[center][img]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/ironman/images/4/4f/Photo(1073).png/revision/latest?cb=20150417140445[/img]

[i][color=Goldenrod]“I am Iron Man.”[/color][/i][/center]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]Name:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent][color=Goldenrod]Anthony Edward Stark[/color] AKA [color=Goldenrod]Iron Man[/color]
The Merchant of Death[/indent]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]Alignment:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent]Chaotic Good[/indent]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]Affiliation:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent][color=Goldenrod]Stark Industries[/color][/indent]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]History:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent]Tony was born to the founder of [color=Goldenrod]Stark Industries[/color], [color=Goldenrod]Howard Anthony Walter Stark[/color] and his wife [color=Goldenrod]Maria[/color], the couples first and only son. As Tony grew it quickly became apparent that he was a precociously intelligent child. His mother struggled to find any common ground with her child, while his alcoholic father, a man of advanced intellect himself, generally had very little time for Tony. 

Tony had barely broached his teens when his mother, at wits end with how to deal with her increasingly distant and independent son, shipped him off to the prestigious Excelsior Academy, hoping that the opportunity to bond with his peers would help the gifted youth develop more age appropriate social skills. Things didn't go according to plan however, as Tony found people difficult to relate too, preferring by far to tinker with his inventions and machines than to fraternize with the likes of [color=goldenrod]Alexander Luthor[/color], [color=goldenrod]Oliver Queen[/color], or [color=goldenrod]Bruce Wayne[/color], his fellow students. However he stuck in with his schooling, enrolled a MIT in his mid-teens, and graduated at the top of his class at age 19 with double masters in physics and engineering.

He was twenty-one and working in the engineering department of Stark Industries when his mother and father died in a tragic car accident, leaving Tony head of an unparalleled mega-conglomerate that mostly manufactured weapons for the United States military. The business sector watched with keen eyes, eager to see what Stark's first move would be. It surprised most, to say the least. He purchased the manufacturer who designed his parents' car to have the faulty brake system, which was seemingly the cause of their deaths, redesigned in order to prevent any further incidents, before promoting his secretary, [color=Goldenrod]Virginia 'Pepper' Potts[/color], to his executive assistant, and left the lion share of his new workload to her. Tony was generally uninterested in running a company, seeing it as a burden that he could now easily shirk.
 
For the next decade and a half Tony lived his life alternating between intense bouts of wild partying, followed by extended periods of monk-like isolation were he would feverishly work upon his next technological breakthrough. Stark Industries went through strength to strength during this period, especially after the company cemented a lucrative contracting deal with the American military. 

It was during this time that, when asked for a theory to explain the appearances of extraordinarily powered beings cropping up across the globe, Tony first revealed his prototype powered exo-skeleton that would serve as the basis for what would one day become the Iron Man armour. It took the military world by storm, armchair generals and extremist revolutionary's alike thinking that Stark Industries had used technology to discover the natural heir to [color=goldenrod]Dr Abraham Erskine's[/color] Super Soldier program. Tony was on the verge of mass producing the armor and selling it to the forces when fate intervened. Fate, and a man known simply as [color=Goldenrod]'The Mandarin'[/color]. 

Before making any more concrete plans or promises with the early armour technology, Tony traveled to Afghanistan on a prior commitment consulting with the American military about ways to use current arms-tech to supplement combat effectiveness while allowing the US to ship personnel home. He was off-base showcasing the newest batch of micromuntition landmines when his party was ambushed and overwhelmed by a group of men who appeared to be insurgents. Tony himself was knocked unconscious when his own landmines inadvertently exploded in the crossfire.

When he awoke things had taken a dire turn for him. He was prisoner in an enemy compound, hooked up to an array of medical equipment. It was his fellow captive, [color=Goldenrod]Ho Yinsen[/color], that revealed to him what had happened, that in the explosion Tony had been hit in the chest by shrapnel, shrapnel that was now pressing upon his heart, threatening to kill him at any moment, and impossible to remove with the resources on hand. This, according to Yinsen, was a mixed blessing, as their captors, not insurgents at all but actually mercenaries working for a man referred to simply as 'The Mandarin' had taken Stark with the intention of forcing him to create weapons for them, and that the best thing Tony could do now was die before they could get what they wanted.

