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[b][color=#982a2a]| IDENTITY: |[/color][/b]
[color=darkgray][indent]Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark // [b]Iron Man[/b][/indent][/color]
[b][color=#982a2a]| ALIGNMENT: |[/color][/b]
[color=darkgray][indent]Chaotic Neutral[/indent][/color]
[b][color=#982a2a]| ORIGIN & BACKSTORY: |[/color][/b]
[color=darkgray][b]1986 - 2010   //   P R O D I G Y[/b]

[indent][color=#982a2a][b]Tony Stark[/b][/color] was born to [color=#982a2a][b]Howard[/b][/color] and [color=#982a2a][b]Maria Stark[/b][/color] in [color=#982a2a][b]New York City[/b][/color] in the year of 1986. His father was a genius in his own right, the fourth generation of Starks to run the family business, [color=#982a2a][b]Stark Industries[/b][/color], founded in the mid-nineteenth century by [color=#982a2a][b]Isaac Stark Sr.[/b][/color] as [color=#982a2a][b]Stark Enterprises[/b][/color]. It came as no surprise when Tony demonstrated his own genius, having inherited Howard’s a hundredfold, graduating from high school before he entered his teens. However, he and Howard had a strained relationship, Howard often berating him for the tiniest of mistakes; this was made worse by the drinks, and so Tony endured much verbal abuse from his father since an early age. He instead found a father figure in [color=#982a2a][b]Edwin Jarvis[/b][/color], his family’s butler, and for much of his life before the [color=#982a2a][b]Iron Man[/b][/color], his best friend.

At the age of fifteen, Tony was already acquiring his tertiary education, having graduated from the [color=#982a2a][b]Massachusetts Institute of Technology[/b][/color] with Master’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering. It was during this time that he first met [color=#982a2a][b]Obadiah Stane[/b][/color], the CEO of [color=#982a2a][b]Stane Industries[/b][/color], Stark’s biggest competitor in the corporate world. Intrigued by the man, a master of chess, Tony allowed himself to speak with him, leaving the conversation with a sour taste in his mouth. He didn’t need his father to berate him for talking with Stane, and although Howard did, a part of Tony was glad. Something seemed off about the man, something that not even his genius mind could pinpoint, and he remained cautious of him ever since. 

Later in that year of 2001,  Tony met people who would remain his rivals for years to come at [color=#982a2a][b]Oxford University[/b][/color], attending [color=#982a2a][b]Dr. Harrison Wells[/b][/color]’ “Forward Thought Conference”. It was there that he was introduced to the likes of [color=#982a2a][b]Bruce Banner[/b][/color] and the jet-setting brothers, [color=#982a2a][b]Thomas Jr.[/b][/color] and [color=#982a2a][b]Bruce Wayne[/b][/color]. Priding himself as a futurist, Tony saw through the latter two’s facades; while they behaved like anyone would expect the young inheritors of a gigantic fortune to, Tony noticed a conviction within them that ran deeper than a taste for young models and the thrill of high adventure, like so many tabloids liked to report – an observation that would later lead to his deduction of the younger Wayne’s identity as the mythical [color=#982a2a][b]Batman[/b][/color].

Howard and Maria Stark were killed in an apparent car accident when Tony was twenty-one years old. Edwin Jarvis, their driver, died along with them. Moving past his grief with concerning speed, Tony took over as CEO of Stark Industries, transforming it into [color=#982a2a][b]Stark International[/b][/color] – and through the manufacturing of weapons he’d designed in his bedroom and many military and government contracts, he transitioned it from a multi-million dollar company to that of a multi-[i]billion[/i] dollar conglomerate, bringing to the forefront of the American corporate world alongside the likes of [color=#982a2a][b]OsCorp[/b][/color], [color=#982a2a][b]Wayne Enterprises[/b][/color] and [color=#982a2a][b]LexCorp[/b][/color]. Stane Industries was left behind in the dust, and unbeknownst to Tony, Obadiah was slowly but surely developing a dangerous vendetta against him.

Tony later got involved in what would have to be his most serious romantic relationship yet, with a woman called [color=#982a2a][b]Whitney Frost[/b][/color]. It was progressing far further and faster than any other relationship he’d had before – Whitney was, as far as he could tell, the woman of his dreams. If that was so, however, then the woman of his dreams would have had to have ties to a gigantic criminal empire – that of [color=#982a2a][b]the Maggia[/b][/color], an international syndicate led by her father, [color=#982a2a][b]Count Luchino Nefaria[/b][/color]. Whitney was a mole, placed within Tony’s life in order to get Stark International’s tech within the Maggia’s grasp. Upon his discovery of Whitney’s agenda, he broke things off with her, telling her that if he ever saw her again, he would call the authorities. She disappeared not long after, going completely off the grid – but not before she got caught in accident that left her face permanently disfigured. 

