Iron Man

Iron Man is a superhero found in the Marvel Universe. His real name is Anthony "Tony" Stark.

Tony Stark is an industrialist, inventor, and scientist. His mind ranks with other genius superheroes such as Hank "Yellowjacket" Pym and Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards. When Tony was younger, he supplied foreign nations with arms. However, his weapons fell into the wrong hands. Amidst a battle, he was wounded. His body was found by a local doctor known as Ho Yinsen. Yinsen repaired him the best he could. However shrapnel drew ever nearer to his heart and threatened his life, so Ho constructed a vest which would use an electromagnet to halt the shrapnel's progression. Tony would be confined to it for the rest of his life.

Ho Yinsen and Tony worked together and, by combining their genius, found a way to make the vest more portable. An Iron Man armor was constructed. It was gray, dull, and clunky, but had massive offensive capabilities. However, before the suit was completed Ho Yinsen found himself between Stark and the rebels who had incapacitated him. Yinsen bravely gave his life so Iron Man could live.

Stark was forever grateful and decided, in repentance of his thoughtless actions and in memory of Yinsen's sacrifice, he would be vigilant in continuing his fight against tyranny and evil.

Tony Stark is not, however, without his own flaws. He did spend some time as an alcoholic. But with the help of his friends, like Captain America, Thor and Giant Man, he got through it. Because of this, he was indebted to them for the rest of his life.

Similar to Batman, Iron Man has no innate superpowers (though his engineering genius might count as one). All of his powers are based on his armor, which is bulletproof, endows him with superhuman strength and the ability to fly, and bristles with weaponry. He has designed several variant suits for different tasks--for example, an enormous suit he calls "Hulkbuster" is used to corral the Hulk during his rampages. Tony carefully guards the technology he uses in his suit to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.gfballsack