Iron Man

Tony Stark was born a genius and one of the twin sons of industrialist inventor Howard Stark, with the other son being Gregory. Despite Howard's determination to have Tony continue Stark Industries' legacy, Tony set out to create his own company from scratch so to leave his father's shadow, a promising small business called JT Technologies he was working on with his girlfriend Josey Gardner. Unfortunately, Howard continued pressuring Tony, and he managed to sway his son away from his dreams. Tony reluctantly joined Howard's side, and as a consequence, Josey left him. 

Six months later, Josey died tragically in a plane crash. Unbeknownst to anybody, Josey's death had been orchestrated by Mandarin International, a company Howard dealt with during Stark Industries' fledgling days, but had cut ties with ever since. Josey's death had the effect the Mandarin desired on Tony, as Howard convinced the boy to channel his emotions into his work and throw himself into his inventions. Tony's first project following Josey's death involved the development of cutting edge nanotechnology. 

Following Howard's death, Tony took full reins of Stark Industries. As he grew up a cynic, alcoholic womanizer, Stark also became a world-wide celebrity and a brand name. His company was the third biggest in America, and he was the world's third-richest man. During a business trip in Guatemala, Stark and his cousin Morgan were captured along with the passengers on their flight by a guerrilla militia called the Red Devil. The soldiers murdered Morgan when Tony refused to cooperate. Tony eventually agreed to help the terrorists, and built a rough exo-skeleton based on the preliminary designs of the armor he was working on in the States. However, without the necessary precautions, Stark made is so the device purposefully backfired on his captors, which facilitating his freedom and allowed him to leada rescue mission that saved the lives of his fellow captives. In the aftermath of this incident, Tony stayed away from the public spotlight for almost two years. When he returned, Tony refashioned himself as a superhero, using his latest invention, a nanotechnology-operated suit to become the armor-clad super hero Iron Man.