Howard Stark

"Tony, you are too young to understand this right now so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this for you, and some day you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and always will be, my greatest creation... is you."

- Howard Stark's message to his son Howard Stark was an inventor and businessman. He founded Stark Industries. During World War II he worked on various government projects, including the Manhattan Project and Project Rebirth. Howard also helped the Strategic Scientific Reserve fight against HYDRA. He constructed the second shield of Captain America, and after the war he discovered the Tesseract. Later in life, Howard married a woman named Maria and had a son, Tony. He also co-developed the arc reactor with defected Soviet scientist Anton Vanko. Howard was also one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Eventually, Howard would push Tony away, but did care for his son and had high hopes that Tony would change the world. Howard and Maria were killed in a car accident.

Early life
Howard Stark was born on Wednesday, August 15, 1917. He was an eccentric industrial genius, inventor, and businessman. He met Dr. Abraham Erskine in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 1934.

Stretegic Scientific Reserve
"My father helped defeat Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project."

- Tony Stark In 1939, Howard Stark launched Stark Industries. A year later, at Ciro's, Los Angeles, California, Howard began a demonstration which would showcase Vibranium, a metal discovered by Stark Industries researchers in Africa. Later, Howard met with Colonel Phillips after being attacked by HYDRA assassins. He agreed to join Col. Phillip's newly created Strategic Scientific Reserve.

He participated in the rescue operation where the SSR agent Peggy Carter saved Dr. Erskine from the castle of Johann Schmidt, the head of Hitler's special weapons division HYDRA.

Under Stark's guidance, his company began producing planes for the American war effort following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His innovations later earn him a spot working on the Manhattan Project.

In 1943, Howard Stark was at the Modern Marvels of Tomorrow exhibition, demonstrating new technology that could allow cars to hover. Secretly, however, Stark was working with the allies in order to help in World War II, performing multiple experiments for them and working as their weapons specialist.

Project Rebirth
Howard was instrumental for "Project Rebirth", the project of the SSR that Steve Rogers under goes in order become U.S. Army&apos;s first super soldier. Howard built a machine that used up half of the power in Brooklyn to dowse Roger&apos;s with vita-rays after receiving the Super Soldier Serum from Dr. Abraham Erskine. The process successfully transformed scrawny Steve Rogers into the muscular Captain America. Steve Rogers was then used as propaganda and traveled to help spread encouragement and hope. Shortly before one of his performances in Italy, many soldiers were captured by the enemy. He convinced Howard to fly him to the HYDRA factory in Austria, where he helped all the soldiers escape. Howard later supplied Steve Rogers with a vibranium shield and his costume.

Losing Captain America
"HYDRA's secret weapon." "Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

- Steve Rogers and Nick Fury In May 1945, Captain America crashed in the ocean with the Tesseract. Howard refused to abandon his friend, and charted multiple expeditions out the ocean to search the sea for him. Though they failed in their search, they did discover the Tesseract, laying on floor of the ocean after falling out of Schmidt's gigantic plane during the crash. He attempted to figure out how the Tesseract worked, but had less than helpful results.

After the disappearance of Captain America, Howard Stark joined the Manhattan Project and helped the Allied scientists build the first atomic bomb. The new weapon was used against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which forced the Japanese militarist government to surrender, effectively ending World War II.

Post-War life
In 1946, agent John Flynn disciplined Carter for her insubordination in the 'Zodiac' case until the phone rang. Stark informed the mission was more a notch in Carter’s belt than a feather in her cap and informed Flynn that Carter was to run S.H.I.E.L.D. with him, and that Flynn was to inform Carter and ‘let her know you’re honored to bring her the news’. Carter rebuked his offer to carry her things out of the office. Afterwards, Stark sat by a swimming pool wearing a robe later worn by his son Tony. Next to him was Dum Dum Dugan. They discussed bikinis – Dum Dum asked Howard if he invented them and he said no, it was the French.

In 1954, Howard created the Stark Expo, a world wide technology fair where the world's new technology would be presented to show a bright future for mankind.

He continued developing weapons for the United States Armed Forces during the Cold War. He met several American presidents, including Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

He also co-developed the Arc Reactor with defected Soviet scientist Anton Vanko. Though the power of the arc reactor was immense, Howard saw it as the stepping stone to create a new, stable element that would render nuclear power obsolete. However, Anton saw the arc reactor as a way to get rich and when Howard found out, he had Anton deported. After that, he took as a partner Obadiah Stane.



At that time, he married a woman named Maria with whom he had a son, Tony. Howard rarely showed his son any love. However, deep down, he cared about his son.

Howard was limited by the technology of his time and could not finish the new element, so he embedded the atomic structure of the new element in the 1974 the Stark Expo model, and a message to Tony in one of his old home movies, stating that he had high hopes that Tony could figure it out with the current technology and change the world. Howard says that Tony is and always will be his greatest creation.

Death and legacy
"I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions I would've asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what his company did, if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch of man we remember from the newsreels."

- Tony Stark

Howard and Maria were killed by HYDRA members on Long Island. The public however thought that they were killed in a car accident. Tony Stark inherited Stark Industries becoming, at age 21, the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

After watching the 1974 message video and examining the Expo model, Tony discovered the new element, noting that his father was still teaching him even after being dead for over two decades.

The new element was the key to a safer and more powerful arc reactor, which Tony needed to power the electromagnet protecting his heart without poisoning his blood. Creating a miniature accelerator in his basement lab, Tony was able to synthesize the new element, upgrade the design of the arc reactor to clean his blood, and create the Mark VI armor.

Relationships

 * Maria Stark - Wife
 * Tony Stark - Son
 * Edwin Jarvis - Butler
 * Chester Phillips - Friend and Ally
 * Steve Rogers - Friend and Ally
 * Peggy Carter - Friend and Ally
 * Dum Dum Dugan - Friend and Ally
 * Abraham Erskine - Fellow Scientist and Ally
 * Obadiah Stane - Business Partner
 * HYDRA - Enemies
 * Anton Vanko - Former business partner turned enemy
 * John Flynn - Subordinate

Behind the scenes

 * Howard Stark was played by actor Gerard Sanders in Iron Man, John Slattery in Iron Man 2, and Dominic Cooper in Captain America: The First Avenger. In the video game Captain America: Super Soldier he was voiced by Liam O'Brien.
 * Howard Stark is one of only four characters to be played by a different actor between films. The others are Bruce Banner, James Rhodes and Fandral. Additionally, he is the only character to be played by three different actors.
 * Howard Stark's appearance and personality in Iron Man 2 were based on that of Walt Disney.