Howard Stark

Howard Stark is the fictional character in the "Iron Man" universe. He is Anthony "Tony" Stark's father, and is the founder of Stark Industries.

Fictional character biography

Howard Stark, Jr. was a brilliant inventor. He and his own father (Howard Stark Senior) worked on various projects, and later founded Stark Industries. During World War II and after, he worked on various government projects. These included the Manhattan Project and housing the 'Arsenal' robots in a hidden subbasement in his mansion. The robots were only supposed to be activated if the US was overrun during a presumed Cold War conflict, but both known models have been accidentally awakened and stopped by the Avengers.

Howard married a woman named Maria Collins Carbonell and together they had a son, Tony. He constantly pushed Tony to be the best, telling him that someone must have 'iron in their backbone' to be successful. He had a severe case of alcoholism, something his son would later face on his own.

He was a powerful businessman. Membership to the exclusive Hellfire Club was offered, but it seems Howard was uninterested in anything other than the lavish parties the club threw. It is believed Howard was also a member of the V-Battalion. He was targeted by the Red Skull (Johann Schmidt), and is rumored to have met the Watcher, Uatu.

On the Ides of March, Howard and Maria were killed in a car accident. It has been hinted that the incident was not random and possibly arranged by the V-Battalion. Tony ran his father's company, started a charity in his mother's name, and later became Iron Man.

Alternate Versions

House of M

In the House of M, Howard was alive; Maria's status is unknown. Howard turned over control of the company to Tony when he turned sixteen. Although officially listed as retired, he worked with Tony to build an armor capable of taking on the Sentinels and powerful mutants during the conflict.

They began to work on Sentinels with Forge and Henry McCoy after being awarded them an exclusive contract. They planned to incorporate a "Vision Project", although there were problems with the control scheme. The two also competed on the wildly popular 'Sapien Deathmatch' television show.

When Tony investigated a resistance group as Iron Man, Sentinels attacked. One, remotely controlled by Howard, scolded him for getting involved. Howard was secretly plotting against Magneto with Hank Pym.

"Genome bomb" locations were discovered by Tony as Iron Man and the House was notified. However, Howard had programmed the Visions and Sentinels to serve him. He said this had all been part of a plan to make the mutants respect Tony for saving them. Tony would then use that as a chance to directly strike against Magneto. Tony refused to go along. Magneto suddenly appeared and personally dealt with Howard, killing him.

Other media

Television

* Howard Walter Stark appeared in thr 1994 "Iron Man" TV series voiced by Neil Ross in Season One and Peter Renaday in Season Two. He had some disagreements with Tony on his lifestyle. When Howard was attacked in an accident caused by Justin Hammer, Tony Stark visited his father on his deathbed. In "Not Far from the Tree," it was revealed that Howard Stark is alive and his death was a cover-up by S.H.I.E.L.D. to rescue one of their own from A.I.M. Walter was rescued by Iron Man. As it turned out, the Howard Stark that was rescued was a clone created by A.I.M. to infiltrate Stark Industries' mainframe and even helped Crimson Dynamo capture Tony Stark. This was thwarted in the end as the Howard Stark clone escaped as Iron Man says goodbye to his "father."

* Howard Stark has been seen in the recent trailer for "". When he refused to accept the plans of Obidiah Stane's Earth Mover project, his plane blew up. Tony survived, but Maria & Howard didn't.

Film

* In "The Invincible Iron Man" film, Howard Stark (voiced by John McCook) is alive and well, although his wife, Maria is dead and his relationship with Tony is strained. After Tony and James "Rhodey" Rhodes return to America, they're wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D. for illegally selling weapons. Howard sent Rhodes weapons to provide enhanced security against Tony's wishes, and, when the weapons were stolen, he has apparently used Tony as a scapegoat to maintain his STARK Industries CEO position. Later, during a confrontation between Howard and Tony on arms dealing during which the two men have long been at odds over their opinion regarding weapons, the issue only worsened since the death of Tony's mother (It's later revealed that Tony's love interest, Le Mei was the one that framed Tony). After Tony is cleared of all charges by the Chinese government and S.H.I.E.L.D., he subsequently buying up all of Stark Enterprises' available shares, bringing the company under his complete control. However, he has only two actions to take; promoting Rhodes to the position of Chief Engineer for Advanced Technologies, and handing control of the company over to his father. Saying that he's always regarded the company as a father/son enterprise, Howard and Tony shake hands, Howard subsequently firing the board of directors to free him and Tony from the bureaucracy that nearly tore them apart.

* Howard Stark is shown during a brief slideshow presentation where an awards night is being held near the beginning of the Iron Man film. Like in the comics, Howard is mentioned to have helped with the Manhattan Project (and also the atomic bomb). When the film rights to Iron Man belonged to New Line Cinema, early scripts had Iron Man pitted against Howard, who would become War Machine.