Kidnapping of Tony Stark
| Kidnapping of Tony Stark | |||||||||
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| Date | February 2008 | ||||||||
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| Next battle | Battle in Gulmira | ||||||||
The kidnapping of Tony Stark was an operation by the Ten Rings to capture Tony Stark. In February 2008, the Ten Rings attacked a United States Air Force convoy in Kunar, Afghanistan, killing several Air Force personnel, in an attempt to assassinate Stark. The operation was ordered by Obadiah Stane, who was appointed the interim chief executive of Stark Industries and sought to return to the position by killing Stark. The Ten Rings chose to keep Stark alive, distrusting Stane after he did not disclose that Stark was the target of the strike and seeking a favorable deal in which Stark would produce weaponry for the Ten Rings.
Stark was imprisoned at the Ten Rings compound in Afghanistan with the surgeon Ho Yinsen for three months. During his imprisonment, Stark devised plans for a suit of armor to defeat the Ten Rings and return to the United States. Using materials provided by the Ten Rings, Stark and Yinsen constructed the armor. Yinsen sacrificed his life in order for Stark to escape. Stark killed several Ten Rings soldiers and landed in the Afghanistan desert, where the United States Air Force located him and sent him to the United States.
Following his imprisonment, Stark gave a press conference in which he announced that the weapons division of Stark Industries would be shut down, causing the company's stock to fall significantly. Stark later refined his armor, creating a second iteration. Stark's armor was used as the basis for the Iron Monger armor, used by Stane in his duel with Stark, and it was later destroyed during the destruction of Tony Stark's mansion.
Background[edit | edit source]
Obadiah Stane's activities in the Middle East[edit | edit source]
Obadiah Stane, an associate of Howard Stark, was appointed the chief executive of Stark Industries after Stark's death in 1991. By the following year, Stark's son, Tony, had replaced Stane, who continued to work for Stark. Stane covertly sold weaponry to the Ten Rings. In an attempt to replace Stark, he ordered the Ten Rings to assassinate Stark as an unnamed target.
Tony Stark's missile test and convoy[edit | edit source]
In February 2008, Stark presented the Jericho missile to the United States Air Force in Afghanistan. After his presentation, Stark entered a Humvee with Jimmy Ryan, Adam Pratt, Ramirez, with whom he bantered with, in a convoy back to Bagram Airfield in Bagram.
Attack[edit | edit source]
The Ten Rings detonated an explosion in the Humvee in front of Stark's convoy. Ramirez, who was driving the Humvee with Stark, exited the vehicle and was fatally shot by Ten Rings forces. Pratt exited the Humvee and informed Ryan to stay with Stark, dying to gunfire. Ryan then exited the vehicle and died to a fragmented grenade. Stark exited the Humvee and ran. A fragmentation missile manufactured by Stark Industries detonated near Stark, sending shrapnel into his chest centimeters from his heart.
Imprisonment and escape[edit | edit source]
The Ten Rings sent Stane a video of Stark, demanding additional compensation in exchange for executing Stark, believing Stane was deceptive in his dealings. Stark was taken to the Ten Rings compound in Afghanistan, where the surgeon Ho Yinsen installed an electromagnet connected to a car battery on Stark's chest to prevent the shrapnel from entering his heart. The Ten Rings instructed Stark to construct the Jericho missile in exchange for his release. Stark refused and he was waterboarded. The Ten Rings showed Stark their weapons stockpile, entirely consisting of weapons manufactured by Stark Industries.
Stark, upon realizing that his legacy was marred by the Ten Rings' activities in the Middle East, began a plan to construct a suit of armor to escape the compound. Stark built an arc reactor. Three months later, Raza al-Wazar, the commander of the Ten Rings cell in Afghanistan, visited Stark and Yinsen. Unsatisfied with their work, al-Wazar informed them that they had one day to construct a Jericho missile. He sent several men to investigate their activities the following day, but they were killed by an explosive attached to the door. al-Wazar sent additional forces as Yinsen attempted to stall, sacrificing his life in order for Stark to live. Stark left the compound, destroying the Ten Rings' stockpile of weapons and killing several soldiers.
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
Stark's armor sustained significant damage and landed into a desert adjacent to the compound. Several United States Air Force personnel, led by James Rhodes, located Stark and returned him to the United States. Upon arriving, Stark called for a press conference, where he announced that the weapons division of Stark Industries would shut down, causing financial damage to the company.
Stark later developed a second iteration of his armor. His first iteration was used as the basis for the Iron Monger armor. It was later destroyed during the destruction of Tony Stark's mansion.