Tony refused to just roll over and die though. With Yinsens help he created a magnetic harness, designed to hold the shrapnel in his chest in place while he plotted an escape from captivity. After that he appeared to follow his captors orders implicitly, working feverishly upon a weapon that quickly became apparent as a suit of armour. If his jailers thought they had broken Tony though, then they were sorely mistaken, as instead of handing the suit over upon completion, he actual donned it himself to stage a daring breakout. After a vicious firefight he managed to escape, though not without cost. Yinsen fell in the conflict, a fact that still haunts Tony to this day.

Tony was found, sans armour, wandering the mountainous terrain of Arghanistan by [color=goldenrod]Colonol James Rhodes[/color], months after his initial capture, and was quickly flown home to the states. The first thing Tony did was to enlist the help of renowned surgeon, [color=Goldenrod]Dr Thomas Elliot[/color], in removing the shrapnel from his chest. For several months after his operation he retreated from the public eye, no more than to be expected after his ordeal, but still the media, and more importantly the board of Stark Industries, was desperate for him to return to the land of the living. They didn't have to wait long, as in the tail end of 2012 he returned, announcing a press conference concerning his future, and the future of his company. There he made it clear that Stark Industries would no longer be involved with the weapons industry, and would instead be fixing it's attentions on 'saving the world'. While questioned on the sensibility of move by his board, especially for a company that's stocks had already plummeted during his incarceration, he was supported by many, especially Pepper.

Over the next couple of months Tony laid out plans for the future direction of his company, though mostly dealt with problems through Pepper as he was rarely seen himself, spending most of his time in his own personal workshop. Unbeknownst to the outside world Tony was working on a new suit of armour, armour that he vowed he would use in a quest for redemption for his past indiscretions, chief among them his years of war profiteering. In his initial outings he would focus on recovering any and all Stark based weaponary that had inardeventally ended up in the hands of those he deemed unfit to use them. Stark Industries had always kept to a policy of only dealing to the American military, but that didn't mean they're goods didn't end up in the hands of others. They'd just always turned a blind eye to it in the past. Now though, a Golden Avenger was taking all that ordinance back, dismantling the operations that held them in the process. Many in the intelligence community realized the similarity between this new, advanced suit and Tony's earlier designs, but when questioned on whether this Golden Avenger had anything to do with him he would neither confirm nor deny the allegations.

Things came to a head in 2013 when the mutant supremacist [color=Goldenrod]Magneto[/color] famously attacked [color=goldenrod]President Robert Kelly[/color] during his inauguration.  As everyone knows the Master of Magnetism was foiled when [color=goldenrod]Superman[/color] led a team of vigilantes to stop him. Among those vigilantes was Tony wearing his latest armour. After the battles conclusion he would reveal himself as the pilot of what the media had dubbed [color=goldenrod]"The Iron Man armour"[/color].

