Iron Man (Earth-199999)

Iron Man, legally Dr. Anthony "Tony" Stark (born May 29, 1970), is an American business magnate, engineer, inventor, weapons manufacturer, socialite playboy, hero, and founding member of the Avengers. His moniker comes from the mechanized, virtually impenetrable, gold-titanium alloy suit he wears that gives him the power of flight and significant offensive capabilities. He is in the middle of a burgeoning romantic relationship with his former assistant, Pepper Potts. Stark lives in a smarthouse in Malibu, California operated by the artificial intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S.

Biography

Billionaire playboy

Tony Stark is the son of Maria and Howard Stark: the founder of Stark Industries and a pioneer in the world of weapons manufacturing. Tony was a scientific prodigy from a young age, building a circuit board at the age of 4 and graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 17. His relationship with his father was often strained; naturally brilliant, Tony regularly showed a lack of work ethic despite his father's efforts to instill it in him. The stress in Howard's work life often manifested in abuse at home, further widening the rift between father and son. Tony instead looked to family butler Edwin Jarvis for comfort, eventually naming his A.I. assistant after him in his adulthood. Following Tony's parents' death in a car crash in 1991, Obadiah Stane briefly took over Stark Industries before handing the reins of CEO to Tony at the age of 21. He maintained this role successfully until 2008, becoming an immensely popular figure through his sly charm and sharp wit. He is close friends with James Rhodes, a United States Air Force lieutenant colonel and the military liaison to Stark Industries.

On New Year’s Eve 1999, while attending a party in Bern, Switzerland with geneticist Maya Hansen, Stark met Aldrich Killian, an excitable young scientist from the organization Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M. Killian was interested in working with Stark, but Tony cruelly blew him off. Hansen privately showed Stark her Extremis project, a form of genetic manipulation that could have invaluable applications. She had begun testing it on plants, but doing so resulted in explosive “glitches.” Tony and Maya slept together, and went their separate ways.

In 2009, Stark traveled to Afghanistan to demonstrate the new Jericho missile to the United States military—a trip that Col. Rhodes insisted that Stark himself didn't have to take. After the demonstration, Stark's convoy was ambushed by an Afghani terrorist group, the Ten Rings. Stark was critically injured by a grenade of his company's own making, knocking him unconscious and leaving shrapnel perilously close to his heart. He was taken into custody by the Ten Rings, alongside Afghani scientist Ho Yinsen, who patched him up with an electromagnet in his chest that kept the shrapnel from getting closer to his heart. Ten Rings leader Raza told Stark that they would set him free if he built them a Jericho missile. Stark and Yinsen both understood that Raza was not to be trusted, and began to prepare an escape plan.

Using supplies provided by the Ten Rings, Stark built a miniature arc reactor to provide longer-term support for his wound. He and Yinsen also constructed a large metal contraption, the first prototype of what would be the Iron Man suit. The suit was significantly larger than a person, immensely strong, and effectively bulletproof. The two were under constant scrutiny from the Ten Rings, and when the time came to escape, Yinsen was forced to sacrifice himself to buy Stark time to finish the suit. Fully equipped, Stark fought his way out of the cave, easily dismantling the Ten Rings forces. Stark met with Yinsen moments before his death, who told him not to waste his life. Stark fought the remainder of the Ten Rings forces, defeating them convincingly but destroying the suit in the process.

After some time wandering in the desert, Stark was found by U.S. military forces and returned home. Unbeknownst to him, it was thanks to radar monitoring from the mysterious government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. that he was found and his location relayed to the Department of Defense. Back in the U.S., Stark immediately called a press conference, where he declared that Stark Industries would cease weapons manufacturing. This caused an immense scandal, and company official Obadiah Stane attempted to both quell the press' frenzy and quietly convince Stark to change his mind. Stark was adamant that the company's future lay in arc reactors, both miniaturized and full-sized, like the relatively inefficient one that Stark Industries already operated. Returning home, Stark built another, more reliable miniaturized arc reactor, installing it with the help of his assistant Pepper Potts and asking her to incinerate the old one. Potts would instead make a keepsake out of the reactor, engraving it with the words, "proof that Tony Stark has a heart," and giving it to him as a gift.

