Howard Stark

Howard Stark was an inventor, scientist, engineer, businessman and movie director. The founder of Stark Industries, Stark worked on various government projects during World War II, including Project Rebirth, the latter of which resulted in using the Super Soldier Serum to create Captain America. Presenting Rogers with his vibranium shield, Stark aided him, as well as the U.S. Army and the Strategic Scientific Reserve, in the fight against HYDRA. 
Later in life, Stark married a woman named Maria and had a son, Tony.
== Biography ==
=== Early Life ===
=== World War II ===
==== Strategic Scientific Reserve ====
In 1939, Stark founded Stark Industries. In 1943, Stark hosted the first Stark Expo in New York City, demonstrating new technology that could allow cars to hover; however, the technology was not yet perfected and the car crashed to the ground.
==== Project Rebirth ====
Stark was instrumental in Project Rebirth orchestrated by the Strategic Scientific Reserve that Steve Rogers underwent in order to become the first super soldier. When Abraham Erskine asked how things were progressing, he confirmed everything was ready although there was a risk they would take much of the power away from New York City when they began.
Stark and Erskine began their work as they used the Vita-Ray Chamber Stark had built to douse Rogers with Vita Radiation after receiving the Super Soldier Serum from Doctor Erskine. Once Erskine had given a speech to Chester Phillips and the others attending the experiment, Stark activated the machine. When Rogers screamed in pain, Stark was ordered by Peggy Carter to shut down the machine only for Rogers to insist on continuing.
Despite his reluctance due to the risk of killing Rogers, Stark continued to raise the levels to one hundred percent. As Stark raises the levels of Vita Radiation, he kept on counting up to tens, causing even more pain for Rogers until the process was done. Once the procedure was finished, Rogers was successfully transformed into super-soldier, much to Stark's surprise. Stark and Erskine helped Rogers get on his feet and was congratulated by all of the scientists.
However, immediately after the experiment concluded, Erskine was assassinated by Heinz Kruger. Rogers managed to catch Kruger, who killed himself with a Cyanide Pill before he could be arrested and then interrogated. Rogers did, however, capture the HYDRA submarine that the assassin had attempted to escape in and Stark was tasked with understanding its technology, which he said was years ahead of the Allied technology. With the death of Erskine, the only formula of the serum was lost forever as well. Rogers' blood samples were taken to try to recreate the serum; from the twelve taken, one was given to Howard Stark.
==== Working with Captain America ====
: "Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent.""How come it's not a standard issue?""That's the rarest metal on Earth. What you're holding there, that's all we got."
: ―Howard Stark and Steve Rogers[src]
Instead of being used as the soldier he was intended to be, Steve Rogers was used as a propaganda tool and traveled to help spread encouragement and hope. Shortly before one of his performances in Italy, many soldiers were captured by the enemy. Peggy Carter convinced Stark to fly Rogers to the HYDRA factory in Austria. Stark asked Carter if she wanted to join him after the mission for a late night fondue; Rogers thought they were already in a relationship. Rogers leaped from the plane and he completed his mission, helping all the allied soldiers escape.
Once Rogers had returned from the mission, Stark was stationed at a secret SSR base and met with Rogers again, who gave him a piece of HYDRA tech which Rogers claimed was the most powerful explosive known to man; Stark was doubtful but took the device for testing anyway. Stark questioned that Roger should be giving a speech now, but Roger claimed he had ended his show tour. They were then greeted by Chester Phillips who congratulated Rogers on humiliating the senator by not showing up.
Stark later explained to Rogers what he meant by the earlier fondue reference and they had a brief talk about the minds of women, as Rogers had upset Carter by making some misguided and foolish comments and being caught kissing Lorraine. Stark noted that rather than think too much about the mindset of women, he preferred to focus his efforts on his work, which currently involved keeping Rogers alive during his next mission against Red Skull. Stark then showed Rogers a collection of new shields he had designed for him, as Rogers had now grown attached to the one he had taken on the mission, which had since been damaged by Red Skull.
