Iron Man Villains: Iron Monger

Iron Monger is one of the most prevalent names fashioned by the 'super villains' of the Marvel Comics fraternity. However, the most popular use of the name refers to Obadiah Stane, the wealthy industrialist who is noted mainly for his clashes with his nemesis, Iron Man in a number of situations for a lengthy duration of time.

Though Obadiah Stane was first seen in the October '82 issue of "Iron Man", Iron Monger didn't emerge until November '85 issue of the same publication. This character has been popularized even more with the release of the Iron Man movie where Academy Award nominated actor Jeff Bridges plays Iron Monger with a lot flair and panache.

From his early childhood, Obadiah Stane was brutal in a cold way as well as a master in methodical logic making him a rarity as an individual both in his private as well as professional life. Besides being the CEO of his own armaments company, he also had interests in Stark International which passed on to Tony Stark after his parents' death.

Stane played a series of ruthless and manipulative games to take over the organization as Tony in the mean time was fighting his own alcohol problems. Stane, on successfully taking over and renaming Stark International, found out a bunch of Stark's notes which outlined the basic idea of the Iron Man armor. However, unable to interpret them properly, Stane made his own developments to create the Iron Monger armor.

Meanwhile, free from his problems, Tony Stark emerged as the superhero Iron Man and confronted Stane and his agents, the Chessmen in a series of clashes. In the final battle, Stane turning down the option of being taken alive destroyed his own skull using the repulsor ray beam.

Possessor of an outstanding intellect, Stane in his Iron Monger incarnation had a number of skills and powers up hi sleeve. The armor that was code named I-M Mark One contained a strength amplifier agent called exoskeleton. There were also in built repulsor rays and laser beam facilities. However, it was the external computerized mechanism and functioning of the armor that finally led to his fall as his opposition quickly acted on this particular weakness to render I-M Mark One powerless.