Avengers Tower

"Hey, don't you watch the news? Tony sold Avengers Tower. We're relocating to a new facility upstate where hopefully, the cell service is much worse."

- Happy Hogan to Peter Parker

Avengers Tower, also known as Stark Tower, was a high-rise building complex located in Manhattan, New York City. Owned and constructed by Tony Stark, the tower is powered by an Arc Reactor that makes it capable of running itself for over a year. The top ten floors were originally all devoted to research and development.

Following the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D., Stark made the tower the main headquarters of the Avengers. However, after the Ultron Offensive, Stark refurbished an old Stark Industries warehouse upstate into the New Avengers Facility for the Avengers to use as their primary base while Avengers Tower was repurposed for Stark Industries' use. Following the Avengers Civil War, Stark sold the tower and had the valuable items and artifacts loaded onto a cargo plane for transport to the New Avengers Facility.

Construction of Stark Tower
"It is with great pleasure that I present to you the plans for the structure you see going up behind me: Stark Tower."

- Pepper Potts

Pepper Potts announced in a press conference that, after all damage resulting from the Stark Expo incident had been repaired at the expense of Stark Industries, the relationship between Stark Industries and New York City would make another step towards the future.

Potts presented the plans for a structure acquired by Stark Industries, that would be transformed into the Stark Tower, the first completely clean energy-powered skyscraper in Manhattan, hoping it would become a model for future development in the city.

During the press conference, Tony Stark called Potts to congratulate her and told her that he was waiting for having a date with a bottle of. Potts told Stark that she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and told him she assumed that he remembered their date was the following night. Stark replied that he obviously remembered, as he was in Malibu altering one of his armors.

A few months later, Stark helped in the construction of the tower, lifting the giant letters in the front of the building as Iron Man, when James Rhodes contacted him to learn about the Ten Rings, responsible of his his kidnapping in Afghanistan. Stark told him that his investigations after confronting them at Gulmira led to nowhere, as the Ten Rings operated in autonomous cells, and the highest-ranking operative in each cell had one contact in another cell, but not with the overall leader.

Lighting of Stark Tower
"How does it look?" "Like Christmas, but with more... me."

- Pepper Potts and Tony Stark

Tony Stark finished installing the last piece of an Arc Reactor in the undersea wiring near New York City thanks to his Iron Man armor, in order to disconnect the newly constructed Stark Tower from the general electricity network, becoming the first self-sustained building in New York.

Stark contacted Pepper Potts while returning to the tower to tell her that she could turn on the light. Stark witnessed how the Tower got lit, and entered inside to celebrate with Potts.

J.A.R.V.I.S. informed Stark that agent Phil Coulson was trying to contact him, but Stark dismissed the call. Potts checked the energy levels of the tower were stable, and discussed with Stark how the idea about Stark Tower came from the Arc Reactor in Stark's chest. Stark suggested Potts that she must attribute herself a 12% percent of the merit, and although he tried to justify himself, Stark realized the comment was inappropriate.

Coulson called Stark again, annulling J.A.R.V.I.S.'s protocols, and although Stark tried to dismiss him again, Coulson appeared in the tower, where Potts greeted him on a first-name basis to Stark's surprise. As Coulson explained that his visit was not based on Stark's status as a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D., he thought it had to do with the Avengers Initiative, even though that project had been discarded and Stark had been deemed as unsuitable.

Coulson handed Stark a tablet containing files about the other candidates of the Avengers Initiative: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner and Thor, about the Tesseract and about Loki. Potts realized that she must leave Stark alone to let him focus in the task handed over by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Potts asked Coulson if he could take her to to go to Washington, D.C., and asked how things were going with Audrey Nathan, his cellist girlfriend, and Coulson informed her that she moved back to Portland.

Prelude
"Stark Tower, that big ugly... building in New York?"

- Captain America

Loki, during his quest to conquer Earth, chose Stark Tower in New York City as the place to open his portal for the Chitauri with the Tesseract, in order to publicly beat the Avengers an assert his authority over the world. Erik Selvig installed the device he created under Loki's control in the rooftop of Stark Tower, connecting to the Arc Reactor sustaining the tower. Iron Man arrived at Stark Tower and was informed by J.A.R.V.I.S. that the Arc Reactor had been disconnected, but the Tesseract was already activated. Stark asked Selvig to turn off the device, but Selvig said it was too late for it, so Stark tried to attack the device. The barrier surrounding the Tesseract knocked both Stark and Selvig down, breaking Loki's control over Selvig.

