Iron Man (Anthony Stark)

== History ==
: Everything I've done, everything I'll do today, everything I'll ever do, I do to protect this world. Someone once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. That's usually thought of as a lesson for children. A simple injunction to do the right thing. But there's nothing simple about it. When I put on this armor, I took on more power than any human was ever intended to have... and maybe more responsibility than my heart can truly bear. But today... I will do my job. I will protect you. No matter what it takes... 
:: -- Tony Stark src
=== Birth and Adoption ===
The biological parents of Tony Stark were two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Amanda Armstrong and Jude, who met during a courier mission. After Jude saved Amanda from an assassin, they got to know each other and fell in love.[19]
Following a a two-year relationship, Amanda became pregnant. A week before giving birth to the baby, Jude revealed to have been a Hydra double-agent with little regard for anybody but Amanda and himself who sold out fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, and was even responsible for the incident that had almost cost Amanda her life. During a discussion when he was trying to convince Amanda to accept Hydra's protection, she attacked Jude and killed him.
Traumatized by this development, Amanda asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to ensure her future baby would find a safe and happy home. However, director Nick Fury followed the same procedure used for unwanted pregnancies in the agency, and the baby was left in an orphanage in Sofia, Bulgaria after Amanda birther him in a local hospital. Fury's associate and famous industrialist Howard Stark learned of this, and decided to find the baby and adopt him, keeping the name Amanda wished he retained: Anthony.[20]
In addition to Howard and his wife Maria suffering the latter's inability to give birth again,[19] they needed to find a healthy boy to act as a decoy in place of their secret first born, Arno Stark. Arno's gestation had been extremely difficult, and his birth was only made possible with the help of an alien robot, the Rigellian Recorder 451, who had agreed to help the baby survive in exchange of the opportunity to bio-engineer him, so he could accelerate humanity's technological growth in the future.[21]
However, as 451 genetically modified the baby in womb, Howard had discovered the robot hid some sort of kill switch, that would compromise the life of his son in the future, for which Stark developed a "biococktail" to interfere with it behind 451's back.[22] Once Arno was born, 451 left the Earth.[23] In a turn of events, Howard's interference with 451's machinations had caused the newborn to become fatally ill. The Starks had decided to keep the baby hidden in the Maria Stark Foundation Hospice.[22] In addition to filling the void left by Arno's fatal illness, Tony's adoption would prevent 451 from learning of Howard's meddling if it ever returned to the Earth.[22]
=== Early Life and Education ===
Tony grew up completely unaware of Arno's existence or that he was adopted.[22]While loved unconditionally by Maria, Tony suffered from a strained relationship with his father, both due to the constrast of Tony's sensitive and reclusive nature with Howard's glorification of physical prowess[24] and Howard's ever-increasing drinking habits, which caused him to verbally abuse Tony[25] and suffer from mood swings. This last factor caused Tony to turn to electronics as a coping mechanism at barely five years old, as he started to believe hardware to be comprehensible and reliable, whereas people were unpredictable and hard to understand. Tony's world couldn't find order, but the things he built did.
After boarding school, Tony joined an undergraduate program at MIT at the age of fifteen.[27][verification needed] He would effortlessly graduate as class valedictorian with double majors in physics and engineering.[28] When he was seventeen, Tony met Meredith McCall, his first love and, unfortunately, the daughter of Howard's greatest business rival. Their relationship didn't develop beyond being a summer love, due to the combined interference of Meredith's father and Howard. Meredith was sent to live with relatives, and Tony was scheduled to go to Europe for education, with neither being told where the other was.
The Break-up was numbed by Tony's school routine at Cambridge University in England,where he met another girl named Cassandra Gillespie. Worse luck, Cassandra was also the daughter of a rival weapons manufacturer of Howard.[30]Their relationship and Tony's attendance to Cambridge were both cut short by Howard, who believed the recently-established relationship to be nothing but a way for the Gillespies to get information on Howard through Tony.[31] Tony doubted Howard and even tried to run away with Cassandra, but she eventually admitted that while she had fallen in love with Tony, their relationship did start as a ploy of her mother.
Around this time, Tony met Dr. Ted Slaght during a symposium. The physicist became a mentor to Stark, and taught him values beyond the importance of science, like the significance of guiding the search for knowledge with an ethical compass,[33] and carrying an open mind.[34]
Tony's mental dexterity caused him to drift into his 20's as shiftless thrill-seeker in the search for the challenges mundane life lacked. However, he would also lose interest of the dangerous hobbies he mastered, like skiing, parachuting and hang-gliding.[28]
=== Death of Howard and Maria Stark ===
When he was twenty-one, Tony's parents died in a car crash and he inherited his father's business, Stark Industries. Within a few years, he turned it from solely a munitions firm to a multi-national corporation with a range of interests covering virtually all types of contemporary scientific industry, and the leader at the cutting edge of electronics. Tony also bought the company that built the car his parents were driving when they lost their lives and fixed the flaws in their brake system.
Tony's new life as a CEO provided him with new challenges. But as the company grew bigger, his job became less exciting, and Tony fell into self-indulgence once again.
=== Inventing the Iron Man Armor ===
While overseeing a military demonstration of his technology in an active war zone, Tony tripped a booby trap that killed his escort and lodged shrapnel in his chest. The gravely injured Stark was taken captive by the terrorist leader Wong-Chu, and was informed that within a week the shrapnel would penetrate his heart and kill him. Wong-Chu falsely promised Stark that if he built a powerful weapon, he would be allowed to undergo an operation to save his life. Even though Stark realized the tyrant was lying, he agreed, hoping to gain time and access to tools.Stark was given access to a small laboratory with another captive, the renowned Asian physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Professor Ho Yinsen, whose work Stark admired in college. With Yinsen acting as his assistant, Stark designed and built an electrically powered suit of armor with a pacemaker-like device that enabled Stark's heart to keep beating, the armor was also equipped with heavy offensive weaponry.
