Obadiah Stane (Marvel Cinematic Universe)


 *  NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Obadiah Stane from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Obadiah Stane (Marvel). 

"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 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. However, Stane grew jealous of Tony, even the latter became a much more competent businesman in person. To that end, Stane hired the terrorist group (known as the Ten Rings, led by Raza) to kill Tony. However, upon discovering who Tony really was, Raza and his men decided to kidnap him instead and hold him for ransom, intending to get him to create a Jericho missile. However, Tony used his expertise to build himself an armor, dubbing himself "Iron Man". With this new armor, Tony was able to defeat several of the Ten Rings men before returning back to business.

At first, Stane felt excited to see that Tony is alive and well, but soon learns about the new armor that Tony made to escape. To that end, he confronted Raza before stealing the prototype armor and having Raza and his men killed to cover his tracks. He then gets several scientists to build a new armor (known as the Iron Monger) and steals Tony's Arc Reactor by using a Sonic Taser to paralyze, admitting his true colors.

Eventually, Pepper Potts soon learned about the Stane's crimes and exposed them in the computer system before bringing in several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to arrest them. Anticipating this, Stane dons his Iron Monger suit to kill them all. Just before Stane is about to kill Pepper, Tony (having been saved by two robots with a new Arc Reactor) shows up with his Iron Man armor to fight back and finish off Stane for good.

The two then engaged in a huge final battle over the Stark Industries Building 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. Stane easily overpowered Tony in every way, but Tony orders Pepper to activate the building's prototype large-scale Arc Reactor located at the complex underneath them. As a result, Stane is electrocuted to his death, and his armor and body fell into the reactor, resulting a massive explosion.

Personality
To the public, Obadiah 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.

Just near the end of the film was when Stane's true personality was revealed: he was 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-going so far as to try and crush Tony with a car filled with a woman and her four children.

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.

Navigation
Obadiah Stane (Marvel Cinematic Universe)