Stark Industries

Revision as of 15:53, 22 June 2018

Stark Industries is a business that features in Marvel Comics.

History

The company's origins traced back to the 19th century during the time of Dr. Isaac Stark, Sr who turned his manufacturing and engineering concern into a global industrial superpower. It began as a defense contractor and aeronautics concern before branching out into nearly every technological aspect of modern life. As such, its production switched from making bombs and planes to creating kitchen appliances, medical devices and other such equipment. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #5)

After the death of his parents in a vehicle accident, Tony Stark became President and majority shareholder of the company where he immediately bought out car company that manufactured his parents car and overhauled the brake design system. The company then was noted for its excellence in its technical division but its business side was suffering during these years. At the time, Roxxon Oil was secretly looking to subvert the company in order to acquire it for themselves. (Iron Man: The Iron Age v1 #1)

Stark Industries began expanding with it establishing a pilot program to fund weapons research from freelance contractors. Tony Stark later sought out Nasim Rahimov of Kirikhstan as he secretly sought to gain access to his miniaturisation technology. He allowed Rahimov limited access to the micro-circuitry research of the company but from this exchange several key components for Stark Industries early micromunitions was developed. (Iron Man v4 #30).

As part of a research grant, Dr. Noah Burstein was allowed to conduct a project at Seagate Prison with Stark Industries equipment being used for the experiment. (Hero for Hire v1 #1)

Cordco bought out Stark Enterprises in order to force Oakley to implant a bio-chip in Tony Stark. (Iron Man v1 #2)

Cabe and Hogan later represented the board of the company in a deal with Fujikawa, Inc. where they signed the final transition forms passing ownership of the business to the Japanese family. (Iron Man v1 #329)

After his return, Stark had the option of challenging the legality of the sale but decided not to oppose it but instead formed a new consulting company named Stark Solutions. (Iron Man v3 #1)

Stark Industries was responsible for providing a number of upgrades for a new type of human piloted Sentinel utilized by the Office of National Emergency as part of its Sentinel Squad Program. (Sentinel Squad O*N*E v1 #1)

After Tony Stark was presumed, the Stark Industries Board initiated a hostile takeover of the company from his biological mother Amanda Armstrong. They also believed that the Iron Man Armor was their property and sought to confiscate it from Riri Williams with them hiring a Mutant named Hijack to reclaim it. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #594) The Board of Directors hired agents to confiscate the technology at Riri Williams place under the claim that it was proprietary Stark corporation designs. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #595)

Overview

The company had facilities on every continent and in more than thirty countries around the world. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #5)

It had a number of divisions that included:

• Starkarts : the video game division. (Spider-Man Family v2 #8)
• Maria Stark Foundation : involved in reconstruction efforts and making the world a better place. (Iron Man v3 #1)
• Robotics Division : a division responsible for the creation of robotics designs. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)
• Stark Solutions : a sub-division that handled clean-up work. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)

There were a number of products created by Stark Industries that included:

• Long Range Sonic Strata Scanner : a Stark International machine that detected the source of tremors or earthquakes even if they were half a continent away. (Marvel Team-Up v1 #110)
• Maria 985 : Stark Foundation Deep-Sea Exploration vessel whose deompression chamber was used by Iron Man to contain a nerve gas bomb from Jemaah Islamiyah. (Iron Man v4 #15)
• Ampere : designed to be the world's fastest electric sports car that packed 400 horsepower that allowed it to reach zero to sixty in 3.3 along with a top speed of 200 and change. Stark intended for next years model to become equipped with an on-board A.I. for driver assistance. (Iron Man: Iron Protocols v1 #1)
• Seedpod : the Seedpod bomb dispensed hundreds of smart 'micro-munitions' from a mother bomb casing that was intended to destroy airfields and crippled armored convoys that was first used in Gulf War One. (Iron Man v4 #1)
• Chaos Mainframe : a predictor designed to assimilate worldwide data and statistically assess where crisis points would occur with it created to work with the hex prediction powers of the Scarlet Witch to amplify its capabilities. (Force Works v1 #3)
• Stark Sentinel : a landmine developed by Tony Stark when he was twenty that was used in defensive positions but had caused many casualties among people that stepped on them. (Iron Man v4 #1)
• Stark Phone : an older phone model that were impossible to hack. (Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #1)
• G.A.R.D. : the Graduated Automatic Radical Defense System was a computer system designed to manage the defensive and security systems in a facility. (Iron Man v1 #151)
• Leviathan-class Assault Platforms : large floating airships built by Stark-Fujikawa that were originally built for S.H.I.E.L.D. and were able to transport large number of troops. (Avengers v3 #20)
• Sular Experiment : a series of weather control satellites that were designed to aid the planet but were in the prototype phase and would only be completed in five years whereupon it was intended for them to be presented to the United Nations. (Might Avengers v1 #4)

