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History

A two square mile, multibillion dollar complex, on the shore of Long Island Sound that features extensive research and manufacturing facilities and the vast corporate offices that make up the backbone of Stark Enterprises.

When Tony Stark's girlfriend Marion suggested he would look more like a "knight in shining armor" if he wore a gold armor, Tony changed the color of Iron Man Armor from gray to shiny gold in his lab.[1] Some time later, a wind tunnel went berserk, producing hurricane force winds that sent a test missile slamming into the side of a hill. The technicians called Anthony Stark to alert him to the problem. After Iron Man arrived on the scene destroyed the machine by creating a countervailing wind current using his armor’s magnetic transistors to spin himself around. While surveying the damage, Jim suddenly vanished in thin air, soon followed by Evans. Stark and his people stood around in shocked disbelief, until a prism-like object rose out of the ground, surrounded Stark, then sank back beneath the Earth carrying him with it.[2]

Back from Indianapolis with Happy Hogan, Stark discovered one of his employees, Professor Gregor Shapanka, trying to break into a vault, and fired him. Shapanka later returned as Jack Frost and froze solid several employees, including Hogan and secretary Pepper Potts, before being defeated by Iron Man.[3]

Later on, this complex and many other Starks' plants were sabotaged by the Red Dynamo, until the latter accepted Iron Man's offer to defect to United States and work for Tony Stark using his technical genius for good.[4]

The plant main generators were also being sabotaged by the Melter, until Iron Man defeated him using an armor entirely made out of tough extruded aluminum.[5]

At the first meeting of the Avengers in Stark's library, the Space Phantom took Hulk's form, then proceeded to fight the others, until he was cast into Limbo when he attempted to impersonate Thor, as immortal beings cannot be assumed.[6]

A few days later, Mister Doll appeared outside the factory entrance, easily causing the guards to fall into a faint merely by pressing various nerves on his awesome doll. He was defeated by Iron Man in his brand new Iron Man Armor MK III.[7]

Later on, during an atomic bomb test, the Angel was flying over the test range and, despite Iron Man's efforts, became exposed to the radiation, which turned him evil.[8]

Back from the Pentagon, having to go on a reconnaissance mission to the Mandarin's Castle as Iron Man, Mr. Stark refused to attend an employees' dinner. Bill Segrist got angry and was socked in the jaw by Happy Hogan.[9]

The plant main reception room was then visited by Veronica Vogue, who was tricked away from her promised date with Tony Stark by Pepper Potts.[10]

Stark's munition plant was also visited by the Black Widow and the Boris Turgenov, who tried to sabotage the factory and murder Anton Vanko: as a result, both men were killed, while the Black Widow escaped in the confusion.[11]

The Black Widow came back to the plant to see Stark and steal his Anti-Gravity Device, knocking him unconscious with a paralyzing gas.[12]

At the weapons factory, while a new transistorized artillery computer was being assembled, a strange, piercing sound in a high-pitched blast filled the factory, causing the delicate prototype machine to fall apart in one sudden upheaval.[13]

Stark was then recalled again to the Pentagon, as his Observer Missiles in Vietnam were not working, either crashing or disappearing.[14]

During Stark's absence, Happy Hogan tried to manage things for him, but with scarce results.[15]

The munition factory's outer wall was then blasted by the Unicorn, who was looking Iron Man to challenge him: he knocked Happy out and took Pepper prisoner, hoping to draw the golden avenger's attention.[16]

The door to the main part of the factory was also hit by an explosive arrow shot by Hawkeye, who snuck inside the plant to challenge Iron Man.[17]

Later on, disguising himself as Captain America, the Chameleon went to the factory and told Iron Man that the Chameleon had attacked him and took his place, hoping to destroy the Avengers.[18]

The plant was then attacked by the Black Knight, who just escaped from jail and wanted to battle Iron Man for revenge over his last defeat at the hands of the Avengers, but the golden avenger quickly defeated him by knocking him off his horse.[19]

