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I R O N M A N
I R O N M A N
"I have two suits: a sixty dollar three-piece from the Thrift Closet, and, well..."
C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T
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C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y
Iron Man | Anthony "Tony" Stark
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American | Human | Unemployed
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New York City | New York | USA_________________________________________________________C H A R A C T E R N O T E S
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S-M I S C E L L A N E O U S
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►Equipment
Arc Reactor: Originally designed by Howard Stark to power nuke-bearing submarines, Tony has adapted the arc reactor to his own uses. Namely, at the moment, keeping himself alive. He hopes future iterations of the reactor might be made available the world over. A single large-scale arc reactor could theoretically power an entire city for centuries without producing radioactive waste or filling the atmosphere with poison.
Mark V Iron Man suit: The fifth iteration of the Iron Man armor and the last Tony developed before losing access to his workshop. It’s shell is built from a durable gold-titanium alloy held up by a carbon fiber muscular lace and a series of hydraulic bone-analogs. The suit’s highly advanced systems allow for rapid, AI-assisted movement and superhuman strength and durability. It’s armaments consist of palm-based repulsors, a chest-mounted unibeam, guided micro-missiles, and a variety of less lethal sonic and bludgeoning ordnance. It’s powered by the miniaturized arc reactor lodged in Tony Stark’s chest- without Stark inside the suit is unable to operate. Repairs and alterations require complex technology Tony no longer has access to.
JARVIS: JARVIS is an artificial machine intelligence developed by Tony Stark to assist in the day-to-day operation of his company. It has been fully integrated into most major systems in Stark Industries and assists accountants, software engineers and developers in their various duties. Its computation power is extraordinary, able to run hundreds of different instances of itself working on numerous tasks at a time. JARVIS is a crucial component of the Iron Man suit, which essentially could not function without AMI assistance. Tony continues to tinker with JARVIS's matrices with the hope of unlocking true artificial intelligence.
►Supporting Cast
Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes: A career airman and longtime friend of Tony Stark. They initially met at MIT, their shared interest in military technology kicking off a friendship that would evolve far beyond that. Rhodes spent a decade as a fighter pilot before moving on to his current career in command and control operations; he’s aided Stark as Iron Man on a number of occasions, though his requests for his own suit were never realized. Now that Stark has lost his company Rhodey does his best to take care of his friend, offering him a place to sleep while Tony works out how to get his old life back.
Virginia "Pepper" Potts: Pepper is a senior finance manager at Stark Industries, close friend and ex-girlfriend of Tony Stark. Originally a beleaguered accountant at Roxxon, Pepper was recruited by Tony personally, who convinced her that her talents were being wasted at a cesspool like Roxxon. The two dated for some time prior to Stark's kidnapping. Like everyone else, she'd assumed Tony was dead and moved on with her life. The two have remained close friends for several years.
Harold Joseph "Happy" Hogan: While Tony was still the CEO at Stark Industries, Happy was his right hand. He was his driver, bodyguard personal assistant, corporate spy- whatever Tony needed, Hogan was happy to do. He was with Stark's convoy in Sokovia when it was attacked. Despite barely surviving the encounter, he blamed himself for losing Stark. He would've resigned and left if not for the intervention of Pepper. The two grew close in their shared grief; so close that the two were engaged to be married when Tony finally resurfaced. Stark held no ill will toward either of them and was even the best man at their wedding. Happy is currently the head of security at Stark Industries.
►Antagonists
Obadiah Stane: Obadiah Stane was already a veteran business mogul by the time he'd co-founded Stark Industries with Howard Stark. Cutting his teeth as a weapons manufacturer during the Cold War, Stane sees himself as one of last defenders of the old American order- a strong, guiding hand for an increasingly anarchistic world. He's always found Tony's attitude grating, but it wasn't until Stark turned into a hippie that he chose to expel the boy from the company. Stane hopes he can reverse engineer Stark's 'Iron Man' power armor to sell to the highest bidder.
Justin Hammer: Justin Hammer is a lifelong rival of Tony Stark, though Stark's never known it. They shared a class at MIT, Hammer started his own defense contracting company at the same time Tony took over Stark Industries, and Justin began drawing up plans for powered infantry armor when the Iron Man made his first public appearance. Unlike Tony, Hammer has found little success in his life: he cheated his way through university, his company went bankrupt and was absorbed into Stark Industries, and none of many attempts at power armor function up to standard. Despite his ineptitude he's managed to hold onto a position as Stark Industries' head of experimental technologies by groveling at Stane's feet.
