Iron Man

Background

Iron Man is the superhero alter-ego of playboy industrialist Tony Stark. Unlike many super-heroes, Iron Man does not use a secret identity. He has few close relationships, the most notable being his secretary, Pepper Pots. This is likely because Tony Stark is widely known as a womanizer and hard drinker. These traits and Tony's flair for the dramatic are the most likely reasons Tony continually clashes with the military and tends to take things into his own hands. Later in his superhero career, he joins S.H.I.E.L.D., under the command of Nick Fury.

The Iron Man suit is a technological marvel, using the energy from the arc reactor in Tony Stark's chest, the suit enables him to fly and shoot projectiles from his hands.

Major Plots

Iron Man (2008)

A man reborn

At the beginning of the movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a weapons manufacturer, is in Afghanistan with his friend Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) in order to demonstrate his new missile to the American military. Things take a turn for the worse as Stark is ambushed by terrorists called the Ten Rings and is knocked out by an RPG that falls next to him. When Tony wakes up, he discovers that his life had been saved by a fellow captive named Dr. Yingsen (Shaun Toub) who installed an electromagnet to keep the shrapnel that was embedded in Stark's chest during the explosion from reaching his heart. Stark soon learns that he is being held captive in a cave by the terrorists. After the terrorist show Stark the weapons they are stealing from his company, they offer him one chance to earn his release. Horrified that his weapons are being used on American soldiers and knowing that the terrorists will not keep their promise, Stark and Yinsen begin building a weapon that will aid them in their escape. He and Dr.Yinsen begin to build a weapon that will help them escape from the spare parts lying around. Eventually they build an arc reactor, a small energy generator that can produce enormous amounts of power; Stark and Yinsen use this to power a suit of armor. Using this armor, Stark escapes from the terrorists but at the cost of Yinsen's life. As Stark attempts to fly back home, his suit malfunctions and he is forced to leave it behind. Luckily for him, he is found by James Rhodes and is flown back to America in a helicopter.

Taking care of business

Once Stark is back in America, he calls for a press conference and announces that his company will no longer produce weapons. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), a friend of Tony's deceased father and manager of the company, disapproves of Tony's decision and advises him to change his mind since it may ruin the company and the legacy of Tony's father. Later, Tony improves upon the designs of the Iron Man Mark I Armor and his arc reactor. Later, Stark learns that his company is selling weapons under the table to the Ten Rings and that the Ten Rings plan to attack Yinsen's village. Stark, who had formed a deep connection with Yinsen inside the cave, heads to Afghanistan in his new armor to stop the attack. When Stark reaches Afghanistan, he destroys all the missiles and frees the hostages that the terrorists take. Then as he heads back for the United States, but he is detected by the United States Air Force and is pursued by two jets that open fire on Stark. The United States Air Force only stops their attack after Stark phones Rhodes and reveals his secret identity to him. At the same time, Stane and the Ten Rings begin salvaging the Iron Man Armor Mark I.

Tony Stark's masterpiece

When Stark returns to America, he asks his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to investigate Stark Industries to see if there is anymore backroom dealing of weapons. She finds that Stane is dealing weapons with the Ten Rings and reports it to Agent Culson (Clark Gregg) of S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile, Stark is attacked in his house by Shane who incapacitates Stark by paralyzing him. Stane, who cannot recreate the arc reactor, steals the reactor from Stark's chest and leaves the house to complete his armor. Without the arc reactor, Stark is dangerously close to a heart attack, but he is able to save himself by using the original arc reactor that he had created. Stark pursues Stane and they battle it out in their armors. The battle ends when Stane falls into a massive arc reactor and dies from the resulting explosion. At a press conference that is convened to explain the incident; Stark reveals to the public that he is Iron Man.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Eating doughnuts like a Stark

Six Months after Tony Stark's announcement, the U.S. government is pressuring Tony Stark to hand over the Iron Man armor for national security reasons. Stark refuses to comply because he believes that the armor belongs to him as private property and that no other government the world is even close to replicating his creation. Stark proves this by showing videos of the other countries' attempts to recreate the Iron Man armor and even he goes further to humiliate Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a weapons manufacturing rival, by highlighting Hammer's failed attempts at recreating the Iron Man armor.

Meanwhile, Stark struggles with finding a new element to replace palladium that powers his arc reactor, but is also slowly poisoning him. With slime chance of finding a new element in time and his impending death approaching, Stark becomes more reckless. He appoints his assistant, Pepper Potts as his new CEO of Stark Industries and hires Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) as his new assistant.