The factory was raided once more by Hawkeye, who took Pepper Potts hostage and tried to sabotage the Uranus II Rocket, before being forced to escape by Iron Man.[20]

Suspecting Iron Man for Stark's disappearance, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts handed in their resignations.[21]

When Tony Stark returned, the factory was plagued by a series of serious mishaps, until Iron Man managed to catch and defeat the elusive Phantom.[22]

Later on, as Tony Stark was testing a new helmet for Iron Man, he received a call from the Black Widow, stating that she and Hawkeye were holding Pepper and Happy hostage, demanding Iron Man to show up.[23] The plant's security was breached once more when Weasel Wills managed to slip through the entrance gate undetected and steal Iron Man Armor Model 4 in Stark's absence. He was later defeated by Tony Stark himself, having recovered his old Iron Man Armor Model 1.[24]

The factory was then visited by Senator Harrington Byrd, who commissioned Stark Industries to build a new submarine, which was to be tested by Iron Man. The golden avenger used it to destroy Attuma's cannon, and the senator assumed that the test failure was due to Tony Stark's apparent playboy attitude.[25]

As Happy Hogan quit his job for Tony Stark, Iron Man soon left the plant to attempt to talk him into coming back.[26]

When Tony Stark was seeing the images projected Morgan Stark with Count Nefaria's Visio-Projector, the press suspected he had become unstable, raising once more Senator Byrd's attention and questioning Stark's ability to be a vital defense contractor. After that Iron Man saved his life from the Moon Men, Morgan was forced to tell everyone that Stark was sane, and Senator Byrd retracted his demands as well.[27]

A few days after, as Titanium Man publicly challenged Iron Man to fight him, Tony Stark worked harder than most men would ever work in a lifetime to reinforce his faulty chest device long enough for one battle.[28]

Returned from Alberia, Anthony Stark was kidnapped in his office by the Awesome Android and taken to the Mad Thinker's lair.[29]

While Iron Man was fighting the Black Knight in his Garrett Castle|castle, Stark's office was visited again by Senator Harrington Byrd, who told Pepper Potts he was going to cite him for contempt of Congress, if he wouldn't produce Iron Man.[30]

Receiving an alarm call by Iron Man, Pepper Potts drove to Valley Road Drive to rescue him and took him back to the factory to let him recharge his energy.[31]

Meanwhile, Happy Hogan was exposed to the Enervation Intensifier and turned into a Freak. He escaped from the hospital and ran through the factory, where he stumbled upon Senator Byrd pressuring Pepper Potts to get Tony Stark to appear before a Congressional hearing to reveal the secrets of the Iron Man armor for the sake of national security. The Freak easily knocked out the Senator and Pepper fainted out of fright. The Freak then grabbed the woman and tried to escape, but was forced to leave empty handed when security and Iron Man arrived to try and stop him.[32]

Soon after the Enervation Intensifier reverted the transformation of Happy Hogan into the Freak, Tony Stark was taken into custody by Senator Byrd and his police escort, leaving the disoriented Happy in the care of Pepper.[33]

Having Stark disappeared, the plant was shut down until such a time as Tony Stark appeared before Senator Byrd's committee to answer their questions about Iron Man.[34]

Back from China, Anthony Stark stood before the closed gates and read from one of the papers the details that his money had been frozen and a warrant was standing for his arrest on top of the closure of all of Stark Industries.[35]

After his battle with Warlord Krang, with his armor damaged and his power supply running dangerously low, Iron Man was forced to break into his own lab in order to recharge and repair himself. While he was there, he was suddenly visited by the Sub-Mariner, who proclaimed that this was Iron Man's finish.[36]

Iron Man locked himself in a lab in order to repair his damaged armor and recharge himself; he managed to repair his armor and opened the door to take on Namor, only to find that he is gone. Just then the police, Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan arrived to find out what was happening. There Iron Man tried to explain to the police that he was attacked by the Sub-Mariner.[37]

