During a business trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho missile" cluster bomb, Tony Stark's convoy is attacked (with weapons built by his own company) and he is kidnapped by the terrorist group Ten Rings, who order him to build a Jericho missile for them. Instead, he and fellow captive Dr. Yinsen secretly build a crude but strong power armor fueled by a miniature "arc reactor", a smaller version of a power source previously invented by Stark. The arc reactor supplies energy to an electromagnet which prevents embedded shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart, which would kill him. During their time together, Yinsen makes Stark reconsider his life, from his playboy attitude to his hand in forging instruments of death. Dr. Yinsen is killed in the ensuing escape attempt when he stalls the guards to buy Stark enough time to power up the suit. Using the built-in weapons in his suit, Stark defeats several terrorists, destroys their weapons stockpile, and escapes, though his suit is destroyed as he crashlands in the desert. Upon being picked up by the Air Force and returning to the United States, Stark declares that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. His business partner, Obadiah Stane, tells him that this move is blocked by the board members shortly after.
Stark retreats from public view, focusing on the design of his power suit, refining its size and flight capability. He also builds a more powerful and reliable mini-arc reactor to power both his life support and the suit. During his first public appearance since his announcement, he is shown pictures of Stark Industries weapons in the hands of terrorist groups, including the Jericho missiles he refused to build for them. He also discovers that Stane has been supplying weapons to both the U.S. troops and the terrorists, as well as being the one to shut Stark out of the board while he recovers. Faced with the realization of what his company has done, Stark dons the power suit and flies to Afghanistan, rescuing Yinsen's village from the Ten Rings. In destroying their weapon stockpiles, he accidentally draws the attention of the United States Air Force and his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, who handles USAF weapons development. A pair of F-22 are sent after Stark--one is damaged during the chase, but Stark manages to save the pilot. Learning of Stark's identity, Rhodes covers up the incident as a training accident.
Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Stark sends his assistant Pepper Potts to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system she discovers that it was Stane who hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Stane has recovered the power suit prototype and has reverse engineered his own version. Stane, upon realizing Pepper's discovery, steals Stark's arc reactor from his chest to power his new suit, leaving Stark for dead. Using his first reactor, which was not designed to power his latest armor, Stark does battle with Stane atop Stark Industries and the surrounding streets, defeating him when the full-sized arc reactor that powers the lab is deliberately overloaded, under Stark's instruction, by Potts. Stark's reactor reactivates after having almost failed completely. Afterwards, Stark's alter ego is dubbed "Iron Man" by the press. Stark holds a press conference where his government contacts expect him to state that Iron Man is Stark's own bodyguard. However, after stumbling into a loaded question by one of the press reps, he ultimately makes his identity as Iron Man public instead.
Hero:
Iron Man
Supporting Cast:
Pepper Potts
Happy Hogan
Christine Everhart
War Machine
Maya Hansen
Harley Keener
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Villains:
Iron Monger
Raza
Whiplash
Justin Hammer
The Mandarin
Aldrich Killian
Eric Savin
Jack Taggert
Ellen Brandt
Villainous Groups:
The Ten Rings
Hammer Drones
A.I.M.
