Iron Man

Anthony Stark, son of industrialist Howard Stark, demonstrated his mechanical aptitude and extraordinary inventive genius at a very early age, enrolling in college electrical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 15. When he was 21, he inherited his father's business, Stark Industries, and within a few years turned it into a multimillion-dollar industry complex whose chief contracts were for weaponry and munitions for the U.S. government.
Howard Stark (or his father since a Howard Stark Sr. has been mentioned) worked on the Manhattan Project, encountered Uatu the Watcher with the V-Battalion, was kidnapped by the Red Skull, and worked on the Arsenal robot. Secretly, Hugh Jones caused the car accident that slew Howard and Maria Stark on the Ides of March. According to one account, the Crimson Dynamo attacked Stark Industries, but a young Tony Stark persuaded him to defect.

Stark was sent to Vietnam to supervise a field test for one of his tranistorized weapons. While he was there Stark tripped on a booby trap and a piece of shrapnel was lodged in his chest. The gravely injured Stark was taken captive by the Communist leader Wong-Chu, and was informed that within a week the shrapnel would penetrate his heart and kill him. Wong-Chu offered Stark a deal: if he built the Communist a powerful weapon, Wong-Chu would allow Stark to undergo an operation to save his life. Knowing this was a lie, Stark agreed, hoping to gain time and access to tools.

Stark was given access to a small laboratory in communist territory with another captive, the renowned Oriental physicist Professor Ho Yinsen. With Yinsen acting as his assistant, Stark designed and built an electrically powered suit of armor equipped with heavy offensive weaponry. The armor also contained a pacemaker-like device which enabled Stark's heart to keep beating after the shrapnel entered it. Donning the suit, Stark connected it to its power source, an electrical generator. Lying on a table Stark was helpless until the suit was fully charged. His captor, Wong-Chu, sensed something was amiss and came to investigate with armed men. Realizing he was sacrificing his life, Professor Ho Yinsen went out to confront Wong-Chu, to give Stark the extra time he needed to charge the armored suit fully. As the Iron Man, Stark avenged Yinsen's death and scattered Wong-Chu's guerilla troops. Then, still clad in his armor, which was necessary to keep his heart beating, Stark made his way to the jungle, trying to escape communist territory.

James Rhodes, a pilot in the United States Marines who was stationed in South East Asia, had been shot down in the jungle by communist rockets while he was on a reconnaissance mission. Rhodes managed to land safely and was attempting to get his helicopter air-worthy when he encountered Iron Man. After Iron Man helped Rhodes fight off an attack by communist forces, Rhodes allowed him to drain helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two tracked through the jungle together, finally discovering a hidden Communist rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the base and flew to the nearest American base.

Back in the United States, Stark redesigned his chest plate, which contained a pacemaker-like device, reducing the chestplate's size and weight so he could wear it under his normal clothing. Required to wear the armor's chestplate at all times to keep his heart beating, Stark decided to put to rest of the armor to regular use as well. After redesigning the entire armored suit to match the lighter chestplate, Stark made the existence of the suit public. He concealed the suit's true origin, as well as the fact that he himself had to wear the chest plate to live. Stark made it known that he would soon manufacture the suit, which he called 'the human machine,' for sale for the public.

Soon afterward, Stark donned one of his battle suits in order to prevent thieves from stealing parts from the other copies of it. This experience made him realize that the suit was too dangerous to be made available to the public. The next day Stark revealed what had happened to him in Southeast Asia to Joanna Nivena, his then fianc?Ž. Together they attended a tennis match in Forest Hills, N.Y. that afternoon. Stark brought along his armor, which he was taking to a nearby laboratory for tests. The match was invaded by terrorists who threatened to kill everyone present with a bomb. Joanna urged Stark to don the armor to stop the terrorists. Stark did so, captured the terrorists and saved the spectators by throwing himself atop the bomb. Iron Man thus publicly became a hero, and Stark had a new sense of purpose, having decided to combat evildoers as Iron Man.

Wishing to retain some degree of anonymity, Stark established the fiction that Iron Man was his paid bodyguard wearing a suit of armor that he had invented. Only his most trusted aides learned Stark and Iron Man were one and the same.

At first Stark used his Iron Man identity only to combat spies and criminals who threatened Stark industries. Later, he expanded the scope of his alter-ego's activities to battle any force or person who threatened the security of America or the world. Stark was instrumental in the organization and armament of the original world intelligence and law-enforcement agency known as SHIELD. As Iron Man, he became a founding member of the team of super-human champions known as the Avengers. Stark donated his Manhattan mansion to the Avengers for their exclusive use.

Over the years Stark constantly refined and modified the design of his armor. From a bulky, transistorized Iron suit, Iron man eventually built a relatively lightweight, integrated-circuit, magnetically-polarized suit with more human-looking articulated musculature. Stark's extraordinary genius at theoretical mechanics has enabled him keep his suit of armor state of the art. Stark eventually underwent heart transplant surgery so that he was no longer obligated to wear his metallic chest plate.

Formerly none, but after being critically injured during a battle with the Extremis-enhanced Mallen, Stark injected his nervous system with a modified techno-organic virus to save his own life. This fused Stark's armor to his body, allowing him to store the inner layers of the Iron Man armor in the hollows of his bones as well as control it through direct brain impulses. He is also able to remotely connect to external communications systems such as satellites, cellular phones, and computers throughout the world. Because the armor's operating system is now directly connected to Stark's nervous system, its response time has been significantly improved. The Extremis armor grants him superspeed reactions and a healing factor able to regrow whole organs. He was able to stop Crimson Dynamo's heart and restart it.

Energy Absorption / Energy Beams / Energy Blasts / Flight / Force Fields / Healing Factor / Reflexes / Super Speed / Super Strength /

Weapons

The Iron Man armor provides Stark with superhuman strength, and physical protection. It also allows Stark to fly using the jetboots. The armor contains a variety of weapons including repulsor rays, pulse beams, missile launchers, lasers, tasers, and flamethrowers. The unibeam in the center of his chest can emit various types of light energy and his helmet contains communication devices, scanning equipment, and recording devices.

Equipment

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