Iron Man

**Anthony "Tony" Stark**, AKA **Iron Man**, is a superhero from *Marvel Comics*.

## Description

Tony Stark is the adoptive son of Howard and Maria Stark. He is a master prodigy, building his first engine at age 6, and getting his masters degree at MIT at age 15. When his parents died from a car crash, he inherited Stark Industries, and used the profits from the weapons manufacturing and trading for his own excursions.

However, everything changed in Afghanistan when a shrapnel bomb critically injured Tony in his heart, and was captured by a group of terrorists who wanted him to build more weapons for them. Instead, Tony created an Arc Reactor to keep the shrapnel in his heart from going deeper in, and constructed a suit made of Iron to make his escape.

Once back in America, Tony shut down the weapon manufacturing wing, and decided to save the world as best as he can with a new suit, dubbing him self as the Invincible Iron Man.

Throughout his many battles, he became one of the founding members of The Avengers, and has created more suits for any type of battle he might come across.

## Trivia

* Stan Lee based Stark's personality on Howard Hughes, explaining, "Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-millionaire, a ladies man and finally a nutcase."
* "Stark" means "strong" in several languages, including German and Swedish.
* 2011's *Invincible Iron Man* #500 established Tony to be 35 years old. By implementing the ratio of passage of time established by the Marvel Sliding Timescale, that would mean he became Iron Man when he was approximately 23 years old. Despite Tony celebrating a birthday in 2013's *Iron Man* (Vol. 5) #6 and a documented passage of time of eight months before and after 2015's *Secret Wars*, 2016's *International Iron Man* #7 posits Tony's birth between 35 and 34 years into the past, which would mean he became Iron Man when he was approximately 21 years old.
* In-universe, the exploits of Iron Man (like those of many heroes), are adapted by Marvel Comics in authorized comics. Since Iron Man's identity was a secret for a long time, when Marvel was eventually given consent to fabricate backstories for heroes with secret identities, the company envisioned Iron Man's alter-ego as a "*Top Gun* type" blue-collar worker who took the risks on Tony Stark's equipment and designs, living life fast because he knew it could end the next day. The process was made complicated due to the times Iron Man was allegedly killed in action and replaced.
* Tony Stark once went to a fan convention posed as an Iron Man cosplayer.
* Tony Stark's blood type is A+.
* Iron Man is unlockable after beating 2003's *Tony Hawk's Underground* video game.
* As of *Iron Man* (Vol. 4) #7, Stark was the 36th richest man in the world.
* According to himself, the greatest day of Tony's life was when the Avengers found Captain America frozen in a block of ice.
* As director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and an Avenger, Iron Man had Ultimate Clearance Level.
* Iron Man is an atheist. While he acknowledges the existence of gods, he refuses to believe in them in the sense of placing faith on them.
* Tony suffers from major depressive disorder.
* Tony is the owner of the Roswell Army Air Field, a location mistakenly associated with Area 51.
* Tony Stark has three doctorates.
* Stark hates J. R. R. Tolkien.
* Stark is a Gemini, meaning he was born between May 21 and June 20.
* Thor once commended Iron Man telling him that he was as much a god as any immortal he had ever known.
* Tony Stark discovered the existence of sterile neutrinos on a bet (or possibly a dare, he doesn't recall correctly).
* Tony has his own Google-like search engine, called "Starkle."
* Tony has used the e-mail addresses TStark@StarkIntl.com and iamironman@starkunlimited.com.
* Squirrel Girl's call ringtone for Tony on her phone is Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
* Tony Stark has set up a scholarship program for aliens, dimensional travelers, clones, and artificial intelligences, as well as other students outside the norm.
* One of Tony's cars has the licence plate STARK 1. The car with the STARK 2 plate was gifted to Pepper Potts.
* The password to Tony's holographic workboards at the Avengers Mountain is "wgp0m0tm," a reference to "Good Technology" by the Red Guitars.
* In *Tarot* #3 the two halves of Iron Man merged with the halves of Thor and Valkyrie to create Eiserne Jungfrau and Gadget.
* The character of Nathan Stark on the television show *Eureka* is inspired by Tony Stark.
* Tony Stark made a brief behind-the-scenes cameo appearance in *Super Friends* #5 by DC Comics. He telephoned a Super Friends telethon and spoke with Batman, wherein he pledged $75,000 to the Heart Fund.
* According to a 2006 estimate by the American business magazine *Forbes*, Tony Stark's network is $3.0 billion.
* Stark considers himself more attractive than Robert Downey, Jr., and has been stated to be more attractive than him by others also.
* While unconfirmed, it is heavily implied that Tony Stark is bisexual. In 2015's *Superior Iron Man* #8, Tony wakes up after apparently having had a threesome with another man and a woman. And in 2018's *Tony Stark: Iron Man* #4 after becoming an item with Janet Van Dyne, Tony apologizes to both women and men for no longer being on the market. Additionally, his dating profile received male matches, presumably meaning his selected preferences included men.
* According to the Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto, there must always be a Tony Stark in every existence, and the Phoenix has stated that Earth-616's Tony Stark is particularly indispensable.
* In *Thor* (Vol. 6) #7, Thor pranks back Tony Stark by exposing his personal phone number as 212-970-4133. This number is valid, and callers will be answered by a pre-recorded message from Tony Stark explaining that he had to stop using the number because of Thor. He also directs the caller to www.tonystarkironman.com, which redirects to a Marvel.com page about *Thor* (Vol. 6) #7. A video of a call to this number can be viewed here.