Iron Man Characters

Tony Stark (Iron Man)

• Played by Robert Downey Jr
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• The Avengers
• Iron Man 3

Tony Stark is a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist who was taken capture by The Ten Rings at the request of Obadiah Stane. The kidnapping left him badly injured and shards of an explosive floating through his blood. Stark escaped by building the very first Iron Man suit, powered by his new arc reactor. He has since built multiple suits, all with a different functionality. He was recruited by Nick Fury to help form the Avengers. After he helped defeat Aldrich Killian, he destroyed his suits and removed the shrapnel from his chest. With SHIELD gone, Stark provides the money to provide the team with the necessary gear they need to save the world.

Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow)

• Played by Scarlett Johansson
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 2
• The Avengers
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Natasha Romanoff was trained as a young girl to become an assassin by the Black Widow program. She built a dark reputation and SHIELD sent Hawkeye to kill her, but he decided to recruit her instead. She became a member of the Avengers when they were formed and continued to work for SHIELD, until it fell. Now she is hiding after her many secret identities were compromised.

James Rhodes (Iron Patriot/War Machine)

• Played by Don Cheadle
• Appeared In
• Iron Man (Played by Terrence Howard)
• Iron Man 2
• Iron Man 3

James Rhodes is the best friend of Tony Stark and is an officer in the Air Force. He stole the Mark II Iron Man armor to stop Tony when he was drunk and had HAMMER weaponize the suit. The military decided to give him a makeover and turn him into the Iron Patriot to make him more friendly. He helped Tony take down Whiplash and Aldrich Killian.

Phil Coulson

• Played by Clark Gregg
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Thor
• The Avengers
• Agents of SHIELD Season 1 & 2

Phil Coulson was the man to originally start forming the Avengers. He recruited Iron Man and Thor and has a big man crush on Captain America. He tried to stop Loki from attacking New York but Loki ended up killing him. Fury initiated Project TAHITI to save Coulson's life and bring him back from the dead. He is now the director of SHIELD and is always looking for more agents.

Nick Fury

• Played by Samuel L. Jackson
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Avengers
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Agents of SHIELD Season 1

Nick Fury was a soldier in his younger days and worked his way up to becoming the director of SHIELD. He was behind the Avengers Initiative and formed a team of Earth's mightiest heroes. He faked his own death when HYDRA took over SHIELD and has gone his own way to take down what remains of HYDRA. He appointed Phil Coulson the new director of SHIELD and gave him all the information he would need to rebuild the secret organization.

Pepper Potts

• Played by Gwyneth Paltrow
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• The Avengers
• Iron Man 3

Pepper Potts was Tony Stark's longtime assistant until the two struck up a romantic relationship. She was appointed the CEO of Stark Industries when Stark thought he was going to die. Aldrich Killian kidnapped her and injected her with Extremis, but Tony was able to get it out of her. She now lives with Tony inside of Avengers Tower.

Senator Stern

• Played by Garry Shandling
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 2
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Senator Stern was a US Senator who always butt heads with Tony Stark. He repeatedly tries to make Stark hand the Iron Man armor over to the government but it did not work. When HYDRA took over SHIELD, he was revealed to be a supporter of HYDRA. He was taken into custody by the government after SHIELD fell and is not presumed to be in prison.

Happy Hogan

• Played by Jon Favreau
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Iron Man 3

Happy Hogan is one of Tony's closest friends and also serves as his bodyguard. He is also the head of security at Stark Industries and is obsessed about people wearing their badges. 

Justin Hammer

• Played by Sam Rockwell
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 2
• All Hail the King One-Shot

Justin Hammer is the CEO of HAMMER Industries. In his quest to best Tony Stark, he hired Ivan Vanko to build him super soldier suits but was betrayed by Vanko. Hammer was arrested and sent to Seagate Prison. He was serving his sentence when The Ten Rings broke Trevor Slattery out, so he could have escaped.

Trevor Slattery

• Played by Ben Kingsley
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 3

Trevor Slattery was an amateur and failing actor when Aldrich Killian approached him to pose as the Mandarin, the leader of The Ten Rings. He was arrested for the crimes he helped commit and sent to Seagate Prison. The Ten Rings were not pleased with his portrayal of their organization and broke him out of the prison for him to meet the man he was impersonating.

Harley Keener

• Played by Ty Simpkins
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 3

Harley Keener was just an ordinary kid when Tony Stark stumbled into his garage. He helped Tony reassemble the Iron Man suit after his initial encounter with Aldrich Killian. Tony rewarded him by supplying Harley with a garage makeover full of the newest technology.

Christine Everhart

• Played by Leslie Bibb
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2

Christine Everhart is a small time journalist and reporter who has written stories about Justin Hammer and Tony Stark. She also did quite the spread on Tony Stark when the two first met.

Jackson Norris

• Played by Scoot McNairy
• Appeared In
• All Hail the King One-Shot

Jackson Norris is a member of The Ten Rings when he is sent to pose as a documentary maker so he can gain access to Trevor Slattery. He breaks Slattery out of Seagate Prison so that he can meet the real Mandarin.

Aldrich Killian

• Played by Guy Pearce
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 3
• Deceased

Aldrich Killian was a dorky up and coming businessman when he asked Tony Stark to join his company. Stark blew him off and set a fire inside of Killian to one day get revenge. He later founded AIM and developed Extremis. He injected many patients with Extremis including Pepper Potts. Tony Stark and Rhodes came to stop him but Pepper is the one who actually defeated him and put an end to his life.

Ivan Vanko (Whiplash)

• Played by Mickey Rourke
• Appeared In
• Iron Man 2
• Deceased

Ivan Vanko was a Russian scientist and the son of Anton Vanko, who helped Howard Stark design the arc reactor. He gained access to the plans and built his own reactor that powered two electric whips. He got the name Whiplash as a result and was hired by Justin Hammer to build an army of drones. He hacked the drones and used them to attack Stark but ended up blowing himself and the drones up to try and kill Stark.

Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger)

• Played by Jeff Bridges
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Deceased

Obadiah Stane was the former CEO of Stark Industries when he paid Raza and The Ten Rings to kidnap and kill Tony Stark. Stane was furious when Stark escaped and killed Raza but wanted to get Stark's newest invention into mass production to be sold as a weapon. He secretly built a bigger suit to take on Stark but was unsuccessful and died after falling into the arc reactor powering Stark Industries.

Raza

• Played by Faran Tahir
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Deceased

Raza was one of the leaders of The Ten Rings. He was paid by Obadiah Stane to kidnap and kill Tony Stark but was not successful as Stark eventually escaped. Stane was unhappy with this and paid him a visit and killed him as a result of failing.

Ho Yinsen

• Played by Shaun Toub
• Appeared In
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 3
• Deceased

Ho Yinsen met Tony Stark briefly many years ago and as fate would have it, they crossed paths again in an unlikely way. Yinsen was kidnapped by The Ten Rings just like Stark and was the one that ended up saving his life. He helped Stark construct Mark I of the Iron Man suit but sacrificed his life to buy Stark enough time to escape.

Howard Stark

• Played by Dominic Cooper
• Appeared In
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Agent Carter
• Iron Man 2 (Played by John Slattery)

Howard Stark is the father of Tony Stark. He was a member of the team that helped transform Steve Rogers into Captain America. He also crafted the first shield for Captain America made of vibranium. After WWII, he developed and lost lots of new weapons and recruited Peggy Carter to clear his name. The two went on to found SHIELD before Stark was assassinated by the Winter Soldier.