As Namor and Iron Man struggled, the monarch's keen eyesight allowed him to spot Warlord Krang's submarine out at sea. Breaking off from the fight the Sub-Mariner dived back into the ocean and swam after his hated enemy Warlord Krang.[38]

Mr. Stark was eventually escorted by NYPD agents Charlie and Sam to the airport to catch a plane to Washington, D.C..[39]

One night, Stark returned to his plant, where he built a new and even more powerful suit of armor to save his friend Happy Hogan, who had been kidnapped by the Mandarin.[40]

Later on, the plant was evacuated as Stark was testing a brand new atomic powered earth-boring device; however the tests of such a device began to anger nearby citizens, who believed Stark's inventions would eventually destroy everybody. Taking advantage of the protest, a number of petty crooks decided it may be in their benefit to steal the device. Breaking into Stark's lab, they ended up in a battle with Iron Man, who easily knocked them out, however just as he was finished, the entire Stark Industries factory fell to through the Earth.[41]

The US Military wanted to lower a bathysphere into the sight of the vanished factory with a crew of skilled technicians, but they backed up once Iron Man warned them that the Mole Man and his subterranean army were responsible for the missing buildings and any surface reconnaissance force faced certain annihilation.[42]

The plant was immediately rebuilt and subsequently attacked by the Melter, who had just escaped from prison; he took Stark hostage and forced him to begin building a smaller melting gun.[43]

While the police threw a well-armed cordon around the lab, Iron Man succeeded in defeating the Melter, because when he was building the weapon as Tony Stark, he built in a flaw that would cause the weapon to explode after a certain amount of usage.[44]

The factory was partly demolished again by the Crusher, who wanted to defeat Anthony Stark's bodyguard. Iron Man defeated him by attaching the Centrifuge Machine to the Crusher, causing his gravity to exponentially increase. This increase in gravity made the Crusher break through the floor and plummet down to points unknown. When repairing the floor as Tony Stark, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts arrived to tell him that they eloped and were married.[45]

While Iron Man was in Vietnam, a mysterious visitor came to Stark Industries and asked to see Tony Stark.[46]

Having come back in vain, the mysterious visitor got inside Stark Industries, knocking out the guard and scaling over the wall, having become too impatient for Stark's return.[47]

It was revealed to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell, who had been assigned to protect Stark Industries during Stark and Iron Man's leaves of absences. After having read about the Stark Industries development of a cobalt super-weapon, which he hoped to steal in order to use to obtain Thor's Hammer, which he believed would grant him immortality, the Grey Gargoyle attacked the plant, succeeded in turning Iron Man into stone and threw him off the Stark Industries building.[48]

The golden avenger was saved by Sitwell, but the Grey Gargoyle managed to steal the Cobalt Device. Iron Man eventually used his chest transmitter on a certain frequency that made the cobalt weapon to short circuit, causing the Gargoyle to be restored to his human form and quickly arrested.[49]

While the golden gladiator was lying mortally wounded after the battle with the Grey Gargoyle, Doctor Octopus broke into the Stark Industries, using the Nullifier weapon against the guards and Spider-Man, causing him to be struck with amnesia.[50]

Believing he was Dock Ock's partner in crime, Spider-Man helped him leave the plant and escape the police.[51]

When, in order to defeat the Grey Gargoyle, Iron Man put his chest plate at risk, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell attempted to remove Iron Man's mask. When even a miniature explosive proved incapable of removing the helmet, Sitwell left the scene to find Tony Stark to aid in saving Iron Man's life.[52]

After having learned that Iron Man was carried off the scene by Morgan Stark, he radioed in for information from S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ and was ordered to handle the situation of finding Iron Man on his own. Jasper also waded through Tony's various female admirers, particularly a mysterious woman in a fedora who took specific interest in the situation.[53]

