In 2008, Marvel's Iron Man movie was released. Her overwhelming success made actor Robert Downey Jr. one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. While his hero, the brilliant inventor and playboy Tony Stark (Iron Man), bathed in the rays of glory, some viewers were interested in Howard Stark - the father of this character. Despite the fact that little attention is paid to this hero in the Marvel cinematic universe, in the comics, fortunately, there is enough information about the fate of the elder Stark, who made an invaluable contribution to the fate of many superheroes.
Howard Stark
This character has always played a secondary role in both comics and films. He first appeared in 1970 on the pages of the comic book about the adventures of Iron Man.
The “father” of this character is the famous American comic book creator Archie Goodwin. The first artist to portray this hero was Don Heck.
Howard Stark was the ideal of a successful scientist. He is not only an unrivaled inventor responsible for everything he does, but also an excellent businessman who has put together an entire empire of Stark Industries.
Howard Stark: Character Biography According to Marvel Comics
In the Marvel universe, this hero lived for 74 years. His full name is Howard Anthony Walter Stark. Periodically performed under various pseudonyms (Cecil B. Demille, Mustachio Casanova of America) Howard Stark. His date of birth is August 15, 1917. This hero was born in the small town of Richford.
Like his son Tony later, Howard showed himself quite early as a brilliant inventor. Together with his father, the young man founded Stark Industries, which did not prevent him from working in various government institutions.
During World War II, Howard helped his country defeat opponents, and later contributed to the destruction of HYDRA. Together with John Crowe Ransom, Stark worked on the creation of a super-soldier, as a result of which the frail Irish guy named Steve Rogers turned into an ultra-strong and hardy Captain America.
Also, Howard Star, along with other eminent scientists, participated in the creation of the atomic bomb and the superhero robot named Arsenal, which often appeared in the comics about the Avengers, Hulk and Iron Man.
With the beginning of the Cold War, Stark was one of the founders and active participants in Sch.I. Ta. During this time, he worked together with Nathaniel Richards, who later became famous as the villain Kang the Conqueror.
It was Howard who was able to find the legendary Tesseract on the ocean floor. He studied it, but could not find a worthy application of the properties of the artifact.
Together with the Soviet scientist Anton Vanko Stark tried to invent a more reliable and safe source of energy for mankind than atomic. After Vanko showed his true essence - an avid unprincipled villain, Howard got to be sent to Siberia.
Howard Stark's personal life
Despite the success of women, this hero married quite late. His chosen one was Maria Collins Carbonell.
The couple adopted a talented boy and named him Anthony Stark (later became Iron Man).
Despite his image as a brave hero, successful businessman and playboy, Howard Stark suffered from alcoholism, which subsequently prevented him from establishing normal relations with his adopted son Tony, whom he greatly appreciated and respected.
This hero died in December 1991. According to the official version, Howard and Maria Starkey died in a car accident. And although there were rumors that this catastrophe was rigged, so far no confirmation has been found in the comics.
Hero's biobiography
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a character named Howard Stark (photo below) has a slightly different biography.
First of all, Iron Man is presented in the films as the son of a scientist, and not a foster child.
Also, according to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark worked for a long time with the inventor of reduction technology, Dr. Henry Pym, who later became Ant-Man. Upon learning that Howard and Agent Carter were planning to use his invention for military purposes, Pim left Sch.I. Ta and carefully guarded his technology for many years.
In addition, the circumstances of the death of Howard are slightly changed. So, in the film “Captain America: Civil War”, it appears that Howard and his wife Maria were killed by Steve Rogers' best friend, Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), sent by Hydra.
Howard Stark Legacy
Both in the comics and in the films, the sincere fatherly love of this hero for his son Anthony Stark is shown. It was on his lively mind and ingenuity that Howard had grand expectations. As practice has shown, he was not mistaken. Young Stark was not only able to improve the state of affairs in the company of his father, but also to complete many of his undertakings. So, at the suggestion of Howard Stark, Iron Man synthesized a new chemical element that became a source of clean energy, replacing radioactive palladium. Thus, Stark Industries was able to abandon nuclear energy.
The actors who played the role of Howard Stark in the films of the Marvel universe
Despite his minor role in the events of the film universe “Marvel”, Howard Stark appeared quite often in many of her projects. Films with his participation are Iron Man 1, 2, Captain America: The First Avenger 1-3 and Ant-Man. He was also present in individual episodes of the television series Agent Carter and was mentioned in another Marvel television project, Agents S.H.I.
Over the entire history of Marvel, this character was played by 3 actors.
The young and charming Howard Stark (actor from the UK Dominic Cooper) appeared in The First Avenger and Agent Carter.
In Iron Man, this role went to Gerard Sanders.
And in Iron Man 2, Ant-Man, and Captain America: Civil War, he was played by John Slattery.
Entertaining facts
- Unlike most comic book scientists who ignore their appearance, Howard almost always looked dandy. In his youth, he was a brown-eyed brunette with a neat mustache.
- His height is 185 cm and his weight is 82 kg.
- This hero got his name in honor of the famous American aviator and film director Howard Hughes.
- According to the Earth-616 version, Maria and Howard Starkov had a common child - the son of Arno, who had not been known for a long time.
- This character appeared in video games - Captain America: Super Soldier and Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
- In 2007, the animated series “Enduring Iron Man” was released, in the plot of which Stark-father sometimes appears. This character is voiced by actor John McCook.
Howard Stark is a truly outstanding character. Almost all the achievements of Americans in science after the Second World War, according to the Marvel universe, are his merit.
Of course, a solo film project will not be allocated to this character, since he is not well known for this, in addition, there is already one super-popular scientist-superhero - this is the Hulk. However, fans of this character can only hope that in future films, television series and comics "Marvel" they will meet with their beloved hero more than once.