Tony Stark was born into a wealthy family of industrialists and as a young man, he showed promise as a future pillar of American capitalism. At the age of 15, he began studying electrical engineering at MIT. After his parents died in a car accident, he inherited the family fortune and the company, Stark Industries, which specializes in the arms industry and was once run by his father, Howard Stark. Supporting the American effort in the fight against communism, Tony was responsible for delivering and testing new technologies for the military. In the original Tales of Suspense vol.1 #39, during the Vietnam War, he was attacked by communist warlords. Seriously injured by a shrapnel fragment that hit him in the chest, Tony was taken prisoner by the Vietnamese communists. He was forced by his captors to build weapons for them. Instead, he and his fellow prisoner, a physics professor named Ho Yinsen, built an armor that helped him escape. Later he discovered that he would have died if he ever removed the magnetic plate that kept the shrapnel fragments away from his heart.
Based on the prototype armor, he began creating more advanced models. His early enemies were mainly Soviet villains, including Black Widow, Crimson Dynamo, and Titanium Man. In addition to them, Iron Man’s antagonists included such enemies as Mandarin, Whiplash, the organization A.I.M., Fin Fang Foom, Madame Masque, and M.O.D.O.K. The theme of Iron Man’s fight against the Asian Mandarin had a political undertone, as it reflected the struggles of Western civilization against the East during the Vietnam War. In the comic book The Avengers vol.1 #1 from September 1963, he, along with Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor, formed a team known as the Avengers to face the villainous Loki together.
Around Tony, there were characters such as his secretary and lover Pepper Potts, and his chauffeur and assistant Happy Hogan. Early stories depicted Potts having a romance with Stark, while at the same time, Happy Hogan had a crush on Potts, creating a love triangle between the main characters. Eventually, Potts and Hogan got married in Tales of Suspense vol. 1 #91 and disappeared from the comic books for a while, although both characters played a role in the Civil War crossover and later comic book stories. Another important character was Tony’s good friend and pilot, James Rhodes. Created by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, James Rhodes made his debut in the comic book Iron Man vol. 1 #118 from 1979. Rhodes donned the Iron Man armor when Tony suffered serious injuries (Iron Man vol. 1 #170), and in Iron Man vol. 1 #284, he gained his own (heavier) armor and became a superhero sidekick known as War Machine.
Some of the important stories involving these characters include Demon in a Bottle (Iron Man vol. 1 #128 from November 1979), which tells the story of the hero’s struggles with alcoholism, and the story Doomquest (Iron Man vol. 1 #149-150 from 1981), in which Iron Man and Doctor Doom travel back in time to the time of King Arthur. The story titled Stark Wars (which was later renamed the popular title Armor Wars I) from Iron Man vol. 1 #225-#231 (published in 1987) also features prominently.