Ultimate Iron Man

"Ultimate" Iron Man
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4
Created by	Brian Michael Bendis Mike Allred. Based on Iron Man, created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck
In-story information
Alter ego	Antonio Stark
Team affiliations	The Ultimates, Stark International, None
Notable aliases	None
Abilities	Genius-level intelligence/Massive Non-Mutant Genetic Changes (Presence of Neural Tissue throughout his body), Iron Man armour

Ultimate Iron Man (Antonio "Tony" Stark) is a Marvel Comics superhero in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Based on the Marvel Universe Iron Man, he debuted in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up in a story written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mike Allred, before becoming one of the major characters in Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates.

Like his original Marvel Universe counterpart, Ultimate Iron Man is plagued by both a drinking problem and a life threatening illness, in this case an inoperable brain tumor which will kill him anytime between six months and five years, which is his motivation for his many acts of philanthropy. He is also an extremely wealthy business tycoon and inventor. Millar chose to imbue Tony's character with an air of arrogance, and he ends up reading more like a thrillseeking playboy than a scientist, as he does in the 616 universe.

Recently, Ultimate Iron Man asked Ultimate Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) to marry him, and she has accepted.

Orson Scott Card is writing two five-issue Ultimate Iron Man miniseries, and as of the first issue of the first mini, it appears that Tony Stark is a genius because of an accident his mother suffered while she was carrying him; he has undifferentiated neural tissue throughout his body, giving him tremendous mental capacity, but at the cost of constant, chronic pain similar to third-degree burns.

In the second issue, a young Stark (appearing in the comic to be a child of about 8-10 years, but revealed to be 4, indicating that aside from the constant pain and high-level intelligence dropped on him by his birth, his body also experiences rapid growth) is shown covered with the blue skin-armor developed by Stark's father in the previous issue (as indicated he would need to wear to keep him sane by his pregnant Mother in the previous issue). Since Stark, in his appearences in The Ultimates, appears with a normal skin color, it can be assumed that by that point he had developed a skin-colored or transparent version of the protective armor. As well, the inoperable brain tumor that the older Stark possesses can be shown to be a result of his rapidly mutated genetics (and, the fact that he apparently did not possess said tumor until his middle-age can in itself be considered to be a small miracle).

Whether or not the actual creation of the Iron Man Suit has anything to do with helping/easing the pain of his peculiar condition (as the original Iron Man created it to hold metallic shrapenal in his chest in place) has yet to be revealed.