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"Iron Man" redirects here. For the film, see Iron Man (film).

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
―Iron Man[src]

Iron Man (Tony Stark) is a billionaire industrialist and head of Stark Idustries that he inherited from his father, Howard Stark. He is a member of The Avengers and has seven different Iron Man suits that he made.

Quick Answers

Who is Iron Man? toggle section
Tony Stark, a genius inventor and billionaire playboy, is the superhero known as Iron Man. He developed the powerful Iron Man Armor after being kidnapped by the Ten Rings and forced to build a devastating weapon. This armor has been constantly evolving ever since and is now one of the most powerful weapons technology on the planet.
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What is Iron Man's personality? toggle section
Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man, is an outgoing genius billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. He has a sharp wit and carefree personality mixed with a noble hero's willingness to do anything to help people. Despite his confidence and bravado, Tony often feels lonely. He is also a well-known alcoholic and developed PTSD following his exploits.
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Will there be a Iron Man 4? toggle section
No, there are no reported plans for an Iron Man 4.
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Who is Iron Man to Spider-Man? toggle section
Iron Man aka Tony Stark was a mentor figure to Spider-Man aka Peter Parker. Tony recruited Peter during the events of Captain America: Civil War and even planned to bring him into the Avengers. Tony also made him a new suit and left powerful AI technology with him.
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Biography

Iron Man

During a business trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho" cluster missile, Tony's convoy is attacked. One of his own company's bombs lands near him and explodes. The blast causes him to lose consciousness and embeds several pieces of shrapnel in his chest, one fragment dangerously close to his heart. He wakes up some time later with an electromagnet attached to his chest. Hooked up to a car battery, the electromagnet keeps the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. {C}Tony has been captured by the terrorist group Ten Rings, who order him to build a Jericho missile for them. Instead, he and fellow captive Dr. Yinsen secretly build a crude but strong power armor (Mark 1) fueled by a miniature "arc reactor", a smaller version of a power source previously invented by Tony. The arc reactor supplies energy to an electromagnet which prevents embedded shrapnel from reaching Tony's heart, which would kill him. Dr. Yinsen is killed in the ensuing escape attempt when he stalls the guards to buy Tony enough time to power up the suit. Using the suit, Tony kills several terrorists, destroys their weapons stockpile, and escapes, though his suit is destroyed as he crash lands in the desert. Upon being picked up by the Air Force and returning to the United States, Tony declares that his company will, for the time being, no longer manufacture weapons. His father's friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane, tells him that this move is blocked by the board members shortly after. Tony retreats from public view, focusing on the design of his power suit, refining its size and flight capability (Mark 2). He asks Pepper to help him take his old arc reactor out and to put in a new one. During his first public appearance since his return to the United States, he is accosted by Christine Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons in the hands of terrorist groups, including the Jericho missiles he refused to build for them. He also discovers that Obadiah has been "dealing under the table", supplying weapons to both the U.S. troops and the terrorists, as well as being the one to shut Tony out of the board while he recovers. Faced with the realization of what his company has done, Tony dons the power suit (Mark 3) and flies to Afghanistan, rescuing Yinsen's village from the Ten Rings. In destroying their weapon stockpiles, he accidentally draws the attention of the United States Air Force and his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. Two F-22 Raptors are ordered to take out the unknown target, and during the confrontation one of the Raptors loses its left wing when it accidentally collides with Tony. The pilot ejects shortly afterwards, but his parachute jams. Realizing this, Tony dives down to help the pilot release his parachute before escaping.

Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Tony sends Pepper to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system, she discovers that it was Obadiah who hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Obadiah has recovered the power suit prototype and has reverse engineered his own version. However, his team of scientists, not possessing Tony's genius, cannot engineer the miniature arc reactor to power the new suit.

