Iron Man

Tony Stark Iron Man
Variant cover of Tony Stark: Iron Man #2 (July 2018) Art by Mark Brooks
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Larry Lieber Don Heck Jack Kirby
In-story information
Full name	Anthony Edward Stark
Place of origin	Long Island, New York
Team affiliations	Avengers Department of Defense New Avengers Guardians of the Galaxy Illuminati Mighty Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. Stark Industries
Partnerships	Happy Hogan Ironheart Pepper Potts War Machine
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Proficient scientist and engineer Utilizes powered armor suit

Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1962, and received his own title with Iron Man #1 in 1968. Shortly after his creation, Iron Man became a founding member of the superhero team, the Avengers, with Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and the Hulk. Iron Man stories, individually and with the Avengers, have been published consistently since the character's creation.

Iron Man is the superhero persona of Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, a businessman and engineer who runs the weapons manufacturing company Stark Industries. When Stark was captured in a war zone and sustained a serious heart wound, he built his Iron Man armor and escaped his captors. Iron Man's suits of armor grant him superhuman strength, flight, energy projection, and other abilities. The character was created in response to the Vietnam War as Lee's attempt to create a likeable pro-war character. Since his creation, Iron Man has been used to explore political themes, with early Iron Man stories being set in the Cold War. The character's role as a weapons manufacturer proved controversial, and Marvel moved away from geopolitics by the 1970s. Instead, the stories began exploring themes such as civil unrest, technological advancement, corporate espionage, alcoholism, and governmental authority.

Major Iron Man stories include "Demon in a Bottle" (1979), "Armor Wars" (1987–1988), "Extremis" (2005), and "Iron Man 2020" (2020). He is also a leading character in the company-wide stories Civil War (2006–2007), Dark Reign (2008–2009), and Civil War II (2016). Additional superhero characters have emerged from Iron Man's supporting cast, including James Rhodes as War Machine and Riri Williams as Ironheart, as well as reformed villains, Natasha Romanova as Black Widow and Clint Barton as Hawkeye. Iron Man's list of enemies includes his archenemy the Mandarin, many supervillains of communist origin, and many of Stark's business rivals.

Robert Downey Jr. portrayed Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008), the first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and continued to portray the character until his final appearance in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Downey's portrayal popularized the character, elevating Iron Man into one of Marvel's most recognizable superheroes.