Recognizing his new goal in life, Stark began working on a new prototype of the mechanized suit he built in Afghanistan. Rather than selling weapons designed to kill, Stark believed that his new invention could save people instead. Obadiah informed him that the board of Stark Industries had filed an injunction against him, believing his leadership not to be in the best interest of the company filing a colossal drop in their stock. He then attended a Stark Industries fundraiser, sharing a dance and a tensely romantic moment with Pepper. He also met Phil Coulson, an agent from S.H.I.E.L.D. who wanted to debrief him regarding recent events, but Stark blew him off. Coulson had previously met with Potts in an attempt to get to Stark. That night, Obadiah informed Stark that it was in fact him who filed the injunction as a supposed means to protect him. Stark also heard reports that Stark Industries weapons had been sold to Ten Rings forces in Gulmira, Yinsen's home province in Afghanistan.

Completing an advanced, aerial version of the mechanized suit, Stark flew to Gulmira and took out the Ten Rings fighters there, saving the population of a small village. This caught the attention of American military forces, who interpreted Stark and his suit as an unmanned aerial vehicle. Through his own finesse and some helpful guidance from James Rhodes, Stark was able to avoid a pair of American jet fighters without harm coming to any party. Stark returned home and resolved to find and destroy any remaining Stark Industries weapons. Locked out of his executive privileges, Stark asked Pepper to access the secret files from his office. She initially refused and threaten to quit her job, realizing the danger inherent in Stark's new outlook, but was swayed by the benevolent nature of his new work.

Pepper was successful in her mission, but not before Stark was ambushed in his home. Obadiah Stane snuck up on Stark and temporarily paralyzed him with a special device; it had been him who negotiated the Ten Rings' attempt on his life and sold them the weapons. He had since killed Raza and much of the rest of their leadership and taken the scraps from Stark's original suit for research, aiming to create an entire army of similar suits. Stane took the paralyzed Stark's arc reactor from his chest, both as a way to slowly kill him and to research it for mass production. Stane left with the arc reactor satisfied in his apparent success. Stark, after recovering from his paralysis, retrieved the keepsake reactor and reinstalled it in his chest. Suiting up, Stark made his way to Stark Industries to confront Stane once and for all.

Stark indeed faced off with Stane, the latter having equipped a newly constructed, advanced version of Stark's original prototype using the stolen miniaturized arc reactor. Potts, Coulson, and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents also arrived to apprehend Stane, the former having realized his misdeeds, but were quickly repelled by his new suit. Stark and Stane did battle, Stane getting the upper hand due to Stark's lesser reactor keeping him from fighting at full power. Laying desperately atop the Stark Industries roof, Tony contacted Pepper and told her to overload the large arc reactor just below him and Stane. She reluctantly did so, resulting in a huge discharge of electricity that caused Stane to fall into the reactor to his death. Shortly afterward, Rhodes arrived and brought the battered Stark to a meeting with Coulson and other S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. Coulson introduced Stark to their operation, particularly their quiet omnipresence in America's global affairs. He explained that an alibi had been made for him, and that S.H.I.E.L.D. would essentially support his young superhero career as long as he supported them back when the time came.

The press picked up the story of the fight, christening Stark and his suit as a mysterious hero, "Iron Man." At a press conference, Stane's death was publicly explained as having occurred in a plane crash, and Coulson instructed Stark to announce that he had been on his yacht at the time of the incident and that "Iron Man" was a bodyguard of his. Instead, Stark announced to a frenzied group of reporters that he himself was Iron Man, revealing his secret identity to the world, much to Coulson's dismay. That night, Stark was approached in his home by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to discuss the "Avenger Initiative." Stark was initially put off by Fury's intrusion and bluntly declined the offer.

Global hero

Over the next six months, Tony Stark's already considerable global popularity only increased, as his superhero alterego became known for his unstoppable will in fighting the wouldbe evildoers of the world, creating a period of nearly perfect peace. Shortly after revealing his identity, Stark traveled to Malta for a meeting with Gorani Insurance, backers of "most of [his] foreign factories." While there, he learned of a recent heist of several valuable works of art from a nearby museum and happened to drive by the culprits, thwarting them and returning the artwork. Arriving at the meeting, Stark was exhaustively thanked by company president Michael Gorani and his daughter, vice president Evetta Gorani, whom he had unwittingly helped with a flat tire earlier that day. Moreover, Iron Man traveled across the globe neutralizing various violent and terroristic threats; often in conjunction with, but also undermining, American military efforts. Operating without protocol, Iron Man soon became something of a threat in the eyes of the U.S. government, who sought to regulate the "Iron Man" suit for more generalized purpose.

