2011

This is a timeline of events that occured in 2011.

10th

 * As Tony Stark continues to operate as Iron Man, he brings about a period of relative peace and is credited with stabilizing East-West relations. His main target is the Ten Rings, who are based in Pavlodar, Kabul, and the Gulf of Aden. He saves an airman in the Congo who was test piloting a vehicle designed by Justin Hammer under the orders of Thaddeus Ross. However, Stark realizes the palladium core of his Arc Reactor is slowly poisoning him, and while he searches for a cure he keeps his condition a secret.

12th

 * In Germany, Tony Stark is on a business trip to make a partnership between Stark Industries and Gorani Insurance. He is stopped on the road by a policemen, who tells him that 15 million dollars worth of paintings have been stolen from a museum and describes the car of the thieves; he then lets Stark pass. Later, Stark fixes the flat tire of a young woman. Further along the road he discovers a car matching the description of the car the policemen described earlier. He opens the trunk and finds all the paintings inside. The criminals return and open fire on Stark, but he fends them off with the glove of the Mark IV Iron Man armor. He manages to return the paintings to the museum and get to the meeting, where he meets the same woman whose tire he repaired. The woman is Evetta Gorani, the heir to Gorani Insurance. Her father and Gorani Insurance's current president Michael Gorani explains to him that the the paintings he recovered were insured by Gorani, meaning Stark saved the company over one hundred million dollars. He successfully starts a business partnership with Gorani.

25th

 * 158 days since his last “incident”, Bruce Banner has an accident that causes a drop of his blood to fall into a soda bottle. He sends a sample of his blood to Mr Blue, who conducts further experiments with it outside of the analysis that Banner needs.

22nd

 * The 2011 Stark World Exposition begins. Stark_Expo_2010.jpg

23rd

 * Tony Stark appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Weaponized Suit Defense Program Hearings. These are chaired by Pennsylvania Senator Stern, who urges him to give the Iron Man suit to the Military and calls Lt. Col. Rhodes and Hammer Industries CEO Justin Hammer to testify against him. Stark refuses to surrender the suit, pointing out that although North Korea and Iran are working to replicate the technology, they are years away from being able to do so. He also reveals Hammer Industries has had its share of failures, leading to the cancellation of Hammer Industries’ contacts with the Department of Defense.

24th

 * Stark appoints Pepper Potts Chairman and CEO of Stark Industries. In Russia, an agent of the Ten Rings supplies Ivan Vanko assistance in infiltrating the Grand Prix of Monaco.

25th

 * Thaddeus Ross’ Unit, having traced Bruce Banner to the bottling factory, raids Rocinha under the field command of Emil Blonsky. Bruce transforms into the Hulk, defeats the task force and escapes.

26th

 * Jane Foster, working in Puente Antiguo for Culver University, discovers a subtle aurora in New Mexico. The atmospheric disturbances will continue to take place for the next sixteen days to the exact minute.

27th

 * Bruce Banner wakes up in Guatemala and decides to travel back to Culver University to see if any data on his original project remains. Over the next seventeen days he travels through Central America and the US towards Willowdale, West Virginia.

28th

 * Banner makes his way through Chiapas, Mexico.

14th

 * Banner arrives at Culver University. He sees Betty Ross, but does not approach her.

22nd

 * Tony Stark signs paperwork to transfer power to Pepper, and meets his new personal assistant, “Natalie Rushman”.

24th

 * Duel of Monaco: At the Circuit de Monaco, Stark replaces Team Stark’s regular driver DiFilipo in Race G. Ivan Vanko attacks him between turns 16 and 17 by the harbor. Switching into a portable, lightweight Iron Man armor (Mark V) Stark defeats Vanko.
 * Later that evening, Stark visits Vanko in prison before flying back to the US with Pepper.

25th

 * Senator Stern appears on news channels to support military control of the Iron Man armor.

26th

 * Justin Hammer orchestrates Ivan Vanko’s escape from prison to have him work on Hammer Industries' own weapon-suit program.

27th

 * Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko arrive at the Hammer Industries facility in Queens, NY. Vanko begins revamping Hammer’s own battle suit prototypes into unmanned, remote-controlled drones.

28th

 * Media speculation continues about Tony Stark’s fitness to continue as Iron Man. Rhodey tries to convince him to hand over the Iron Man suits to the U.S. Military, but he continues to refuse.

29th

 * On Tony Stark’s birthday, he is inconsolable over his inability to solve his palladium poisoning dilemma and gets drunk, which leads to a confrontation with Rhodey, who dons the Mark II Iron Man armor. The fight wrecks a portion of Stark's Malibu home, and Rhodey leaves with the Mark II suit.