A facility within the main corporate office was the Foundry which was where Iron Man Armors were designed, built and tested. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)

The Starksolar Center was one of the country's leading alternative energy research labs. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #5) The company made use of warning satellites that linked through Starknet. (The Order v2 #1) The Stark Dataspine was an information data that was far superior to the Internet. (The Order v2 #3) The company had a quantum server array that was the single largest consolidation of indexed knowledge in the world. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #5)

A Code Black was authorised in cases of extreme danger whereupon Stark Industries facilities were evacuated. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #5)

Annually, the company held the Tony Stark International Sciences Expo that was an event that showcased the latest inventions and technology. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #593)

The company had gone through various incarnations over the years that included:

• Stark Solutions :
• Stark Resilient :
• Stark Unlimited : (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)

Members

• Tony Stark :
• Pepper Potts :
• James Rhodes' :
• Bethany Cabe :
• Eric Lynch : male who served as on the company's Board of Directors. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #3)
• Takeshis Kobayashi : in charge of Research and Development at Stark Enterprises. (Iron Man v3 #86)
• Andy Bhang : a male robotics expert who headed Bhang Robotics and was a leading figure until over 20 years ago when he was beaten by a young Tony Stark. By the modern age, his company was bought by Stark who had Bhang placed as the head of the Robotics Division of Stark Unlimited. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)
• Jocasta Pym : a female machine entity who served as the company's chief robotic ethicist who was tasked with ensuring that any machine robotic intelligence that possessed free will was not enslaved. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)

Notes

• Stark Industries was created by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein and Jack Kirby where it made its first appearance in Tales of Suspense v1 #4 (April 1963).

Alternate Versions

• In Machine Man v2 (1984), an alternate future timeline set in the year 2020 on Earth-8410 was shown to hold Stark Enterprises. In Astonishing Tales v2 (2009), it was shown to be referred to as Stark International.
• In Spider-Man 2099 v1 #5 (1993), the alternate future timeline of 2099 showed a version of the company that merged and formed Stark-Fujikawa. It stood alongside other large corporate bodies on Earth such as Alchemax and Roxxon Energy Corporation. Among its employees were Hikaru-Sama and Shudo.
• In Marvel Adventures: Iron Man v1 #1 (2005), an alternate universe setting was shown that had Stark International present. Among their products was the Stark Omnimedia Player, S.I. Quicksilver Microprocessors and S.K.I.N. flexi-iron. It hosted the StarkWorld conferences where technologically minded people from 150 countries gathered.
• In Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas v1 (2008), an alternate version of Stark Industries was shown in a universe that was designated as Earth-80734. One of its divisions was StarkAir that was a commercial line that produced planes for transportation.
• In Iron Man: The End v1 (2009), an alternate possible future whereby Tony Stark managed his company now known as Stark Universal several decades into the future. Among its projects was the creation of a space elevator known as the Big Jump that was being made by Tony Stark to make space travel more affordable.
• In Spider-Gwen v2 #5 (2016), Stark's company was shown to exist on the world of Earth-65 with Tony Stark profiting from war efforts. He was the owner of the coffee shop brand Stark Bucks and had his own private army known as War Machine.
• In Iron Man: Hong Kong Heroes v1 #1 (2018), an alternate world setting was shown where Stark Industries Asia Division was managed by Vice-President Wendy Wong. Among their creations was the Stark Emergency Response Exosuit (SERE-X) that was a revolutionary prototype soft exosuit made with smart diamond nanothreads allowing for streamlining the design yet retaining the protection of an Iron Man Armor. Gear was customised to the needs of the wearer with remote outboard components and attached themselves to the suit upon receiving the command. It was being presented at the Stark Expo in Hong Kong when it came under attack from Hydra.

