Iron Man/Relationships

The relationships of Tony Stark/Iron Man.
==Romance==
===Virginia "Pepper" Potts===
Pepper is Tony's personal assistant, later CEO of Stark Industries, and eventual wife. While not fond of Tony's constant philandering and insufferable eccentricity, she is unquestionably loyal to him. Out of all people, Tony is substantially nicer to Pepper and trusts her in return. They subtly showed a mutual feelings for each other, but initially tried to suppress them due to Pepper understandably doubting Tony could be committed to a relationship. She always worries about Tony fighting alone against villains who stole his tech. When he was initially dying, Tony put Pepper as CEO of his company due to accountability. Tony and Pepper eventually entered a romantic relationship, with Tony ceasing his womanizer ways for her (briefly quitting being a superhero for her sake) while Pepper endures his faults. They temporarily broke up when Tony could not stop being a hero, but got back together with Tony soon proposing to Pepper with a ring that he had Happy carry for him for the last few years. They married and had a daughter named Morgan. Following Tony's death, Pepper still owned Stark Industries and raised Morgan alone. 
==Friends and Allies==
===James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine===
Rhodey is Tony's best friend and an officer of the US military. He often argues with Tony. He even stated that Iron Man can't do this alone, but Tony never listens. Despite their personality clashes, the two do care for each other. This is prominently shown when Tony defensively confronted an enlarged Ant-Man who had Rhodes in his grasp, then later on checked on him after he had spinal injury by a misfire from Vision, and helped him walk again with prosthetic exoskeleton. Over the next seven years, Rhodey and Tony kept their friendship strong and they worked together along with the remaining Avengers to travel back in time to collect Infinity Stones. Rhodey was then by Tony's side when he passed away from defeating Thanos.
===Happy Hogan===
Happy is Tony's chauffeur, bodyguard, and good friend. Happy is loyal to Tony and puts up with his eccentrics. Tony does care for Happy, publicly challenging the Mandarin when Happy was hospitalized by one of the terrorist's minions. Then throughout the years Happy continued to serve as Tony's chauffeur and friend. Happy had even kept the engagement ring for Tony to give to Pepper. Happy agreed to keep Tony and Pepper's upcoming wedding out of the tabloids and newspapers so their wedding isn't ruined. Happy, five years later, attended Tony's funeral after the fallen hero sacrificed himself to destroy Thanos and his army, causing Happy sad that he had lost his friend. Eight months after Tony's death, Happy expressed to Peter Parker (who was struggling with the loss of Tony) how much he missed Tony. Following the universal crisis in November, the world forgets who Peter Parker is and Happy mentions to the stranger that he recently lost Tony a year beforehand, while the men mourn May Parker.
===J.A.R.V.I.S.===
J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Really Very Intelligent System) is Tony's AI butler and caretaker of the Avengers Mansion and Stark International. Jarvis sometimes argues with Tony over when he will build another armour. He always assists him when Tony is fighting villains. J.A.R.V.I.S. would later be inputted into Vision, in an attempt to stop Ultron. J.A.R.V.I.S. is then replaced by F.R.I.D.A.Y..
===Steve Rogers/Captain America===
Steve is Tony's ally, teammate, friend and occasional rival in the Avengers. As for their social relationship, they might as well be considered as "frenemies" due to their personality clashes. However, despite their differences, they truly care for and respect each other.
In Tony's childhood, he initially was resentful of Steve due to all the repeated praise his estranged father, who was an ally to Steve in the past, while the latter believed Tony was merely a gloryhound pretending to be a hero. When Scarlet Witch shows Tony a vision of the Avengers lying in the ground, injured and dying, Tony is especially affected by Steve's apparent death, as he quickly rushes to the latter's side, checking for a pulse.
Their friendship is put to the test and ultimately falls apart during the events of Captain America: Civil War, where they had different views of the Sokovia Accords. Following a fight in which both sides held back to avoid hurting each other, Steve and Bucky escaped while Natasha betrayed Tony and T’Challa. Though Tony attempted a truce with Steve, it was completely shattered when he learned that Steve's best friend, Bucky Barnes, killed his parents under the control of HYDRA, which Steve partially knew. An enraged Tony tries to kill both Steve and Bucky in retaliation, and only relents when Steve disables his suit. However, after their lethal battle, Steve sent a letter of apology for everything that had happened, telling Tony that if he ever needed his help, he'd be there. Tony, in turn, allowed Steve and the other Avengers in custody to escape from the Raft (ignoring Secretary Ross' call for help) possibly already showing signs of forgiveness on his part. 
