Iron Monger - Fictional Character Biography - Obadiah Stane

Obadiah Stane

As a child, Obadiah's father Zebediah Stane was a degenerate gambler and Obadiah's mother died of unknown reasons. One day, his father, who considered himself on a "lucky streak"; played a game of Russian roulette and shot himself in the head. This trauma caused Obadiah to lose all of his blond hair and go bald and shaped him for years to come. From there on, Obadiah Stane was a ruthless manipulator who studied his adversaries to find weaknesses to exploit. Stane enjoys chess, and lives his life with the same kind of methodical logic that he uses in the game. In addition, he is a strong believer in using psychological manipulation to his advantage. For instance, in a childhood chess match against another boy whose skill at least equaled his own, he killed the boy's dog so that the other would be distracted from the game.

In adulthood, as a wealthy financier, Obadiah Stane becomes the president and CEO of his own company (Stane International) as a munitions dealer. He also goes into business with Howard Stark. After Stark and his wife died in a car accident, Stane turns his sights on acquiring control of Stark International, the industrial corporation he had worked with, now owned by Tony Stark (the son of Howard Stark). Stane has his agents, the Chessmen, attack Stark Industries and assault James Rhodes, a confidant of Tony. He also confronts Tony Stark in person. Stane also sets up Indries Moomji as Stark's lover without Stark knowing that Moomji is actually the Chessmen's Queen. Meanwhile, Stane and his associates conspire to lock Stark International out of various business deals. Stark eventually learns that Stane is the mastermind behind these attacks, but is unable to confront him. The assaults on Stark, his business, and his friend push Stark to the edge, and he catastrophically relapsed into alcoholism. With the help of S.H.I.E.L.D., Stane buys out Stark International, which he then renames Stane International. Stark, having fallen off the wagon, relinquishes his armor to Jim Rhodes and disappears to be a homeless vagrant. Rhodes becomes the new Iron Man while ignoring Stane's demands to relinquish the armor. Rhodes, as the new Iron Man, eventually thwarts Stane in his attempt to take over the Iron Man battle-suits.

Stane proceeds in manufacturing and supplying munitions and weapons to S.H.I.E.L.D. and others who could pay for them. When Tony Stark left, he left behind notes and information on the Iron Man armor. These notes are incomplete and hard to analyze, but Stane assigns a team of scientists to decipher them; they eventually create the Iron Monger armor which, according to Stane, is "far superior to Stark's Iron Man armor". He even considers selling them to the highest bidder or creating an army of Iron Mongers, using them to "take over any country he wanted".

Stane assigns the Termite to sabotage another business rival. He also forms an alliance with Madame Masque.

While living on the streets, Stark befriends a pregnant homeless woman, Gertl Anders. She dies in childbirth, whereupon Stark promises to protect the child. This vow helps Stark overcome his alcoholism. When Stark recovers, he joins Rhodes, along with twins Morley and Clytemnestra Erwin, in starting a new company in Silicon Valley, which is eventually dubbed Circuits Maximus. Stark builds a new prototype armor, resembling his original gray suit, in order to test new designs; Stark ends up using the armor to stop an out-of-control Rhodes, and then to assist the West Coast Avengers against Doctor Demonicus, while using the Avengers' facilities to construct an advanced armor, the Silver Centurion.

Realizing that Stark is once again a potential threat, Stane orders the abduction of Bethany Cabe, and plans an attack to take out Iron Man, whom Stane has deduced is currently either Rhodes or one of the Erwins. He sends an attack drone, the Circuits Breaker, to destroy Iron Man, but both Rhodes and Stark are able to defeat it. Stane further plots against Stark by switching the minds of Masque and Cabe, and by abducting Stark's old friends Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, and Bambi Arbogast. He also has a bomb planted inside the Circuits Maximus dome, killing Morley Erwin and wounding Rhodes and Clytemnestra.

When Cly confronts Stark at the hospital, Tony realizes he has to face Stane directly; he collects his newly-completed Silver Centurion armor from the Avengers compound, and flies to Long Island. Stark confronts Stane on the property of Stane International and defeats Stane's agents, including the Chessmen, who had proven a match for his previous armor. Stane dons the Iron Monger armor and confronts Stark personally. The Iron Monger is more powerful than the previous Iron Man armor, but not the Silver Centurion model, which includes such features as the ability to absorb the heat from the Iron Monger's thermal rays and channel it into the armor's own energy supplies. Stane tries to defeat Stark by tricking him into entering a room where Happy, Pepper, and Mrs. Arbogast are being held in suspended animation tanks that could sustain them for months; the walls of the room were covered with photo-electric cells that would trigger a circuit sending 200,000 volts into their bodies if Stark moved, leaving him with no choice but to stand in the room and starve to death to keep them alive. Refusing to give up, Stark calmly uses his armor's sensors to discover that the trap's power source is located within the firing arc of his chest-plate's uni-beam weapons, allowing him to destroy it.

Having freed his friends, Stark then confronts Stane and the villain learns that even in his armor, he is no match for Stark's genius and practiced skill with his own tools. Finally, Stane uses his last card: Gertl Anders' infant son, whom Stane had abducted from an orphanage. Stane tells Stark to remove his helmet or he would crush the baby between his palms. Stark, having detected interfering frequencies in his armor's systems throughout the battle, deduces that Stane isn't experienced enough to pilot the armor without some help in the form of an external computer. He uses his armor's pulse bolts to destroy the nearby building containing that computer, causing Stane's Iron Monger armor to seize up and fall to the ground as Stark swoops in to catch the baby; since Stane based the armor on Stark's old designs, Stark knew that the armor would freeze if it lost the control of an outside source. Stane then removes his helmet and confronts Stark. Stane says defiantly that he has one thing left; the ability to deprive Stark of the enjoyment he'd receive in his enemy's humiliation and defeat. Refusing to be arrested and humiliated, he then raises his hand to the side of his head and, using the repulsor ray beam, disintegrates his skull. Stark later obtains complete control over his own company, which he renames Stark Enterprises.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Obadiah Stane in his Iron Monger armor was chosen as a member of Pluto's jury of the damned to decide the fate of Zeus. When the lord of Hades power was undone, it was Iron Monger who laid the first blow upon him, accompanied by the sound effect 'SHTAAANNE'.

During the Chaos War storyline, Obadiah Stane is among the dead characters in the Underworld that Pluto released in order to defend the Underworld from Amatsu-Mikaboshi