[b]Name:[/b] Antony Edward Stark
[b]Age:[/b] 35
[b]Alias:[/b] Iron Man 
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img=http://www.lasvegascritics.com/sites/default/files/iron-man-2.jpg]

[b]Abilities:[/b]

Tony Stark is neither mutant or metahuman, controls no powers beyond what the human form can hold, but to suggest he his somehow at a disadvantage because of this ignores recent history. He is possessed with genius level intellect and an engineering skill above and beyond what the world has already seen, outshining, in the opinion of most, even his father. In regards to his suits, which give him the name Iron Man; Most have super strength, flight, speed and repulsors and other special high-tech weaponry and gear, which he makes up for not having his own superpowers. Unknown to all but Stark himself, following the battle of Genosha, Stark Industries recovered Magneto's helmet and, following reverse engineering, newer Iron Man suits now come equipped with the same level of telepathy-dampening.

[b]Personality:[/b]

Most who meet Tony Stark have trouble taking him seriously, largely because he seems to take nothing with anything more than sarcastic humor even at the direst of times. With somewhat of a justified reputation as a playboy, Tony has enjoyed, and continues to, a wide variety of parties and women, although has shown during certain relationships the ability to remain loyal, he is always one for wild nights and flirtation, with a disarming charm that can border simply on annoying to the wrong person. Despite his 'sins' Stark has always been a philanthropist, even in his days of building up Stark Industries as an arms producer. Many public works hold Stark's name, and many more have been bankrolled by the man who made Stark Industries the global institute that it is.

Beneath these layers of often self-centered personality quirks, Stark has finally proven, to at least anyone who's mind could be changed, that he is just as heroic as the other members of the Avengers, and most remember that it was Iron Man, not Thor or Captain America, that pushed a nuke into space, expecting no chance of return. Ever since the event, those who know him may argue that he tries even harder to hide this side of him, while, ironically, at the same time, working with the Avengers to defend the World from threats similar to Loki's invasion.

[b]Bio:[/b]

Stark Industries has been a name of interest since the days of the Second World War, originally founded by Howard Stark, the great inventor, a man who worked very closely with the government until the drop of the atom bombs. The only public statement Howard gave after his separation, entirely, from governmental work, was the single phrase 'I could have saved them.' A statement, that the current Stark still looks into in the present day. Under Howard, Stark Industries became a successful engineering business, developing creations for the consumer that should have been years ahead of his time, although many were forced to remain the property of the rich and famous, others were designed for general use. Tony was born fairly late in his life, when Howard was 55 in the year 1979, not that an odd family dynamic would affect Tony for long, for a decade later his father would die in Ireland in one of many terrorist attacks in the North, having been there on holiday and to promote several new inventions intended to raise the standard of living in Belfast. Afterwards Tony was raised by his mother (significantly younger than his father) until she later died of cancer when Tony was 21, upon which time he was fully in control of Stark Industries, having already earned two masters degrees by this point.

Under Tony, Stark Industries soared from an engineering firm worth a couple of million dollars, to a multi-billion arms producer, the loss of both of Tony's parents throwing him into both business and his wild social life even further, potentially at the expense of the morality his father had wished for him. For the first time since the Second World War, Stark Industries began taking government contracts, but from across the world, rather than just the USA.

Things changed for Tony a number of years later when he was captured by Terrorists (The Ten Rings) in the Middle East, while showcasing a host of new weaponry for the US army to deploy in the region. With shrapnel threatening his heart, the terrorists kept him alive to produce weapons for them to annihilate any American presence in the region, before turning on the continental states in turn. Rather than obey, Tony, with the help of Ho Yinsen, created a micro-arc reactor to keep himself alive and a suit of weaponised armour to allow him to escape. Upon returning to the States, he ended all arms production contracts Stark Industries maintained and focused on the application of the technology of the arc reactor, meanwhile refining the technology of the armoured suit, to create the first Iron Man suits, becoming one of the world's first public super heroes since the fall of Captain America in the Second World War.

Despite such moves, Tony eventually discovered that Stark Industries weaponry was still finding its way across the world, including into the arms of the Ten Rings, attacking the village of the now deceased Ho Yinsen. Stark, in his latest Iron Man suit, attacks the terrorists, defeating them and destroying all the weaponry they had attained. During the flight home, Stark was attacked by US Air force jets, although after destroying one (while saving its pilot), Tony revealed his identity to James Rhodes, who eventually called off the jets, despite going against US protocols. Upon arriving home, Stark discovered his company managed, Stane, had betrayed him, having hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark (although they disobeyed orders) and had attempted to rob him of control of the company. Having stolen the best of Tony's arc reactor technology, leaving Tony with the earlier versions of his own reactor, Stane constructed his own Iron suit, having killed many Stark Industries employees to do so (including Pepper Pots). Stark eventually killed Stane by tricking him into falling into the company's first Arc Reactor. After the destructive events around Stark Industries, Tony Stark revealed to the world that he was in fact 'Iron Man.'

After this event, Stark was increasingly pressured by the US government to hand over the technology behind the Iron Man suits, stating the official reason that other nations across the world were close to developing similar technology, despite Stark disproving this as simple propaganda. While the US government had little grounds to enforce such a move, many individuals felt Stark was retaining the technology for personal glory, rather than his stated reason of not wanting it to be deployed in war zones. This culminated with James Rhodes delivering one of the Iron Man suits to the US military, fearing Stark, slowly being poisoned by the Arc Reactor keeping him alive, unfit to maintain control of the technology. This created a rift between the two, that may have healed to an extent of the intervening years, that has fostered distrust for the US military within Stark, especially after the deployment of War Machine. After Stark defeats another inventor, Vanko, trying to kill him with his own technology, Nick Fury contacted Stark about using his suits, if not him, for the Avengers Initiative, although eventually Stark is called on board after he recovered both the Tesseract and a frozen Captain America.

The events that followed the formation of the Avengers are well known. Thor's brother Loki used the Tesseract to bring an alien army to New York, where the Avengers fought them to a stand still. Acting preemptively, the US government launched a nuclear warhead at New York, hoping to destroy the invading forces access to the world. Here Stark showed his much doubted heroism, by steering said Nuke into the portal connecting the alien fleet to the world, himself disappearing into space before falling back through. Severing their connecting to the fleet, the remaining aliens were a challenge, rather than a dire threat, to mop up. Since then, Iron Man has continued to assist those in need globally, deliberately distancing himself from activities connected to the US government, although remaining a loyal citizen. Until now.

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