In other media

Television

• In Iron Man, the company featured in the animated series where it was managed by Tony Stark. A flashback sequence in the two-part "The Origin of Tony Stark" revealed that it was originally called Stark & Son that was headed by Walter Stark who was a weapon's designer and industrialist. Walter managed the company and was dismayed as his son Tony instead used his time for fun, parties and women. One demonstration for the military was the automated Stark Helicopter drone but it was destroyed by flak weapon fire after Tony removed its flak resistors in an effort to boost the speed leading to the contract going to Justin Hammer. Stark & Son was shown to suffer from numerous industrial accidents with this being revealed to had been the work of Justin Hammer who embarked on corporate sabotage to ruin the Stark's. One such incident fatally wounded Walter Stark with the company passing to his son Tony Stark after he took over responsibility of it following his father's death. Tony managed to re-invigorate the company and kept it running until Hammers agents wounded him and took him to the Mandarin.
• In Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Stark Enterprises appeared in the television animated series in the episode "Shell Games". It was headed by Tony Stark and Iron Man operated as his bodyguard.
• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Stark Industries made an appearance in the animated series starting with the Iron Man mini-episode. The company was headed by Tony Stark who used to produce weapons before he stopped by the time he operated as Iron Man. S.H.I.E.L.D. used reverse engineered Stark tech for their Mandroids. Their systems were later hacked allowing Hydra to incorporate elements of Stark tech into their Dreadnought robots.
• In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, the company made an appearance during the series here it was called Stark International with its CEO being Howard Stark until his apparent death whereupon Obadiah Stane took charge of the corporation until Tony Stark became an adult. The episode "Designed Only For Chaos" had Roberta Rhodes revealed that Stark International used to design weapons until the birth of Tony whereupon Howard stopped production. In "Hostile Takeover", Justin Hammer manages to buy Stark International where he sends Sasha to tell Tony Stark that he will no longer inherit the company when he becomes 18. In the episode "The Hammer Falls", Howard and Roberta manage to retake the company when Hammer was turned into a mindless zombie. Among their products included; the Earth Mover was a mutli-legged machine with a high-degree laser for excavation and another was the Stark Pod.
• In Marvel Anime: Iron Man, Stark Industries featured in the animated series where it was a multi-billionaire company owned by Tony Stark after inheriting it from his father. It was responsible for heading the creation of ARC Reactors in Japan with this being sponsored by Lab 23 that was situated in the country. He was later framed for smuggling Plutonium into Japan causing a drop in stock prices in the corporation.
• In Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, the company was named Stark International that was responsible for manufacturing the Stark Soundtech headphones. It had a hand in the creation of Techno Isle Tokyo and with it being a shareholder its staff had access to the codes which allowed entry to a secret part of the motorway to bypass any traffic.
• In Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Stark Industries featured numerous times during the course of the series. In "Wheels of Fury", it was briefly taken over by Tony Stark's gaming AI known as Mainframe.
• In Agent Carter, Stark Industries would appear in the setting of 1946 starting with the episode "Now is Not the End". Its head was Howard Stark but after World War II a number of his advanced weapons known as 'Bad Babies' were stolen from Stark Industries vault and sold on the black market. This led to him being framed for the sale of weapons to America's enemies forcing him to go on the run but he would enlist the aid of Agent Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R.) who was assisted by Howard's own butler Edwin Jarvis. Though Stark departed overseas to stop the sale of his technology, Jarvis would make use of Stark Industries during Agent Carter's various missions against Leviathan. One of Howard Stark's most dangerous creations was a chemical weapon called Midnight Oil that caused people to go into a murderous rage and sought to kill others.
• In Spider-Man, Stark Industries appeared in the 2017 animated television series as the hosts of the Stark Expo that gave awards for the best scientific creation. The event was attacked by the Ghost who was a former Stark Industries employee until he was fired by Tony Stark.