Stark was approached by James Rhodes one night in his home, who warned him of the military's mixed feelings and informed him that he was writing a report on him to decide what to do going forward. He bemoaned Stark's lack of oversight in fighting enemies around the world, but assured him that he was going to be his "best ally" in any coming tensions with the government. As if on cue, Stark received word from J.A.R.V.I.S. of a hostage situation involving Ten Rings in the Middle East. Ignoring Rhodes' protests, Stark suited up and arrived before the military, clearing out the terrorists and saving all hostages, who were part of a news team. Later, the lead reporter would broadcast on air that Iron Man's actions, sanctioned or not, saved lives. Rhodes continued to warn Stark of the military's advances, soon visiting him to inform him that they were developing a weapon of their own with the help of one of Stark's weapon-developing rivals, Justin Hammer, CEO of Hammer Industries. Again, as if on cue, Rhodes received a call informing him that that weapon, recently taken on a field test, had crashed in the Congo and that its pilot had been taken captive by Ten Rings. Stark wasted no time in flying to the area in question, where Thunderbolt Ross oversaw the operation. Iron Man found the terrorists, but deduced that the military secretly wanted him to kill them, and so simply repelled them before saving the pilot. Ross linked with Iron Man's comm system and demanded that they meet in Cairo, to which Iron Man casually agreed. He delivered the badly injured pilot, and threatened that if the military were to use innocents like the pilot "to advance some pointless military agenda," there would be consequences.

By May of 2010, Stark had realized that the palladium powering the arc reactor in his chest was poisoning him at an increasing rate; left unchecked, it would soon kill him. This posed a major problem, as palladium was the only known element that could possibly power the reactor. Stark kept this new condition a secret from everyone. During opening night of the Stark Expo, Tony was served with a subpeona ordering him to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee the following morning. At the hearing, Stark was questioned regarding his private ownership of a powerful weapon, the Iron Man suit, particularly by Senator Stern. Stark denied that it could even be called a weapon, instead calling it a "high-tech prosthesis." Stark was challenged by Justin Hammer, principal weapons contractor to the U.S. government. Hammer argued that Stark was only one man and could not possibly keep up the peace he had recently fostered, and that the Iron Man suit must be turned over to the public to ensure lasting safety. James Rhodes was next called to testify; Stern instructed him to read specific excerpts from his own report which noted Iron Man's threat to the interests of America, but Rhodes further noted that the benefits far outweighed the liabilities. Stern went on to show images suggesting that foreign states were constructing their own Iron Man suits; Stark hijacked the screens, showing footage of those states dramatically failing at doing so. Stark dramatically departed the hearing, claiming to have "successfully privatized world peace."

Between his obligations as Iron Man, his time spent as a global celebrity, and his life-threatening condition, Stark began to grow less interested in the day-to-day operations of Stark Industries. To that end, he appointed Pepper Potts the new chairman and CEO. Soon after, Potts and Stark met with a notary from the legal department, Natalie Rushman—unbeknownst to them, a secret agent codenamed Black Widow who had been sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep tabs on Stark. He was immediately struck by her sex appeal, but was held back by the responsible Potts. Rushman was signed on as Stark's personal assistant.

Stark, Potts, and Rushman all soon attended a prestigious stock car race in Monaco, where a car sponsored by Stark Industries was set to take part. Motivated by the dangerously fast increase of his blood-toxicity levels, Stark spontaneously decided to drive the car himself, much to Potts' chagrin. He held his own in the race, until a man disguised as a member of the pit crew got onto the track wearing a miniaturized arc reactor, much like Stark's. The man was Ivan Vanko, whose father Anton had invented the arc reactor with Howard Stark, but had recently died in poverty. Ivan now sought to get revenge on Tony Stark after seeing him flaunt Anton's invention as Iron Man. Ivan Vanko came equipped with a pair of large whips, electrified by the reactor. He cut cleanly through several cars with the powerful whips, eventually cutting Stark's car and leaving him virtually defenseless. Stark was saved when Potts and his chauffeur/assistant Happy Hogan drove onto the track and delivered him a suitcase containing the Iron Man suit. Iron Man and Vanko did battle; Vanko's whips did major damage to the suit, but Iron Man got in close and removed Vanko's reactor, allowing security to drag him away. As he was taken into custody, Vanko cryptically yelled to Stark, "You lose!" Later, Vanko apparently died in an attempted prison break.