Donning the suit, Stark connected it to its power source, an electrical generator. Lying on a table Stark was helpless until the suit was fully charged. In the least fortunate turn of events, Wong-Chu decided to check on his prisoners. Knowing that if they were found all of their work was for nothing, Yinsen decided to sacrifice his own life by distracting Wong-Chu, giving Stark the extra time he needed to charge the armored suit fully. As the Iron Man, Stark avenged Yinsen's death and scattered Wong-Chu's guerrilla troops. Then, still clad in his armor, which was necessary to keep his heart beating, Stark made his way toward the front lines, trying to escape enemy territory.[35]
James Rhodes, a pilot with the United States Marines, had been shot down by rockets while he was on a reconnaissance mission. Rhodes managed to land safely and was attempting to get his helicopter air-worthy when he encountered the wandering Iron Man. After Iron Man helped Rhodes fight off an attack by enemy forces, Rhodes allowed him to drain the helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two continued to make their way back to American forces and stumbled upon a hidden rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the site and flew to the nearest American base.[36]
Back in the United States, Stark redesigned his chest plate, which contained a pacemaker-like device, reducing the chest plate's size and weight so he could wear it under his normal clothing. Required to wear the armor's chest plate at all times to keep his heart alive and beating, Stark decided to put the rest of the armor to regular use as well.
After redesigning the entire armored suit to match the lighter chest plate, Stark made the existence of the suit public. He concealed the suit's true origin, as well as the fact that he himself had to wear the chest plate to live. Stark made it known that he would soon manufacture the suit, which he called "the human machine," for sale to be then public.[37]
=== Becoming a Super Hero ===
Soon afterward, Stark donned one of his battle suits in order to prevent thieves from stealing parts from the other copies of it. This experience made him realize that the suit was too dangerous to be made available to the public. The next day Stark revealed what had happened to him in the war zone to Joanna Nivena, his then fiancé.[38] Together they attended a tennis match in Forest Hills, N.Y. that afternoon. Stark brought along his armor, which he was taking to a nearby laboratory for tests. Terrorists who threatened to kill everyone present with a bomb invaded the match. Joanna urged Stark to don the armor to stop the terrorists. Stark did so, captured the terrorists and saved the spectators by throwing himself atop the bomb. Iron Man thus publicly became a hero, and Stark had a new sense of purpose, having decided to combat evildoers as Iron Man.[37]
Wishing to retain some degree of anonymity, Stark established the fiction that Iron Man was his paid bodyguard wearing a suit of armor that he had invented. Only his most trusted aides learned Stark and Iron Man were one and the same. One of these early confidantes was "Happy" Hogan, whom Tony hired as his chauffeur.[39] Hogan fell in love with Tony's secretary Pepper Potts, whom Tony eventually fell in love with as well.[40] Even though Potts reciprocated Tony's feelings, she eventually began a whirlwind romance with Hogan, which ended with the two of them getting married.[41]
At first, Stark used his Iron Man identity mostly to combat spies, like the Actor,[1] and criminals who threatened Stark Industries, like the Melter or Mr. Doll.[2][42]
During this time, the original Crimson Dynamo attacked Stark Industries, but Tony Stark persuaded him to defect.[43] Also, Stark faced off for the first time against the Mandarin, who would become one of his most recurring enemies.[44][3]
Later, he expanded the scope of his alter ego's activities to battle any force or person who threatened the security of America or the world. Stark was instrumental in the organization and armament of the original global intelligence and law-enforcement agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D.. As Iron Man, he became an founding member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the team of super-human champions known as the Avengers.[45] Stark donated his Manhattan mansion to the Avengers for their exclusive use.[46]
As an Avenger, Stark would go on to participate in many missions over the years, although he sometimes had trouble reconciling his private affairs with his responsibilities in the Avengers.[47] With the other remaining founders after the Hulk left,[46] he was among those who discovered the frozen form of the heroic Captain America, still frozen since World War II.[48] He was also the Avenger who sponsored the membership of Hawkeye, a man whom he had briefly fought with, after realizing his good intentions. Hawkeye was one of the new Avengers who joined when Stark and the other founders decided to take leaves of absence.[49]
Over the years Stark constantly refined and modified the design of his armor. From a bulky, transistorized iron suit, he eventually built a relatively lightweight, integrated circuit, magnetically-polarized suit with more human-looking articulated musculature.[42] Stark's extraordinary genius in theoretical mechanics has enabled him to keep his suit of armor state-of-the-art. Stark eventually underwent heart transplant surgery so that he was no longer obligated to wear his metallic chest plate.[50]
For moral reasons, Stark eventually decided to stop manufacturing armaments and devoted his company to other areas of technology.[51]
=== Illuminati ===
In the wake of the Kree-Skrull War, Stark initiated a meeting in Wakanda with Professor X, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Namor to form a clandestine, unnamed group to devise strategy and policy regarding overarching menaces (the "Illuminati"). Stark's original goal was to create a governing body for all superheroes in the world to answer to. However, the different beliefs and philosophies, besides the fact that many heroes chose to conceal their real identities, made Stark's plan impractical. Despite this, the group agreed to share vital information.[52]
=== Alcoholism and a New Iron Man ===
In recent years Tony Stark's greatest nemesis has been alcoholism.[53] As a wealthy socialite, alcohol had been a constant part of his life. When his company, which had changed its name from Stark Industries to Stark International, was threatened with the takeover at the same time he was experiencing oppressive personal problems, Stark began to abuse alcohol. Although he managed to recover quickly from his first serious bout, the compulsion to drink remained a constant temptation. The second time he succumbed to alcoholism, due to even more devastating personal problems than the first time, Tony Stark went on a several month binge during which he was cheated out of Stark International, had all Iron Man suits destroyed (except one), lost the leases on his various apartments, and had his personal assets frozen so that he could not touch his fortune. All of this was the result of the machinations of the mysterious entrepreneur Obadiah Stane, who took over Stark's company, renaming it Stane International.[54]