Over the next three years Tony would continue to divide his time in utilizing his influence as head of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate in attempting to save the planet, while also taking a far more proactive stance as the hero Iron Man. 
[/indent]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]Supporting Cast:[/u][/color][/b]
[HIDER=Allies][indent]
[color=Goldenrod][i]Virginia 'Pepper' Pots[/i][/color] 
[indent]Tony's long time assistant and secretary. Those with a keen eye are quick to notice that she seems to handle more of the day to day running of StarkTech than Tony himself.[/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]James 'Rhodey' Rhodes[/i][/color]
[indent]Former U.S Air Force Colonel who once served as the military's chief liason to Stark Industries, though is currently StarkTech's chief aviation officer. It was Rhodey who ran the operation that initially found Tony after he escaped Wong Chun. [/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]Harold 'Happy' Hogan[/i][/color]
[indent]A retired boxer, hired by Pepper to serve as Tony's chauffeur and bodyguard. Tony thinks the idea of Iron Man needing a bodyguard is ridiculous, though he keeps Happy on regardless as he enjoys the man's company.[/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]J.A.R.V.I.S[/i][/color]
[indent]An A.I program Tony has been tinkering with in his spare time, though it really isn't quite at the stage where one could call it an A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S as an acronym stands for [i]“Just A Rather Very Intelligent System”[/i], which is admittedly stilted, but it's named for Tony's late butler, Edwin Jarvis.[/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]Ho Yinsen[/i][/color]
[indent]In his time Yinsen was a pacifistic medical engineer. He was Tony's comrade in captivity, and helped Stark build the first Iron Man suit. He died in Tony's escape attempt, a fact that still weighs heavy on him.[/indent][/indent]
[/hider]

[HIDER=Rivals][indent]
[color=Goldenrod][i]Lex Luthor[/i][/color]
[indent]One of the few men that Tony will admit to being near his intellectual equal. Near, mind you, not actually equal, and definitely not superior, regardless of how much Lex believes that to be the case. Lex-Corp, along the Wayne Enterprises, is one of StarkTechs main competitors   [/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]Bruce Wayne[/i][/color]
[indent]Tony and Bruce were peers during their days at Excelsior Academy, and while their interactions were sparse Tony always suspected that Bruce was hiding something, though he could never quite put his finger on what that something was. Now that they are adults, and heads of their respective companies, Tony still can't shake the feeling that there's something [i]'off'[/i] about his erstwhile competitor.[/indent]
[/indent][/hider]

[HIDER=Enemies][indent]
[color=Goldenrod][i]Wong Chun[/i][/color]
[indent]The man who held Tony captive and forced him to work on the Iron Man suit. Says he was working for someone called [i]'The Mandarin'[/i]. Chun fled when Stark staged his escape attempt, and Tony has been hunting him ever since, as he blames him for Yinsen's death.[/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]The Mandarin[/i][/color]
[indent]A shadowy figure who was apparently the force behind Tony's capture. However try as he might Tony has failed to discover any concrete information about The Mandarin. What little he has managed to unearth is mostly unsubstantiated rumours, conflicting reports with what he's already found, or just plain ridiculous claims about the Mandarin possessing [i]'magic rings'[/i].[/indent]

[color=Goldenrod][i]Advanced Idea Mechanics AKA A.I.M[/i][/color]
[indent]An organization of brilliant scientists and their hirelings dedicated to the acquisition of power and the overthrow of all governments by technological means. Tony's crossed paths with their operatives on a few occasions.
[/indent]
[/indent][/hider]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]How (if at all) does the New Frontier version of your character differ from the original?:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent]Frontier Tony doesn't differ wildly from 'classic' Tony. If anything I've just picked and chosen bits and pieces from all of the many different versions of Stark to make up this one. He has some MCU, 616, Ultimate, EMH, and even some Elseworld traits in there. I think the core differnce between Frontier Tony and regular is that here he uses his arrogance and humour to try and hide the deep amounts of self-loathing that he feels, essentially just another suit of armour he wears to hide his vulnerability. Admittedly some writers have touched upon that aspect in the past, but I think that side of him has been lost in recent years, especially in the new Invincible Iron Man run.[/indent]

[b][color=Goldenrod][u]Post References:[/u][/color][/b]
[indent][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3010058]Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice[/url]: Ted Grant doesn't feel so old anymore.
[url=https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/vigilance-rise-of-the-mavericks-the-epic-ic-thread.112885/#post-2353722]Vigilance: Rise of the Mavericks[/url]: Lisa Walker begins her vigilante career.
[url=https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/before-the-dawn-ic.127091/#post-2635438]Before the Dawn[/url]: Ser Faen of Amor, greatest hero of Tyrannia, is as rough as shit.[/indent]