Changes: Anthony Stark (Earth-1010)

A billionaire industrialist who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered to build a missile for them, Stark uses his resources to build a suit of power armor and make his escape instead. Returning to America, Stark improves his armor and becomes the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man.

Creators

First appearance

Venomous Bite

History

Early Life

Born to legendary innovator and weapons developer Howard Stark, Tony's early life was often dominated by the absense of his father who he would later describe as 'cold' and 'calculating'. However from an early age he quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four he built his first circuit board, at age six his first engine, and at seventeen he graduated summa cum laude from MIT.

Then his parents were killed in a car accident. Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, stepped in to fill the gap left by the legendary founder. At age twenty-one, Tony became the new CEO of Stark Industries. With the keys to the kingdom, he ushered in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, and satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by "insuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe."

Captured in Afghanistan

Stark traveled to Afghanistan to introduce his new missile design, "The Jericho", to the United States Air Force. He was attacked and badly injured by shrapnel from the detonation of a Stark missile. He woke up to find that he was still alive thanks to his fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, who made a high powered electromagnet to hold the shrapnel in place, thus keeping him alive. He was ordered by their captors, a terrorist group called the Ten Rings, to build them a version of Stark Industries' "Jericho Missile", an extremely destructive, multi-warhead weapon. Instead he built a powered suit of armor along with a miniature arc reactor to keep him alive.

During his escape Dr. Yinsen was killed in an attempt to stall the guards long enough to buy Stark enough time to charge the suit. After the suit was powered up he broke out and destroyed all stock they had of Stark weapons, and used a jet booster to travel away from there. He crashed into the sand and abandoned his armor. He was traveling for some time before U.S. military helicopters picked him up and took him back to Los Angeles.

Becoming a Hero

Upon returning to the United States, Stark declared that Stark Industries would no longer manufacture weapons, a move which his business partner Obadiah Stane told him was blocked by the board members shortly after. He decided to improve his armor suit by refining its flight capability, and built a more powerful and reliable arc reactor, both to power his pacemaker and the suit. Faced with the realization of what his company had done, Stark donned the Mark III suit and flew to Afghanistan to stop the Ten Rings. He stopped the group and destroyed their Stark weapon stock, while accidentally drawing the attention of the United States Air Force and his friend Lt. Colonel Jim Rhodes. They sent two F-22 jets after Stark to shoot him down. Stark managed to escape the jets. Rhodes covered up the incident after he found out that it was Stark, stating that it was a training exercise.

While he was working on improving the suit he discovered that Stane had been "dealing under the table" to both sides in the conflict. He sent his assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts to hack into the Stark mainframe. While he was back at home Stane stunned him with a device that induced temporary paralysis and took his arc reactor/pacemaker to power his suit. He went back to his lab after the paralyzing device wore off and tried to get the old reactor before he goes into cardiac arrest. With the help of his personal A.I. computer J.A.R.V.I.S., he was able to put the arc-reactor in his chest. Then he went to stop Stane.

Battle against Stane

Using his first reactor, which was not designed to power his latest armor, Stark battled with Stane atop Stark Industries and the surrounding streets, defeating him when the full-sized arc reactor that powers the lab was deliberately overloaded, under Stark's instruction, by Potts. Stark's reactor reactivated after having almost failed completely from the blast.

Aftermath

Afterwards, Stark's alter ego was dubbed "Iron Man" by the press. Stark held a press conference where his government contacts expected him to state that Iron Man was Stark's own bodyguard. However, after stumbling into a loaded question by one of the press reps, he ultimately made his identity as Iron Man public instead. Later during the night, Stark comes home and was greeted by Nick Fury, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. (the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division), who told him about the Avenger Initiative.

Palladium Poisoning

Stark's design of the reactor in his chest required a heavy element such as palladium to keep it running. Unfortunately, palladium was continuously eroded by the neutron bombardment, and released deadly poisons into Tony's body.

As he came to understand that his demise was at hand, he began giving his things away to his trusted friends and family. Pepper took over as CEO of Stark Industries, and Rhodey was allowed to 'steal' the Mark 2 Iron Man suit and take it back to the US Military.