Vanko's attack had seemingly proven a success, casting doubt on Stark's public assertion that the Iron Man suit was nowhere close to being replicated by anyone else. Depressed by his terminal condition and tarnished public image, Stark spent his birthday party at his mansion drunk and behaving recklessly with the Iron Man suit for a large crowd of revelers. Frustrated with Tony's unwillingness to take his situation with the government seriously, James Rhodes showed up at the party and commandeered one of his standby suits, attempting to restrain him. The two fought, and eventually the disadvantaged Iron Man was left in a defeated heap as Rhodes flew off with his new suit. During the fight, Stark offhandedly referred to Rhodes' suit as a "war machine."

The next day, Stark was approached once again by Nick Fury, who revealed Natalie Rushman's true nature as a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy. Fury was frustrated with Stark's considerable problems of late, and informed him that he had not exhausted all possible avenues to cure his palladium poisoning as he had thought. Natalie Rushman—rather, Natasha Romanoff—was returned to her undercover position at Stark Industries. Fury left Stark at home with a large case marked, "Property of H. Stark," and Agent Coulson to ensure he didn't leave the premises. Effectively, S.H.I.E.L.D. were strong-arming Stark into fixing himself. Nonetheless, Stark was able to sneak out and visit Potts at Stark Industries, attempting to make up with her without actually apologizing, but succeeded only in further making a fool of himself.

Investigating the case with his father's name on it, Stark found little of explicit use beyond old film reels and notebooks, including a sketch of a strange, cubical object. Of greatest note was a time-capsule sort of film of Howard Stark privately telling his son that he was his greatest creation. Newly inspired, Tony was able to find the grounds layout of the 1974 Stark Expo, the basic design of which served as a surreptitious model of an entirely new chemical element. J.A.R.V.I.S. informed Tony that the element would be a viable replacement for palladium in his arc reactor, but speculated that it would be impossible to synthesize. Undaunted, Stark got to work doing just that, constructing a large machine to create the new element. The experiment was a success, and the arc reactor accepted the new element without issue. Seeing that Stark was making suitable progress, Agent Coulson informed him that he was leaving on an important assignment to New Mexico. Soon after, Stark received a phone call from a blocked number: it was Vanko, alive and well. He ominously vowed revenge as Stark traced the call to New York, near where the Stark Expo was being held, and where Hammer was set to give a presentation that night. Stark installed the newly palladium-free arc reactor in his chest and donned the Iron Man suit, bound for New York.

Stark arrived at the Expo—with Potts, Hogan, and Romanoff in attendance—in time for Hammer to reveal the Iron Man suit that Rhodes had taken, now apparently military property and armed by Hammer Industries. Stark tried to warn Rhodes of Vanko's impending attack, but before long Vanko had hacked into Rhodes' suit and sent him and the drones after Iron Man. During the battle that ensued, it is believed that Iron Man rescued a young Peter Parker from one of the drones. Eventually, Rhodes' suit was rebooted by Black Widow, who had infiltrated Hammer Industries in an attempt to find Vanko. Stark and Rhodes fought off the remaining drones, but were soon attacked by Vanko himself in a custom-made Iron Man suit complete with new electric whips. Vanko could not stand up to Stark and Rhodes' coordinated attack however, as they left his suit critically damaged. As his last resort, Vanko began a self-destruct sequence on his suit and the drones, muttering, "You lose," moments before he exploded. Stark and Rhodes were able to evacuate in time, and Stark managed to rescue Potts moments before she would have been harmed by an exploding drone. As he carried her to a rooftop, a terrified and stressed Potts informed Stark of her resignation. In a culmination of the confusing, frustrating few weeks they had had, the two shared an embrace and kissed.

