Born to Howard Anthony Stark and Maria Collins Carbonell Stark, Anthony “Tony” Edward Stark was born with extremely high intelligence. At the age of 15 Stark entered the undergraduate electrical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he graduated at the top of his class. At the age of 21 he inherited Stark Enterprises when his parents were killed in a car accident. During the Vietnam Conflict Stark Enterprises developed mini-transistors that Tony thought would help the war effort. While checking on his plant, which had been plagued by sabotage, Tony was injured by exploding shrapnel and captured by Vietnamese warlord Wong Chu. Chu forced Tony and another captive, famed physicist Ho Yinsen, to create weapons for him. All the time the shrapnel was slowly working on Tony’s heart, killing him. Tony and Yinsen created an iron suit that would keep Tony alive and allow them to escape. During the escape Yinsen was killed, sacrificing himself to allow Tony time to change for the first time to The Invincible Iron Man. Iron Man made short work of Chu and his men.

On his way back Tony met Helicopter pilot James Rupert “Rhodey” Rhodes and returned to America. Jim Rhodes would eventually become Iron Man’s partner War Machine. While there he improved the Iron Man armor and made Iron man Tony Stark’s personal bodyguard. In his early years Tony Stark became the corporate sponsor of the superhero group The Avengers and as Iron Man help found the group with The Mighty Thor, Ant Man, The Wasp, and The Incredible Hulk. Notable villains from these early days include Mandarin, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow.

Although Anthony Stark promotes a rich, playboy persona his life is far from perfect. His most major problem is his battle with alcoholism. Other problems would include repetitive losses of companies by takeover, bankruptcy, or other occurrences. He has gone so far down as to be homeless and give the Iron Man identity to Rhodes at a point. But our hero Stark has always recovered. He started a new company, Circuits Maximus, and was able to return as Iron Man. When Stark International’s new Chief Executive Officer, Obadiah Stane, tried to take over Stark’s new company Stark retaliated and managed to take back his company.

All during these events Tony Stark’s health was declining. After a heart transplant that saved his life, Tony still had health issues. His armors cybernetic interface was causing his nervous system to deteriorate. It became so bad that he had to fake his death and enter suspended animation to survive. At this point Rhodes became Iron Man once more but this time dawned a new armor created by Tony called the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit” which was latter known as the War Machine armor. When he awoke Rhodes was so enraged he left Tony and made War Machine into a solo hero.

Later readers discover Iron Man was being controlled by Kang the Conqueror. As a sleeper agent Tony was forced to kill Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara, and Crystal’s Nanny Marilla. To battle the combined forces of Iron Man and Kang, The Avengers were forced to recruit a teenage version of Tony Stark. Teen Tony stole a suit of armor from Stark International and aided The Avengers in battle. When the adult version came face to face with his teenage self he was able to overcome Kang’s control. He sacrificed himself and defeated Kang. He died a hero.
Teenage Tony Stark continued to fight with The Avengers and managed to take back control of Stark International. Shortly after this the mutant Onslaught appeared. He and many of the world’s superheroes fought this monster in New York City’s Central Park. There Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and other hero’s lost their lives. But luckily they were brought back in a pocket universe created by Reed and Sue Richards’ son, Franklin. When this occurred he became an older Anthony Stark. When the heroes returned to the normal universe Tony gained the knowledge of both Teenage Tony and the dead Adult Tony but also his health problems.

Once Tony’s armor became so sophisticated that it became sentient. At first Tony allowed the armor to do his job as Iron Man but it became increasingly dangerous. It even committed murder. When this occurred Tony had no choice but to face the armor. When Tony went to face the armor he suffered Cardiac Arrest. Proving itself a hero the armor ripped out its own components creating a cybernetic heart for it’s creator and sacrificing itself in the process.

Tony revealed to the world that he was The Iron Man. After this revelation he took the post as the President’s Secretary of Defense to monitor the use of his technology by the United States Military. He was forced to step down from that position when the Scarlet Witch caused The Avengers to disassemble. He publicly stated that he would no longer be Iron Man but that there would always be one. Of course Tony continued to be Iron Man while maintaining a secret identity. Lately Tony injected himself with a Nanotech virus that integrated many of his suits functions with his own biological systems. It has been revealed that he is a member of a group known as the Illuminati along with Professor Charles Xavier, Reed Richards, Blackagar Boltagon, Dr. Stephen Strange, and Namor.

Recently, During a televised raid of a house containing select villains that had recently escaped from the super villain facility at Ryker’s Island prison during a massive breakout, the escaped villain Nitro let off a massive explosion that killed the majority of The New Warriors, as well as the children at a nearby elementary school, and the residents of the surrounding neighborhood. In the wake of the tragedy, Capitol Hill proposed the Superhuman Registration Act, a government movement to register all super-powered beings as living weapons of mass destruction, requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government and subject themselves to federally mandated standards.

This event triggered negative public opinion against the super heroes, in which sole blame from the public was placed, and Captain America being propositioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. to become part of the enforcement of super heroes to register, but he refused, and after being attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, went underground. Iron Man, however, was in full support of the act and convinced Spider-Man to join his cause.