Obadiah Stane (Earth-199999)
Obadiah Stane, also known as Iron Monger,[1][note 1] was an American businessman and former CEO of Stark Industries. A long-time friend and associate of Howard Stark, Stane briefly took over as interim CEO after Howard's death in 1991, before the handing the reins to Howard's 21-year-old son Tony Stark. Over time, Stane began to secretly plot Tony's downfall in order to return himself to power. He quietly arranged a deal with terrorist group Ten Rings to kill Stark during a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan. The hit was unsuccessful, though Stark came perilously close to death due to shrapnel near his heart. The Ten Rings took him prisoner, but with help from Ho Yinsen, Stark was able to construct a large, mechanized suit of armor and escape.
Stark returned home and announced that he was cancelling Stark Industries' weapons-manufacturing business. This gave Stane the ammunition he needed to file an injunction on behalf of the company's board of directors to remove Stark from power. With help from Ten Rings, Stane recovered pieces from Stark's mechanized suit, returning them to the Stark Industries lab to construct a newer version. He then ordered the deaths of Ten Rings leader Raza and the rest of his men, ostensibly to tie up loose ends.
Stane infiltrated Stark's home and temporarily paralyzed him with a special device, pulling the life-giving arc reactor from his chest and leaving him for dead. He returned to Stark Industries and donned an updated version of Stark's mechanized suit, repelling the advances of Pepper Potts, Phil Coulson, and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had come to apprehend him. Stark came and confronted him, wearing his own updated suit with a replacement, lesser arc reactor. Stane got the upper hand due to Stark's disadvantage, but Pepper Potts overloaded the Stark Industries arc reactor, producing a massive discharge of electricity that caused Stane to fall into the reactor to his death. Stane's death was publicly announced as having been the result of a plane crash, and Stark resumed control of Stark Industries.[2]
Notes
- ↑ "Iron Monger," Stane's common alias in other universes, is only used in descriptive text, rather than spoken aloud by anyone in-universe. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that Stane died the same day that he unveiled what might have become his Iron Monger persona.