30th

 * Nick Fury is informed that Tony Stark has 72 hours left to live due to his palladium poisoning, Bruce Banner has passed through US customs, and there are reports of "atmospheric disturbances" in the South West region. Handed lithium to slow the effects of the condition, Fury leaves to meet Stark, carrying lithium to slow the palladium's effects, and orders Agent Jasper Sitwell to track Banner.
 * Jane Foster contacts Erik Selvig, who flies out to New Mexico to help her monitor the atmospheric disturbances. Her message is intercepted by S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Rhodey flies to the Edwards Air Force Base and delivers the Mark II suit to the Military. Nick Fury finds Tony Stark at Randy's Donuts, injects him with lithium and confines him to house arrest. Natalie Rushman reveals herself to be Natasha Romanoff, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * General Meade orders Justin Hammer to upgrade the Mark II armor with new weaponry, but Rhodey secretly removes the suit’s Arc Reactor.
 * Stark visits Pepper at Stark Industries, where she mentions Hammer is hosting a presentation at the Stark Expo tomorrow. Returning home, Stark makes an intuitive breakthrough on how to fix his palladium problem through the creation of a new element theorized by his father and hidden in the layout of the Stark Expo.

31st

 * In Asgard, Thor's coronation is suddenly interrupted when Odin senses a break-in in his treasure room. The culprits are discovered to be Frost Giants, and the Destroyer kills them. Thor is enraged at what he sees as an act of war.
 * Nick Fury reassigns Agent Phil Coulson from monitoring Tony Stark to investigate atmospheric activity in New Mexico. Coulson leaves that afternoon.
 * Stark builds a small Particle Accelerator to create the element using equipment owned by Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.
 * Battle in Stark Expo: Justin Hammer’s Stark Expo presentation is hijacked by Ivan Vanko, who uses the drones to attack the crowd. Tony Stark flies to the Expo to stop Vanko, defeating the Hammer Drones with the help of Rhodey (wearing the upgraded "War Machine" armor), the Black Widow and Happy Hogan. Vanko is killed in an explosion that destroys the Oracle Pavilion, while Hammer is arrested for breaking Vanko out of prison. Stark flies Pepper Potts to safety, they kiss and start a romantic relationship. Rhodey decides to keep the War Machine armor for himself.
 * Phil Coulson arrives at a S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost in Roswell, New Mexico to assemble his team of agents.
 * Before leaving Hammer Industries, the Black Widow downloads all of the information stored on Hammer's mainframe and destroys the facility.
 * On his way from Roswell to Puente Antiguo, Coulson prevents an armed robbery at a gas station.
 * Thor, Sif, Loki and the Warriors Three travel to Jotunheim to seek justice for the actions of the Frost Giants. A fight breaks out between the Asgardians and Frost Giants, but Odin arrives riding Sleipnir to break up the fight. Returning to Asgard, Odin berates Thor for his reckless actions, stripping him of his godly power and casting him out of Asgard.
 * Bruce Banner goes to his old friend and pizzeria owner Stanley to hide out. Stanley offers him the Pizza Shop’s upstairs spare bedroom.
 * Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis detect a possible Einstein-Rosen Bridge in the nearby desert and discover the powerless Thor at its epicentre. He provokes Lewis with his aggressive behavior, but they subdue him with a tazer and take him to a local hospital.

1st

 * Nick Fury sends Clint Barton to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico to assist Phil Coulson.
 * In Puente Antiguo, a local man discovers Thor’s hammer, Mjølnir, in a crater about 50 miles west of the town. Unable to lift it, he calls several other people to give it a try. Jane Foster helps Thor escape from the hospital where he is being held and takes him back to her workplace.
 * Coulson arrives in New Mexico and discovers the site of Mjølnir. S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly quarantines the area and erects a portable laboratory over the site to study the hammer. SHIELDThorHammer.jpg arrives later that day.
 * Loki discovers his true heritage: Laufey the Frost Giant King is his real father. After confessing the truth Odin collapses and enters Odinsleep. Sif and the Warriors Three suspect Loki's treachery.
 * Thor and Foster head towards the site of the S.H.I.E.L.D. installation erected around Mjølnir. Thor sneaks in and tries to lift Mjolnir, but fails and is captured.
 * Loki appears before Thor, who is being held at the S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, and claims Odin is dead. In the evening, Erik Selvig goes to the installation and manages to get Phil Coulson to release Thor into his custody.
 * Bruce Banner poses as a pizza delivery man to get access to Culver University’s computer labs and research database. On the way, he is accidentally seen by Betty Ross, and she has him stay the night at her home. Ross' boyfriend Leonard Samson informs the military of Banner's whereabouts. Emil Blonsky receives an unauthorized “low dose” injection of Bio Tech Enhancement Serum from Thaddeus Ross.
 * Predicting an imminent move from General Ross, Nick Fury sends Natasha Romanoff to spy on Banner.
 * After an evening of drinking with Erik Selvig, Thor explains the concept of the Nine Realms to Foster.