Anton Vanko: Anton Vanko is a Sokovian political radical and the son of Igor Vanko, leader of the Sokovská Nacionalistická Fronta that Tony Stark murdered in his escape. Anton scavenged what remained of the Mark I Iron Man suit and reverse-engineered an arc reactor of his own with the intent of tracking Stark down and avenging his father. He has taken on the moniker of Whiplash.
Dmitri Bukharin: Dmitri is the fifth man to bear the mantle of Crimson Dynamo, and he will likely be the last. For decades the Crimson Dynamo was the premier superhero of the Soviet Union- a shining beacon of their technological advancement and military might. Dmitri was one of a dozen candidates chosen to pilot the last version of the mechanized, twelve-foot tall walking tank. The pilot had to be skilled in the mech’s operation, of course, but they must also exemplify all the best traits of the ideal Soviet man: handsome, well-spoken, and a fervent advocate for Marxism-Leninism. Bukharin was to be that man. The country he had so fiercely dedicated himself to would fall apart only five years after his appointment. A distraught Dmitri fled from Russia with the Crimson Dynamo and would spend the next several decades building his reputation as a feared mercenary, doing battle with heroes like Iron Man on many an occasion.
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K E Y E V E N T S-K E Y E V E N T S
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Howard Stark and Obadiah Stane found Stark Industries. (1976)
A son is born to Howard and Maria Stark. They name him Tony. (1988)
Dmitri Bukharin defects following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (1991)
The Starks are killed in a car accident under dubious circumstances. Tony replaces his father as CEO of Stark Industries. (2010)
Justin Hammer’s company is absorbed into Stark Industries. Hammer is hired on as a senior engineer by Stark. (2012)
Sokovian rebels capture Tony during a press tour in their country. (2014)
Stark escapes his captors and returns to the States. (2015)
Iron Man makes his debut. (2016)
Tony Stark’s alter ego is made public and he’s forcibly removed from his company, made penniless. (2023)
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C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P TTony Stark used to have it all. Born the son of billionaire Howard Stark and his wife Maria, he never wanted for anything physically. He was provided the best education money could buy and all the toys he could ever want. All he lacked for was his parents' attention. Driven to prove his worth to a neglectful father, Tony had a doctorate before he was old enough to drink. His parents died a week after the graduation ceremony they did not attend. Tony would go on to succeed Howard as CEO of Stark Industries.
His genius intellect brought the company to new heights. Stark developed weapons that made the Manhattan project look like a baking soda volcano by comparison. Young, arrogant and ignorant of the consequences, Tony sold his designs to governments the world over to fund his hedonistic lifestyle. His perspective fundamentally changed after his kidnapping during a visit to Sokovia. Rebels from the Sokovská Nacionalistická Fronta (SNF) attacked Stark's convoy, killed most of his escort and ferried him away to an isolated compound in the mountains. Stark nearly died from his wounds if not for the creative intervention of a local doctor: an electromagnet was placed in Tony's chest to prevent micro-shrapnel from entering his heart. Drawing on designs his father originally drew up, Tony developed a prototype arc reactor to keep himself alive in captivity. The SNF demanded he build weapons for them.
Instead, Tony spent his year in captivity discreetly building his first Iron Man suit. Donning the armor, he tore through the SNF and escaped. He would return to the States a changed man, having seen the results of his ‘genius’ firsthand. He shifted Stark Industries’ focus to humanitarian causes. In particular, he hoped to create a full-sized version of his arc reactor to revolutionize clean energy. Tony invested much of his personal wealth into the program's development and shifted his attention to another project: the Iron Man suit.
For the next seven years Tony Stark donned improved versions of the armor to fight the battles no one else could. Tony saw saving lives as a chance to redeem himself for the part he played in the global war machine. He threw himself into his alternate identity fully, leaving the running of his company up to his longtime mentor and business partner, Obadiah Stane.
Obadiah found Tony's change of heart vexing. The company's market share suffered horrendously with its shift away from weapons development. Mass layoff after mass layoff nearly broke Stark Industries. Despite Stane's best efforts he couldn't convince Stark to return to sanity. His frustration at its boiling point, Obadiah chose to act: he leaked Tony’s identity as Iron Man to the public, alongside an avalanche of suppressed scandals from Tony's past. Stane drowned Stark in lawsuits and bad press until he had nothing left.
