Stephanie de la Spiroza

Stephanie de la Spiroza is a European countess. She had a relationship with Tony Stark some time in the past, but like many women, felt jilted by him, and has since sought revenge.

Biography

In 1965, Spiroza saw Tony Stark for the first time since their tryst, on the occasion of the globally broadcast fight between Iron Man (secretly Stark himself) and Titanium Man in Alberia. The two were outwardly polite to each other, but Stephanie remained secretly vengeful for her perceived slighting at his hands. Later, during the fight, Stephanie went up to Tony's hotel room hoping to see him, but he naturally wasn't there. She found a small transistor device on his desk, and figured it would be important enough to make him come after her if she should take it, which would give her the upper hand in their relationship. Stephanie drove out of town, hoping Tony would find her and follow her. In fact, Tony's chauffer Happy Hogan came for her, much to her disappointment. He retrieved the transistor, which was in fact a critical weapon for Iron Man, and returned it to the battlefield, where Iron Man wound up victorious, though Hogan was critically injured by Titanium Man. Spiroza waited at the hospital, hoping Stark would arrive to see his friend. Pepper Potts, Tony's secretary and unrequited romantic admirer, was also there, and blamed Stephanie's theft of the device for Happy's injury. Stephanie turned this accusation around and blamed Tony himself, and Pepper found it hard to disagree with her. Tony finally arrived, but he utterly blew Stephanie off, prompting her to leave in a huff.

Spiroza came to New York, more vengeful than ever. Media interest in Iron Man's secret identity was higher than ever, and this interest gave Stephanie an idea. If she could learn Iron Man's identity, she figured, she could blackmail him into doing anything, and thus get Tony to do anything. Through a series of shady connections, Stephanie spent a thousand dollars on the address of a man who would supposedly be able to figure out Iron Man's identity. She arrived at the man's spooky, grey mansion in rural New York, and found that he was expecting her. The man was the Mad Thinker, a scientist fond of using complex algorithms to model the future with frightening accuracy. As a result, he had perfectly predicted Stephanie's arrival, and had preemptively sent his Awesome Android to capture Tony Stark. The Android successfully returned with Stark, who carried an attache case with him. Thinker tried to open it, but its precautionary fingerprint scanner caused the case to emit a sleep gas that knocked himself and Spiroza out cold. While they were unconscious, Tony suited up as Iron Man and fought the Awesome Android. Thinker and Spiroza recovered, and Thinker used a large laser to blast Iron Man with power-sapping rays, but Iron Man used a device of his own to emit a reflecting mist that instead focused the rays on the Android. Iron Man destroyed Thinker's control panel, setting off a chain reaction that would cause the building to explode in moments. He flew out with Thinker and Spiroza in tow, explaining that he'd gotten Stark away while they were knocked out. He dropped Spiroza nearby, letting her walk the several miles back to her penthouse suite, and flew Thinker straight to jail.