Anthony Stark was a millionare playboy who founded Stark Industries,
the largest weapons manufacturer in the United States. While field
testing one of his latest weapons in Vietnam, Tony and his group were
attacked by enemy forces. Tony was struck in the chest by a piece of
shrapnel from an exploding bomb, and he was taken captive. He was forced to
develop a super weapon for his captors, but he secretly used their
laboratory to develop a mangetic chest plate that would keep the shrapnel in
his chest from piercing his heart and killing him. He ended up designing
an entire iron suit that he used to escape his captors, and he returned to
the States. He was forced to continue to wear the iron chest plate, for if
he removed it the shrapnel would kill him. He turned his curse into a
productive blessing, and became Iron Man, a superhero devoted to protecting
the innocent. He constantly upgraded his armor, utilizing repulsor rays,
augmenting his strength to great levels and giving him the ability to fly.
He eventually stopped selling weapons after realizing that they could be
put to evil use, and he later had surgery to remove the shrapnel from his
chest. He briefly turned the mantle of Iron Man
over to his friend James Rhodes, but he had since returned and Rhodes
became War Machine. The Iron Man of today is
the most powerful ever. He sports the most advanced weaponry, and his suit
is able to collapse and fit in his briefcase. Although no longer required
to wear the armor full-time, Stark still feels a great responsibility to
correct all the wrongs his company's weapons have caused.
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