During this time, Stark's friend James Rhodes, who had gone to work for Stark after leaving the military, assumed custody of the Iron Man armor and operated as Iron Man in his stead.[55]
When Stark finally regained his sobriety, he joined with Rhodes and two of his friends, Morley Erwin (late of Stark International) and his sister Clytemnestra Erwin of Richmond Enterprises, to set up a new electronics firm in California named Circuits Maximus.[56] In its brief existence, Circuits Maximus became a prestigious and successful firm.[57]
While the armor was in his custody, Jim Rhodes became increasingly enamored with being Iron Man and, upon Stark's return to sobriety, feared that Stark would ask for it back. The cybernetic helmet had never been properly calibrated to Rhodes' brain patterns; he began to have severe headaches and his thinking was clouded. As a result Rhodes began to manifest hostility toward Stark. As part of his therapy, Stark constructed a simple suit of armor based on his original design with no intention of donning it until he felt in control of his alcoholism. When Rhodes began acting irrationally, however, Stark felt obligated to put on this crude suit of armor to prevent Rhodes from doing harm. Stark managed to subdue Rhodes and made necessary recalibrations on the cybernetics. For a brief time Stark and Rhodes used their respective suits of armor as Iron Men, although Stark did so reluctantly. At the suggestion of the West Coast Avengers chairman, Hawkeye, Stark designed and built his most sophisticated armor to date, presumably so that the Avengers could find someone to wear the suit and bolster the team's strength.[58]
However, soon after its completion, Obadiah Stane became alarmed at Stark's steps toward recovery. Circuits Maximus was bombed, injuring Rhodes and killing Morley Erwin.[59] Desiring vengeance, Stark donned the untested new armor and sought out Stane. Stane himself put on a suit his engineers had built using Stark's plans, and met Iron Man in battle as the Iron Monger. Losing the battle against Stark, Stane committed suicide.[60]
Stark decided that although one is never truly cured of alcoholism, he could also not deny the responsibility of being Iron Man. He resumed his career as Iron Man, and joined the new West Coast branch of the Avengers.
=== Founding Stark Enterprises ===
Stark also managed to reclaim control of his fortune, although he decided not to claim ownership of the company formerly known as Stark International. Rather, he founded a new technological design and manufacturing company, Stark Enterprises, based in Silicon Valley in Northern California. Stark Enterprises quickly became a highly successful and innovative company.[61]
=== Armor Wars ===
Stark learned that an industrialist calling himself Spymaster had stolen the plans for the many secret technological innovations found in the Iron Man armor.[62] Spymaster had then turned these plans over to Stark's most powerful and antagonistic business rival, Justin Hammer, who in turn had made them available to criminals. These criminals had then incorporated the stolen technological innovations into their own armored battle suits. Outraged that his inventions were being used for criminal activity, and even for killing, Stark determined to deprive these criminals of his secrets. He planted a computer virus in Hammer's computer system that would wipe out all traces of the plans for Stark's Iron Man technology. As Iron Man, Stark sought out and caught many criminals and others (such as the United States government's Guardsmen) who wore a battle suit utilizing his technology. He implanted devices called 'negator packs' on their armor to fuse the circuits, rendering the suit useless. With the computer records of the plans for his technology gone, presumably it could not be used in reconstructing the suits.[63]
Iron Man accidentally killed the second Titanium Man (also known as the Gremlin) in the course of these "Armor Wars".[64]
The United States government branded Iron Man an outlaw as a result of these and other vigilante actions, and his longtime Avengers comrade Captain America was among those opposing him. Stark publicly claimed that he had fired Iron Man in displeasure over his illegal activity. He even went so far as to create a false history for "Randall Pierce", allegedly the original Iron Man's identity, which he turned over to the government. Shortly afterward, Iron Man was apparently destroyed in combat with government forces.[65]
In fact, however, Stark had survived. He created an even more sophisticated armored battle suit to wear as Iron Man using technology far more advanced than that which Spymaster had stolen from him. Stark continued to go into action as Iron Man, but publicly claimed that the previous Iron Man was dead and that another employee of his whose identity was being kept secret was now wearing the armored suit.[66]
=== Stark Shot ===
Later, Kathy Dare, a former lover of his with an unstable mind, shot Stark.[67] The gunfire severely injured Stark's spine and it appeared he could be crippled for the rest of his life, unable to walk. However he could still function normally within his Iron Man armor. A microchip device was later implanted in Stark's spine that enabled him to walk and move normally once again. This 'bio-chip' proved problematic and degenerative nerve damage occurred. This was aggravated by the attack of Kearson DeWitt, a madman who claimed Stark had stolen his father's designs. DeWitt had Stark's nervous system attacked with a techno-organic virus, but Stark was able to survive. He temporarily had to be placed in cryo-stasis, with James Rhodes taking his place as CEO.[68] Soon after recovering, Stark was injured from feedback from a 'telepresence' system to remotely control his Iron Man armor and battle Ultimo. Stark eventually recovered after extensive rehabilitation.[69]
Stark was forced to restructure Stark Enterprises when several of Stane's business decisions were leaked to the press. This also caused a number of other heroes to confront Iron Man, such as the Hulk regarding gamma bomb production plants.[70]
Stark also quarreled with Rhodes over several good-intentioned but wrong decisions Jim made as CEO (such as selling off nuclear assets to a dummy company secretly operated by A.I.M.), as well as his actions in Imaya. Rhodes was still angry Stark had lied to him about his nerve damage condition. The two briefly clashed in battle, ultimately repaired their friendship.[71][72]