Stark met with Nick Fury a week later to discuss Black Widow's assessment of him as a potential person of interest in the Avenger Initiative. Overall, Romanoff recommended Iron Man for the program, but not Stark himself. Given the complicated nature of Stark's position, Fury told him that he would merely be signed on as a consultant. Stark agreed on the condition that, for his and Rhodes' coming medal ceremony in Washington, Senator Stern be the one to honor them. Indeed, Stark and Rhodes were publicly commended for their distinguished service, much to Stern's chagrin. In his first task as consultant for the Avenger Initiative, Stark was sent to speak with Thunderbolt Ross. Representatives from the World Security Council were interested in Emil Blonsky for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s project, and needed Ross' consent to acquire him. Coulson and Fury, among others, knew that this would be a disaster, but couldn't disobey direct orders. Coulson decided to send Stark to deliberately fail in the negotiations, leaving the blame on Ross' shoulders for the process breaking down. This is in fact exactly what happened, as the two met in a bar and Ross quickly became enraged at the cocky Stark.

The Avengers

The Avenger Initiative was eventually scrapped for unknown reasons. In May of 2012, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts put the finishing touches on the new Stark Tower, a colossal skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan bearing the Stark name in bright lights, using an arc reactor that was expected to power it for the next year. The two, now a full-fledged romantic pair as well as business partners, celebrated with champagne, but were quickly interrupted by the arrival of Phil Coulson, who claimed to have an urgent message. He delivered a digital file informing him of the situation, and requesting his help: Loki had invaded a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and stolen the Tesseract, an ancient artifact of untold power. Stark recognized the Tesseract from his father's notes, which perhaps convinced him to pursue the mission.

Stark soon learned of Loki's next appearance, killing a man in the middle of a gala in Stuttgart, Germany. He made haste there as Iron Man, and found Romanoff there flying a jet, and Captain America fighting Loki hand-to-hand. Iron Man threatened Loki with his significant firepower, prompting him to back down and surrender. The three took Loki into Romanoff's S.H.I.E.L.D. jet to fly him to custody, but were soon interrupted by the arrival of Loki's brother, Thor. Thor landed on the roof of the jet, forcing it open, taking Loki, and flying away. Iron Man chased him down, insisting that Loki was needed to find the Tesseract, while Thor demanded that he brought to Asgardian justice. As they did battle, Loki casually watched from afar, allowing the heroes to dismantle each other. Captain America soon arrived as well, attempting to stop the fight, but only angered Thor further. Thor swung his hammer, striking Cap's unbreakable vibranium shield, and causing a gigantic shockwave that leveled much of the surrounding forestation. With the battle brought to a standstill, Thor agreed to cooperate, and Loki was returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody aboard the Helicarrier.

Stark arrived at the Helicarrier and met with the others who had been recruited for this mission: Cap, Romanoff, scientist Bruce Banner (also known as his monstrous alterego, the Hulk), and now, Thor. Loki had taken S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Hawkeye and scientist Erik Selvig under his mind control, and was looking to create a lasting portal with the Tesseract to allow the Chitauri army to invade Earth. Hawkeye had recently stolen a source of iridium to stabilize the portal (which Loki's show in Stuttgart was partly designed to distract from), and Stark noted that the only thing keeping Loki from achieving his goal was a large power source. Stark was also suspicious of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury's motivations, particularly why the Avenger Initiative had been scrapped, and why this team—essentially a reimagination of the Avengers concept—had suddenly been formed. As Banner pointed out, Stark's expertise with the arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source, should've made him an easy source to call when S.H.I.E.L.D. acquired the Tesseract, but he was never contacted. Stark planted a small hacking device on the bridge of the Helicarrier to analyze S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files.

Stark uncovered evidence of weapons development with the Tesseract in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files, and confronted Fury in the lab with Banner and Rogers, who had found Tesseract-powered Hydra weapons stashed deep within the Helicarrier. The other members of the team were also present. Fury admitted that S.H.I.E.L.D. had begun researching offensive uses for the Tesseract after the arrival of Thor and other extraterrestrial elements that had exposed the human race's relative lack of firepower. Tensions in the room grew, to the point that Stark and Rogers began attacking each other's personal character. Suddenly, an attack rocked the Helicarrier, sending the heroes into alert. Forces led by Hawkeye had destroyed one of the Helicarrier's turbines, jeopardizing its ability to fly. Iron Man and Captain America set out to repair the turbine, with Iron Man handling the technical aspects and instructing Cap on the ground of the aircraft. The two were able to get the turbine up and running, as Iron Man physically pushed the large machine until it got up to a high speed again. Elsewhere, Loki escaped the Helicarrier with help from one of his underlings, killing Phil Coulson on his way out. Thor and the Hulk had fallen from the Helicarrier fighting their own fights.