Rogers chose a prototype vibranium shield; while trying it on for size, Stark explained that it was made from the rarest metal on Earth, and therefore, they could not make more than one version. Finding the pair admiring the shield, Carter arrived and fired four gunshots at him to test its strength, noting that it did indeed work. Rogers then told Stark that he had his own design ideas for his new uniform.
==== Testing the Cosmic Energy ====
Stark and his team of scientists were tasked with testing the Cosmic Cube-powered HYDRA weapon that Steve Rogers retrieved from HYDRA Base Camp C3, trying to learn its potential as well as its possible origin. As the experiments took place and Stark's team made notes about the device's energy signatures, Stark felt the device was not as impressive as he was told it was and commented on Rogers' lack of scientific understanding of the device power while Stark continued his own experiments.
Believing that the Tesseract energy was, in fact, harmless and Rogers had misunderstood and overexaggerated its power, Stark prepared to pull it apart with his machinery. However, when the device was touched, it exploded unexpectedly, shattering the glass and throwing Stark backward. Stunned by the amount of force, Stark could only jokingly say "write that down". Stark began working on ways to understand and counter HYDRA's deadly new power.
==== Attack on HYDRA Headquarters ====
When Captain America successfully captured Arnim Zola, at the loss of Bucky Barnes, the Allies were able to learn of Red Skull's plan to attack the United States. Stark joined Rogers and the Howling Commandos as Chester Phillips discussed their mission plan, noting what was at risk if Schmidt succeeded in his plan. A plan was devised by Rogers to attack the HYDRA Headquarters alone then be joined by the rest of the United States Army.
==== Losing Captain America ====
In February 1945, Captain America crashed the Valkyrie in the ocean with the Cosmic Cube. Stark refused to abandon Rogers and charted multiple expeditions out the ocean to search for him. 
Stark eventually fell in love with and married a woman named Maria. Eventually, Maria was pregnant with their child, whom they named Tony.
==== Stark Expo ====
In 1974, Stark hosted his last Stark Expo, a fair he had created in 1943 to showcase innovation in technology, intent on ushering a bright future for mankind.
== Abilities ==
* Genius-Level Intellect: Stark was an exceptionally intelligent person, creating weapons and devices that were considered futuristic to most, including other geniuses.
* Master Businessman: Stark, despite his poor upbringing, was able to found the company Stark Industries, which became viewed as the apex among its competitors, and made him a rags-to-riches millionaire.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
* Maria Stark † - Wife
* Tony Stark - Son
=== Allies ===
* Stark Industries
** Edwin Jarvis † - Best Friend and Butler
* United States Armed Forces
* SSR
** Abraham Erskine † - Friend and Former Colleague
* Howling Commandos
** Steve Rogers/Captain America - Friend
** Chester Phillips †
** Peggy Carter † - Close Friend
** Dum Dum Dugan - Friend
** Bucky Barnes - Ally 
** Jim Morita †
** Gabe Jones
* S.H.I.E.L.D.
** Nick Fury
=== Enemies ===
* HYDRA
** Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
** Arnim Zola † - Former Colleague
== Appearances ==
In Chronological Order
* Captain America
* Iron Man (mentioned)
* Iron Man 2
* The Avengers (mentioned)
== Trivia ==
* In the comics, Howard Stark was retconned as no longer being Tony Stark's biological father: he and Maria Stark adopted him after their child, Arno Stark, had to be hidden away due to a developmental disorder.
* Stark's appearance and personality in Iron Man 2 were based on that of Walt Disney, founder of the The Walt Disney Company, the parent company of Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment.
Category:Iron Man (Film) Characters
Category:Comics Characters
Category:Humans
Category:Males
Category:Scientists
Category:Executives
Category:Stark Industries Employees
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Iron Man 2 Characters
Category:Captain America Characters