Back to the base from a mission at Avengers HQ, Sitwell met Janice Cord, who told him about her father's plan to destroy Iron Man with the Demolisher.[54]

Tony Stark returned just in time to save some construction workers from an accidental rocket explosion, but as he was resting and recharging his armor, he later discovered he couldn't disconnect the recharge cable, as his heart was weaker than ever. While Jasper Sitwell was escorting Whitney Frost to visit the factory, Stark was able to draw the blueprints for a new, enhanced armor and have it built by Happy Hogan. Unfortunately, during the process Hogan overworked a cobalt bomber and turned into the Freak, who ran away from the complex, knocking down Charlie and taking Pepper Potts with him.[55]

Iron Man subdued the Freak and got him back to the Stark Enterprises, where he reverted him back to Happy Hogan with the Enervation Intensifier, while Pepper waited behind a protective wall.[56]

Moments before flying to the test of a crucial, new explosive, Anthony Stark was kidnapped by a Time Probe and brought forward into the Earth-68091 24th century. He then returned right back where he started from, almost to the second on June 4th, almost as though it had never happened.[57]

The plant was evacuated again as the Crusher attacked the factory in order to use the Centrifuge Machine against Iron Man, taking Whitney Frost as hostage, but he couldn't operate the device, which exploded in his hands and let Iron Man carry him away.[58]

Sitwell oversaw the repairs in the plant's intricate and elaborate security defense system but, still upset over the fact that Iron Man had to knock him out in front of his girl, he told Witney that the southern wall was still a weak spot, committing a serious security violation. Stark then met with Janice Cord and her lawyer Vincent Sandhurst, who came to sell her father's assets to Tony. After their departured to the Cord Castle Laboratory, Whitney Frost and the Maggia assault squad broke into the plant, approaching the headquarters for the security guards.[59]

They were later joined by the Gladiator and Iron Man: during the course of the battle, most of the Maggia agents and the Gladiator were captured, however Jasper couldn't bring himself to stop Whitney from escaping due to his feelings towards her.[60]

Tony Stark repaired all the armor damages dealt by the Gladiator, but, as he received a call from Mr. Sandhurst, he left the lab without checking the new connection circuits for the repulsor rays.[61]

After the press allegations about Stark dealing with members of the Chinese and Russian military, the plant was closed, as all work on government projects was suspended by Senator Byrd's order, until Stark could come forward with an alibi.[62]

After Tony Stark cleared himself of those traitor charges, Iron Man returned to the plant and deactivated Stark's Life-Model Decoy, keeping it safe in his private vault.[63]

While he was away, the massive complex was rocked by an explosion centered in the area rumored to house Tony Stark's private labs and vaults, triggered by Madame Masque on behalf of Midas. As Tony Stark returned to Stark Industries from Nevada, he found his LMD had replaced him, changing his filed signature and fingerprints, and was thrown out as an impostor.[64]

After a few days, with the help of Madame Masque, Stark infiltrated the complex and, wearing his old Iron Man Armor Model 1, defeated the LMD. Soon after the battle, he suffered a heart attack, so he was rushed by the Avengers to the Ultra-Rejuvenator.[65]

Returning to his company after he was cured by Dr. Santini, Stark was abducted by Madame Masque and taken to Midas.[66]

A few days later, Iron Man stopped a mini-reactor from destroying Stark Industries, upsetting with jealousy security guard Charles Gray, who was then possessed by Lucifer and returned to the complex to battle the golden avenger.[67]

Stark then hired Eddie March to replace him as Iron Man and rigorously trained him for several weeks. During his first mission, while Stark was monitoring with a two-way transmitter, he was contacted by Eddie's doctor, who informed him of a blood clot in Eddie's brain. Donning his armor, he rushed off to help, as the ailing Eddie was about to be finished off by the Crimson Dynamo.[68]