=== Frameup ===
Later, while under the influence of Immortus, Stark committed a number of horrible acts and was killed. Stark was temporarily replaced by a younger version of himself from another timeline.[73] This was corrected when Franklin Richards brought him and the other heroes who sacrificed themselves against Onslaught back. When the replacement Tony Stark returned to the Marvel Universe, he was merged with the Earth-616 Tony Stark who was resurrected thanks to Franklin Richards. Shortly after returning he subjected himself to judgment by his fellow Avengers and was exonerated.[74]
Stark declined to challenge the Fujikawa acquisition and formed a new company, Stark Solutions.[75] Injuries from battling the Mandarin and other foes revealed a danger of long-term armor exposure. The armor's power systems and insulation were significantly redesigned to compensate. Jocasta's AI was recovered from Sunset Bain.[76]
The Sons of Yinsen, who became worshipers of his mentor and the Iron Man technology, contacted Tony.[77]
=== Sentient Armor ===
While fighting Whiplash during a storm, Iron Man's armor became sentient.[78] This would be later revealed due to the Ultron Imperative.[79] The Safe Armor developed a feeling of overprotection, and tried to replace Stark, but ultimately sacrificed itself to repair damage to its creator's heart caused during a fight.[80]
After this experience with the Sentient Armor, Tony suffered an uncharacteristic bout of technophobia, and decided to give up being Iron Man and Tony Stark. He gave away his fortune and adopted the persona of 'Hogan Potts' and posed as a simple worker at Askew Electronics, incorporating a new alloy called S.K.I.N. into his armor designs. After a test run against the Shocker,[7] Iron Man faced A.I.M., the Ghost, and finally Ultron, after the villain revealed his role in manipulating the Sons of Yinsen, the sentient armor, and corrupting the S.K.I.N. technology.[79]
Stark investigated an early military armor that had been distributed to rebel forces around the world.[81]
Temugin also made his presence felt, challenging Iron Man for the apparent death of his father, the Mandarin.[82]
The US military attempted to claim older model Iron Man armor.[83] Their pretense was that Stark had not patented the technology and that he violated agreements made after the Armor Wars by continuing to adventure as Iron Man. At the same time, a new Secretary of Defense was needed. Stark vied for the position and halted a disaster involving the technology as Iron Man.[84]
=== New Avengers ===
The Avengers were disassembled due to the actions of an unbalanced Scarlet Witch, which led to the deaths of Ant-Man, Vision, and Hawkeye. During this crisis, Stark was manipulated by the Scarlet Witch to suddenly threaten a Latverian ambassador at a UN meeting.[85] Additionally, Clarence Ward used stolen armor to kill nearly all of Stark Industries' board and Rumiko Fujikawa, Stark's girlfriend.[86] In light of the incidents, Stark resigned as Secretary.[87]
Six months later, a massive breakout was executed at the Raft. While flying around the city, Iron Man arrived at the prison to aid Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Matt Murdock, and the Sentry in keeping prisoners in after a prison break.[88] Steve believed this event, the gathering of heroes by chance to fight a common foe, was a signal that the Avengers needed to be reformed. Tony was initially reluctant to make a new team but eventually agreed. The New Avengers used the Stark Tower as their headquarters.[89]
=== Extremis ===
Stark returned to work at a hectic pace, often sleeping in his lab. A former classmate asked for help, a super soldier project named Extremis had been given to a small terrorist group.[90] Iron Man battled the augmented terrorist Mallen, but suffered massive injuries.[91] Being forced to use Extremis on himself, Iron Man healed and found himself able to directly interface with technology, especially with his new armor.[92] Going after Mallen again, Stark was forced to kill him.[93]
=== Civil War ===
Learning of the government's plans to instigate a Superhuman Registration Act that would force costumed super-powered individuals to reveal their identities to the government and sign on as licensed agents, Iron Man at first sought to defeat the proposal, even going to such lengths as to hire the Titanium Man to attack the hearing on the act as he testified in order to manipulate opinion in his favor.[94] However, Tony's opinion of the Act changed, seeing it as a new means to achieve the goal that he had sought in forming the Illuminati, and to tie the knots of friendship between humans and superheroes. Additionally, Stark believed that the environment of fear caused by events like Nick Fury's Secret War or the House of M was going to cause the Act to pass unconditionally, and it was better to support and diffuse it at the moment before any further events made the conditions of the superheroic community worsen.[52]
After a disaster at Stamford, Connecticut involving the group of amateur heroes the New Warriors fighting supervillain in which over 600 people died, mostly being children from a school, the public opinion against super humans turned and fast-tracked the Act into law. The new law split the hero community in two.[95] Tony knew that with no major representative in favor of the SHRA, the government would've applied harsh measures, and that going to the "good old days" wasn't an option.[96] Because of that, he decided to provide a fairer path and lead the pro-Resigtration forces himself.[95] The anti-Registration side was led by Captain America.[97] In his first major public action as a supporter of registration, Stark again unmasked as Iron Man.[98]
As part of his measures to deal with the anti-Registration forces, Iron Man, Yellowjacket and Reed Richards created the Prison 42 in the Negative Zone, a holding facility specially designed to contain rogue super heroes, for as long as the Civil War lasted. It was a temporary measure because heroes could easily escape from prisons like the Raft. The trio also built a cyborg clone of Thor and used nanobots to control the Thunderbolts as a task force to hunt down unregistered heroes.[99][100][96]
The Pro-Registration forces proceeded to set a trap for the Anti-Registration side. They surrounded them, and Iron Man tried to reach a truce to stop fighting and work together to reach a middle ground. However, Captain America rejected Iron Man's proposal, and attacked him, leading to a direct conflict between the two sides, during which the Thor clone malfunctioned, and killed Goliath in cold blood.[99] Events like this led Tony to doubt himself. People like Miriam Sharpe, the mother of one of the victims of the Stamford incident,[99] and Tony's best friend Happy Hogan would motivate him to carry on.[101] Shortly after, Happy would be attacked by Spymaster in an attempt to get Iron Man and succumb to his injuries. He was rushed to a hospital and placed on life support, and later dying.[102]
