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Character Name: Anthony "Tony" Stark
Series: MCU
Timeline: post Civil War.
Canon Resource Link: Tony Stark on the MCU wiki.

Character History:

"It's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals --- My old man had a philosophy: peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."

To understand Tony's character, his faults as well as his strengths, one has to start with his family. Tony would never admit it but let's be honest, much of who he is has been shaped by his father and so one has to start from his earliest years to understand his story.

Tony is the son of Howard Stark, the man who built weapons for the allies during WWII, USA'S top weapons contractor and a genius in his own right. Many looked up to Howard Stark as he helped the United States win the war. In his earliest years, Howard was also known for his eccentric lifestyle and being a womanizer but it's important to remember Tony has never seen this side of him. When asked to describe his father, he would say, cold and calculating – a man who has never once told his son he likes him, nevermind loving him. Tony has grown in the shadow of his father but without his father's love. The one who did take care of him was Howard's butler, one Edwin Jarvis, after whom Tony named his favorite system. He was the only father figure Tony had in his earlier years as Howard was absent from his life, too busy maintaining his empire as well as SHIELD. To add insult to injury, Howard would often talk very fondly of a friend of his from the war, one Captain America. Captain America was a result of Howard's own work, one of his proudest moments and he tried to use his ideals and his character to make Tony take after him. However, that only made Tony annoyed and resentful towards Howard and Cap, seeing his father's love for a man long dead and his blindness to Tony's own genius.

Because Tony is also a genius, he had suppressed his father in the way of intellect. He built his first engine at the end of seven, he won prizes from M.I.T at sixteen and at seventeen, he had already graduated M.I.T. He was the sort of shitty genius kids that managed to hack into the Pentagon on a dare. Howard disapproved of his son's ways, perhaps because Tony reminded him so much of himself in a younger age. He wished to shape Tony after other, more reliable people, namely Steve Rogers but his absence and his lack of love had created a genius child with the emotional range of a teaspoon.
At twenty one, Tony lost both his parents. For all he knew until much later on, Howard and Maria Stark died in a car accident and Tony was overtaken by grief. He had loved his mother dearly and he has never had the chance to make peace with his father and their sudden lost had paralyzed him emotionally. Howard's death and Tony's grief led to the rise into power of Howard's supposedly best friend Obadiah Stane, who took the role of CEO of Stark Industries. However, shortly after, Tony stepped up and a twenty one, became the head of his father's weapon empire. Around that time, he had lost Jarvis, who was one of the only people he truly cared for in the world. In his honor, when Tony finished creating the system to manage one of his mansions, he named it Just a Rather Very Intelligent System or JARVIS, for short. Tony's good childhood friends, Rhodey, served at the Air Force at the time and helped form and strengthen the connection between Stark industries and the US army.

Tony, in his utter lack of emotional intelligence, created himself even more enemies than Howard did. In his arrogance and narcissism he had ignored the crippled scientist Killian, promising to meet him on the roof to discuss a collaboration and leaving him there to freeze and even consider taking his own life. Tony would face all these people, these enemies, later in his life but it's important to understand he created them himself, by the sheer force of his egocentric personality.
So this looks like the history of a weapon contractor who hated his father but quoted his agenda anyway. Hobbs' theory has greatly shaped the Stark's own agenda. The world is cruel; make sure you have big enough weapons so no one would mess with you. Indeed, for a while, it would seem Tony's job was to create even smarter, more deadly weapons and ensure his father's empire stayed in one piece and continued to thrive. Young Tony was very much like young Howard, eccentric, womanizing, narcissist and self-obsessed and prone to creating more enemies than friends.

And then Afghanistan happened.

Tony went there to present the US army with the Jericho missile. The presentation included Tony's speech. He said he continues his father's way of creating weapons you only need to fire once to defeat your enemy. Supposedly, the day was a success. But later on that day, on the drive back, Tony's car was targeted by terrorist. He had to watch as all the soldiers who tried to keep him safe were murdered. He tried to escape but the terrorists fired a bomb, with the STARK INDUSTRIES symbol on it. Ironically, Tony nearly died by the hands of his own creations. With him, was an Afghan man named Yinsen, a man who once introduced himself to Tony only to be ignored. He saved Tony's life, operating on him to save him from pieces of the bomb who were destined to reach his heart and kill him. By hooking an electromagnet that was stationed around his heart to a car battery, Yinsen was able to prevent the shrapnel from entering the heart and killing him. Tony had to face the fact that the terrorists were carrying guns he created and that they named him, "the greatest mass murderer in America's History". The terrorists' demand was that Tony would build the Jericho missile for them. When he refused, he was tortured. Tony had to face the facts that his weapons made their way to terrorist hands that used them against the US. His legacy would be to provide them with a greater weapon, he lost hope. Yinsen, however, said they had a week to change that and so they began to work towards escape. They created the first Arc Reactor, a smaller piece of a creation of Tony's father that was placed into his chest to maintain his health. However, Tony decided to use the energy to power something greater than his heart and so together, they pretended to build a weapon while they were actually building a suit of armor with which they could break out and escape.