After promoting the woman that had notified him of Whitney’s activities, [color=#982a2a][b]Virginia “Pepper” Potts[/b][/color], to the position of his personal assistant, Tony soon returned to his ways of drinking, partying and womanizing as if nothing had ever happened.
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[b]2012 - 2015   //   I R O N   W I L L[/b]

[indent]A weapons demonstration in [color=#982a2a][b]Afghanistan[/b][/color] would change Tony’s life forever. He’d flown over there to introduce a new multi-warhead missile of his own design to the U.S. Air Force, but before he could do anything of the sort, his convoy was attacked by a militant terrorist cabal called [color=#982a2a][b]the Ten Rings[/b][/color]. In the ensuing firefight, shrapnel was embedded deep within his chest, just inches from his heart. He was taken captive by the terrorists, placed in a makeshift lab within their encampment in the Afghani desert, serving as his prison. He awoke to find another man with him: [color=#982a2a][b]Dr. Ho Yinsen[/b][/color], a renowned physicist and Nobel prize winner whose work Tony had admired from an early age. Yinsen had built a makeshift electromagnetic device that was inserted into Tony’s chest, keeping the shrapnel from piercing his heart, effectively saving his life. He explained that they were being held captive by the Ten Rings, who answered to a mysterious figure called [color=#982a2a][b]the Mandarin[/b][/color], and that they wanted Tony to build them his weapons, or else face death. This was soon confirmed by the encampment’s leader, [color=#982a2a][b]Raza[/b][/color], who made it very clear that should Tony not comply, his death would be very slow, and even more painful. Agreeing to help, Tony pretended to give the Ten Rings what they wanted – but with Yinsen acting as his assistant, he began working on something else entirely.

The [color=#982a2a][b]Iron Man Mark 1[/b][/color] debuted as it burst through the sandstone walls of the terrorist encampment, protecting Tony from machinegun fire as he fought to escape with Yinsen. Unfortunately, Yinsen was killed by a stray bullet, and Tony was forced to leave by himself. As he traversed the desert with the armour’s rudimentary propulsion system, he stumbled upon an Air Force pilot who had been shot out of the sky and was under fire. Tony helped him repel his attackers, and soon he and [color=#982a2a][b]James Rhodes[/b][/color] had radioed for immediate extraction via Rhodes’ downed plane.  

Tony returned home with a new lease on life. Pepper had insisted on hiring a bodyguard upon his return, expecting him to be fully opposed to the idea, and although he initially was, he was too preoccupied with other thoughts to do anything other than tolerate [color=#982a2a][b]Harold Hogan[/b][/color]. Having seen what his technology was capable of, he announced that Stark International would no longer be involved in the development of weapons, cancelling any military contracts his company might have had; shocking many and angering even more. He instead spent his time developing what would become the revolutionary [color=#982a2a][b]repulsor technology[/b][/color] (R.T.), replacing the electromagnet in his chest with a never ending source of R.T. energy after the shrapnel was removed from his heart. It was this R.T. battery that would come to power the new and improved Iron Man armours, and it wasn’t long until the Iron Man Mk 3 took flight, destroying any Stark weapons caches left in the hands of terrorists and criminals – bringing Tony face to face with organisations such as the Ten Rings, al Qaeda and the Taliban. By this time Rhodey had declined Tony’s offer to come work at Stark International, opting instead to leave the Air Force for work as a test pilot at [color=#982a2a][b]Ferris Aircraft[/b][/color]; a job that lasted all of three months before he came to work at Stark. 

Tony’s identity as Iron Man was revealed to the public in a press conference after he prevented a missile launched by the Ten Rings from hitting its target: Times Square, New York City. Holding a press conference the morning after, Tony announced to the journalists and news crews gathered there that he was the armoured hero that had prevented the terrorist act, and that the Iron Man armour will never be anything more than a tool for peace, squashing any hopes the military might have had for getting the tech themselves.

The publicity stunt – because that’s what it was, a stunt – left Obadiah Stane seething with rage. He would [i]not[/i] be outshined by another Stark, let alone the entitled brat that was Tony. He was no stranger to corporate espionage, and through it he was able to acquire the blueprints to the Mark 1 armour, beginning to add his own touches to it. Then the [color=#982a2a][b]Iron Monger[/b][/color] attacked, and Tony faced his first real battle as a superhero.