Prior to the events of the Civil War, Stark assisted fellow New Avenger Spider-Man and his family. Peter Parker came to regard Stark as a mentor, became his assistant, and accepted a new technologically enhanced costume from him.[103]Stark also convinced Spider-Man to unmask and go public with his identity as well.[97] However, Peter's feelings of being manipulated and unease about the rightness of Stark's cause grew until Stark revealed a prison for super humans he and Mister Fantastic had built in the Negative Zone. When Spider-Man attempted to escape from Stark Tower, after secretly moving his family out, in order to join the Resistance, he attacked Stark, who had confronted him.[104] However, due to Spider-Man's override of the suit given to him by Stark and some unexpected intervention by the Punisher, the web-slinger managed to escape and was now considered a traitor by Stark and the Pro-Registration side.[96]
During an attempt to free the prisoners from Prison 42, the Anti and Pro-Registration sides clashed in combat, and were taken to NYC by Cloak. Eventually, Captain America would realize the conflict was being tackled the wrong way, and surrendered. The Anti-Registration side was granted amnesty, with Cap agreeing to go on trial for his actions during the Civil War.[105]
However, while in custody, Captain America was killed in an assassination orchestrated by the Red Skull.[106] Stark was devastated by his friend's death, and left unsure on how to proceed. In a letter Steve had written before his death, he asked Tony to insure that the Captain America legacy lived on and to look out for Bucky Barnes. Tony was instrumental in getting Bucky to assume the mantle of Captain America.[107]
=== Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. ===
During the Civil War, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill suggested that Tony would become the next acting head of S.H.I.E.L.D. She cited his higher qualification than her, and the fact that it would "piss the right people off."[108] After the dust settled, Stark was appointed with the position of Director.[105]
Iron Man and the other Illuminati were responsible for exiling Hulk from Earth, and were the people Hulk sought revenge on when he returned. Luckily, Stark saw this possibility as an eventuality, and was prepared to engage the Hulk with a brand new Hulk-Buster armor.[109] The battle between them destroyed most of New York City, and blows were thrown so powerful that no other hero could get close enough to help or act. Stark Tower collapsed on top of the two during the battle, and ultimately, Hulk took Tony captive to the Stadium with the rest of his captured heroes. Once all of Stark's sources (and comrades) were exhausted, he rendered the Hulk (who had been weakened from his fight with the Sentry) unconscious with orbiting military satellite lasers he helped install during his appointment as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He had to draw money from numerous sources (most notably S.H.I.E.L.D itself) to repair Avengers Tower and the several damaged buildings and structures of New York.[110]
As Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man investigated the death of Nebraska Initiative member, Gadget and stumbled upon her investigation of hundreds of missing persons.[111] Realizing that Stark was a danger to his work with Prometheus Gentech, Inc. in creating a new super-soldier, Secretary of Defense Jack Kooning had him depowered from his Extremis Armor and placed on leave for mental strain.[112] Stark secretly returned to Nebraska and with the help of Leonard Samson and Captain Ultra discovered that Prometheus Gentech was using the missing persons as test subjects for the Extremis virus and that Maya Hansen was unwittingly working for a reborn Mandarin to create an aerosolized version of the virus which he intended on unleashing to create a race of super-humans.[113] Iron Man, forced to use outdated armor, confronted the Mandarin and a cadre of Extremis-enhanced combatants at the Prometheus laboratories. He ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to take out the complex with a miniature warhead contained within the gravitational pull of a black hole, thus limiting the damage just to the laboratory, as he tried to escape the event perimeter.[114] Mandarin escaped to China with Maya Hansen and pretended to be Tony Stark and convinced her to give him the sequence for the aerosolized virus. Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. were taken into custody by the Commission on Superhuman Activities for their release of the nuclear device in Nebraska. Stark's main witness, Jack Kooning escaped to Myanmar and enlisted the help of Xang "King" Kong in tracking down the Mandarin, but was killed by him before he could take him out with a sniper rifle. Stark is convicted, but Dugan orchestrated an attack on the United Nations over which S.H.I.E.L.D. has jurisdiction as a distraction for Stark to escape and to track the Mandarin to China. In defeating the Mandarin, Stark is forced to cut off part of his foot to remove the Extremis armor dampener but was able to redirect the virus-containing rockets by sending them to an extremely high altitude and killing the virus. Having saved the day, he was cleared of all charges and reinstated as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.[115]
During the Skrull Invasion Stark's armor was infected by an alien cyber virus which ultimately purged him of the Extremis virus.[116] Stark discovered Spider-Woman herself was the Skrull Queen Veranke who nearly deceived him to join ranks with her.[117] He was saved by Ms. Marvel who upon Tony's request left him with Black Widow who acted as his defense until he could fix his damaged armor to a point to where it was fully functional.[118]Tony led the heroes of New York against the Skrull invaders.[119] His armor however, began to fail in midst of the battle forcing him to return to Avengers Tower for another one.[120] The President of the United States was less than reasonable regarding Stark's action and ultimately removed Stark as director of S.H.I.E.L.D, and disbanded the entire agency itself.[121] Although the battle against the alien invasion had been won, Tony suffered a great loss. His technology was nonfunctional, his corporations were in dismay, he had many new enemies, and little to no allies willing to help him with any of his problems.[122]
=== Dark Reign ===
After the invasion, the U.S. government also disbanded the Avengers, handing control of the Initiative over to Norman Osborn. Iron Man was later a member of Henry Pym's Mighty Avengers.[123] Before fighting the threat of Chthon, Iron Man helped to subdue the Hulk.[124] He left the team after realizing he was not yet ready to be a part of it.[125]