Obadiah, upon realizing Pepper's discovery, steals Tony's own arc reactor from his chest to power his new suit, leaving Tony to die. Using his first reactor, which was not designed to power his latest armor, Tony battles with Obadiah atop Stark Industries and the surrounding streets, defeating him when the full-sized arc reactor that powers the lab is deliberately overloaded by Pepper. Afterwards, Tony's alter ego is dubbed "Iron Man" by the press. Tony holds a press conference where his S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts advise him to state that Iron Man is Tony's bodyguard. However, he instead announces that he actually is Iron Man.

Later, Tony arrives home and is greeted by a mysterious visitor standing by the window. He reveals himself as Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., warns him that he is not the only 'super hero' in the world, and mentions

The Incredible Hulk

Stark meets with a drunk General Ross. He tells him that a team is being made. He also mentions that the Super Soldier Serum was put on ice for a reason.

Iron Man 2

Six months after revealing his Identity to the world and has since then helped maintain world peace., Tony appears as Iron Man at the grand Opening of The Stark Expo in Flushing Meadows, New York, continuing the Legacy his Father started . Unfortunately Tony's life isn't as good as it appears as he is faced with two threats. One in the form of his own heart, it seems the Arc Reactor palladium core is poisoning him causing him a slow pain full death due to over uses of the Iron Man armor. {C}The second threat is from A Senate committee hearing, led by Senator Stern, demanding that Tony release the technology of the Iron Man armor for military application. Tony refuses believing that it's not in the best interested of the Americain people for the military to posses that they'll use as a weapon that could very well be used against America. Senator Stern tries to turn Tony's best friend Lt. Colonel James Rhodes against him in effort to force him. Competitor Justin Hammer tries to plead his case in the matter, Tony takes this opportunity to embarrassed both Justin and Stern with a collection of video footage of Justin and others around the world attempting to recreating the technology. Tony arrogantly states that it will be years before anyone will be able to successfully recreate the tech.

Tony returns to his home where he and J.A.R.V.I.S. try to find a solution in finding a new power source for the Arc Reactor. Uncertain of his outcome of survival Tony appoints his former personal assistant Pepper (CEO of Stark Industries), replacing her with Natalie Rushman. Growing increasingly despondent and thrill-seeking as a consequence of what he believes to be his impending death, Tony races at the Monaco Grand Prix, Where Ivan Vanko who has constructed an arc reactor of his own, along with whip-like energy weapons attacks Tony. With the aid of Pepper and Happy Hogan who hands him his portable briefcase armor. Tony dons the Mark V armor and defeats Ivan. Afterward, Tony pays Ivan a visit in a french prison to find out how he acquired the technology, During the conversation Ivan reveals that he's the son of Anton Vanko, who collaborated with Howard on the first arc reactor but was deported back to the Soviet Union and died in poverty. Ivan blames the Starks for his family's fate, and seeks revenge. Ivan also mentions he's fully aware of Tony's current heart poisoning, saying it's bad way to die. {C}Tony heads back home with Pepper to celebrate his upcoming Birthday, On Route home Tony attempts to tell Pepper the truth behind his current series of reckless acts. Wanting to escape from all his current problems Tony tries to convince Pepper to take a detour in Italy. Unfortunately due to the media pressure of the recent incident in Monaco with Whiplash has everyone on edge demanding that Tony turn over the technology now. Ivan escapes prison thanks to Justin who intends to use Ivan's knowledge of Tony's technology to create his own army of armored warriors to discredit Iron Man. Tony throws what he believes will be his last birthday party and gets drunk while wearing the Iron Man armor and indulges in dangerous activities, forcing his friend, Rhodey, to intervene. Rhodey dons Tony's Mark II armor and after almost destroying Tony's house in the resulting fight, delivers the armor to the military. The next day, Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., approaches Tony, revealing Natalie as undercover agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder. Fury gives Tony some of Howard's old material to aid in finding a cure for the palladium poisoning. A hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo proves to be a diagram of a new element's atomic structure. With the aid of his computer J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony synthesizes the new element and cures himself. Afterward, Ivan contacts Tony, revealing he is still alive and still set on revenge. Tony dons The Mark VI armor and files off to the Expo.

