Iron Man (Tony Stark) is a fictional character that appears in Marvel comics. You probably have seen this superhero in one of the Iron Man or Avengers movies and know Iron Man is an American billionaire playboy, gifted engineer and a business magnate. We are not focusing on the basics here.
These are the 10 Facts You Didn’t Know About the Iron Man
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Iron Man is an alcoholic
One of the most quintessential Iron Man story lines featured in the 1979 story arc ‘Demon in a Bottle’ that saw the pressures of fighting crime drive Tony Stark into alcoholism.
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Who could hate Iron Man?
A number of Stan Lee’s early superheroes were normal people with everyday problems. But, when Lee first introduced Iron Man, he expected to win over traditionally liberal comic book lovers with a character representing everything they hate.
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Made for the role
It’s hard to imagine a Iron Man movie without Robert Downey Jr. But he almost didn’t get the role because of his drug addiction. However, the director saw Robert’s personal struggles as the perfect ingredient for him to become the Iron Man. The director stated “character seem to line up with Robert in all the good and bad ways.”
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Iron Man armor
Tony Stark is constantly trying to upgrade his suit and build new, better version of it. There are a whopping 45 version of the Iron Man suit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man also has armors designed to beat The Hulk (seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Thor.
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Robert Downey Jr’s money
Robert became the highest paid actor in the world for the third consecutive year (2013-15), thanks to his role as Iron Man. As the Forbes’ list says, his annual earnings of over $80 million are highest ever recorded for an actor.
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Floating Timeline
When Iron Man initially appeared in 1963 Marvel comics, it was during the peak of the Cold War. His origin story stated that Tony Stark built the Iron Man suit with scientist Yo Hinsen whilst jailed during the Vietnam War, justifying Iron Man’s position as an anti-communist hero. Over the years this story has been updated, the most recent showing he built the suit in Afghanistan.
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Howard Hughes and Elon Musk
Stan Lee, based Tony Stark, the ‘billionaire, genius, philanthropist, playboy’ on business tycoon Howard Hughes. During Lee’s lifetime, Hughes was one of most financially successful men in the world, who believed in developing new-age technology and weapons. However, according to the director Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. based the character on rocket scientist Elon Musk.
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Captain America taught Iron Man how to fight
Tony Stark is just a normal man without his iron suit. In the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ storyline, Stark is taught hand to hand combat by Captain America. To be perfect for the role, Robert had to weight train for 9 months. He gained 10kg of muscle by consuming 5000 calories a day.
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Iron Man is quite busy
Iron Man was one of the founding members of Avengers along with Ant-Man, Thor, the Wasp and the Hulk – collection of superheroes wanting to defeat Thor’s brother Loki. In 2003, Tony Stark was made the Secretary of Defense by the US president. But he was suspended after Scarlet Witch used her powers to make Tony insult UN members.
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Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist
Forbes estimates that Tony Stark is the fourth richest fictional character with a net worth of $12.4 billion. Over $8 billion dollars have been invested in making his own Iron Man suits.
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