The Avengers: Iron Man

Iron Man was one of the founding members of the Avengers Initiative and as one of the founders he gave the organization his Stark Tower located in Manhattan. The man behind the suit, was a billionaire playboy who enjoyed his women and his fair share of alcohol, both of which got him in plenty of trouble over his years. Tony Stark was also an industrialist as he reshaped the weapons industry due to his talents as an engineer. His father created Stark Industries as he was ahead of the game, but did not have the technology available to him at the time to do what Tony was capable of. His outlook on the world changed when he suffered a severe chest injury during a kidnapping in which his captors tried to force him to create a weapon of mass destruction for them. The injury he sustained was so bad that he had to create an arc that would keep him alive. Instead, he used the materials around him to create a powerful suit of armor, which drew upon the power from the arc he had created in his chest, to save his life and escape his captivity. After escaping he had an epiphany as he saw first hand what his weapons were doing to the world and took it upon himself to be something better. After making upgrades to his suit, he would roam the Earth and protect it as his alter ego Iron Man.

After donning the suit and preventing a group of thieves from stealing parts of his other suits he realized that the power he had created shouldn't be in the hands of anyone else. Humans in general have a great capacity for good, but fall into darkness much easier. Upon seeing that, he did whatever was necessary to keep his Iron Man suits in his hands and no one else's. Iron Man became nationally recognized as a hero during what was just a seemingly normal day between Tony Stark and his then fiance Joanna Nivena who went out to a tennis match in New York. Tony brought with him a suit to bring to a laboratory for some tests and he got to use it when the event was interrupted by terrorists with a bomb. Stark was able to capture the terrorists and save the people by jumping on the bomb therefore being recognized as a hero for his selfless act. This also gave Tony a new sense of purpose. At first to keep himself separate from the hero, he said the Iron Man was simply a paid bodyguard of his. Only the people close to Tony knew the truth that he was in fact the hero behind the armor. His closest friends, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts, were the only ones to know. Stark had harbored secret feelings for Potts which at times she even shared with him, but eventually she would go on to marry Hogan. As Iron Man, he would go to fight villains such as the Crimson Dynamo and his most reoccurring villain, the Mandarin. Over time Tony's closest friend James Rhodes would learn of his alter ego and became one of his greatest allies when he would take an armor of his own becoming War Machine.

Stark's heart condition became public knowledge and he would later go on to get an artificial heart transplant. He would also modify the armor making it more agile and weigh less. To go even further, he began to add to his arsenal of armors built for specialized situations such as stealth or even space travel. Over time the hero begins to develop a serious dependency on alcohol, which the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. brings to light as they had bought a controlling interest in Stark Industries to ensure that weapons would continue to be made for them. During this time, his business rival Justin Hammer, who was constantly belittled next to Tony, had bought off several super villains to attack him. It got so hectic that one villain was able to steal a suit of armor and used it to frame Tony in the murder of a high ranking diplomat, as Tony was at this point known as Iron Man. The blame does not fall at his feet however as he does find a way out of the trouble, which then caused Hammer to run off. After that scare, Tony's friends focused on his alcohol addiction. His then girlfriend Bethany Cable and friends help him pull through his crisis and beat the addiction.

With the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. he realized that he had something in common with them. Tony wanted to broaden his scope for battling injustice and those who threatened the security of America or even Earth itself. Stark was then instrumental in the creation of the super hero team known as The Avengers in which he was a founding member of. As an Avenger, Stark would complete many missions with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. However, he sometimes had trouble reconciling his personal affairs with his responsibilities to the team. The other founding members included Bruce Banner (Hulk), the God of Thunder (Thor), Doctor Henry Pym (Ant-Man), and Janet van Dyne (The Wasp). The founding members would eventually leave but Tony stayed involved and helped S.H.I.E.L.D. discover the frozen form of Captain America who was frozen since World War 2. He also sponsored for the membership of Clint Barton (Hawkeye) who had previously skirmished with but ultimately, Stark knew he was an honorable man with good intentions in his heart. Hawkeye would become one of the New Avengers for when Stark and the others took a leave of absence. Things were never an easy ride within the group, none more so when a Registration Act was called for. S.H.I.E.L.D had ordered that all heroes register themselves and became known world wide. Stark had started the act has he suggested it when he nearly killed someone when he piloted the Iron Man suit when he was drunk. Captain America opposed the Act and other heroes sided with him creating a Civil War between heroes. The war goes on to be very destructive and very bloody. Captain America and Iron Man get into a knock down drag out kind of fight in which Captain America surrenders as he wants to prevent further collateral damage and civilian casualties despite the fact that he had defeated Iron Man by defusing his suit. Tony goes on to be appointed the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. but shortly after Captain America is assassinated while in custody. This leaves Tony with a great amount of guilt over the cost of his victory.