At the Expo, Justin unveils his new military drones, captained by Rhodey in a heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor known as War Machine. Tony as Iron Man arrives to warn Rhodey, but Ivan seizes control of both the drones and Rhodey's armor, setting them to attack Iron Man. Pepper has Hammer arrested while Tony's bodyguard Happy Hogan and Agent Romanoff race to Hammer's Queens facility. They find Ivan has already left, but Natasha is able to turn over control of the Mark II armor to Rhodey. Eliminating the remaining drones, Tony and Rhodey are confronted by Ivan in his new, more powerful suit of armor. He is defeated when Tony and Rhodey fire repulsor rays at each other, triggering an explosion beside Ivan. Too injured to continue the fight, Ivan ignites his and drones' self-destruct bombs, apparently killing himself in the process. Tony races to save Pepper amid a series of explosions. Pepper quits her position as CEO, and she and Tony kiss. Rhodey departs with the Mark II armor without serious objection from Tony.

At a debriefing, while showing news footage of another superhuman event, Fury informs Tony that while Iron Man is a suitable candidate for the "Avengers Initiative", Tony himself is not. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants Tony in a consultant position, to which Tony agrees on the condition that Senator Stern present himself and Rhodey with their medals for bravery.

The Avengers

After Loki infiltrates S.H.I.E.L.D. and steals the Cosmic Cube, Nick Fury decides it's time to re-establish the Avengers Initiative. Agent Coulson travels to the newly built Stark Tower where Tony and Pepper are celebrating the successful creation of a new, clean energy source. Tony is informed of Coulson's presence at Stark Tower by J.A.R.V.I.S. to which he informs him that he has "reached the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark" and refuses to see him. Coulson enters the building anyway and informs Tony that the Initiative is now active and they need him to come in, handing Stark several holographic screens containing information about Captain America, Thor, Bruce Banner and Loki.

Stark suits up in his Mark VI armour and travels to Germany where he finds his old aquaitance, Natasha Romanoff in a jet overlooking the newly unfrozen Captain America in the middle of a battle with the hostile god, Loki. Stark jets right in and blasts Loki with his Repulsors and stands tall next to the Captain forcing Loki to surrender. After escorting Loki onto the Quinjet, the team head back to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Hellicarrier. Stark comments on Steve's fighting skills and subtly mocks him. The Quinjet is then surrounded by a storm and attacked by the Asgardian "God of Thunder", Thor who breaks in and promptly grabs Loki before he flies away. Stark immediately pursues them.

While Thor threatens Loki atop a mountain, Tony blasts straight into him, hurling him onto the forest floor. Stark refuses to let Thor get close to Loki and the two began a fierce battle. During the fight, Thor summons lightning to his hammer, Mjolnir, and electrocutes Stark only for J.A.R.V.I.S. to inform him that his suit is at 400% capacity, allowing him blast Thor off his feet. The armor takes a beating during the battle as Thor easily begins to crush one of the gauntlets with his bare hands. The fight is broken up by Captain America who, after matching Mjolnir with his Shield, manages to stop Thor. They take Loki back to the Hellicarrier where Tony meets Bruce Banner and discuss the Tesseract but not before Tony plants a hacking device and allows J.A.R.V.I.S. to begin searching S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database to find out their secrets. Tony and Bruce find out that S.H.I.E.L.D. were trying to harness the Tesseract's powers to create weapons of mass destruction, during a huge argument with Fury, Romanoff, Rogers, Banner and Thor, Loki's brainwashed troops cause an explosion on the Hellicarrier in order to break Loki out. Stark suits up as Iron Man and begins to fix the ship from the outside with the aid of Steve.

