He made his first appearance in Iron Man #28 (August 1, 1970). Described as a brilliant scientist and ruthless businessman, Howard Stark worked alongside his father (Howard Stark, Sr.) on various projects, and later founded Stark Industries. Howard was an inventive mechanical engineering prodigy, constantly creating new technology and looking for ways to improve it. He designed and built weaponry and devices that have revolutionized the industrial world, such as various technologies used by S.H.I.E.L.D. and its allies. Howard later met and married a young woman named Maria Carbonell (Maria Stark). They had a child named Anthony Edward Stark (or simply, Tony Stark). Like his father the boy was a genius, gaining admission to MIT at the age of 15. Howard's relationship with Tony was a difficult one, however, with Howard rarely expressing affection for the boy. Howard's one major weakness was his severe case of alcoholism, a problem Tony himself would inherit.
Publication Information
- Host : Howard Stark
- Publisher : Marvel Comics
- First appearance : Iron Man #28 (August 1970)
- Created by : Archie Goodwin, Don Heck
- Alter ego : Howard Anthony Walter Stark
- Place of origin : Earth
- Supporting character of : Iron Man, Captain America
- Portrayer : Paul Rudd
- Season : Ant-Man (2015 Movie)
Throughout the character's publication history, Howard Stark has been featured in several incarnations of comic book series. He has also been adapted for several animated TV shows and films. The character was portrayed by John Slattery in the 2010 live action film Iron Man 2 and 2015 Ant-Man, and as a young man by Dominic Cooper in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger and the 2015 TV series Agent Carter.
Fictional character biography
The son of Howard Stark, Sr., Howard Stark was born in Richford, New York. An avid and brilliant inventor from a young age, he was a brilliant scientist throughout his life. He and his father worked on various projects, and later founded Stark Industries. Throughout his young adulthood, Stark worked on various government projects dating back to the World War I and World War II era, like the World War I Captain America project with John Crowe Ransom, which came to completion during World War II; the World War II Manhattan Project; and the "Arsenal" robots, hidden in a subbasement in his mansion. During the 1950s, Stark was an agent of the secret science organization known as The Shield, partnered with Nathaniel Richards.
Stark married Maria Collins Carbonell and together they had a son: Anthony "Tony" Stark. He constantly pushed Tony to be the best, telling him that someone must have "iron in their backbone" to be successful. Behind his heroic facade, however, he was an alcoholic who had a strained relationship with his son. Howard was capable of devotion and respect towards machines, but he appeared to have little to no interest towards his son. Due to his power as a businessman, Howard was offered membership to the exclusive Hellfire Club, but Stark seemed uninterested in anything other than the lavish parties the club threw. It is believed Howard was also a member of the V-Battalion. He was targeted by the Red Skull (Johann Schmidt), and is rumored to have met the Watcher, Uatu. Stark also prevented Obadiah Stane from taking control of Stark Industries at least once.
Other versions
House of M
In the alternate reality seen in the 2005 "House of M" storyline, Howard Stark was alive while Maria Stark's status is unknown. Howard turned over control of the company to Tony Stark when he turned sixteen. Although officially listed as retired, he worked with Tony to build an armor capable of taking on the Sentinels and powerful mutants during the conflict. Howard and son Tony began to work on Sentinels with Forge and Henry McCoy after being awarded them an exclusive contract. They planned to incorporate a "Vision Project", although there were problems with the control scheme. The two also competed on the wildly popular 'Sapien Deathmatch' television show.
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate Marvel version of Howard Stark is shown dealing with his second wife Maria Cerrera (a brilliant scientist) suffering a genetic accident while she was pregnant. After Maria died during childbirth, Howard uses a newly invented biological armor to save the life of their son, Antonio "Tony" Stark. A few years later, his business rival Zebediah Stane kidnaps and tortures Tony to attempt to learn how to manufacture the bio-armor for his own personal gain. Not long afterwards, Howard arrives with a SWAT team and arrests Zebediah. After the incident, a transparent version of the armor is developed, and Tony begins attending a prep school. This leads to Tony developing a prototype power-armor and befriending fellow student James Rhodes.
