Initially the chief weapons manufacturer for the U.S. military, he has a change of heart and redirects his technical knowledge into creating mechanized suits of armor, which he uses to defend Earth.

Following his failed Ultron Program, the internal conflict within the Avengers due to the Sokovia Accords, and Thanos successfully erasing half of all life in the Blip, Stark retires, marries Pepper Potts, and they have a daughter named Morgan.

He engineers a time travel device, and the Avengers successfully restore trillions of lives across the universe before Stark ultimately sacrifices his life to defeat Thanos and his army.

A brilliant and unique child prodigy, Stark attended the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover before entering MIT at age 14 and graduating summa cum laude at 17.

Fellow captive Ho Yinsen, a doctor, implants an electromagnet into Stark's chest to keep shrapnel shards from reaching his heart and killing him.

Stark competes in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and is attacked mid-race by Ivan Vanko, who wields electrified whips powered by a miniature arc reactor.

facility, Fury activates the Avengers Initiative and Agent Phil Coulson visits Stark to have him review the research of Erik Selvig on the Tesseract.

In 2015, Stark and the Avengers raid a Hydra facility commanded by Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on siblings Pietro and Wanda Maximoff using the scepter previously wielded by Loki.

Escaping with the scepter, Ultron builds an army of robot drones, kills Strucker and recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his company's weapons.

The Avengers find and attack Ultron in Johannesburg, but Wanda subdues most of the team with personalized, disturbing visions, causing Banner to transform into the Hulk and rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.

After hiding at Clint Barton's house, Nick Fury arrives and encourages Stark and the others to form a plan to stop Ultron, who is discovered to have forced the team's friend Dr. Helen Cho to perfect a new body for him.

This "Vision" and the Maximoffs, now on their side, accompany Stark and the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction.

In 2016, U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish UN oversight of the team.

Circumstances lead to Rogers and fellow super-soldier Bucky Barnes—framed for a terrorist attack—going rogue, along with Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang.

Stark assembles a team composed of Natasha Romanoff, T'Challa, James Rhodes, Vision, and Peter Parker to capture the renegades at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

Banner relays a warning to Stephen Strange, Wong, and Stark that the mad Titan Thanos plans to use the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life in the universe.

After successfully freeing Strange and killing Maw, the trio proceed to Thanos' home planet Titan, where they meet members of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Later, he constructs a secret beach house lab in Mexico for Banner to merge his two identities and spent some time with him including making a tiki bar.

agents over custody of Loki and the Tesseract, Lang, using his Ant-Man suit, shrinks down and enters into 2012-Stark's chest arc reactor, pulling a plug that gives him a cardiac dysrhythmia.

Tony Stark first premiered as a comic book character, in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover dated March 1963), a collaboration among editor and story-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, story-artist Don Heck, and cover-artist and character-designer Jack Kirby.

Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.

[24] Jon Favreau, who was selected to direct the first Iron Man film, felt Downey's past made him an appropriate choice for the part,[25] and that the actor could make Stark a "likable asshole," but also depict an authentic emotional journey once he won over the audience.

[46] Downey explained, "What I usually hate about these [superhero] movies [is] when suddenly the guy that you were digging turns into Dudley Do-Right, and then you're supposed to buy into all his 'Let's go do some good!'

"[47] To prepare, Downey spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape,[25] which he said benefited him because "it's hard not to have a personality meltdown ... after about several hours in that suit.

In contrast, for Iron Man 2, the duo were given more freedom to conceive of the story for themselves,[29] in which Stark struggles to keep his technology out of the hands of the government and rival weapons makers.

[58] At the climax of the film, Stark guides a nuclear missile through an interstellar portal to destroy the main alien vessel, demonstrating a willingness to sacrifice his life to save the Earth.

[63][64][65] On how his character evolves after the events of Iron Man 3, Downey said, "I think he realizes that tweaking and making all the suits in the world—which is what he has been doing—still didn't work for that thing of his tour of duty that left him a little PTSD.

Joe Russo added that because of the visions Stark saw in Age of Ultron, he now has a guilt complex which "drives him to make very specific decisions", calling his emotional arc "very complicated".

[69] Downey's personal trainer Eric Oram stated that the trick to pitting Rogers against Stark, "is to show Iron Man using the 'minimum force' necessary to win the fight".

[102] In 2019, following Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame, a statue representing the character in his Iron Man armor was erected in Forte dei Marmi, Italy.