| Iron Man | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Ultimate Marvel (Marvel Comics) |
| First appearance | Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4 (July 2001) |
| Created by | Brian Michael Bendis Mike Allred (based upon theoriginal character byLee,Lieber,Heck &Kirby) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Antonio "Tony" Stark |
| Team affiliations | Stark Industries S.H.I.E.L.D. Ultimates New Ultimates |
| Partnerships | Captain America Thor War Machine |
| Abilities |
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Iron Man (Antonio "Tony"Stark) is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character is theUltimate Marvel version of the superheroIron Man, who first appeared in the fourth issue ofUltimate Marvel Team-Up, written byBrian Michael Bendis and drawn byMike Allred. He later appeared in theUltimates and often appears in other Ultimate Marvel titles.
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the character is a wealthy industrialist, billionaire playboy, genius inventor, business tycoon and world-renowned scientist, who created the Iron Man armor, an exo-suit with high-tech equipment and superhuman capabilities, which grants the wearer with abilities, such as super-strength, flight, enhanced durability and the ability to fire weaponized energy blasts and beams. Like his mainstream counterpart, he has a drinking problem, being commonly depicted as a charismatic and womanizing alcoholic, with a snarky and sarcastic sense of humour, who suffers from a life-threatening affliction; in this case an inoperablebrain tumor. With a life expectancy anywhere between six months and five years, he chose to become aphilanthropist andsuperhero, deciding to use the remaining time he has left to live, for a noble purpose. Another major difference from his mainstream counterpart is that this version of Iron Man has anItalian mother hence why he is called "Antonio".
While the character was never featured in his own ongoing series, Stark's early life and origins were initially explored in theUltimate Iron Man miniseries written by science fiction authorOrson Scott Card. However, this origin story is no longer considered canon in the Ultimate Marvel Universe and was retconned as only being a fictional Japaneseanime version.[1] On the other hand, the character's adult years have been covered mainly byMark Millar (in hisUltimates work) andWarren Ellis.
In the limited seriesThe Ultimates, when Tony Stark first hears thatNick Fury is assembling a team of superheroes, he volunteers his services. After helping defeat theHulk, Stark develops a friendship withThor andSteve Rogers. Though he has many great accomplishments, during the first volume of the Ultimates, he remains unsure of himself, clearly shown when he's heavily beat down and throws up in his own helmet. He acts arrogant, but also constantly doubts his own abilities. In the last issue he seems to decide that he can't continue fighting until a soldier asks, "If you don't do it, who will?". Later, he fights against theX-Men inUltimate War, captures theRhino inUltimate Spider-Man, and fights along withSpider-Man himself in theUltimate Six storyline.
Stark also appears inUltimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, where he supportsWolverine being sent to kill Bruce Banner. Stark also criticizes the law being used to stop the Hulk, during which he mockingly suggests creating a Superhero Registration Law referencing the mainstream Stark's support of the Superhero Registration Act. TheUltimate Galactus trilogy also shows the first signs of an early friendship between Stark andReed Richards (despite the age difference), in addition to him successfully sneaking aboard aKree spacecraft inUltimate Secret, and killing a clone of theSilver Surfer inUltimate Extinction.
InThe Ultimates 2, Tony Stark quickly falls in love and proposes toNatasha Romanova. Just prior to proposing, Stark gives her a black suit of armor, almost identical to his own. The flight test of the suit includes flying over her homeland, where Stark had paid the three million inhabitants of her hometown to stand in a field, spelling out his proposal, which she immediately accepts. When the Liberators invade America, Natasha shootsEdwin Jarvis and then tries to get Stark, at gunpoint, to transfer much of his fortune to her. However, Stark has ultimate control of the nanites in her bloodstream that allows her to interface with her armor. Using these nanites, Stark incapacitates Romanova and retrieves the enemy plans from her mind with the intention of fighting back against the Liberators. He takes "Iron Man 6", a massivehelicarrier-sized ship armed with dozens of laser cannons and machine guns, and wipes out the air force of the Liberators in Washington, D.C. (as well as his opposite Liberator numberCrimson Dynamo). He then heads to New York to aid the heroes there. After the battle Stark agrees to finance the now independent Ultimates, and seemingly very quickly gets over Natasha's betrayal with the help of a pretty blonde.
Ultimate Power marks the first appearance of the independent Ultimates, fighting against an alternate universeSquadron Supreme. This soon follows with the start ofUltimates 3 which sees Stark becoming a full-blown alcoholic. Asex tape that he made with Natasha during their time together also makes it into the public, causing aPR nightmare for the rest of the Ultimates. InUltimate Human, which was published around the same time, the focus is on Bruce Banner as he pleads with Stark to cure him of his Hulk affliction just beforeUltimatum, which dealt with Magneto's attempt at complete destruction.
