Anthony Edward Stark (b.29 May, 1970), alternatively known as Tony, is a billionaire industrialist, inventor, a founding member of the Avengers, the husband of Loki Stark, and the father of Lily, Sophia, Jane, and Renesmee Stark as well as the adopted father of Petra Parker. He is the adopted brother-in-law of Thor Odinson, son-in-law of Laufey and Farbauti, the only son and child of Howard and Maria Stark (née Johnson), and the former CEO of Stark Industries, a company originally started by his father, Howard Stark. Stark was self-described as a genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist.
With his great wealth and exceptional technical knowledge, Stark was one of the world's most powerful men, and enjoyed the playboy lifestyle for many years until he was kidnapped by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan in 1990. With his life on the line, Stark created an armored suit which he used to escape his captors, returning home and becoming known as an Iron Man, battling against terrorists as well as Obadiah Stane. Stark enjoyed the fame that came with his new secret identity and decided to share it with the world, publicly announcing himself as Iron Man.
Fresh off from defeating enemies all over the world, Stark found himself dying due to his own Arc Reactor poisoning his body, all while he was challenged by Ivan Vanko who attempted to destroy his legacy. After the Stark Expo Incident, Stark reluctantly agreed to serve as a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D. where he used his position to upgrade their technology while he began a relationship with Loki Laufeyson. With the world yet again being threatened, Stark joined the Avengers and helped defeat the Chitauri. Due to the battle, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, leading him to create the Iron Legion to safeguard the world and help him retire.
The 2012 "Mandarin" terrorist attacks forced Stark to come out of retirement to protect his country, inadvertently putting his loved ones at risk and leaving him defenseless when his home was destroyed. Stark continued his mission, finding Aldrich Killian as the mastermind of the attacks. Eventually, Stark defeated Killian, and was prompted to destroy all of his armors with the Clean Slate Protocol after almost losing Potts. However, when the Avengers were officially demobilized due to the War on HYDRA, Stark built more armors and resumed his role as Iron Man, aiding them in the capture of Wolfgang von Strucker and acquiring Loki's Scepter.
Once the threat of HYDRA had been ended, at last, Stark, influenced by Wanda Maximoff's mind games, built Ultron with the help of Bruce Banner as a new peacekeeping A.I. to protect the world and allow the Avengers to retire. However, Ultron believed that humanity threatened the world and thus, according to his program, decided to extinguish humanity. Through the work of the Avengers, Ultron was defeated, however, not without massive civilian cost and many lives being lost during which Sokovia was elevated into the sky.
After the Ultron Offensive, Stark retired from active duty, still haunted by his role in the chaos the A.I. created. The guilt of creating Ultron and causing so much destruction and loss of life eventually convinced Stark to support the Sokovia Accords. Stark was forced to lead a manhunt for his ally Captain America when the latter began protecting the fugitive Winter Soldier, igniting the Avengers Civil War. The end result left the Avengers in complete disarray, especially after Stark learned of the Winter Soldier's role in his parents' deaths. Afterwards, Stark returned to New York to mentor and guide Spider-Man into becoming a better hero than he ever was, also becoming engaged with Loki in the process.
In 2018, when Thanos and the Black Order invaded Earth in their conquest to acquire the six Infinity Stones, Stark, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man convened to battle Thanos on Titan with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy. When Stark was held at Thanos' mercy, Doctor Strange surrendered the Time Stone for Stark's life. After the Snap, Stark and Nebula remained the sole survivors on Titan. Stark and Nebula used the Benatar to escape Titan, but were stranded in space as the ship was damaged. They were rescued by Captain Marvel, who brought them back to Earth.
In the five years after the Snap, Stark chose to retire from being Iron Man, marrying Loki and having two daughters, Lily and Sophia.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Troubled childhood[]
Tony, as an infant, and his parents, Howard and Maria Stark.
Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark was born on Friday, May 29, 1970, in Manhattan, New York City, to Howard and Maria Stark. Stark had become good friends with Edwin Jarvis, the butler of the Stark family, who watched over him throughout all of his childhood. Stark's early life was often dominated by the absence of his father, who he would later describe as both 'cold' and 'calculating'. Growing up, Stark had issues with Howard, who never told his son that he loved, or even liked him. Since Stark was so young, Howard could not tell his son his plans for him. Howard constantly talked about his admiration for Captain America, which caused Stark to develop jealousy, hatred, and resentment towards the super soldier. However, Stark had a loving relationship with his mother, who was more gentle and nurturing; he enjoyed hearing Maria play the piano.
At a young age, Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. When he was four years old, he designed his first circuit board. When he was almost seven, he built a V8 motorbike engine. One thing about Stark's childhood that annoyed him was the nanny who cared for him until he was fourteen. Stark attended Phillips Academy in Andover from 1977 to 1984. While, he was in high school, Stark hacked into the Pentagon on a dare by some friends. He was admitted early into Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he met James Rhodes and they became lifelong best friends. At sixteen, Stark won the 4th Annual MIT Robot Design Award. When he was seventeen, Stark graduated summa cum laude from MIT.
Losing his Parents[]
- "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions I would've asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what his company did, if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch of man we remember from the newsreels."
- ―Tony Stark
In December 1991, when Stark was just twenty-one years old, Howard and Maria prepared to go away to the Bahamas for a few days over the Christmas holiday and leave him home alone, although his father remained skeptical about how responsible Stark would be while they were gone. Sadly, the couple was assassinated by the Winter Soldier in Long Island and HYDRA covered up the incident to be a car crash, leaving Stark in grief and struggling to process this tragedy. For a few months, Obadiah Stane took over as interim CEO of Stark Industries. Sometime later, Stark's long-serving family butler, Edwin Jarvis, also died.