Fan Casting Tony Stark in George Nolfi's Captain America

Anthony Stark, only son of industrialist Howard Stark, Jr., discovered his technical prowess at a very young age. A child prodigy, by the age of 21 he had graduated M.I.T. with multiple Masters of Engineering degrees. During the War on Terrorism, Tony made a deal with his father, