Tony Stark (Earth-616)

**Anthony Edward Stark Jr.**, also known by his name as **Tony Stark**, is a ***fictional character***, a comic ***superhero*** appearing in publications from **Marvel Comics**. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee, Scripter Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, Iron Man first appeared in **Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963)**. Tony is an Avenger from Earth-616.

Tony Stark, after suffering a severe heart injury and being kidnapped, was forced to build a devastating weapon for his kidnappers. He instead created a suit of power armor to save his life and help protect the world as **Iron Man**.

## History

Anthony Stark is a wealthy **Stark Industries Industrialist** and genius inventor who created military weapons and whose metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. Throughout most of his career, Iron Man has been a member of the superhero team **The Avengers** and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series.

Anthony “Tony” Stark was born to two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, named 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. Following a two-year relationship, Amanda became pregnant. A week before giving birth to the Tony, Jude was 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. (pretty savage)

Traumatized by this development, Amanda asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to ensure her future son 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 had given birth in a local hospital. However 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. Now the adopted son of millionaire inventor Howard Stark and his wife Maria, they secretly raised the boy as their own, leaving Tony to believe that he was their only biological son. The truth, was actually much stranger than that.

Prior to Tony's adoption, Howard and Maria sought to conceive a child, however they were informed by their doctor that the child would not survive childbirth. Stark used his vast fortune, resources and connections to try and find a means to save his unborn son. He was eventually approached by an alien named Rollo a member of an alien race known only as the "Greys". Rollo tipped Stark off to a Rigellian Recorder that the Greys had in their possession at their Vegas Casino, Area 52. Stark gathered a group dubbed the Stark Seven to steal the robot. This Recorder, unit 451, helped Stark alter his son's DNA so that he would survive childbirth. However the Recorder saw that the growing number of scientifically and supernaturally empowered humans on Earth would make it a threat to various galactic interests who would seek to destroy the planet before it could mature into an intergalactic force for good. In exchange for saving the life of their child, the Recorder had the Starks consent to allowing him to alter their child's mind so that he would eventually become a genius who could invent weapons to defend the Earth. This all had to be done in secret otherwise the Earth was at risk of being destroyed. While the Stark's agreed to this, Howard was suspicious and began examining the alterations. Within he found a code that would eventually cause his son's body to burn out by age 30 and made alterations in order to ensure that his child lived a full life. This alteration he kept secret from the Recorder in the event of betrayal. When it came time for their child to be born, the Starks were tracked down and attacked by the Greys. Howard and his Stark Seven destroyed the Greys and the aliens were all killed in order to keep their secret. With the child born, the Recorder left for space entrusting the Starks to keep the child secret. The child was born safe, and they named him Arno. However not long after his birth, Arno developed breathing problems and soon could only survive thanks to a breathing device that kept him alive. In order to protect their son, Howard and Maria secretly hid him away in a Stark run hospice facility. They then quietly adopted Tony. Although this was all kept secret, Howard made a recording for Tony so that he might one day learn the truth. However the secret would remain buried for many decades thereafter.