Only because of Stane’s inferior technology was Tony able to beat him. The older man fought viciously, and could have beaten him if not for the absence of R.T. in his armour. Incarcerated in [color=#982a2a][b]Ryker’s Island[/b][/color], the reigns of Stane Industries’ CEO were handed to Obadiah’s then eighteen year-old son, [color=#982a2a][b]Ezekiel[/b][/color]. 

Tony went on to encounter many more supercriminals as Iron Man, chief among them siblings [color=#982a2a][b]Anton[/b][/color] and [color=#982a2a][b]Ivan Vanko[/b][/color] ([color=#982a2a][b]Crimson Dynamo[/b][/color] and [color=#982a2a][b]Whiplash[/b][/color]) and [color=#982a2a][b]Boris Bullski[/b][/color] (the creatively named [color=#982a2a][b]Titanium Man[/b][/color]). All the while he continued to upgrade and create his Iron Man armours, and expanding Stark International beyond the weapons sector, moving into nearly field imaginable. 

April 1st, 2016 would see him receiving his biggest reality check yet. 
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[b]2 0 1 6   //   A V E N G E R S ,   A S S E M B L E[/b]

[indent]Not even Tony was prepared for [color=#982a2a][b]Zod’s invasion[/b][/color]. A self-proclaimed futurist, he didn’t see it coming – and when it did, Iron Man struggled to protect New York. People died, and if it wasn’t for himself and New York’s other heroes, the city may have well been nothing but rubble by the invasion’s end. His armour barely holding up against the [color=#982a2a][b]Kryptonians[/b][/color], Tony could at least save one life – that of [color=#982a2a][b]Spider-Man[/b][/color], a vigilante recently returned from a two year hiatus, who upon their meeting, Tony realised was just a kid. Soon, though, the invasion was over… and Tony was left feeling like he should have done more.

He soon heard of the [color=#982a2a][b]Avengers Initiative[/b][/color] – a [color=#982a2a][b]S.H.I.E.L.D.[/b][/color] response unit tasked with dealing with and preventing superhuman and extranormal threats to the world at large. Approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. director [color=#982a2a][b]Slade Wilson[/b][/color], Tony was offered a position on the team, the director saying that his intellect would be a valued asset to the team. Seeing this as his chance to make things right, Tony agreed – even though the conditions of his enlistment meant a lucrative deal between Stark International and the government. 

And so, the Avengers assembled. 
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[b][color=#982a2a]| SUPPORTING CAST: |[/color][/b]
[color=darkgray][b]T H E   A V E N G E R S   I N I T I A T I V E   //   S . H . I . E . L . D .[/b]

[indent]A S.H.I.E.L.D. unit tasked with responding to and preventing superhuman and extranormal threats, the Avengers are made up of a variety of government agents, those from the armed forces... and Tony Stark.

[indent][b]Colonel Slade Wilson[/b] (Codename: Deathstroke) [b]|[/b]  The director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Slade oversees the Avengers' activities through Maria Hill, his most trusted agent.

[b]Agent Maria Hill |[/b]  The Avengers' [i]official[/i] leader, Maria finds herself constantly at odds with Tony, finding his insistence on being the response unit's self-appointed headman infuriating beyond words. If it wasn't for Stark International's generous contract with the government and Tony's genius intellect, she would have seen him out of the Initiative long ago.

[b]Carol Danvers // Captain Marvel |[/b]  Commander Carol Danvers of the U.S. Navy has powers that Tony believes could rival that of Superman's. A strong woman in more ways than one, Carol is a capable and skilled individual who wants to do right by the world, and who Tony is very happy to have on his side.

[b]Nathaniel Adam // Captain Atom |[/b]  A former fighter pilot for the Air Force, Nathaniel's career ended when he accidentally killed civilians in an airstrike over a large village in Qurac. Given the option of participating in a potentially lethal experiment as opposed to life imprisonment by Director Slade Wilson, he didn't hesitate, agreeing to partake in Operation: Atom. Captain Atom debuted after Dru-Zod's invasion as the government's answer to Kryptonians, with the ability to manipulate radioactive energies to his every whim. Tony suspects that he is capable of doing much more – just what that is, he's unsure of.  

[b]Jessica Drew // Spider-Woman |[/b]  An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a mysterious past, Jessica Drew is a very capable spy with the abilities of a spider, plus a few more. Where Carol doesn't accept any of Tony's crap, Jess makes sure to let him know when he's being an ass, her snark keeping up with his at every turn.
[/indent]
Tony's position in the Avengers Initiative also sees him working with those not a part of the team, but still affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D. and its three branches.  