After the death of Janice Cord, Stark spent some time away from the plant, and Jasper Sitwell offered his condolences before he left.[69]

After the incident at Meridian Island, Stark called a conference in the plant screening room to warn his fellow businessmen about the environmental risk of their industrial operations, but they all quickly dismissed his call of action and refused to commit to respect the environment.[70]

A short time later, Ares dispatched his Warhawks to Stark Industries with one of the Satyrs, and they managed to control Iron Man, and forced him to help design new weapons for Ares. The Vision came to Stark Industries to stop the Warhawks, and battled Iron Man. In the course of their battle, Iron Man blasted Vision in the face with his repulsor rays and struck him so hard that he fell back into the satyr, crushing him to death. With the satyr dead, Iron Man and the Warhawks regained their senses.[71]

To cure Stark's competitor Jason Beere, Iron Man flew him to his Stark International facility, where he used his original chest plate to stabilize Beere's failing heart. As the Avengers eventually found a neutron bomb within his chest, set to detonate when his heart stopped, Iron Man then placed Beere within a cryogenic chamber, where his heart would be slowed, but would never stop due to the chest plate, becoming an Eternity Man.[72]

During the Armor Wars I, Firepower arrived at the rail yard, injuring Bill Segrist and giving Stark a message from Edwin Cord: having destroyed Iron Man, he now planned to destroy the rest of Stark’s life.[73]

In the wake of the Secret Invasion, the plant was infected with the same alien virus caught by Iron Man.[74]

Residents

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Tales of Suspense #40
  2. Tales of Suspense #43
  3. Tales of Suspense #45
  4. Tales of Suspense #46
  5. Tales of Suspense #47
  6. Avengers #2
  7. Tales of Suspense #48
  8. Tales of Suspense #49
  9. Tales of Suspense #50
  10. Tales of Suspense #51
  11. Tales of Suspense #52
  12. Tales of Suspense #53
  13. Avengers #5
  14. Tales of Suspense #54
  15. Tales of Suspense #55
  16. Tales of Suspense #56
  17. Tales of Suspense #57
  18. Tales of Suspense #58
  19. Tales of Suspense#59
  20. Tales of Suspense #60
  21. Tales of Suspense #61
  22. Tales of Suspense #63
  23. Tales of Suspense #64
  24. Tales of Suspense #65
  25. Tales of Suspense #66
  26. Tales of Suspense #67
  27. Tales of Suspense #68
  28. Tales of Suspense #69
  29. Tales of Suspense #72
  30. Tales of Suspense #73
  31. Tales of Suspense #74
  32. Tales of Suspense #75
  33. Tales of Suspense #76
  34. Tales of Suspense #77
  35. Tales of Suspense #78
  36. Tales of Suspense #79
  37. Tales of Suspense #80
  38. Tales to Astonish #82
  39. Tales of Suspense #81
  40. Tales of Suspense #85
  41. Tales of Suspense #87
  42. Tales of Suspense #88
  43. Tales of Suspense #89
  44. Tales of Suspense #90
  45. Tales of Suspense#91
  46. Tales of Suspense #93
  47. Tales of Suspense #94
  48. Tales of Suspense #95
  49. Tales of Suspense #96
  50. Amazing Spider-Man #55
  51. Amazing Spider-Man #56
  52. Tales of Suspense #97
  53. Tales of Suspense #98
  54. Iron Man #2
  55. Iron Man #3
  56. Iron Man #4
  57. Iron Man #5
  58. Iron Man #6
  59. Iron Man #7
  60. Iron Man #8
  61. Iron Man #9
  62. Iron Man #10
  63. Iron Man #12
  64. Iron Man #17
  65. Iron Man #18
  66. Iron Man #19
  67. Iron Man #20
  68. Iron Man #21
  69. Iron Man #23
  70. Iron Man #25
  71. Avengers #98
  72. Avengers #169
  73. Iron Man #231
  74. Secret Invasion #1
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