When Thanos launches a full-scale invasion of Earth, Tony continues to hold a grudge and is reluctant to contact Steve for help. After Thanos successfully kills half of all life in the universe, including Peter, Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tony returns to Earth with Nebula and Captain Marvel and continues to express his anger towards Steve, blaming him for Thanos’s victory. On top of this, he is too injured to help the other surviving Avengers attack Thanos’s hideout and kill him. Five years later, they have reconciled their friendship, fighting a revived Thanos together and personally confronting him with Thor’s help.
===Bruce Banner/Hulk===
Bruce and Tony are close friends, getting along as soon as they meet, and share an interest in technology. Unlike others, Tony was much less apprehensive, instead impressed, of the Hulk. Tony even encouraged Bruce to see the Hulk as a blessing, rather than a curse. After the Battle of New York, Bruce (as the Hulk) is the one to catch Tony when he's falling to the ground from space. Bruce would later assist Tony in creating Ultron and Vision. After two to three years since the battle with Ultron, Banner returned from his self-exile in space and sought a comforting hug from Tony, who did not object, after Thanos killed half of the Asgardians and presumably Thor. He also got Tony to (attempt) call Steve and the other outlaw Avengers in spite of their falling out.
===Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow===
Tony and Natasha had a distant relationship when they first met, the latter unimpressed with his flirtations on her when she was sent to monitor him by S.H.I.E.L.D. as Pepper's personal assistant. They had a moment of sincerity when Tony, closer to death from his palladium poisoning, asked her what she would do on her last birthday. When they joined the Avengers, they forged a friendship with a love-hate relationship. Natasha grudgingly shared Tony's sentiment of signing the Sokovia Accords. Unfortunately, she betrayed his team and allowed Steve to flee with his friend, Bucky. Nat tried to reason with Tony to compromise with Steve, only for it to fall on deaf ears. With that, Tony's friendship with Natasha, like with Steve, was strained. Following the loss against Thanos, Tony and Natasha had reconciled. In the wake of Natasha's sacrifice during the Time Heist, Tony and the other remaining original four members of the Avengers mourned the loss of their female teammate and friend.
===Nick Fury===
Fury is Tony's former boss (of the Avengers) and the two have shown an interesting alliance and Tony agrees (or sometimes disagrees) with Nick's decisions for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. However, Tony has supplied with him along with S.H.I.E.L.D. some weapons from his suit. After Tony creates Ultron, Fury tells Tony that he cares about him. Fury is often checking on Stark's actions and creations as seen in Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Nick Fury proved how much he cared for Tony by attending the fallen Avenger's funeral.
===Peter Parker/Spider-Man=== 
After recruiting Peter for his team during the Avengers Civil War, Tony starts mentoring Peter in hopes of helping him become a better hero than he himself had been. Tony was at first the only person who had faith in Peter, saying the others thought he was “crazy” to recruit a kid into the Avengers. When Peter had been taking dangerous missions, Tony took his suit away from him, believing that it was for his own good. Once Parker showed responsibility, Tony gave him back his suit, as well as a place in the Avengers, but Peter declined. Once the event of Infinity War happened, Tony made Parker into a member of the Avengers. However, Peter was one of the victims of Thanos' Snap, which left Tony devastated losing his surrogate son. Tony felt that it was his own fault as he could've prevented his death.
It was Parker's death that motivated Tony into helping the Avengers undo Thanos' actions. Tony went back in time to get the Infinity Stones to save Peter and those displaced by the blip. When the plan worked, Tony, who was glad to have Peter back, heartwarmingly hugs him. Peter is surprised, but returns the hug nevertheless. However, it did not last as Tony would sacrifice his own life to stop Thanos. Parker would attend his mentor's funeral, and later struggle with Tony's death, upset that he had lost another father-figure.
Eight months after Tony's death, Peter was still struggling with the loss of his surrogate father and expressed to Happy Hogan how much he missed Tony. The world looked at Spider-Man as "the next Iron Man", but Peter couldn't handle the pressure of being the next greatest superhero after Iron Man and Tony also left Peter his E.D.I.T.H. glasses.
===Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange===
Tony met Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War, when the magician transported himself to New York to discuss the upcoming attacks with Stark. Upon meeting the sorcerer, Stark imminently made fun of Strange and that he looked like somebody about to perform magic tricks at a child's birthday party. Ignoring Stark's insults, Strange informed Stark that he and Bruce Banner needed his help, so portaled the hero to the sanctum, where Wong caught Stark the importance of the Infinity Stones and what could happen if Thanos got all 6 stones. 
Despite their occasional bickering, the duo tried to put their differences aside when they realised two of Thanos' henchmen had arrived in Grenich Village for the time stone. Strange and Stark worked together with Wong, and later Spider-Man, who had blown off his field trip to help the Avengers. Stark tried to save Strange, but Ebony Maw managed to capture Strange temporally and they ended up on the Q-ship with Spider-Man, where Stark and Parker managed to save Strange's life by sending Ebony Maw into the galaxy and freeze to death. However, Strange was less than thankful for Stark saving him, but they managed to pilot the ship to Thanos' planet, Titan, with Spider-Man to confront Thanos directly, where they met the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team whom became their allies after realising both teams were after Thanos. Stark did show concerns for Strange when he noticed the sorcerer zoned out and seeing 14, 000, 605 possible outcomes to their current battle. At the end of the battle of Titan, Doctor Strange willingly gave Thanos the time stone to spare Stark's life. After Thanos teleported away with the time stone, a wounded Iron Man asked Strange why he gave the mad titan the stone, to which Strange said that there was no other way in the possible outcomes he saw. With that, Strange became one of the victims obliviated by Thanos' snap, while Stark survived.
Five years later in 2023, Stark and the remaining, original 6 avengers, managed to undo Thanos' snap, which resurrected all the victims who were killed five years later, which included Strange. During the battle, Stark asked him if this battle was part of one of the outcomes Strange saw, to which the sorcerer mentioned he could not say anything because it could have lead to the heroes losing again. However, later in the brutal battle, Strange signalled Iron Man to let him know that this indeed was the plan and the one outcome the heroes would win, but it would mean Stark would have to use the stones himself. Stark accepted his fate and obliterated Thanos and his army from existence with his own snap, with the cost of his own life. Strange joined the resurrected heroes in kneeling to the fallen hero as Iron Man died on the battlefield, and attended his funeral.
==Enemies==
===Obadiah Stane/War Monger===
Obadiah Stane was the CEO of Stark Industries before Tony Stark who appeared in the first Iron Man film, following his parents deaths in 1991. Tony looked up to Obadiah and worked with him, until it was revealed that Stane was secretly working against Stark when he became the newest superhero known as Iron Man. Stane became jealous of Stark and all of his success, to the point where he tried to steal the arc reactor from the hero's chest, which was keeping him alive. Stane revealed his true colours to Stark as he ripped the reactor out of his chest and left him to die, before Stark was saved by James Rhodes. With the help of Rhodes and Pepper Potts, Stark was able to overload Stane's own Iron Man suit known as the Iron Mongler, which killed him.
===Whiplash===
Serving as the main agonist of Iron Man 2, Ivan Vanko wanted revenge on Stark for the death oof his father by the hands of Stark's father. Vanko battled Stark while he was competing in a Grand Prix, but he was defeated by the combined efforts of Iron Man and War Machine, following which he chose to end his life by initiating a self-destruct feature within his armor.
===Loki Laufeyson===
Loki was the main antagonist of first Avengers film whom worked with Thanos to cause the Battle of New York. Stark tried to reason with Loki, who tried to brainwash Iron Man, but was successful due to the arc reactor in his chest. Loki's actions with the battle caused Tony to suffer from PTSD for some months following the invasion. Despite this, Loki did seem to respect Tony's work, later becoming one of his allies.
===Thanos=== 
Thanos was Tony's greatest enemy since the Mad Titan caused the Battle of New York in 2012, which lead to Stark's PTSD. However, they did not actually meet until 6 years later in 2018, when Thanos continued his quest throughout the galaxy to receive all the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe. 
Stark confronted the Mad Titan on his home world with Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, despite Stark's best efforts, Thanos managed to overpower him and succeed in performing the snap. Five years after the battle on Titan, Iron Man retired but agreed to help the Original, remaining Avengers in time traveling and undo Thanos' snap. Tony was successful in defeating Thanos once and for all during the Battle of Earth with the other heroes, but at the cost of his own life, by snapping Thanos and his army out of existence with his own Infinity Gauntlet. 
 
Category:Relationships
Category:Marvel relationships