With his Extremis powers failing, Stark was able to upload a virus that destroyed all records of the Registration Act, thus preventing Osborn from learning the identities of his fellow heroes. The only copy of this database remained in Stark's head, while he was now on the run in one of his extra armor, and his remaining armor in Stark Tower were now in Osborn's hands.[126][127] Iron Man managed to gain a new armor and fought Namor in the Stark Undersea Base.[128] Stark was able to outsmart the Atlantean and escape the collapsing base. Osborn then placed a bounty on Stark's head, offering mountains of gold to the Hood's gang. The members of the secret organization the Cabal gathered to discuss many issues, among which was the hunt for Stark. Stark was losing intelligence by the day which slowed his thinking time and caused him to not be able to pronounce difficult words correctly. He started gathering and assembling parts to make his Iron Man suit easier to navigate and control as it was becoming more and more difficult for him to do so. He later abandoned it for the Dynamo Armor, which he borrowed from Dimitri Bukharin.[129] Tony was later tracked down by Pepper but the two were captured by Madame Masque.[130]
He managed to escape with Pepper's help, but was forced to leave her behind so she could fend off Masque. He then made his way to Afghanistan, but before he could reach his destination, he was shot down by Afghan militants. With his armor destroyed, Tony was forced to abandon it and proceed on foot to his destination, the secret laboratory that Stark worked with Ho Yinsen as a captive in developing the first Iron Man Armor. Dusting off the outdated computer systems, Stark was able to reactivate the old suit, which was now the only armor simple enough for his deteriorating mind to operate.[131]
When Osborn personally caught up to the debilitated Stark and beat him savagely, Pepper Potts broadcast the beatings, costing Osborn credibility and giving Stark public sympathy. Stark went into a vegetative state, having previously granted Blake (Thor's alter ego) power of attorney.[132]
=== Stark Disassembled ===
A holographic message stored in Pepper's armor revealed that Stark had developed a means of 'rebooting' his mind from his current state prior to his destruction of the database. Blake and Bucky resolved to use it to restore him to normal despite Stark's offer in the message to stay in his current state if it would make things easier and Pepper's own uncertainty about the fact that Tony could come back when so many others could not.[133]
The procedure on how to reboot Stark was very complicated. First, they had to place Pepper's electromagnet implant onto his chest, which would be fueling his entire biology. Then they jacked in the hard drive that Maria Hill recovered, which was a backup copy of his brain before he underwent the Extremis injection and then they activated the implant by channeling Thor's lightning through Captain America's shield connected to it.[134]
Meanwhile, in the last remaining vestiges of Stark's mind, he was in a barren wasteland, digging for the lost relics of his life, assisted by a couple named Howard and Maria. However, every time he found something, giant machines resembling his own Titanomechs would attack, causing the illusion to reset. He eventually found he was digging for an iron chest plate, resembling the original version of his armor.[133]
Back on Earth, Pepper, Rhodey, and Captain America sent in Doctor Strange to help Tony after the first attempt to revive him failed. The Ghost interrupted the doctor's ritual, but Tony Stark manually overcame his coma and used the Ghost's ghost phone to transport the assassin away. It was then everyone realized Tony's backup memory drive was not quite complete, as he was awed by the events he read about on his computer after the skirmish, which included the Civil War, Captain America's assassination, the Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign.[135]
=== Siege ===
During most of the Siege of Asgard Tony Stark was out of commission, but returned wearing an older version of his armor, disabling Norman Osborn's stolen Iron Patriot armor and signaling the return of all three main Avengers; including Thor and Steve Rogers.[136] He was instrumental in the defeat of the Void, by ramming a H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier into the villain at full speed, weakening him, finally giving Thor the chance to kill him.
=== Heroic Age ===
In the aftermath of Siege, the superhuman registration act was repealed thanks to the efforts of Steve Rogers, who now took over the position of the overthrown Norman Osborn. Iron Man reunited with Thor and Steve Rogers and rekindled their relationship while setting their past differences aside.[138] Iron Man and Thor were assigned to Avengers along with Bucky Barnes as Captain America while Steve Rogers headed the Secret Avengers. Iron Man was slightly troubled that he may not be able to take orders from Steve, but Steve told him that Maria Hill would oversee the Avengers.[139]
With a new lease on life, Tony built a new model of armor with the help of Mister Fantastic and announced that he would make a new company, Stark Resilient, to rebuild his former wealth and to extend his repulsor technology as a civilian energy source, pulling from making government weapons.[140]
Meanwhile, Sasha Hammer and Justine Hammer from Hammer Industries filled in the gap in military technology left by Stark Industries, with their own Detroit Steel Armor.[141] They attempted to sabotage Stark's attempts at testing and presenting the new repulsor car developed by Stark Resilient, but failed. During a race to test the car, drones controlled by the Hammer girls and Detroit Steel attacked the event, in an attempt to destroy Stark Resilient's plans and prove Detroit Steel's superiority over Iron Man. However, they failed, and Stark managed to save the event and even use it as a stunt to promote the repulsor car.[142]
=== Fear Itself ===
During the Serpent's bid to rule Earth, Tony fought Mokk in the streets of Paris, France, where all citizens had been turned into living statues.Finding himself unable to defeat Mokk with conventional methods, Tony entreated Odin to allow him to design magically powered weapons in the forges of Nidavellir.[143]
Haunted by the casualties and his failure, Tony began drinking again. Odin appeared and after discussing with Tony, the All-Father proposed for him to create magical weapons at Nidavellir. Tony, determined not to fail again, restored his sobriety. With these weapons, the Avengers defeated the Serpent's Worthy and Skadi, while Thor defeated the Serpent himself but payed with his life. Days later, Tony destroyed the weapons at Nidavellir and after discussing with Odin, the God brought back to life the "statues" of the Parisians who weren't broken. Also, Stark offered the Dwarf Splitlip a place to work at Stark Resilient and to quit drinking.[144]