It wasn't until SHIELD's intervention that Tony's poisoning symptoms were temporarily reverted and he was set on the trail to find his father's design for a new element to replace the Palladium. Building a small particle accelerator in his garage, Tony was finally able to create a new element that met his needs, and in turn created a brand new suit to utilize the new power.

Whiplash and Justin Hammer

While Tony struggled with his illness, the son of Howard Stark's partner in building the original Arc Reactor, Ivan Vanko, was creating a mini arc reactor of his own. Using crude materials, Ivan was able to create a chest piece that fed the energy from the reactor into two electrical whips he could then use to cut through metal and electrify things with.

Vanko attacked Tony at the Grand Prix while he was driving the car he sponsored, and would have killed him if not for the intervention of Pepper and Happy. Vanko was quickly carted off to jail for his actions, but the effects were much more permanent.

Justin Hammer had Vanko released, and brought him to his armament factory to design a new Iron Man suit to best Stark. Ultimately, Vanko double crossed Hammer and created robot drones of his own liking to actually kill Tony. Ironically, it was Hammer's additions to the Mark II suit, piloted by Rhodes which prevented Tony's death. Together, they worked to destroy the drones, and bring Hammer into custody.

With his illness corrected, a new suit of his own, and coming out once again on top, Tony returned to the life he enjoyed, acting as a consultant to Nick Fury's Avenger Initiative.

Forming the Team

Fury found himself pressured by his superiors to make a spot for Emil Blonsky (dubbed "The Abomination") on the roster due to his status as a war hero; with his villainous acts in Harlem being attributed to Bruce Banner. Fury, not wanting Blonsky anywhere near his team, left the matter to Agent Coulson and Agent Sitwell, who decided to send Stark to meet with and antagonize General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross so that he would refuse to release Blonsky to S.H.I.E.L.D. The plan worked with Stark enraging Ross to the point that the general tried to have him removed from the bar they were in. Stark responded by buying the building and having it demolished.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Tony has no inherent powers, however the arc reactor in his chest provides a source of power with which he can power high-demand equipment, most notably his series of Iron Man armor suits.

Abilities

Tony Stark is a genius inventor capable of conceiving and building technological advancements far ahead of cutting edge technology. Among his achievements are the redeveloped arc reactors that his father conceived, the J.A.R.V.I.S. artificial intelligence, his Iron Man armor suits, and various advanced weapons technologies.

Strength level

Without his armor Tony Stark possesses the normal strength of a normal human man his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. The armor magnifies Stark's strength to superhuman levels, enough to lift a car with his third generation Iron Man suit and presumably more with subsequent armor and redesigned arc reactors.

Weaknesses

Without his Iron Man armor, Stark is vulnerable to attacks. The arc reactor in his chest is his biggest weakness however:

If it were to be removed, the electromagnet preventing shrapnel reaching his heart would fail.
The reactor requires rare material upgrades to function.
The early miniature arc reactors were powered by palladium core, which due to their toxic nature were slowly polluting his blood.

The Mark II armor froze up in high altitudes with a short cut-off power timing, putting Stark at a disadvantage in cold conditions.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Special armor, portable J.A.R.V.I.S. program, arc reactor.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

No trivia.

Discover and Discuss

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Links and References

None.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 | Alignment               = Good
 | Affiliation             = [[Stark Industries (Earth-1010)|Stark Industries]], [[Avengers (Earth-1010)|Avengers]]
-| Relatives               = Howard Stark (father)<br>Maria Stark (mother)
+| Relatives               = Howard Stark (father)<br>Maria Stark (mother)<br>[[Virginia Potts (Earth-1010)|Virginia "Pepper" Potts]] (girlfriend)
 | Universe                = Earth-1010
 | BaseOfOperations        = Los Angeles, California, USA
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 | Citizenship             = American
-| MaritalStatus           = Single
+| MaritalStatus           = Dating
 | Occupation              = Inventor, Chairman, CEO, and Scientist of Stark Industries
 | Education               = Engineering Degree, MIT