Maria Stark

: "Where ignorance is bliss...""...'tis folly to be wise."
: ―Howard Stark and Maria Stark[src]
Maria Collins Carbonell Stark was Tony Stark's mother and Howard Stark's wife. She was assassinated along with her husband by the Winter Soldier under HYDRA orders, making it appear as an accidental car crash.
== Biography ==
=== Married Life ===
==== Marrying Howard Stark ====
Maria married Howard Stark, who became a devoted husband despite being a womanizer during his youth. In the 1960s, she and Howard had lunch with the Vankos after Anton Vanko's defection from the Soviet Union.
==== Birth of Tony Stark ====
: "How far along is she?""Ah, I don't know. She's at the point that she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again."
: ―Tony Stark and Howard Stark[src]
Maria eventually became pregnant. Maria struggled with the pregnancy and would become easily annoyed, especially at Howard's late nights in the office at Camp Lehigh and his loud chewing, as she would often force him to eat dinner in the pantry. The Starks had a son together, Anthony Stark, born on May 29, 1970. Over the years, Tony and Howard had a rough and strained relationship, never being able to make amends. However, Maria and her son had a much closer and caring relationship, built on love.
==== Killed by Winter Soldier ====
: "Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad.""Really, which broad? What's her name?"
: ―Maria Stark and Howard Stark[src]
On December 16, 1991, Stark was preparing to go to the Bahamas with Howard Stark. She played the piano as Howard and Tony Stark had another tense conversation, which Stark attempted to mediate. Howard noted that he and Stark would likely be making a quick stop at the Pentagon since he needed to collect some samples of their newest version of the Super Soldier Serum. Seeing her son was unhappy with Howard, Maria spoke to Tony calmly before she and her husband left.
However, as they were driving down the road, the Starks were then attacked by Winter Soldier, causing their car to crash. While Stark was trapped in her seat, she watched Howard crawl out of the car and beg Winter Soldier to help his wife, before being beaten to death with his prosthetic arm, much to her horror. Stark then helplessly watched Winter Soldier place Howard's corpse in his seat, making it appear that he had been killed in the crash, before strangling her to death.
=== Legacy ===
==== Maria Stark Foundation ====
After Stark's death, her son, Tony Stark, created a charitable organization in organization in her honor. In 2012, Stark, in his Mark IV Iron Man Armor, beat users of Global Incorporated's Glider Harness in a race. As part of the stipulations of race, Stark's win netted the charity a large donation from the company's CEO, Omar.
==== Tony Stark's Grief ====
: "This isn't gonna change what happened.""I don't care. He killed my mom."
: ―Captain America and Iron Man[src]
For more than two decades, Tony Stark had a difficult time in accepting and mourning the deaths of his parents. By 2016, he eventually discovered a way to cope with the loss through the B.A.R.F. technology that was invented by Quentin Beck, which enabled him to view and relive the last memories he had with his parents.
Later that year, Stark, with the aid of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, cornered Helmut Zemo in the HYDRA Siberian Facility for instigating the Avengers Civil War. Zemo, however, showed them a video recording that revealed that Barnes as the one who was responsible for the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark, which provoked the infuriated Stark to attacking Barnes, leading to a confrontation with Rogers.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
* Howard Stark, Sr. † - Father-in-Law
* Mother-in-Law †
* Howard Stark † - Husband
* Tony Stark † - Son
* Pepper Potts - Daughter-in-Law
* Morgan Stark - Granddaughter
=== Allies ===
* Stark Industries
** Edwin Jarvis † - Butler
** Anton Vanko †	
=== Enemies ===
* HYDRA
** Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier - Killer (while under HYDRA control)
** Vasily Karpov †
== Trivia ==
* Maria Stark was due to appear in an alternate opening sequence for Iron Man 3, in which Tony Stark tried to cheer her up after she got in a fight with Howard. However, though the sequence was shot, it didn't make the final cut of the film.
* The song that Maria plays on the piano in Captain America: Civil War is "Try To Remember" from the 1960 musical The Fantasticks, which was done at the suggestion of Robert Downey, Jr. because he loved the song when he was a child.
* Maria's death is listed on 12-27-1991 on Howard Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. file, but this is later proven false as of her death being on 12-16-1991 in Captain America: Civil War.
== Gallery ==
== References ==
# ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Captain America: Civil War
# ↑ Howard Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. File
# ↑ Iron Man 2: Public Identity
# ↑ Avengers: Endgame
# ↑ Iron Man
# ↑ The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative
# ↑ Iron Man 3 - Audio Commentary
# ↑ Iron Man's mom: Let's talk about her for Mother’s Day
== External Links ==
* Maria Stark on Marvel Database
* Maria Stark on Wikipedia