Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark is Iron Man. Stark is a billionaire playboy, great engineer and industrialist. He is kidnapped and his captors try to force him to make a weapon of mass destruction. During the kidnap he is injury badly in the chest, caused by a booby trap. The shrapnel starts to move towards his heart. With the help of a fellow prisoner he constructs a metal breastplate that is also magnetic to prevent the shrapnel moving. Together they then design and build a suit of powered armour that enables Stark to escape. Unfortunately his fellow prisoner that helped him does not make it out, but sacrifices himself for Stark.
Back home it is discovered that the shrapnel cannot be removed as it would kill him, so Tony has to wear the breastplate at all times or he will die. As it is magnetic it also needs “recharging” at least once a day, again to prevent him from dying. As with most super heroes Iron Man needs a cover story, this one is quiet inventive! The cover story goes that Iron Man is Tony’s bodyguard and the company mascot. This means that not only can Iron Man fight the corporate threats to the Stark business, but the general run of the mill villains that can be expected.
His powers and abilities are ranging. As with most superheroes he does have super human strength, added to this he has durability. The weapons on the suit are many and varied (and often change) but the mainstay is the repulsing rays that are fired from the palms of his gauntlets. Other weapons that have been included on the suit from time to time have been pulse bolts, uni beam projector, and a defensive shield that can be extended by 360 degrees. It has also been known for Iron Man to be able to use a freeze beam to stop enemies and holograms to create decoys.
Stark also developed other suits for specialised causes, like deep sea diving, stealth and Space travel. He is also quite able to use his suits in unconventional ways to defeat enemies by using his expertise in many areas that he studied at MIT. Iron Man has also been given what is known as the Space Infinity Gem to guard (due to his membership in the Illuminati), this means that the holder of the gem can exist in any or all locations at any time, is able to move any object anywhere in the universe and arrange or warp space and time. Iron Man has never used the Gem.
He has had many enemies, and as with most superheroes several always appear to be a thorn in his side. His greatest enemy or nemesis if you like is called Mandarin.
We have many of the suits in our stock, ranging from the Red he usually wore through to the “war suit” in a silver/grey colour. So you should have plenty of choices for being Iron Man.