[indent][b]Stephanie Carter // Captain America |[/b]  The biological daughter of Steve Rogers, Steph has already been through a lot, despite her relatively young age. An experienced S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, she was invited to join the Avengers. She is yet to give an answer.

[b]Amanda Waller |[/b]  The stoic head of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller will do anything necessary to protect her country's interests. Tony would rather avoid her company more than anything else.

[b]Francisco Ramon // Vibe |[/b]  A young man with the ability to manipulate multidimensional energies, Ramon is a government-sanctioned superhero working under Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S., and a potential candidate for the Avengers Initiative.[/indent][/indent]
[b]A S S O C I A T E S[/b]

[indent][b]Dr. Harrison Wells |[/b]  The reclusive head of Keystone City's S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells was one of Tony's biggest influences as a teenager. 

[b]??? // Spider-Man |[/b]  A young kid with spider powers who's in way over his head, but Tony thinks that he has great potential regardless.

[b]Bruce Wayne // Batman |[/b]  First meeting at Oxford University when they were teenagers, Bruce always struck Tony as... [i]off.[/i] This hunch has led to Tony deducing his identity as the mythical Batman, something he is yet to make Bruce aware of.

[b]Oliver Queen // Green Arrow |[/b]  The CEO of Queen Industries, moonlighting as the bow-wielding vigilante, Green Arrow.

[b]Henry Fyff |[/b]  Formerly working for Queen Industries' tech division, Henry was fired for allegedly stalking a colleague of his. He now works at Stark, mostly because Tony heard of his talents when it came to technology – something that he'd hate to see go to waste.

[/indent]
[b]F R I E N D S[/b]

[indent][b]James "Jim" "Rhodey" Rhodes |[/b]  Having met Tony as he escaped from the Ten Rings, Rhodey has since left the Air Force to work for Ferris Aircraft before coming to work at Stark International as Tony's personal pilot and chief aviation engineer. He's since become a close friend of Tony's. 

[b]Virginia "Pepper" Potts |[/b]  Tony's personal assistant at Stark International, and one of his best -- and only -- friends. Although there is an attraction between the two, both would rather not act upon it, Tony instead choosing to maintain his playboy lifestyle.

[b]Harold "Happy" Hogan |[/b]   Tony's bodyguard, hired by Pepper following his return from Afghanistan, Tony gave Harold the nickname, "Happy", due to his seemingly permanent frown. Initially opposed to the idea of a bodyguard, Tony eventually came to befriend Happy. 

[b]J.A.R.V.I.S. |[/b]  Tony's A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S. is based on his deceased butler, Edwin Jarvis.

[/indent]
[b]E N E M I E S[/b]

[indent][b]Obadiah Stane // Iron Monger |[/b]  Howard Stark's fiercest competitor in the corporate world, Obadiah Stane was the head of Stane Industries, and largely considered by contractors as the poor man's Stark. Following many failed hostile takeovers of Stark International, Obadiah did the only thing he saw fit to do: he had Howard and Maria Stark killed. Following Tony's debut as Iron Man, he donned the Iron Monger armour, unable to take being outshined by a Stark once more. He currently spends his time in a holding cell within the Triskelion. 

[b]Ezekiel Stane // Iron Monger II |[/b]  Obadiah Stane's son, and the current CEO of Stane Industries, Zeke is a genius rivalling and perhaps even surpassing Tony, developing advanced tech since the age of nine. Indoctrinated by his father to hate the Stark name, Zeke harbours a deep enmity towards Tony.

[b]Anton Vanko // Crimson Dynamo |[/b]  Brother to Ivan Vanko, Anton is a Russian inventor who built the Crimson Dynamo power armour, enabling its user to manipulate electrical fields. He is currently incarcerated in a Russian prison with his brother.

[b]Ivan Vanko // Whiplash |[/b]  Brother to Anton Vanko, Ivan followed in his older brother's footsteps as an inventor, creating an armour of his own design that closely resembled that of Tony's Mk IV, complete with two electrically charged whips. He is currently behind bars in a Russian prison with Anton.

[b]Whitney Frost |[/b]  One of Tony's many exes, Whitney was what Tony would call one of his most serious relationships. Breaking up with her after discovering that she was a corporate mole for the Maggia, Whitney was caught in an accident that left her face permanently disfigured. She's been off the grid ever since.

[b]The Mandarin |[/b]  The mysterious leader of the Ten Rings terrorist cabal.

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[b][color=#982a2a]| NOTES: |[/color][/b]
[color=darkgray][indent]Following the Kryptonian Invasion, he’s become focussed on designing and implementing security measures and new technologies in order to protect himself, those close to him, his new teammates, and ultimately, the world.
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