Iron Man was born.

The plan worked but during the escape, Yinsen was killed. His last words to Tony were "don't waste your life". Tony's suit managed to get him out before it broke apart, unable to sustain itself without more energy but Tony was saved. When he was back to the US after three months of captivity, the first thing Tony day was call a press conference. The trauma of the kidnapping and the realization he's been aiding the enemies of the United States made him declare that his company would no longer create any weapons for military purposes. His plan was to focus on energy sources such as the arc reactor.
While the company's stocks were going down, Tony was no longer was interested in public life. He spent all his days working on a new and improved suit of armor, the Mark II. Stane had told him the board had decided to block him out of the company since they believed his actions were the result of PTSD, much to Tony's frustration. Tony eventually completed the work on his Mark II suit. After a test flight he began working on the Mark III.

Amazingly, the first fight of Iron Man was not against some great enemy but against Stane himself. Tony found out through a reporter that the terrorist group who kidnapped him now holds the Jericho missile he refused to make them. He asked Stane if he was selling them weapons on the company's behalf. Stane refused to say anything and just said Tony was naïve not to think that was the case all along.
Tony went back to work on his Mark III suit and found out his flight stabilizers could also be used as weapons. He took the suit and flew to Afghanistan, where he fought the terrorist who used his weapons to target women and children. On his way back, he was targeted by the US air Force, which is how Rhodey found out he was Iron Man. When he reached his Mansion, his assistant and love interest Pepper Potts also found out about Iron Man. Tony convinced her to help him by claiming he is trying to help and change the world his weapons created. However, he didn't know Stane stole a prototype of the suit that the terrorist tried to build. Iron Man fought Stane in the Iron Monger suit and won, though nearly dying in the process.
At the wake of this battle, Tony was contacted by SHIELD who offered to train him to be better at fighting. They wanted him to keep it secret but Tony called a press conference and told the world he is Iron Man. That night he met Nick Fury who told him he's one out of many superheroes and that they needed to discuss the Avengers Initiative. Tony refused.

Months after, Iron Man was performing heroic acts around the world and Tony went back to a supposedly "normal" life of womanizing and partying. In truth, the arc reactor's core was acting against him. The overuse with the Iron Man suit made it poison him and the government asking him to release the weapons back to their hands. Tony's interest in Iron Man rose and his interest in his company lessened, making him appoint Pepper as CEO in his place while he took on the full role of Iron Man even though the efforts were killing him.

He took a new assistant in place of Pepper, one Natalie Rushman. He wasn't aware that he was actually hiring Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. Iron Man faced many enemies during those days including Whiplash. Thinking he only had a few months to live, Tony began living on the wild side once more and he also perfected his Mark V armor. Tony found out Whiplash was the son of a scientist who worked with his father only to be deported to the USSR and dying there in terribly poverty. The son blamed the Starks for his father's death and sought revenge. As Whiplash was able to create an arc reactor, the senators were even more insistent that Tony would give back his technology since it wasn't safe.
Tony's supposed upcoming death and his failure to create a legacy of peace led him to develop a drinking problem. He got more and more drunk and hard to control. Tony started using the suit for entertainment during his birthday party, beginning to indulge in self-destructive behavior. As Tony began being uncontrollable, Rhodey donned the Mark II suit to stop him, the two fought and at the end, Rhodey took the suit to the army as he considered them unsafe in Tony's hands.

At the wake of this disaster, Fury contacted Tony and exposed Natasha as an agent of SHIELD. Tony refused to join the Avengers but Fury told him that he just needed to find a medicine for his condition. Fury also told Tony that his father, Howard, was one of the founders of SHIELD and told him to go through his father's research to find a cure. During that research, Tony found a secret message from his father telling him he was proud of him. He also found a new element in his father's work to help his case.
In his second fight against Whiplash, Tony was helped by Rhodey who improved the suit he took and became War Machine. Fury said Stark was not fit to serve with the Avengers but Iron Man is, inviting him to become a consultant in the meantime.

