Marvel Universe: Howard Stark

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In 2008, the Marvel movie "Iron Man" was released. Her runaway success has made actor Robert Downey Jr. one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. While his hero - a brilliant inventor and playboy Tony Stark (Iron Man), basked in the 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 minor role in both comics and movies. He first appeared in 1970 in the pages of an Iron Man comic strip.

The "father" of this character is the famous American comic book creator Archie Goodwin. The first artist to depictthis hero was Don Hyuk.

Howard Stark was the ideal of a successful scientist. He is not only an unsurpassed inventor, responsible for everything he does, but also an excellent businessman who has built 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 W alter Stark. Periodically performed under various pseudonyms (Cecil B. DeMille, Mustachioed 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 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 agencies.

During the Second World War, Howard helped his country to defeat the opponents, and later contributed to the destruction of HYDRA. Stark worked with John Crow Ransome to create a super soldier, transforming a frail Irish kid named Steve Rogers into the super-strong and resilient Captain America.

Also, Howard Star, along with other eminent scientists, participated in the creation of the atomic bomb and the robot superhero named Arsenal, who often appeared in comics about the Avengers, the Hulk and Iron Man.

Since the beginning of the Cold War, Stark was one of the founders and active members of S. H. I. E. L. D. During this time he worked with Nathaniel Richards,later known 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 for the properties of the artifact.

Together with the Soviet scientist Anton Vanko Stark tried to invent a more reliable and safer source of energy for humanity than nuclear. After Vanko showed his true nature - a greedy unscrupulous villain, Howard managed to get him sent to Siberia.

Howard Stark's personal life

Despite his success with women, this hero got 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 disaster was a set-up, no confirmation of this has been found in the comics yet.

Kinobiography of the hero

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 adopted.

Also,according to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark worked for a long time with the inventor of shrinking technology, Dr. Henry Pym, who later became Ant-Man. After learning that Howard and Agent Carter planned to use his invention for military purposes, Pym retired from S. H. I. E. L. D. and carefully guarded his technology for many years.

In addition, the circumstances of Howard's death have been slightly changed. So, in the film "The First Avenger: Confrontation" it turns out that Howard and his wife Maria were killed by Steve Rogers' best friend - Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), sent by Hydra.

Howard Stark's Legacy

Both in comics and in films, this hero's sincere paternal love for his son Anthony Stark is shown. It was on his lively mind and ingenuity that Howard pinned grandiose hopes. As practice has shown, he was not mistaken. Young Stark was not only able to improve the state of affairs in his father's company, but also 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 move away from nuclear power.

The actors who played the role of Howard Stark in the movies of the Marvel Universe

Despite his minor role in the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Howard Stark appeared quite often in many of its projects. Films with his participation are "Iron Man 1, 2", "The First Avenger 1-3" and "Ant-Man". He also appeared in some episodesTV series "Agent Carter" and was mentioned in another Marvel TV project - "Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D.".

Three actors have played this character throughout the history of Marvel.

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.

Fun Facts

• Unlike most comic book scientists who don't care about their appearance, Howard almost always looked like a dandy. In his youth, he was a brown-eyed brunette with a neat mustache.
• He is 185 cm tall and weighs 82 kg.
• This hero got his name in honor of the famous American aviator and film director Howard Hughes.
• According to Earth-616, Maria and Howard Stark had a common child - the son of Arno, about whom nothing was known for a long time.
• This character has appeared in video games - Captain America: Super Soldier and Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
• In 2007, the animated series "Invincible Iron Man" was released, in the plot of which Stark the father sometimes appears. This character is voiced by actor John McCook.

Howard Stark is a really outstanding hero. Almost all the achievements of Americans in the field of science after World War II, according to the Marvel Universe, are his merit.

Of course, this character will not be given a solo film project, becausehe's not well known enough for that, and there's already one super-popular superhero scientist, the Hulk. However, fans of this character can only hope that in future films, television series and Marvel comics they will meet their favorite hero more than once.