=== Long Way Down ===
A few days later, the Mandarin and Ezekiel Stane started deploying numerous revamped and upgraded villains of the Golden Avenger to make acts of wars over the world. The Mandarin also used a photo of Iron Man having his armor in short cut to manipulate the press into reporting that Tony Stark had been drunk, compromising Stark's image as an appropriate pilot of the armor, ultimately making the military force him install a device that allowed them to shut down the Iron Man armor when necessary.[144][145] Stark realized that he was being played by the Mandarin, so he came up with a counter-plan, which began with faking War Machine's death and resigning from being Iron Man.[14]
After Mandarin's plan led to a tragedy within Resilient, Stark contacted the villain to ask him what did he want. The Mandarin subsequently revealed he had been inside Tony's systems for a long time ago, and forced him to become his slave, making Tony build the Titanomechs with Ezekiel Stane at the Mandarin City.[146]
Months later, Stark and Stane had built three Titanomechs, where the Mandarin placed three of his rings.[147] Tony and Ezekiel convinced three of the Mandarin's prisoners, Whirlwind, Blizzard and Living Laser to join him in a rebellion against their "master."[147] Additionally, Resilient was able to use the microbots known as the Swarm to track down Tony's repulsor tech and find him.[148]
The tide of the battle against the Mandarin and the Titanomechs was turned in favor of Iron Man and his allies when the Triumph Division and the Dynasty heeded Resilient's call for help. Resilient was also able to remotely use the Swarm to revamp Tony's systems, and give him control over the mist of microbots, which he weaponized to destroy the Titanomechs. Meanwhile, Stane had taken the Mandarin one-on-one and killed him.[149]
Stark returned to Seattle, and after isolating himself in order to create new technologies and think about his life, he decided to take some time and clear his mind in the process by going to space.[150]
=== The Secret Origin of Tony Stark ===
When Tony returned to Earth, he created a new armor to test new technologies. After many aspects of his life were questioned upon defeating numerous people who got their hands on the Extremis virus, Tony decided to accept an offer Star Lord made to him and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy to explore the universe.[151][138][152]
During his voyage in space, Tony Stark was faced by a rogue Rigellian Recorder called 451, who claimed he had met Tony's father, and was the one responsible decades ago for allowing to Tony be born. The Recorder revealed he had supposedly genetically engineered Tony in-womb, providing him with his intelligence and wits, and also that he modified Tony to let him be the only future pilot of a giant armor called Godkiller which would be the nuclear deterrent of Earth.[153] Tony was forced into piloting the Godkiller, but somehow couldn't.[154] 451 discovered his long-time plan had no profit, and decided to destroy his consciousness along with the Godkiller.[155] Tony managed to escape from the Godkiller with the brain-dead body of 451.[156]
Upon returning to Earth, Tony investigated why he couldn't pilot the Godkiller, and discovered the hidden secret that he wasn't the baby 451 modified at all, but an adopted son used as a decoy to prevent 451 from finding the actual boy. Tony finally located his long-time secret adoptive brother, Arno Stark, who was no longer in danger as 451 was now dead. Reunited with his genius brother, Tony decided he could use the millennial information stored in 451's database and the intellect of Arno to help build a better world.[22]
=== Superior Iron Man ===
During a confrontation against the Red Skull, who was empowered by Charles Xavier's brain, the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom cast an inversion spell to alter the moral axis of Skull's mind in order to defeat him. The spell was successful and the Skull was beaten, but it also affected the moral compass of those present in the scene, unleashing the inner evilness and selfishness of numerous heroes.[157] A reinversion spell with the purpose of getting everything back to normal would later be cast, but Tony would avoid it using a special shielding to escape the spell.[158]
Once again egocentric and determined, Iron Man relocated to San Francisco, where he secretly infected the entire city with a dormant new version of the Extremis virus via the water supply, to make the achievement of perfection available for everyone in the city. Using an "Extremis 3.0 app" for phones, the virus could be triggered inside an individual, giving the impression that the virus was downloadable.[159][160] However, his plan had a second phase. After a month of free Extremis, he started charging each user of his Extremis App $99.99 a day for the renovation of this technology.[161]
After a multitude of battles with several heroic figures, including Daredevil, Pepper Potts, and an artificial intelligence copy of an earlier, non-inverted version of his mind, and the ally-turned-enemy Teen Abomination, Tony's utopian vision for San Francisco fell through on account of a public relations campaign run by Pepper that destroyed the faith that the San Franciscans had in him, vilified Extremis 3.0, and revealed Tony Stark as "the monster [he'd] become", forcing him to work without his friends if he even wanted to secure his vision.[162]
=== Time Runs Out ===
Some time before his space journey, Tony and the rest of the Illuminati had gathered once again in Necropolis in order to investigate a newly-surfaced threat: the Incursions, events in which universes collided with their respective planet Earths as the focal point, and the only way to prevent the death of one's own Earth was to destroy the colliding one, for which the Illuminati had to prepare themselves to do "the unthinkable," destroy an innocent planet.[163][15][164] As part of confronting the problem, Tony formed the most recent Avengers team with the secret purpose of being able to combat the biggest threats possible while he could focus on the Incursions, constructed a Dyson Sphere called Sol's Hammer in order to weaponize the Sun, and helped reverse-engineer the Antimatter Injection System.[165][166][167]
When fellow Illuminati member Captain America refused to go along with the rest of the members' acceptance of the potential necessity of destroying other worlds, his memory of the Illuminati and the Incursions was wiped.[168] The Incursions and hiding their existence from everybody else affected Tony emotionally, to the point of what Black Swan described as a "man coming to the end of himself."[169]