Marvel Noir
In the Marvel Noir miniseries Iron Man Noir, set in the 1930s, Howard Stark is believed to have been killed by Nazi agents. It is eventually revealed that he was subjected to chemical brainwashing by the Nazis and became that reality's version of Baron Zemo. Under this guise, he builds war machines for the Nazis based on original designs he shared with Tony at a very young age. He dies when Iron Man destroys Baron von Strucker's airship.
In other media
Television
- Howard Walter Stark appears in the animated series Iron Man, voiced by Neil Ross in season one and by Peter Renaday in season two.
- Howard Stark appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Fred Henderson. In the series, Howard is supposedly killed in the airplane crash but was eventually revealed to have been abducted by the Mandarin because his company had uncovered what they supposed to be a Chinese temple on American soil, which turned out to be a tomb for one of the Mandarin's Makluan Rings; Stark was supposed to help Mandarin in recovering the other nine rings from across the world. Near the end of the series, Stark is found and freed by his son Tony, whom he knows to be Iron Man, and proves instrumental in thwarting the Makluan invasion of Earth and reforming Mandarin.
- Howard Stark is mentioned and is seen in a photo in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Living Legend". Captain America mentioned to Iron Man that he knew Howard Stark back in World War II.
- Howard Stark appears briefly in a magazine cover along with Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane in the introduction sequence of Marvel Anime: Iron Man.
- Howard Stark is featured in Avengers Assemble, originally voiced by Stephen Collins but later dubbed over by Troy Baker for re-airings. In "The Arsenal," Howard Stark is mentioned to have built Arsenal as his greatest invention. In "Thanos Rising," Howard Stark was seen in a hologram transmission asking if he would enjoy Arsenal since he created Arsenal to protect him. Howard Stark's hologram states that Arsenal can absorb anything into an alternate dimension with a chance to self-destruct. Of course some of Howard Stark's hologram messages have corrupted over the time as Arsenal revealed to Iron Man.
- Dominic Cooper reprises his role as Howard Stark from Captain America: The First Avenger in the TV series Agent Carter. He enlists Peggy Carter to help him find out who has been framing him for selling weapons on the black market while he goes incognito. Howard even enlists his butler Edwin Jarvis to help Peggy in her mission. Peggy and Edwin discover that the culprits are the mysterious organization Leviathan. Unbeknownst to Peggy, Jarvis has been secretly keeping Howard Stark posted on the happenings in their mission.
- Howard Stark appears in the 2007 animated direct-to-video film The Invincible Iron Man, voiced by John McCook.
- Howard Stark is shown in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe movie series produced by Marvel Studios.
- While portrayed by Gerard Sanders in a brief memorial slideshow presentation in the beginning of Iron Man, Howard is played by John Slattery in Iron Man 2 where it is revealed that he is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s co-founders. Having placed a message for his son in a film reel, Howard gives Tony closure in their strained relationship while providing him a diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo to perfect the Arc Reactor.
- In Captain America : The First Avenger, Dominic Cooper portrayed a younger version of Howard Stark who aided in the Super Soldier Project and then the Strategic Scientific Reserve. His contributions include providing Captain America with both his costume and his shield. After the Hydra battleship that Captain America raided crashed in the ocean, Howard made attempts to find him before his expeditions led him to the Tesseract. In the Marvel One-Shot film Agent Carter, Peggy Carter helps Howard in the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- In Captain America : The Winter Soldier, it is heavily implied that the car crash that killed Howard and his wife was caused by Hydra infiltrators within S.H.I.E.L.D.
- John Slattery reprises his role in a flashback as Howard Stark in Ant-Man. In the 80s, he witnesses Hank announce his resignation from S.H.I.E.L.D. after discovering they were trying to replicate Pym's formula for Pym Particles. While objective of Pym's actions, he felt that Mitchell Carson did deserve to be punched by Hank following Mitchell's cruel and inappropriate comment on Hank's wife.
- In Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, Tony Stark named a satellite after his father called the Howard Satellite.
- Howard Stark is featured in the game Captain America: Super Soldier, voiced by Liam O'Brien.
- Howard Stark appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