The portable Iron Man Mark V

While in Monaco, Stark is attacked during a race by Ivan Vanko, who had crafted his own arc reactor and electrical chains that use the arc's energy. With the help of Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and the Iron Man Armor Mark V, Stark is able to defeat Ivan Vanko. After a background check on Ivan Vanko, Stark learns that Ivan is the son of the disgraced Russian physicist Aton Vanko, who had worked with Stark's father, Howard Stark (John Slattery), on the first arc reactor. Meanwhile, Justin Hammer frees Ivan Vanko from his prison by faking his death and brokers a deal to create an army of iron man suits.

New armor, New man

At a party, Stark gets drunk in his Iron Man armor. Viewing this as a danger, his friend, James Rhodes dons the Mark II armor and subdues Stark in a battle. Then he leaves and presents the armor to the military. Stark is then approached by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who reveals that Natalie Rushman is actually an undercover agent named Natalie Romanoff. Then Fury gives Stark some of his father's items that he had left behind for his son, such as a diagram of the 1976 Stark expo. After viewing one of his father's films and looking at the diagram, Stark discovers that his father had left a hidden message for him in the diagram. The diagram was really a picture of a structure of a new element. Using his computer J.A.R.V.I.S. (voiced by Paul Bettany) synthesizes the element. Stark uses the new element to replace the Palladium in his reactor and is cured of his condition.

A mechanical bond

At the Expo, Justin Hammer reveals his new army of Iron drones, with James Rhodes leading in a more heavily armed version of the Iron Man Mark II armor. To his surprises, Hammer loses control of his drones to Ivan Vanko, who controls the army from an outside location. Refusing to sit idly Natalie Romanoff and Happy Hogan leave the expo to capture Ivan Vanko. Unfortunately by the time they arrive at Vanko's location, he had already left. However, Natalie Romanoff is still able to give control of Rhodes' suit to him. Just as the drones start attacking, Stark arrives with his new suit, the Iron Man Mark VI. Rhodes and Stark decide to cooperate in order to defeat the drones. After defeating all the drones, Stark and Rhodes are confronted by Ivan Vanko, who arrives in a new suit of armor. The three face-off and after a grueling battle, Ivan Vanko, whose suit was too damaged, activates the self destruct function of his suit and his drones. Immediately Tony Stark flies away and saves Pepper Potts from the explosion before they engulf her. After they land on top of a building, Potts quits her job as CEO and she Tony share a kiss.

After debriefing news on the Hulk's rampage, Nick Fury informs Stark of Natalie's assessment. He tells Stark that while Iron May be a suitable candidate for the Avengers initiative, Stark, on the other hand, is not. However, Nick also informs Stark that S.H.I.E.L.D. does want Stark as a consultant. Stark agrees to be a consultant on the condition that Senator Stern, the man who lead the effort to take Stark's suit, presents the medals for bravery to Stark and Rhodes at the award ceremony.

In an after credits scene, Agent Coulson reports the finding of a large hammer in a crater in New Mexico.

The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

The Avengers 2 (2015)

Personality and Traits

Tony Stark is introduced as a man living in the shadow of his father, Howard Stark, and as such Tony develops several quirks in his personality. He is a serial womanizer, an alcoholic, and an unfocused inventor. During his exploits he continually shows an independent streak and a need for attention which puts him into conflict with those around him, be that his company, the military, S.H.I.E.L.D., or his friends. Although Tony enjoys beings the center of attention, when it comes to his inventions and technology, he is highly secretive and believes that if he were to give it someone else, it would fall into the wrong hands.

Iron Man as a superhero, has all sorts of weaponry hidden in the suit. Besides being able to fly, the energy reactor in Tony Stark's chest gives Iron Man the power to shoot projectiles from his hands as well as powering all sorts of other hidden weaponry such as tiny missile launchers. The suit is bulletproof and is even seen deflecting tank shells.

Trivia

• The Iron Man Mark I armor weighs 90 pounds
• While, the Iron Man Mark V armor is useful as a portable suit of armor, its has weaker repulsor beams and lighter armor than its predecessor and its successors. In addition, it appears the suit of armor lacks the ability to fly.
• Iron Man Mark VI armor has the ability to fire two continuous repulsor beams at the same time.
• All Iron Man armors after Mark II can fly at supersonic speeds.
• From the first Iron Man movie to the Avengers, Tony Stark has created 7 versions of Iron Man and 1 version of War Machine.
• Although the film does not state specifically, Tony Stark does redesigned his Iron Man armor in the time between Iron Man and Iron Man 2. The most notable difference between Iron man Mark III and Iron Man Mark IV is the white bands in the abs.