[quote=@udonoodles]
would howard stark and, by extension, stark industries, have had any presence worth noting in this timeline? i'm trying to conceptualise a spin on vision, and i was thinking of tying him back to them. 
[/quote]

I made sure to only canonize enough events and figures from the comics in order to flesh out the world and set up future events. I chose not to include more than was necessary so that prospective players have a lot of freedom in their concepts. So, as long as yours fits within the mold of the timeline presented and the general setting, you should be fine to spin as you desire. All concepts that stay within timeline and lore boundaries will be equally considered.

You're free to tie the Starks into historical events. When players are accepted, their character concepts become canon and major events from their background will be included in the timeline (under a different color to denote GM canon versus player canon, as the latter is subject to change with drops). Stark Industries could easily be designing a Vision as part of the current superhuman arms race, if that's what you were wanting.