Betrayed by his oldest friend and penniless, Tony shipped what equipment he could- and his latest version of the suit- to a storage locker under an alias. Now he find himself planning his revenge from James Rhodes' couch.________________________________________________________________________________________P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )This is sort of a pseudo year one for Tony. He has history as a superhero to ground him in the wider world and allow me to easily backfill relationships with other characters, but for the purposes of resources and reputation he’s at rock bottom.
I want to explore a couple different storylines with Stark this go around: his lingering guilt- both personal and generational- from the death and destruction the Stark name wrought in the pursuit of riches and power; Tony’s fight against Stane and the broader Military Industrial Complex to take his company back; and finally Tony coping with the loss of his former place of privilege.
I’m excited to explore Stark’s thematically rich story and rogues gallery. There’ll be a lot of opportunities to examine corporate cutthroat culture, how celebrity behavior warps under public scrutiny, and the heavy responsibility that comes with power.________________________________________________________________________________________S A M P L E P O S T
S A M P L E P O S T
MARVEL REIMAGINED: Iron ManISSUE #1: Fragile HeartNew York City ♦ New York"Run it again, JARVIS." Tony Stark splayed across the couch like a lion on its rock. He was the king of a concrete jungle: a billionaire, a genius engineer, and a world-class superhero. Untouchable. Unassailable. He tore a chunk from his latest successful hunt- a greasy cheeseburger from the joint down the street. He'd lost count of how many Kwikkee Meal Deals he'd eaten ever since moving into Rhodey's apartment.
Tony was unbelievably broke.
A series of simulations flashed across the television, the laptop plugged into whirring angrily as it tried to process the experiment's thousands of unique variables. A full-sized arc reactor popped open on the screen to reveal its internals: hundreds of individual plates placed so close together the human eye couldn't discern the gap between them. The plates rotated around the core at murderously high speeds, driven only by the Casimir effect. The vacuum in the chamber allowed the reactor to maintain its current energy production indefinitely...theoretically.
One of the plates in the simulator began to flash red. "Error in plate one hundred and four," JARVIS warned in a cheery English accent. "Sheering along the joint will cause it to break off after thirty-seven years, six months and twelve days of use." As JARVIS spoke all the surrounding plates began to flash as well. "Catastrophic failure follows shortly after."
Tony ran a hand through his hair in irritation. It was long, wild, and about as greasy as the burger. His beard wasn't much better. He stood from the couch to get a better view and began to pace. Increasing the size of the arc reactor had only made the design's flaws more apparent. No modern metal alloy could hold together under that much pressure for long. Even the gold-titanium his suit used proved insufficient. A carbon fiber mesh would be tougher, of course, but making a mesh that large was difficult and expensive. And making a hundred and twenty-eight meshes? Not viable.
"How much energy do we lose if we add thrust in the opposite direction to maintain a sustainable speed?" Tony asked, stopping to spin the television remote on the coffee table.
"Those calculations may take some time, sir."
"Do it." Tony nodded, despite talking to a computer program that couldn’t see it. "And give me my messages while you’re at it. Filter for job offers and anything from the lawyers."
This time Tony’s cellphone buzzed in response as JARVIS left the laptop to its diagnosis and scrolled through Stark’s email. "You have thirty seven job related messages."
Stark’s expression lit up. "Any takers?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. All thirty seven are rejection letters."
His expression fell like a pile of bricks. Well, at least they’d been polite enough to actually respond, Stark mused. In his previous batch of applications half the agencies saw his last name on the resume and blocked his number. Obadiah Stane- Tony's former friend, mentor, and current enemy for life- had done his damnedest to ensure Stark would never work in any relevant industry again. Maybe Kwikkee needed a new burger flipper.
Tony dropped back into his couch and pulled the phone out himself to check his bank account. There was a distinct lack of zeroes behind the prime numbers. Not unexpected, but still concerning. His reserves were running dangerously low. If he couldn’t find work soon…
He flipped to James Rhodes’ main account. Not something he was supposed to have access to, technically, but curiosity and a guilty conscience didn’t mix well. Rhodey was Tony’s oldest friend and one of the best men he’d ever known- he was also prone to taking on more than he could handle. It wouldn’t be long before Stark’s problems caught up with Rhodey.
Tony paused. He closed his eyes and took a series of deep breaths. He couldn’t drag Rhodey down with him. Wasn’t happening.
“JARVIS, do I have anything from that Pentagon rep?”
There was a moment’s pause as the machine ran through Tony’s emails once again. “Yes sir. I moved all of Major Talbot’s messages to spam as you requested. You have sixteen unopened emails from his address.”
“Alright, let’s set up a meeting. I’m grabbing a scotch.”
Added a sample! Should be good to go.
