Obadiah Stane (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"For 30 years, I've been holding you up! I built this company from NOTHING! And now, nothing is gonna stand in my way, least of all you!"

- Obadiah to Tony during the fight near Tony's factory.

Obadiah Stane, also known as Iron Monger (sometimes known as Metal Monger) is the main antagonist in the 2008 Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Iron Man. He was the co-leader of Stark Industries, Howard Stark's business partner and Tony Stark/Iron Man's personal mentor and business partner whose revealed to be the one who orchestrated Tony Stark's kidnapping by The Ten Rings which they are associated with him as well as he is the arch-nemesis of Stark as he built an armor of his own; Iron Monger in order to destroy Stark and to control the company. He has the distinction of being the first antagonist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He was portrayed by Jeff Bridges, who also portrayed CLU 2 in TRON: Legacy.

Biography
Stane was a businessman who headed Stark Industries after the death of Tony's father Howard and became the firm's second-in-command when the younger Tony came of age. Stane had cooperated with the Ten Rings Terrorists in Afghanistan to kill Tony in order to take over Stark Industries.

The Ten Rings soon found out who the target was and felt that they hadn't been paid enough to kill Tony. They kept Tony alive to use for their own advantage by having him build them the Jericho Missile. Following Tony's return from Afghanistan, Stane appeared to assist Tony's attempt to refocus the company away from arms manufacturing. While Tony was working on his suit, Stane started to take over Stark Industries by sending weapons to both sides of the war.

After Ten Rings found the remnants of the prototype armor, Stane made a new deal with them to deliver the prototype to him, but ultimately betrayed the group, had them killed, and stole the Mark I Armor. While working on building his own, bigger, more powerful suit, Stane discovered that Tony's assistant, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, found out about his plans, so he stole Tony's Arc Reactor from his chest to power his new suit and left him for dead.

After Pepper discovered Stane's plans, she and a few S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents went to arrest him, but they were no match for his new suit. After he was about to kill Pepper, Stane discovered that Tony was alive and had come to save Pepper. The two then engaged in a huge final battle over the Stark Industries Building. The duel intensified with every second, and both combatants displayed the fullest extents and limitations of their suits' capabilities and weaponry, and destroyed vast amounts of public property across the city. Obadiah easily overpowered Iron Man in every way. In the final moments of the battle, with Stark's power supply running low, Tony had Pepper overload the prototype large-scale Arc Reactor that was at the complex. Stane was knocked unconscious by the blast, and he and his suit tumbled into the generator, which caused an explosion that killed him and destroyed the armor. Stane's death was later covered up by S.H.E.I.L.D, who released a story that he had disappeared while on vacation, and was on board an airplane of questionable engineering.

Personality
To the public, Obadiah Stane was a devoted and loyal friend to Howard Stark and his son Tony. Stane had helped Howard build his company from the ground up and then later ran it when Howard died. However, once Tony returned, Stane was forced to step down, and he and Tony still remained close friends though. Stane even gave an affectionate speech and covered for Tony by claiming that he was working too hard, when, in reality, he was gambling.

As the film went on, Stane became notably darker: he was shown to be incredibly sly and manipulative as he was able to convince the Board of Directors of Stark Enterprises to kick Tony out of Stark Enterprises and even had connections to the Ten Rings, a group of terrorists who abducted Tony.

Just near the end of the film was when Stane's true personality was revealed: he was a cruel, ruthless, arrogant, and murderous businessman, who was willing to do whatever it took to get back to the top even if it meant killing his former friend and anyone who would dare to get in his way. Stane was not above killing somebody if they had displeased him which he did with Raza and the rest of the Ten Rings. Stane was shown to have a deep resentment towards Tony, although he hid that well. Stane also appeared to have an inferiority complex which was shown while fighting Tony in the Iron Monger Suit, he proudly claimed: "My suit is superior in every way!"

However, despite his resentment, Stane had some respect for Tony: just before he attempted to kill him, Stane even commented: "Your father would have been proud."

Stane was also massively sadistic and destructive: he cruelly taunted a dying Tony, informed him that he'd be forced to kill Pepper, and even called her death his fault.

Trivia

 * Before the release of Iron Man, it was rumored that the Mandarin would be the main antagonist of the film, because the trailer revealed the appearance of The Ten Rings.
 * He was the first main antagonist of a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. However, chronologically, the first main antagonist of a MCU film was either Ego or Dormammu.
 * Stane was originally supposed to appear again in Iron Man 2 and in Iron Man 3, as Jon Favreau originally conceived the idea of Obadiah Stane becoming Iron Monger in the sequels after the first film. However, at the end, Favreau chose to use Stane only in the first film, while Whiplash and Aldrich Killian were used as the main villains of the sequels.
 * In a deleted scene, the final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger ended in another way different from the movie itself;
 * Stane did not fall into the Arc Reactor and survived.
 * Stane manipulated Stark into thinking that Stane was redeemed.
 * Stane wanted Stark to help him but then, Stark released his hand from him and allowed Stane to fall.

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