Paltrow asked Marvel to send her any comics that they would consider relevant to her understanding of the character, who she considered to be very smart, levelheaded, and grounded. Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: Stark's personal secretary and budding love interest.The character was called Iron Monger in the comics when he used his armor, but the codename is only referenced in the film when Stane describes himself and Stark as 'ironmongers'. Many of Stane's scenes were cut out to focus more on Stark, but the writers felt Bridges's performance allowed the application of 'less is more'. He shaved his hair and grew a gray beard for the role, which was something he had wanted to do for some time. Bridges read the comics as a boy and liked Favreau's modern, realistic approach. Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger: Stark's business second-in-command and the main antagonist.'Whose life is the right way is it the strict military life, or the life of an independent?'

'Rhodey is completely disgusted with the way Tony has lived his life, but at a certain point he realizes that perhaps there is a different way,' Howard said. While Rhodes is roguish in the comics after he met Stark, his earlier disciplinarian character forms a dynamic with Stark, and he is unsure whether or not Stark's actions are acceptable. Howard prepared for the role by visiting Nellis Air Force Base on March 16, 2007, where he ate with the pilots and observed HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and F-22 Raptors. Favreau cast Howard because he felt he could play War Machine in a sequel.

Air Force in the department of acquisitions. Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes:Ī friend of Stark's, and the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. He takes charge of Stark Industries at the age of 21 from Stane, who had been in control of the company since Howard's death. The son of a Manhattan Project engineer, Howard Stark, he is an engineering child prodigy, having built a circuit board at four years old and an engine at six, as well as graduating from MIT summa cum laude at the age of 17. as Anthony 'Tony' Stark / Iron Man:Ī billionaire industrialist, genius inventor, and consummate playboy, he is CEO of Stark Industries, a chief weapons manufacturer for the U.S. The next day Stark is named 'Iron Man' and is advised to keep the identity a secret but reveals it anyways. Stane's scientists cannot duplicate the ARC Reactor tech so Stane steals Tony's and dons his suit to attack SHIELD and goes after Pepper, but however Tony using his original ARC Reactor saves her and the two warriors battle, and once they get atop the Stark facility, Tony orders Potts to overload the giant arc reactor to electrocute Stane, defeating him. Stark decides to find out who sent the Ten Rings the weapons, so he sends his assistant Pepper Potts to hack into Stane's computer believing he could have been dealing with them, and she finds out Stane had sent the Ten Rings to kill Stark but they reneged.

After discovering the Ten Rings are using his weapons and Stane had betrayed him, Stark dons his armor to fight the Ten Rings, who later find parts of Stark's prototype suit and contact Stane so he could build them an army of iron soldiers to rule Asia but he betrays them and steals the armor for his own purposes, reverse-engineering it into his own suit. There, Stark announces no more weapons, and it disappoints Obadiah Stane while Stark at home builds a streamlined and newer suit, every day making it more capable of flight. He, however, crash-lands in the middle of the desert during flight and without his armor, he runs in the desert broken down but is found by his best friend James Rhodes as they return. During the escape, Yinsen is killed and Stark's suit charges and he uses it to defeat the Ten Rings. But there, Stark is attacked and kidnapped by terrorists known as the Ten Rings who order him and doctor Yinsen to build the Jericho, but instead, they spend days in the cave creating an arc reactor to keep shrapnel from Stark's heart and armor to escape.

Years later, Howard dies and his company is taken over by Tony, who is about to present the new 'Jericho' missile in Afghanistan. Returning to America, Stark refines the suit and uses it to combat crime and terrorism.īillionaire, genius, and Stark Industries CEO Howard Stark has his spotlight taken by his son Tony, who amazes the world with his brilliant creations. Instead, he builds an armored suit and upends his captors. A billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), is conducting weapons tests overseas, but terrorists kidnap him to force him to build a devastating weapon.

Colonel rhodes iron man actor