Obadiah Stane Profile - Iron Monger

Real Name:

Obadiah Stane

Location:

Obadiah Stane is currently deceased in the Marvel Universe, but is alive in the Ultimate line of comics.

First Appearance:

As Obadiah Stane – Iron Man #163 (1982)
As Iron Monger – Iron Man #200 (1985)

Powers:

As a normal person, Obadiah Stane has no super powers, although he is incredibly intelligent and is highly skilled in strategic and tactical thinking. In his Iron Monger armor, he has many of the same abilities as Iron Man. His suit is made of omnium steel and is larger in construction to the Iron Man armor. In the Iron Monger armor, his strength is amplified to superhuman levels enabling him to lift many tons of weight. With turbines in the boots, the suit also has the ability to fly, but not nearly as fast as Iron Man. The Iron Monger suit more hovered while the Iron Man suit could fly in a straight line.

The Iron Monger armor also has many offensive weapons in its disposal. Like Iron Man, the Iron Monger suit has repulsor rays, but the Iron Monger’s are much more powerful, knocking Iron Man down through a building. It also has an intense laser beam in the chest capable of immense destruction.

One of the weaknesses of the Iron Monger armor was that it was partially controlled by a remote computer. Without it, the Iron Monger suit was not able to fully function. It seemed that Stane needed the powerful computer to give him the edge he felt he needed against Iron Man and other opponents. Tony Stark was able to sense these powerful emanations and destroyed the computer, freezing up Stane’s armor.

Team Affiliations:

The Chessmen

Archenemy:

Iron Man

Currently Seen In:

Obadiah Stane can be seen in classic issue of Iron Man (#163-200), and Ultimate Iron Man.

Interesting Fact:

Obadiah Stane needed a computer to help him control the Iron Monger armor as he wasn’t skilled enough to use it yet.

Origin:

As a boy, Obadiah Stane was forever traumatized by the death of his father, Zebediah Stane, an alcoholic and gambler. Zebediah had just won some money gambling, and to prove that he was on a lucky streak, played a game of Russian roulette. He twirled the chamber of the gun and pointed it at his head. Pulling the trigger, the gun fired and Zebediah killed himself in front of young Obadiah. The shock of this made the hair on Obadiah’s head fall out, making him even more of an outcast.

He spent his youth in an orphanage, where he discovered the game of chess and other strategic games. It was during one of the school chess championships that Obadiah found another love, psychological warfare. Obadiah feared he would lose to his opponent, Bernie Devlin, and so he killed his rival’s dog and put it in his opponents locker. Upon discovering the dog, Bernie was shocked and lost the resulting chess match.

Obadiah would continue to use underhanded tactics and psychological warfare to get what he wanted. He used these tactics to wrest control of his employers company, taking it over for himself. He used this company to create weapons, selling them to the highest bidder.

Stane’s desire for games and chance led him to attack someone in a different manner, through business. He saw Tony Stark, another very successful munitions manufacturer, as the perfect opportunity to test his wills against. His plan was to ruin Stark and overtake his company. He employed people to sabotage his companies, kidnap his employees, and even to woo Stark’s heart.

As Iron Man, Tony was able to defeat Stane and his bodyguards, The Chessmen, but he was unable to stop Stane from outbidding him in business and putting his company in danger. Stane put his plan into action and bought up much of Stark’s recently accrued debt and had the woman who won Stark’s heart turn away. The resulting blow caused Stark to return to a dark territory of abusing alcohol. Just what Stane wanted.

With Stark retreating into the bottle, Stane bought out Tony Stark’s company and made it his own, returning it to making weapons, which Tony had phased out, and adding more and more wealth into his pockets. Even though some of Tony’s employee’s worked to help out, destroying suits of Iron Man armor and even leaving the company, some of Tony’s secrets were discovered and Obadiah used them to create the first in what he hoped would be a long line of armor based on the Iron Man design. He called it the Iron Monger suit.

Over time, Tony Stark recovered from his alcoholism and with his friends, started a new company called Circuits Maximus. Infuriated, Stane sought to destroy Tony and Iron Man. He attacked and destroyed a building where Tony and his friends were, killing and injuring those inside. Stane thought Tony was dead.

This attack renewed Tony’s vigor and with a new suit of armor in silver and red, resumed being Iron Man. Tony took the fight to Stane and crashed into Stane International, demanding a confrontation with Stane himself. Stane decided to take the fight into his own hands and destroy Tony Stark once and for all.

Obadiah Stane, in his Iron Monger armor, and Tony Stark, in his new Iron Man armor faced off and combated each other. Obadiah failed to defeat Iron Man and resorted to the underhanded tactics that he had used before. This time, he took an infant hostage and threatened to kill the child if Tony didn’t surrender. Tony had used his suits sensors and discovered a nearby building housing a computer that helped control the Iron Monger armor. He attacked and destroyed the building; destroying the computer and making Obadiah lose control of the Iron Monger suit. Obadiah crashed and Tony snatched the child, saving him.

The resulting defeat drove Obadiah to the brink, and taking off his helmet, committed suicide by firing the Iron Monger repulsors at his own head. Stane’s bodyguards came and took the body away, leaving Tony alone to clean up the mess. His body has never been recovered.