2nd

 * Sif and the Warriors Three arrive on Earth to find Thor. Loki sends the Destroyer after them.
 * Tony Stark ends the 2011 Stark Expo.
 * Battle in Culver University: At Culver University, Betty Ross walks Bruce Banner to the bus station in the early morning. As they are crossing the campus, they are attacked by the Military and Emil Blonsky, who seems to adapt well to the Bio Tech Enhancement upgrade, but is still beaten by the Hulk, getting nearly every bone in his body pulverized. Natasha Romanoff witnesses Banner's transformation and Blonsky's enhanced performance from afar. The Hulk escapes the Military with an unconscious Betty, hiding in a cave deep in the Smoky Mountains. News of the battle quickly spreads across cable news channels and the internet. Jack McGee, a student who witnessed and captured the fight on cell phone video, names the creature "an Incredible Hulk” in an interview with WHIH news. His remarks are played repeatedly over the next several days.
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to monitor the Hulk incident and the crater site in New Mexico, as well as Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean.
 * Tony Stark has a debrief with S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury. He is offered an advisory position as a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative, which he accepts on condition that Stern honors him with a medal for his services. Three hours later, Stern begrudgingly gives Stark his medal.
 * Natasha Romanoff informs Fury about Emil Blonsky's enhanced attributes, having witnessed his performance at the Culver University incident.
 * Battle of Puente Antiguo: The Destroyer attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed at Puente Antiguo. Thor and his fellow Asgardians fight it, and during the battle, Thor proves himself worthy of his godly heritage and his powers are restored, allowing him to defeat the Destroyer.
 * Clint Barton discovers the Destroyer's inanimate body in Puente Antiguo. Later that day, with the help of Phil Coulson, they transport the body to Roswell, New Mexico.
 * Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three return to Asgard, where Thor reveals Loki’s plan to seize the throne. Unfortunately, in the ensuing battle between them, Thor is forced to destroy the Bifrost bridge to prevent Loki from destroying Jotunheim and committing genocide against the Frost Giants. This action strands him in Asgard, unable to return to Earth. Loki falls into space and disappears.

3rd

 * Thaddeus Ross has a meeting with the task-force staff.
 * Bruce Banner and Betty Ross hide out in a small town motel, as news of the previous day's battle continues to spread. Within 36 to 40 hours of sustaining his injuries, Emil Blonsky has fully recovered.

4th

 * Banner and Betty Ross arrive in New York City, bypassing roadblocks at the Holland Tunnel by bribing a boat owner to take them across the Hudson River to lower Manhattan. They head uptown to meet with Mr Blue, whose real name is Samuel Sterns. Sterns tries an experimental process to cure Banner, though it only succeeds in reversing the transformation, not ridding him of it completely.
 * Duel of Harlem: The Military captures Banner, but Emil Blonsky forces Sterns to inject him with the blood products he developed from Banner's blood sample. The process mutates Blonsky into the Abomination, while Sterns is infected with Banner’s blood through an open wound, gaining his own mutation. Banner convinces Thaddeus Ross to let him try and stop the Abomination. The two creatures fight in Harlem, with the Hulk defeating the Abomination and fleeing the scene immediately afterwards.
 * Natasha Romanoff discovers the mutated Sterns in his laboratory, subdues him and takes him into custody.
 * Learning that the defeat of Loki could potentially put the Nine Realms in peril, Thor warns Hogun that his people in Vanaheim are in danger of attack from Marauders.
 * In New Mexico, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents help with Jane Foster's research to find Thor. They discover a possible chance at accessing the same wormhole Thor used to travel to Earth, but, when Foster informs Erik Selvig of this breakthrough, he warns her that it might be a bad idea.
 * Around midnight, Foster,  Darcy Lewis, and a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents try to open the wormhole. At first the portal stabilizes, but it eventually fails. Foster is undeterred by this failure, and vows not to give up looking for Thor.

5th

 * The World Security Council grants Nick Fury new funds for S.H.I.E.L.D.. This will provide the resources he needs to examine the Tesseract fully, as well as to put into action the 'Avengers Initiative'.

7th

 * Fury approaches Erik Selvig to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in an advisory capacity to study the Tesseract, AvengersTesseract.jpg is unaware that Selvig is under Loki's mind control.
 * The first "Mandarin bombing" occurs, masquerading as a terrorist attack, and beginning the conflict later known as Killian's War.

8th

 * In a diner, Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell discuss how to prevent Emil Blonsky being assigned to the Avengers Initiative. The World Security Council have ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to make Blonsky part of the team as they consider him a war hero. Coulson and Sitwell send Tony Stark to meet with Thaddeus Ross within 24 hours to ruin any chance of this recruitment going through.

9th

 * Following the Hulk incident in Harlem, Tony Stark arrives in New York and approaches Ross about “putting a team together.” He is apparently on a mission to recruit Blonsky, but his behavior enrages Ross so much that he refuses to release Blonsky into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

6th

 * Pepper Potts gives an interview on Stark Tower.
 * Tony Stark gives James Rhodes a new version of the War Machine armor.

16th

 * Bruce Banner settles in a cabin deep in the woods of Bella Coola, British Columbia, where he works on gaining control of the Hulk.

9th

 * War Machine fights the Ten Rings in Mumbai, India.

13th

 * The second Mandarin bombing occurs.

12th

 * War Machine fights more of the Ten Rings in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.