Stark was incensed by Coulson's death, and used it as motivation to defeat Loki once and for all. He deduced that Loki would use Stark Tower as the power source for his portal, and rounded up the rest of the team—the Avengers—to fend off the coming invasion. Iron Man flew to Stark Tower, followed (more slowly) by Captain America and Black Widow in a jet piloted by Hawkeye, whom Widow had jostled out of Loki's mind control on the Helicarrier. Stark saw the Tesseract indeed attached to a large device at Stark Tower; J.A.R.V.I.S. had tried to power down the arc reactor, but the portal device had already become self-sustaining. Stark fired upon the device, but it was surrounded by an impenetrable energy field. He spoke with Loki one-on-one, removing the suit that had been damaged in repairing the turbine earlier. He warned Loki of the coming Avengers, adamant that he would not win. Loki tried to use his scepter to control Stark's mind, touching it to his heart, but only made contact with Stark's arc reactor. He instead threw Stark out the window; as he plummeted to the ground, J.A.R.V.I.S. deployed a new model of Iron Man suit, which followed Stark out the window and donned itself onto his body, allowing him to fly to safety.

The portal opened in the sky, and the Chitauri invaders flowed through, wreaking havoc on the streets of New York. Thor and the Hulk soon arrived, and the six Avengers assembled to fight back the invasion, all the while trying to think of a way to close the portal. Widow eventually made her way to Stark Tower, learning that Loki's scepter was the key to disabling the portal device. Hulk also went to Stark Tower, smashing Loki himself repeatedly and effectively making him a non-entity for the rest of the battle. Elsewhere, the World Security Council decided to nuke Manhattan, seeing no other way to stop the Chitauri. After the missile was launched, Iron Man caught up to it, taking hold of it and carrying it into the portal to deep space. He threw the missile at the Chitauri mothership, causing a catastrophic explosion that in turned caused a massive feedback discharge, killing the Chitauri forces on Earth. Iron Man's suit powered down, and he plummeted back to the portal, falling back through moments before Widow used the scepter to close it, blocking off the coming explosion in the process. Thor flew into the sky and caught Iron Man, delivering him safely to the ground. The Avengers assembled at Stark Tower, taking the injured Loki into custody once more. Thor took possession of the Tesseract, using it to transport himself and Loki back to Asgard and at last bring his brother to justice.

Extremis conflict

In the months following Loki’s invasion, Stark realized how insufficient the Iron Man suit was to threats such as gods and aliens, and became obsessed with perfecting the Iron Man suit. He went days at a time without sleep, and began suffering anxiety attacks and post-traumatic flashbacks. He and Pepper moved in together, which he credited with keeping him from going off the deep end. That December, America came under threat from a terrorist leader known as the Mandarin. Mandarin was responsible for several deadly explosions in the Middle East (curiously, no actual explosive devices could be found), with the alleged aim to punish America for its past ills. In response, the U.S. government unveiled the Iron Patriot: a rebranding of James Rhodes’ War Machine persona. Tony told James privately that Iron Man was available to help, but Rhodes insisted that it was a military issue. Happy Hogan, now working as the head of security at Stark Industries, informed Tony that Pepper was meeting with Aldrich Killian—Stark didn’t remember him, and was largely unconcerned. Tony’s obsession with his suit(s) began to splinter his personal relationship with Pepper, as he began prioritizing “tinkering” with them over spending time with her. He explained that the Iron Man suit was his only way of protecting her from the increasingly numerous and powerful threats on and off of Earth.

One night, an explosion rocked Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, and the following day Mandarin took credit for the blast, his first on U.S. soil. Happy Hogan was present, and was seriously injured and put into a coma. Pressed for comment after visiting Happy in the hospital, Stark issued a public challenge to the Mandarin, angrily inviting him to come to the address of his seaside home. Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. create a digital reconstruction of the blast zone, again revealing a conspicuous lack of any explosive materials. He found that the index finger of Hogan’s unconscious body was pointing to a set of military dogtags on the ground belonging to a man named Jack Taggart, who was not among the explosion’s listed fatalities. The blast also had a remarkably high heat signature, and Stark used this fact to pinpoint a similar event in Rose Hill, Tennessee: a suicide bombing by American soldier Chad Davis which occurred before any known Mandarin attacks. J.A.R.V.I.S. created a flight plan for Rose Hill so Stark could investigate. Soon after, Tony received a knock at the door from Maya Hansen, who wanted to talk to him in private. They were interrupted by Pepper, who insisted that she and Tony were leaving immediately after his reckless challenge to the Mandarin.