Films

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark industries made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Iron Man, Stark Enterprises made its first appearance in the live-action film.
  • In Iron Man 2, Stark Industries returned in the live-action film sequel. After suffering from ill-health caused by the Arc Reactor in his chest, Stark appointed his personal assistant Pepper Potts as the new CEO of the company.
  • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Stark Enterprises was noted to had some dealings with the African nation of Wakanda in the past.
  • In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Stark Enterprises was shown in the animated film with the Vulture looking to steal Starktech whilst Tony Stark was relocating Avengers Stark Tower to the Avengers Compound.
• In Ultimate Avengers, Stark Enterprises was mentioned with its head being Tony Stark. Numerous technological components were being set from the company that were to be used to supply S.H.I.E.L.D. for their attempt to replicate Operation Rebirth.
• In The Invincible Iron Man, Stark Enterprises was shown with it being managed by a Board of Directors and Howard Stark as the chairman. It was mentioned that in the past that Howard's son Tony Stark was given his own advanced technology division and thus a position on the Board. Tony was responsible for negotiating a contract with the Chinese government for the excavation of the Mandarin's ancient city with the Board being unaware of his venture. After learning of it, the Board of Directors forced Howard to remove his son from his position in the company.
• In Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore, Stark Industries under Tony Stark's direction created a satellite detection system by launching the H.O.W.A.R.D. (Hi-Definition Observation Worldwide Advanced Remote Device) where it sought to protect the world by monitoring dangerous threats. It had the capacity to link to any computer around the world and included access to military satellites. There was some opposition to it launch as the public believed that there were potential violations of privacy by sending the satellite into orbit. The launch was disrupted by armored mercenaries known as the Raiders who made use of power armor suits which they used to battle both Iron Man and War Machine. Ezekiel Stane intended to take control of it and use the connection to bring about the end of the human race in his warped belief that he represented the next stage in evolution.

Video games

• In The Invincible Iron Man, Stark Industries appeared in the 2002 Gameboy video game where three thieves stole the Iron Man Armour from it.
• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Stark Industries was referenced in the setting of the video game. The Geffen-Meyer Chemicals factory plant was a subsidiary of the company and a fake hostage incident was arranged by Tony Stark as a trap to bring in Captain America and the Anti-Registration forces. A battle between the two sides was fought with Tony desiring for Steve to surrender in the fight.
• In Iron Man, Stark Industries appeared as part of the setting in the video-game tie-in of the movie. As shown in the movie, it used to produce weapons with one of its clients being the Maggia. After Tony Stark's return, he decided to move away from weapons design and began destroying shipments of weapons against the advice of Obadiah Stane.
• In Iron Man 2, Stark Industries appeared as part of the setting in the video-game tie-in of the movie. One of their research initiatives in the past was Project Greengrid that operated by developing the atmosphere's capacity for storing and transmitting power by ionization leading to the creation of highly charged storm activity. It was conceived as a power generation system but at the time Stark Industries had been hired as part of a weapon's contract with the United States Army leading to them having essentially weaponised the sky.
• In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Stark International appeared in the background on billboards in the game.
• In Marvel Heroes, Stark Industries featured in the background in the game. They were responsible for the creation of Starkteck that was the target of numerous criminal ventures.
• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Stark Industries featured in the setting and on numerous items in the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, Stark industry was mentioned in the ios game as being the company owned by Tony Stark. Dr. Jemma Simmons was an employ in the company when it came under attack from Ultron.

Novels

• In Iron Man: Operation A.I.M., it made an appearance where it was called Stark Enterprises with Spymaster infiltrating it. Modok later took control of it and managed to usurp control over H.O.M.E.R.
• In Iron Man: And Call My Killer Modok, it made an appearance where it was called Stark Enterprises. A mole inside it was responsible for stealing a bogus set of plans of the Iron Man Armor.
• In Dooms Day Book 2: Spider-Man & Iron Man: Sabotage, Tony Stark and his scientists made a new discovery that they called the Infinity Engine. It was hailed as proof of Albert Einsteins unified field theory with it having a potential for unlimited cheap energy. To protect it from theft, Stark had it moved to the orbiting Ad Astra station.

Other

• In Iron Man 2, a viral website was created that linked with the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action film. On the site, a product showecased was the Stark HUD 2020 that was reverse engineered of the Heads Up Display on the Iron Man Armor. It was created by the Stark Industries subsidiary Stark-Fujikawa. Among its features included: high speed data, geo-location services and tourist information, weather and traffic updates, social networking tools and applications, mood-monitoring jukebox along with a matchmaker targeting.

Appearances

• Iron Man:
• Invincible Iron Man:

External Link

• Wikipedia Entry

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