| NOTE: This page is only for the Iron Monger's characterization in Peter David's novelizations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, considering the original comic counterpart and film version were not voted Pure Evil. Therefore, only the novel version's info and crimes should be listed here. |
Obadiah Stane, also known as the Iron Monger (or the Metal Monger), is the main antagonist of Peter David's novelization of the 2008 Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Iron Man.
He is an old friend of Howard Stark, who helped him found Stark Industries, taking over the company following his death until his son, Tony, was ready to inherit the company. Stane grew jealous when Tony brought the company to greater heights than he could even imagine, so he hires a hit on him and in his absence, profits from causing thousands of deaths by selling weapons to terrorists.
While his actions in the original film pale in comparison to the other MCU villains, the novelization by Peter David is set in its own continuity where early villains' crimes stand out much more. As the MCU stopped publishing novelizations of its films early on, David's novelization has different standards to those shown in the films.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?
- He sent the Ten Rings to kill Tony Stark along with an entire military squad driving him across the desert out of petty jealousy over Tony's success, despite him being a close friend of his.
- Once Stane took over Stark Industries after Tony's seeming death, he sold weapons to dangerous terrorist groups to make a profit; despite knowing they would harm many innocent people.
- Once Tony escaped the Ten Rings after having built his armor, Stane went to them and tortured their leader, Raza, for the prototype armor and had them all killed to cover his tracks.
- Even though the Ten Rings were a terrorist group, it was still mass murder and done for very selfish reasons.
- When he became frustrated that he can't replicate Tony's armor, he used a Sonic Taser to paralyze Tony to take his Arc Reactor from his chest, nearly killing him.
- Upon building his new and advanced suit as the Iron Monger, he killed several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who stood in his way, just to kill Tony and Pepper Potts.
- As he and Tony were fighting across the city, Obadiah attempted to crush Tony to death with a car filled with a woman and her four children, which would have killed them as well.
- Once he became aware that the Arc Reactor was about to explode, he was perfectly willing to let it do so despite the fact that it would kill thousands of people just to kill Tony out of spite, taunting Tony on how he should've stayed down and opened fire at him and Pepper to thwart their attempts to stop the explosion.
- Unlike the film version, the version within the novelization continuity by Peter David didn't have other villains, aside from the Abomination, Whiplash and Justin Hammer, to compete with. Therefore, his actions were heinous by the standards of the novels versus the Marvel Cinematic Universe's.
Trivia
- He is the first Iron Man trilogy villain to be Pure Evil, who is later followed by Aldrich Killian.
- Only the novel version of Iron Monger can be considered Pure Evil, while his film version isn't because he didn't show any desire to let the Arc Reactor explode which made him fail the heinous standards a lot.
- His What If...? version doesn't even get close to being Pure Evil, as Erik Killmonger exposes him early on after preventing the Ten Rings from kidnapping Tony Stark, so all his actions during Tony's kidnapping and after his return are averted.
External Links
- The Iron Monger on the Villains Wiki
 Pure Evils
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Comics Movies TV Series Novelizations See Also | ||
 Pure Evils
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Novelizations See Also | ||