Upon fixing the ship and fighting off some of Loki's troops, the duo learn that Banner had transformed into the Hulk and escaped from the ship, as well as Thor being ejected from the Hellicarrier by Loki who escaped and murdered Agent Coulson. Fury informs the two that the Avengers Initiative was so that the isolated individuals could become something more and that Coulson died still believing this. Stark takes his death hard and works out where Loki is planning his attack. Iron Man, Captain America, Natasha and Hawkeye (now free from Loki's mind control) travel to Stark Tower where Tony finds Loki has installed a device powered by the Tesseract.

Tony takes off his his armor and begins to "threaten" Loki, secretly putting on two metal bracelets moments before Loki throws him out of the window, as he falls he orders J.A.R.V.I.S. to deploy his new Mark VII suit which jetpacks out through the window after him and forms around him moments before he hits the ground. Stark flies back up to Loki and blasts him backwards in the name of Agent Coulson. Tony is however confronted by Loki's device which opens a portal into space where Loki's army of Chitauri fly into New York and begin their war against Earth. Iron Man is joined by his team mates as they begin to battle the alien menace. Tony begins to chase after a Leviathan, a giant alien serpent and the war ship to dozens of Chitauri. When he is notified of Banner's arrival on the field, Tony leads the serpent towards him so Bruce will transform into the Hulk and defeat it. Tony lands on the ground alongside his fellow heroes, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. The team are then confronted by hundreds of Chitauri who fly in through the portal as well as several more Leviathans. Rogers gives out orders and instructs Tony to take to the skies and take out more Chitauri. Tony even takes out a Leviathan by flying head first into it mouth and launching missiles from the inside.

After a long battle, the team are still outnumbered and learn that Natasha has found a way to close the portal. Stark hinders this as Fury has instructed him that the World Security Council have sent a missile in to blow up Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and flies it up through the portal and blows up the Chitauri Mothership, losing power in the process and falling unconscious back through the portal just before it closes. As Stark falls back to earth, he is caught by the Hulk who lands with him back on the ground. Rogers and Thor run over to the lifeless Iron Man who appears to be dead, only for Hulk to scream in his face, waking him up. The team reform and make sure that Loki surrenders. The Avengers then make sure Loki is taken back to Asgard by Thor along with the Tesseract. The team disband and go their separate ways. Tony is later seen with Pepper Potts on Stark Tower ready to rebuild after the damage that was done. The Stark sign on the side displays only one remaining letter, "A".

Sometime later, Stark and the rest of the Avengers went to eat silently in a Shawarma restaurant.

Iron Man 3

To Be Added

Relationships

Trivia

  • Before Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Tony, Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise were interested in playing Iron Man. Cruise in particular was going to act in and produce the film. Cage played another Marvel superhero in Ghost Rider. According to Jon Favreau, Clive Owen and Sam Rockwell are among the actors that were considered for Tony Stark during pre-production. Rockwell would get a part in Iron Man 2 (2010) as Stark's rival Justin Hammer.
  • Tony Stark's ringtone is the original Iron Man theme song from the 1966 TV series.

Behind The Scenes

  • Robert Downey Jr.'s name was uncredited in The Incredible Hulk.
  • Favreau had planned to cast a newcomer in the role but ultimately chose Downey (a fan of the comic) because he felt the actor's past made him an appropriate choice for the part.
    • The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye," the director explained. "He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character who is having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl. Favreau also felt Downey could make Stark a "likable asshole", but also depict an authentic emotional journey once he won over the audience. Downey had an office next to Favreau during pre-production, which allowed him greater involvement in the screenwriting process. He brought a deeper sense of humor to the film not present in previous drafts of the script.
  • Downey stated that he initially pushed Whedon to make Stark the lead revealing in The Avengers, "Well, I said, ‘I need to be in the opening sequence. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Tony needs to drive this thing.’ He was like, ‘Okay, let’s try that.’ We tried it and it didn’t work, because this is a different sort of thing, the story and the idea and the theme is the theme, and everybody is just an arm of the octopus."

Gallery

Iron Man

The Incredible Hulk

Iron Man 2

The Incredible Hulk

The Avengers

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