AfterUltimatum, theUltimate Comics: Armor Wars mini-series featured Iron Man racing across the world to find his stolen armor in order to save the remains of his enterprise. InUltimate Comics: New Ultimates, he began a relationship withCarol Danvers and fought against the returning Loki. In the pages ofUltimate Comics: Spider-Man, he was also involved with Captain America and Thor in training Spider-Man to become a better hero. During this time, his brotherGregory Stark became the new financial manager for the newAvengers team inUltimate Comics: Avengers, which also featuredRhodey (Tony's former best friend) and a newBlack Widow.
InUltimate Comics: The Ultimates, Tony Stark is among the central characters and a leading member of the Ultimates. In "The Republic is Burning", he saves a now mortal Thor from the destruction of Asgard. With hisAsgardian brethren exterminated by the Children of Tomorrow and Yggdrasil drained of the Odinforce, Thor is no longer a God and Stark takes it upon himself to help Thor resume his role as a God of Thunder. He reveals that he has been keeping Thor's harness and hammer (pieces of EUSS technology that gave him his powers inThe Ultimates andThe Ultimates 2) and gives it back to the mortal Thor, with some modifications. Stark joins Nick Fury's latest Ultimates roster alongside Thor, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Falcon.
Following the reunification of the United States, Tony Stark builds a new red-white-and-blue version armor under the name "Iron Patriot" which is badly damaged in a confrontation with the Dead Hand Hydra terrorist group, and is later cut in half during repairs by the Black Knight.
InUltimate Comics: X-Men, following the establishment of the mutant nation of Utopia, Tony Stark is appointed as a liaison between Utopia and the United States by President Steve Rogers. Within Utopia, Stark assumes the role of business affairs and military consultant for the fledgling nation. With Kitty's help, he fakes an explosion in one of Utopia's greenhouses that seemingly destroys the 'super seed' developed by the mutants. Later he promises Kitty that once the attention has shifted away from Utopia, he will start releasing the seeds through back channels and have them freely distributed in accordance to Kitty's wishes.
When theMaker collaborated withHigh Evolutionary to destroy the Superflow that kept the different universes separate in order to merge them into one reality, the Ultimates members Captain America, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, and Hulk were revived where they were to helpEternity fight theFirst Firmament.[2] WhenEarth-616's version of the Ultimates arrived on Counter-Earth to confront Maker about his actions, he ordered the Earth-1610 Ultimates to attack. As both versions of Ultimates concluded that there is no reason to fight each other, Maker killed the Earth-1610 Captain America for disobeying his orders. Upon Maker being defeated, both Ultimates helped Eternity to defeat the First Firmament. Afterwards, Ultimate Iron Man and the remaining members of the Earth-1610 Ultimates left to pursue Maker.[3]
During theSecret Wars storyline, a variation of Ultimate Iron Man resides on theBattleworld domain known as the Kingdom of Manhattan where he co-exists with a variation of his Earth-616 counterpart.[4]
During the "Ultimate Invasion" storyline,Maker escaped toEarth-6160 and remade it into his own image. In this reality,Howard Stark operates as Iron Man, Tony Stark still exists, but as a teenager, andObadiah Stane is his business partner, with both leadingStark/Stane, one of the North American Union's largest corporations and regarded as essentially running thetechnocratic power bloc. Obadiah is mentioned as being the public face of the company while Howard leadsresearch and development, with both men and the corporation itself having a reputation of innovators and forces of progress.
During an event of international leaders in The City at Latveria that is crashed by a clone army from the future, Howard is knocked out when Obadiah's armor explodes upon him being killed by a Vision clone. Upon being awoken by the Maker, Howard witnesses as the supposed genetic ancestors of the clones are herded and vaporized, causing the surviving clones to be erased since their bloodline ceases to exist. He is then shown the Immortus Engine as the Maker persuades him to help out as he believed that Howard made it.[5]
Sometime after Obadiah's funeral, Howard learns about the nature of the different leaders' rule and the existence of theMaker's Council as some of them give Howard some condolences. In a flashback to Obadiah's funeral, Tony advises Howard to fight back. As the Maker takes Howard into the depths of The City to work on the Immortus Engine, Howard meetsReed Richards who wears a Doctor Doom-like mask and suit.[6] Howard and Reed plot against the Maker by shutting down the forcefield surrounding The City, allowing Kang's armies to invade. Howard shuts down the damper of the Immortus Engine and causes an explosion that engulfs Kang's armies and the Maker. As The City's power conduit surges and closes The City up, Howard reacts in disappointment when he sees who Kang is upon unmasking him.[7]
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