The conversation was abruptly halted by an explosive missile crashing through their front window. With split-second reaction time, Stark signaled for an Iron Man suit to equip itself on Pepper, protecting her from the impact. Potts took Hansen to safety, and once they were both clear of the building, Stark recalled her suit to him: as a prototype, its combat abilities were limited, but he nonetheless used it to fight off the group of combat helicopters that were now riddling his home with bullets. Though he fought valiantly, his home was eventually obliterated, and he plummeted into the ocean below. J.A.R.V.I.S. was able to take control of the suit and pilot it out of the undersea rubble as Stark fell unconscious. He awoke over Tennessee, five miles outside of Rose Hill, to an alarm indicating that the suit was low on power—it crash-landed soon after. Stark exited the suit just as it and J.A.R.V.I.S. powered down. He dragged the suit through the snow to the nearest gas station and called his secure server on a payphone to apologize to Pepper.

Stark stumbled to a workshop attached to a nearby home, gathering his bearings and beginning repairs on the suit. He was confronted by a boy named Harley Keener, who softened upon learning he was speaking to Iron Man. He showed Stark that newspapers had already been printed assuming his death. Tony and Harley investigated the site of Chad Davis’ attack: like Taggart’s, Davis’ body had not been found after the blast. Harley’s incessant questioning about the Battle of New York triggered another anxiety attack. For more information, Harley pointed Tony to Davis’ mother, who was in a bar with her son’s military files, waiting on another undisclosed meeting. Reading Chad’s file, Stark discovered that he was in the same unit as Taggart, and told Mrs. Davis that someone had used her son as a weapon. Suddenly, Stark was attacked by Ellen Brandt from the Department of Homeland Security, who next attacked the local sheriff. In doing so, she displayed unnatural powers that caused her to glow orange. Stark fled, but was trailed by Brandt and Eric Savin, who possessed a similar glow. He and Brandt fought through the streets, and she demonstrated a remarkable regenerative factor, recovering from the most egregious blows. Stark was able to fend off her and Savin long enough to steal Savin’s car and flee, telling Harley to go home and stay by the phone in case of a call. Brandt and Savin sought Chad Davis’ file, which Mrs. Davis was able to hide in the confusion.

Stark used Savin’s car to contact Rhodes, who was in Pakistan trailing Mandarin after another public message. Aldrich Killian’s company A.I.M. were responsible for the Iron Patriot suit, and Rhodes had access to some of their files. Stark requested his login and used a nearby press van to access the A.I.M. files. He found several video interviews with the likes of Brandt, Savin, Taggart, and Davis, who were all military amputees. The interviews were conducted by Killian, who had used Hansen’s Extremis technology to regrow their limbs. However, Extremis backfired in some subjects, causing an intense, spontaneous combustion. Stark got back on the road and contacted Harley, who connected him to the recovering Iron Man suit and J.A.R.V.I.S. The A.I. informed him that it had tracked Mandarin’s signal to, bizarrely, Miami. Unfortunately, beyond that the suit was failing to charge sufficiently, and wouldn’t be usable any time soon. On Harley’s suggestion, Tony went to a hardware store and compiled a collection of makeshift weapons, putting his improvisational engineering skills to use. At some point in this process, Stark calculated how long it would take for his suit to recover and fly itself to Miami, setting an alarm on the toy watch Harley had given him.

The next day, Stark infiltrated the compound where J.A.R.V.I.S. had triangulated Mandarin’s position, a destitute mansion on the bay. He made his way through the security detail with his improvised weaponry, finding it largely barren. Eventually he found the Mandarin talking with two scantily clad women in his bed, speaking with a heavy British accent, and behaving much more flippantly than Stark expected. Stark threatened him at gunpoint and told the women to hide in the bathroom. Mandarin explained that he was actually an actor named Trevor Slattery, hired by Aldrich Killian to act as the public face for the attacks his company was carrying out. Slattery seemed to believe that even the attacks weren’t real and that nobody was getting harmed. Stark was interrupted by Eric Savin, who took him by surprise and knocked him out.