So began Tony's work with the Avengers, who brought him into a team of superheroes. Their first fight was against Loki. Tony had some troubles working with a team, being as self-centered as he still was. While he liked Bruce Banner enough he couldn't get along with Steve Rogers who, by then, was saved from the ice. Eventually, the Avengers had to learn to put their differences aside to fight the alien army. Tony risked his own life by flying a nuclear weapon fired at NYC by the American army into the portal in the sky through which the alien army entered. He sacrificed his own life for the salvation of the world from nuclear disaster but was saved by the Hulk and Loki was defeated. This first adventure left a deep impression on Tony who started suffering from panic attacks and building the Iron Legion, creating multiple suits for every eventuality. The trauma from meeting Loki and his alien army and understanding what thread the world was really facing would dictate many of Tony's future decisions. Tony mentally struggled, falling into more and more anxiety attacks and becoming paranoid. It created a strain in the relationship of him and Pepper, who thought he was going to self-sabotage instead of dealing with his trauma.
Tony was unable to listen to Pepper due to his mental condition and kept working on the Iron Legion so they could protect her at all eventualities. Tony battled Mandarin at the time but when his mansion was attacked; he wasn't able to call on the Iron Legion and had to use his new prototype armor to defend himself. At the height of these events, Tony was finally able to admit that he should have used medications against his PTSD.

The events of that year came to a climax when the real Mandarin kidnapped both the president and Pepper. Tony tried to save them but had to watch Pepper's supposed death, leaving him in a state of trauma and rage when he fought Killian, otherwise known as Mandarin. Once Mandarin was defeated and it was made clear that Pepper was still alive, Tony decided to retire from his role as Iron Man and destroy the Iron Legion for the sake of his mental health and their relationship.

However, Tony returned to the role of Iron man after months of retirement to work with Avengers once more and try and retrieve Loki's staff. That adventured had led him to being mind-controlled for a brief moment by Wanda Maximoff and witness a vision of the death of the Avengers at the hands of aliens. Tony took the staff and decided to use its energy to create Ultron, an AI system to defend the world against alien invasions. With the help of Banner, Ultron was created but quickly turned into a villain the Avengers had to deal with. When confronted by Captain America and the rest of the team, Tony claimed he was trying to keep the world safe, "a suit of armor around the world" and that he never thought his AI system would turn against them.

Meeting Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, the Twins, also reminded Tony of his failings in his early days as CEO of Stark Industries. The two hated him and joined Ultron to try and destroy the Avengers because of him as their family and country were ripped apart years ago thanks to weapons created by Tony. Tony had to once more deal with his shortcomings and the consequences of his actions and face both the twins and Ultron with the help of the Avengers. At the height of these events, he decided to create one more artificial life form by using JARVIS and placing him into a body Ultron tried to build for himself. While the other Avengers ( except Banner ) objected, it was Thor who finally helped install the Mind Stone inside this new life form which named itself Vision and helped the Avengers to destroy Ultron. However, destroying Ultron also meant many lives lost in Sokovia, a city where the Twins were born which Ultron sent flying into the air. Among the many dead in this venture was also Pietro Maximoff who died saving a child and helping the Avengers.
However, after a failed operation of some of the Avengers in Lagos, the UN decided to step in and demand that the Avengers would start working under their approval. Tony, who had to deal with the trauma of seeing lives lost in Sokovia, supported the notion named the Sokovia Accords and claimed the Avengers had to be put under supervision and start earning people's trust back. Steve Rogers, however, claimed that the safest hands were their own and refused to go along with it as subjecting the Avengers to the hands of politicians was against his beliefs.

This led to a strain between the two, especially after the UN meeting in Vienna was brought to a halt by a bomb going off, killing the king of Wakanda and injuring others. The news claimed the one in charge was the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, Steve's friend. Tony tried to convince Steve to join him on the accords and send Bucky to a mental institution rather than to a prison but Steve quickly realized Bucky wasn't the one behind the UN attack. During that time, it was revealed that Pepper broke up with Tony after he became Iron Man again and he was hoping the Accords might convince her to come back to his side.
Steve going rogue to save Bucky and get to the bottom of the UN attack led to what's been known as the Avengers Civil War. Tony claimed Steve's judgement is askew and that he has to turn himself in for the sake of their team and their friendships. He all but begged Steve to listen but Steve refused, leading to the Avengers fighting one another. Eventually, Steve and Bucky made their way out of the battle and to Siberia, to find the other comatose Winter Soldiers and stop Baron Zemo from using them for his own purposes.

