark's personality on Howard Hughes.
*His last name "Stark" means "strong" in several languages.
*As of Iron Man Vol 4 # 7, he is the 36th richest man in the world.
*As an Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director, he had an Ultimate Clearance level.
*Tony has three doctorates, and is skilled in mechanical and electrical engineering.
*Iron Man was the first human to posses and use the Infinity Gauntlet, but Mr. Fantastic wore it first, but didn't use it.
*In the Amalgam comics and universe, Iron Man was combined with Green Lantern, and his name was Harold Stark, and superhero identity was Iron Lantern.
**In DEATH BATTLE Iron Man fought Lex Luthor and Batman and won against them both.
==See Also==
*Superior Iron Man on the Villains Wiki.
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