Stark descended to the penthouse of the tower to deal personally with Loki. Stark entertained Loki while J.A.R.V.I.S. prepared the Mark VII Armor. Stark offered Loki a drink, menacing him of how he should be afraid of the Avengers, as he pissed each and every one of them.

Loki tried to control Stark, but as the Scepter touched the Arc Reactor in Stark's chest, the reaction was not the one he expected, and he couldn't control Stark. Angered by his failure, Loki threw Stark off a window, and he was saved in the nick of time by the Mark VII Armor launched by J.A.R.V.I.S., who attached to him before hitting the ground.

Iron Man went to confront Loki again, this time in the name of Phil Coulson, knocking down Loki with an attack of his repulsor gauntlets.

First Waves
A portal to the Sanctuary was finally opened, and the first waves of the Chitauri began arriving on Earth above Stark Tower. Iron Man managed to destroy the first Chitauri that crossed the portal, but their number soon proved to be more than Iron Man could handle alone.

The Chitauri began spreading through the area surrounding Stark Tower and attacking civilians, while Loki beheld the destruction they were causing. Thor arrived and ordered Loki to turn the Tesseract off, or he would destroy it. Loki went to attack his brother, battling on Stark Tower.

Iron Man contacted James Rhodes in order to obtain his assistance during the battle, but Rhodes was in Hong Kong at the moment, telling Stark that even with the flying at supersonic speed as War Machine, it would took him an hour to arrive.

Black Widow contacted Iron Man, having arrived in a Quinjet with Captain America and Hawkeye, and they assisted Iron Man destroying many Chitauri Chariots that were following him. Loki hit the Quinjet from the penthouse of Stark Tower with a shot from his weapon, and they were forced to land near the tower.

Thor tried to reason with Loki, asking him if he thought that madness would end under his rule. Loki seized to opportunity to stab Thor with a concealed knife. Outraged, Thor went to hit Loki, seemingly beating him into submission, but Loki managed to flee in one of the Chitauri Chariots, leaving his scepter behind, and began mercilessly attacking civilians.

Black Widow's Ascent to the Tower
Black Widow realized that they needed to close the portal after containment proved to be overwhelming. Captain America helped her to jump on a Chitauri Chariot to quickly ascend to Stark Tower while the rest of the Avengers continued to battle the Chitauri. Loki began following Black Widow, shooting at her to prevent her from reaching the Tesseract, but Hawkeye was able to shoot him and knock him down from his vehicle, landing on Stark Tower. Hulk jumped to Stark Tower, and while Loki tried to exert his superiority as a god, Hulk savagely beat him.

Black Widow approached the Tesseract, and Erik Selvig, now free from Loki's control, revealed that the Scepter was the key to close the portal.

End of the Battle
The World Security Council decided to send a nuclear missile and make it explode in New York City to contain the Chitauri invasion. Iron Man told Black Widow to wait when she was in the rooftop of the Tower, about to close the portal, as he planned to send the missile through the portal.

Seeing that Iron Man would not be returning, Captain America ordered Black Widow to close the portal using the Scepter, and Iron Man fell off the portal in the nick of time.

Together, the six Avengers went to the penthouse of the Tower to confront Loki, who surrendered and now accepted the drink Iron Man offered him earlier.

Aftermath
Tony Stark returned to Stark Tower with Pepper Potts, planning to transform the tower into the headquarters for the Avengers, adapting it to the needs of each and every member.

Attack at Stark Tower
Tony Stark organized a press conference in front of the Stark Tower to promote the tower's status as the first completely clean-energy powered skyscraper in New York, explaining that despite the skepticism, he had developed clean energy technology as powerful and efficient as other methods. To demonstrate it, he shut down the connection between the Arc Reactor in his chest and his Iron Man Armor, connecting the armor to the solar panels of the tower to power it up.

In the middle of the press conference, Stark was attacked by Bruno Horgan, calling himself the Melter, who attacked him with a weapon he denominated the Melting Ray. In his first attack, Horgan severed the connection between Iron Man and the Stark Tower, and the second one, that Stark didn't evade thinking his armor would withstand, caused malfunctions in the armor's internal systems.

Horgan, having defeated Iron Man by making some debris fall over Stark, announced that he would hold another demonstration in a few days, and after that his technology would be sold to the highest bidder, and that he would contact the potential purchasers.

Investigation
Tony Stark and James Rhodes discussed the need of finding Bruno Horgan before he managed to sell his technology, and made a friendly wager to investigate Horgan, each one using their own methods.