Tony decided to follow Steve after finding out he was right about Zemo. He told Sam Wilson he wanted to go meet Steve as a friend and help him destroy Zemo. With Sam telling him where Steve was heading, Tony followed and for a moment, it seemed that the crisis between the two men would be patched up.
However, upon reaching the storage space in Siberia, it was found out Zemo killed the sleeping Winter Soldiers and his whole purpose was bringing Steve, Tony and Bucky to the same room to show Tony a film from 1991, revealing that Howard and Maria were never killed in a car accident, but were murdered by Bucky who, back then, was brain-washed and controlled by HYDRA. Finding out that Steve knew all along, Tony turned against both him and Bucky and tried to kill Bucky to avenge his parents. He and Steve and Bucky fought in a brutal battle. Steve refused to stand down and let Tony kill Bucky and ended up smashing the arc reactor, rending the iron man suit useless. Tony demanded Steve to give up his shield, the one his dad made, as he wasn't worthy of it and steve has done so, walking away from the battle with Bucky.
However, days later, Tony returned to the Avengers Tower and returned to work and got a letter of apology from Steve, who said he's leaving the team to him and that if he needed him, he should call him. When the news came that the Avengers who helped Rogers broke out from the Raft Prison with his help, Tony put the call on hold, letting them escape, which was a hint that he didn't accept Rogers' apology, but let him get away still.

Abilities/Special Powers:

• Genius – Tony's first and foremost ability is his intellect. He graduated from MIT at 17 and is a genius in math, engineering and robotics. He built the first Iron Man suit out of scraps and while in terrible pain in a cave and had since mastered it. He can build computers, weapons, robots and apparently AI systems too.

• The suit – Tony's main weapon is, of course, the Iron Man suit that can fly, shoot repulsor beams and lasers and has mini guns as well as even tank missiles.

• Boxing – Tony is physically fit and boxes on a regular basis. He's also able to shoot a gun which means he can defend himself to a certain level even without the Iron Man suit.

• Businessman – Tony is a brilliant businessman, able to make and cut deals and turn other people to side and command and demand attention. He was the youngest CEO of Stark industries at the age of 21.

• Flying – he's a decent enough pilot, able to maneuver and control the Iron Man suit during its flights in battle even without Jarvis acting as automatic pilot.

• Leader- while steve is the leader of the Avengers, Tony was able to keep some of the Avengers on his side and lead them in the battle against Minimum of three paragraphs, introspective piece, written in prose. We’re judging your grasp on the character and how you log with them;. We would prefer if this was not a simple re-telling of canon events, this way we can see how you handle the character's actions.Cap's team.

Third-Person Sample:

So, Wonderland is an actual Thing.

Not just in a 'name of a strip club in Amsterdam' thing but as an actual Thing.

And Tony just knew he wasn't drunk or high since (1) there wasn't any party last night and (2) he didn't have many friends these days to speak of anyway.

So Wonderland was a Thing which, all in all, wasn't the weirdest thing that ever happened to Tony except that it was. He was looking around the mansion, opening people's doors and calling "what? No tea party? It's definitely my unbirthday today", before heading outside to look at the horizon line.
"You have got to be shitting me," he said to one in particular before walking back inside, shaking his head as he went. He entered one of the tea room, looking at the selection of cakes that had appeared on a plate before him before looking at the ceiling and calling –

"OK so, what? I eat one of these and change sizes? Because that's really beginning to be a giant trip that I'm sure would result in a mega headache tomorrow morning that none of us is going to enjoy. No? Sure?"
When no response came, he lifted his right arm, the watch that rested on it activating and turning into part of his infamous suit and shooting, yes shooting the plate and the table both.
"And a very merry unbirthday to you, too," he muttered before collapsing into a chair in the middle of all the mess.

He is going to have to figure this out ASAP, he was not going to sit with any talking animal for tea if his life dependent on it.

First-Person Sample:

[ the first thing that's becoming evident is noise. loud AC/DC music is playing somewhere before Tony steps into view with a plate of cakes. He takes a bite and fiddles with something to the screen's left before the music shuts off. ]

Okay this is ancient technology. Let me just throw it out there that - this place is in need of a serious upgrade. What is all of this? This isn't even a proper encryption which means you can all see it – hi -

[ the most dry of waves ]

But if I wanted only part of you to see it, say to plan a birthday party or a surprise unbirthday party for
one of you, I wouldn't be able to. Which, seriously? How does this promote gossip in any way? Shame on you, queen of hearts or- wait, who build this thing? The march hare?

[ he gives the camera a bit of a wry smile. ]

By the way, these are just cakes? I haven't changed sizes or colors or anything since eating them. It's been 48 hours and I am majorly disappointed. Seriously, where do I file my unsatisfied customer review? Is there like a local yelp or – ? no? are you sure?