When he awoke, Stark was tied to an upright bed frame in Maya Hansen’s makeshift lab elsewhere in the mansion. She asked him to help perfect Extremis, but he chastised her for siding with Killian and implored her to reconsider. Killian himself soon walked in and showed Stark a video feed of Pepper restrained to an Extremis machine being infused with the substance. Hansen threatened to inject herself with a fatal dose of Extremis unless Killian released Stark, but he called her bluff and shot her in the chest. Killian himself offered Stark to join the project, and left him in the room with a pair of guards. After a short while, individual parts from the suit in Tennessee began to fly to him (a few minutes behind schedule), allowing him to free himself and disable the guards. Soon he was equipped with the complete suit, albeit with damaged repulsors and thereby compromised flight capability. He grabbed a car battery and hooked it up to his suit to charge it on the move. Unbeknownst to Stark, Rhodes had also been captured by Killian’s forces, taken to the mansion, and forced out of the Iron Patriot suit. He was able to escape, suitless, and he and Tony convened in a safe area of the mansion. They located Slattery and interrogated him about Killian’s plans: he was forthright with his limited knowledge, and said that all he knew about was a “big boat” offshore and that the vice president might be involved. Stark and Rhodes commandeered a speedboat to get to Killian’s ship, and Stark called Vice President Rodriguez on the way. Rodriguez was at a Christmas party with his family, and believed that President Matthew Ellis was about to board Air Force One with Rhodes. In fact, Savin had used the Iron Patriot suit to infiltrate Air Force One, and Ellis was likely in danger.

Stark’s suit had charged to 92%, and he was able send it flying up to Air Force One overhead, controlling the suit remotely. Iron Man found Savin inside, who claimed that the President was now in the ocean—in truth, Savin had sent Ellis in the Iron Patriot suit down to Killian’s ship. Savin detonated an explosive, ripping a large hole in the side of the plane, sending the thirteen surviving passengers falling. The suit blew a large energy blast through Savin’s chest and jumped after the passengers, leaving him to die. Stark managed to corral the passengers and have them each grab another, safely lowering them into the water below just offshore. The suit inadvertently ran into a truck, knocking it into pieces. Stark had J.A.R.V.I.S. initiate the “House Party Protocol,” opening a secret passage underneath his home and activating a battalion of Iron Man suits.

Stark and Rhodes arrived at Killian’s ship, the Roxxon tanker Norco, and found Ellis strung up high above the deck inside the Iron Patriot suit. Ellis had gotten in the way of prosecution for Roxxon executives after an oil spill two years prior, and Killian was using this as the Mandarin's excuse for killing him. Stark and Rhodes were confronted by a large amount of Extremis-infused A.I.M. guards, but the House Party Iron Man suits arrived right on time and took them down. Stark equipped a suit of his own, and managed to locate Pepper inside an elevated room on the ship stuck under a pile of rubble. Killian intruded and damaged Stark's suit with Extremis' heat powers, forcing him to doff the suit and retreat. Meanwhile, Rhodes was able to get the President to safer ground, don the Iron Patriot suit, and fly him to safety. Pepper was knocked perilously over a giant flame on the deck—Stark tried to grab her, but failed after the ship rocked forward, and watched her fall into the fire. A shocked Stark was confronted by Killian, and the two fought, with Stark employing a series of passing Iron Man suits against Killian's powerful melting abilities. They fought down to the fire where Pepper had fallen, and the Extremis-powered Pepper recovered and killed Aldrich Killian using an Iron Man gauntlet and short-range explosive. Stark was confident he could reverse the effects of Extremis, and in deference to Pepper initiated the "Clean Slate Protocol," causing all of his suits to spectacularly self-destruct in the night sky as he and Pepper embraced. Following Killian's death, Trevor Slattery and Vice President Rodriguez—who had gotten aligned with A.I.M. in hopes of regrowing his daughter's lost leg—were arrested. Stark was indeed able to cure Pepper's Extremis, and also finally underwent a special surgery to remove the shrapnel from his chest. Happy Hogan awoke from his coma and would make a full recovery, and Stark gifted Harley a new workshop with state-of-the-art mechanical technology.

See also

• Iron Man of Earth-616