Rhodes used formal procedures and contacted his superiors to request warrants and obtain information about sales records of micro-processors and industrial properties with large spikes in power usage, even defeating a group of gun smugglers in the process. On the other hand, Stark hacked the email accounts of suspected organized crime figures, offered a deal to the CEO of another company in case he was contacted by Horgan, and hacked the surveillance cameras of New York to investigate Horgan's route while abandoning Stark Tower following his attack on Stark.

Their research proved to be unsuccessful, as Stark discovered that Horgan contacted his buyers through impossible to trace disposable cell phones, and the only clue he obtained from one of the buyers was a background industrial machinery sound. Rhodes traced the supplies ordered by Horgan, but they ended in a rental office where temporary workers loaded them in cars that ended up disappearing.

Stark and Rhodes combined their research, cross-referencing the list of industrial facilities obtained by Rhodes with the flight trajectory map obtained by Stark. Stark noticed an automobile scrapyard that matched both requisites and deduced it was Horgan's hideout, as he would have easily made his cars disappear there.

Therapy Session
Tony Stark retold the story of his battle against Aldrich Killian to his friend Bruce Banner, detailing the story from the beginning in Switzerland. As Stark was wrapping the story and thanking Banner for listening, Stark realized Banner had been sleeping since almost the beginning of the tale.

Banner excused himself as he was not a therapist and lacked the necessary temperament for it. Stark ignored this comment and began telling more stories of his life, much to the dismay of Banner who went to sleep again.

Gathering of Fans
"She's a groupie, all the hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D., tracking powers. She might as well be one of those sweaty cosplay characters crowding around Stark Tower."

- Grant Ward about Skye

Following the Battle of New York, Stark Tower become a gathering point for fans of superheroes, including many cosplayers. They hoped to see one of the so-called Heroes of New York.

Skye, a member of the Rising Tide, approached Stark Tower once in cosplay, although she did not easily admit the fact when questioned about it.

Project Insight
By 2014, Stark Tower had been rebranded as Avengers Tower, and it was one of the intended targets of Project Insight, as Tony Stark was deemed a threat for HYDRA's plans. The Insight satellites marked Stark as a candidate along numerous other individuals in New York City. The city was not shot as Captain America and his allies were able to change the intended targets and stop HYDRA in time.

Contacting Coulson
Phil Coulson found out the location of the Scepter. He sent it to Maria Hill who delivered it to the Avengers.

Creating Ultron
In the wake of HYDRA's defeat with S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark decided to create weapons capable of seeking out and defeating HYDRA's remaining outposts and members, creating the artificial intelligence known as Ultron in the process.

Ultron's Attack
After attacking J.A.R.V.I.S., the newly created Ultron launched an offensive against the Avengers inside of the tower. While the Avengers fought back, Ultron recognized Helen Cho's potential and one of his sentries fled with Loki's scepter. After his main body was destroyed, Ultron entered the Internet and spread across the globe, filled with purpose about saving the world by exterminating the Avengers.

Creating Vision
Following a skirmish in Seoul, the Avengers reunited in the Tower alongside Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Having retrieved a device known as the Cradle containing what was supposed to be Ultron's final body, Tony opted to upload J.A.R.V.I.S. into it in order to use the body to fight Ultron, resulting in a disagreement with Captain America and a brief brawl to ensue. The fight was interrupted when Thor arrived and used Mjølnir to jumpstart the body. Being dubbed the "Vision", this android would persuade the Avengers into working together in order to stop Ultron. The group would then depart shortly afterwards aboard their Quinjet.

Selling the Tower
"Eight years. Not a word from the feds, nothing from those Halloween costume wearing bozos up there over at Stark Tower. And then all of a sudden, this little bastard in red tights shows up, and he thinks he can tear down everything I've built. Really? I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna kill him."

- Vulture

Following the Ultron Offensive, the Avengers abandoned Avengers Tower in favor of the New Avengers Facility as their new headquarters. Despite this, Tony Stark continued to make use of Avengers Tower, reverting its name back to Stark Tower, and used it for Stark Industries purposes. However, following the Avengers Civil War, Stark sold the tower and arranged for Happy Hogan to transport the Avengers related items to the upstate Avengers facility. The cargo plane was hijacked by Vulture, who attempted to steal the entire inventory, until his efforts were impeded by Spider-Man.

Trivia

 * The production designer used the as a basis for the tower. The back-story he created was that Stark bought the building and replaced the upper structure.
 * In a bit of creative license, the Daredevil motion poster depicts the building turned 90 degrees from its orientation in the movies so that the logo can be seen. From Hell's Kitchen, the western side of the building would be visible, but the logo is on the southern side.
 * Avengers Tower has been missing in shots featuring the New York skyline in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 episode A Fractured House, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and The Defenders with the MetLife Building remaining in its original place.