Months later, Captain America was exposed to the explosion of the Watcher's eye, which revealed deep secrets related to them to those in its blast radius, Steve remembered the mindwipe the Illuminati subjected him to, as well as their activities regarding the possible destruction of worlds, and confronted Iron Man about it.[170][171] He decided that the Illuminati's actions shouldn't be tolerated, and charged the Avengers with hunting them down.[172]
At this point, Iron Man had been affected by the inversion spell. An attempt at reclaiming Wakanda from the Cabal that Namor had created to destroy incursive Earths resulted in Tony being held captive in the Necropolis.[173] After the Cabal had been apparently killed following a truce made by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Illuminati, the Illuminati returned to Necropolis and freed Tony, who was forced to flee due to the Illuminati's unwillingness to let Stark be there with them when they met Rogers and the Avengers, to prevent old fires from being stoked.[174]
When the Shi'ar and their allies arrived at Earth in order to destroy it, as it was the focal point of the Multiverse's decay, the Avengers and the Illuminati tried to retaliate against the enemy fleet. However, they failed. As they ran out of options, Iron Man flew to Sol's Hammer in order to use it.[175]
Iron Man successfully destroyed the Shi'ar fleet, saving the Earth, but the final incursion was on the horizon. With only a few minutes before the event, Steve confronted Tony to settle up. The ensuing fight between the two old friends led Steve to force Tony to admit that he had lied to him and all of their allies, when he had known about the incursions all along, but Tony also confessed that he wouldn't change a thing. The final incursion started, and Earth-1610's planet Earth started approaching Earth-616's planet Earth while Tony and Steve kept fighting. Earth-1610's S.H.I.E.L.D. launched a full invasion to destroy Earth-616, and Tony and Steve were crushed by a Helicarrier.[176] The two Earths ultimately collided, destroying each of the universes.[177]
=== Civil War II ===
When Earth-616 was brought back to existence, any sign of Tony's moral inversion disappeared, having returned to his normal self. Eight months into the future, Tony made an unlikely ally in the allegedly reformed Victor von Doom during an adventure investigating the returned Madame Masque.[178] Doom became a key player in Masque's defeat[179] and continued supporting Stark, much to Tony's skepticism.[180]
Soon after, the superhero community was divided upon learning the existence of an Inhuman named Ulysses Cain who had the ability to profile the future. Tony opposed Captain Marvel's idea of actively using Ulysses' abilities to preemptively tackle any threats, suggesting it was dangerous to take his visions for granted for several reasons. The fact that it was possible to prevent the events Cain saw meant he didn't have access to anything set on stone, additionally, little was known about how did Ulysses' powers work, including their efficacy. Stark also brought into question the morality of stopping and punishing somebody for a disaster they could potentially do, and might not even know they'd do.
Shortly after this first display of tensions between Captain Marvel's and Tony's ideals, Stark decided to begin a search on the identity of his biological parents. After running into a dead end, Tony visited the orphanage in Sofia, Bulgaria where he had found he was adopted. Following a failed attempt to continue the research on his own that led Tony to re-encounter his old flame, Cassandra Gillespe, he was informed by the administrator of the orphanage about the discovery of hidden hospital records from Tony's mother, kept in secret by the former administrator after Tony's birth records had been taken with him. Stark learned that his biological mother was music producer Amanda Armstrong, and visited her. The emotional reunion ended with Tony expressing his desire to get to know his mother, and hugging her.[181]
After the family reunion, the tension between Iron Man and Captain Marvel increased following two different occasions when she heeded Ulysses' visions resulted in tragedy. First, War Machine died and She-Hulk was put in a coma during a preemptive ambush on Thanos.[182] Later, Bruce Banner was murdered by Hawkeye allegedly the split second before he was going to transform into the Hulk when Banner was being interrogated due to one of Cain's visions foreseeing him Hulking-out with catastrophic consequences.[183]
After Captain Marvel arrested an innocent finance banker named Alison Green based on nothing more than a vision from Ulysses that turned out to be wrong, Iron Man enlisted the help of several superheroes who opposed profiling to attack the Triskelion and rescue Green.[184] The ensuing battle between Iron Man's and Captain Marvel's forces was cut short when a new vision announced Captain America's death at the hands of the new Spider-Man Miles Morales at the steps of the Capitol Building.[185] Black Panther subsequently deflected Captain Marvel's side publicly, giving Iron Man and his allies enough time to teleport away.[186]
Iron Man and Captain Marvel came to blows one last time after both Spider-Man and Captain America travelled to Washington, D.C. to prove the vision wrong.[187] Tony lost the fight and slipped into a coma, surviving solely due to secret alterations he had done to his body keeping him alive. His body was placed in a stasis pod in the Triskelion, where Beast set out to investigate his condition. Meanwhile, Ulysses' powers had evolved beyond the ability of human comprehesion, and he left the Earth to join other cosmic entities.[188]
=== Legacy ===
In the aftermath of Tony's fall, Victor von Doom decided to take up Iron Man's mantle in order to both help establish his new position as a hero and carry on Stark's legacy.[189] A digital copy of Stark's mind became active and located Riri Williams, a prodigy teenager with affinity for suits of armor that had caught Tony's attention shortly before the war, in order to train her into becoming a hero.[190] At the request of Tony's will, Amanda Armstrong became the CEO of Stark Industries to prevent the company from falling to the hands of its board of directors.[191]
=== A.I ===
This A.I. of Tony Stark was created by the super-genius inventor himself as a back-up in case his body no longer worked, so his essence could be preserved.[1]
It guarded Tony Stark's lab and confronted Victor von Doom when the reformed villain visited it, failing to stop Doom from donning the Iron Man Armor for himself as part of his attempt to pick up Stark's mantle.[2] Not long after that, a device containing the A.I. Stark was shipped to Riri Williams, a child prodigy who had caught Stark's attention, so the A.I. could serve as a mentor to her.[1]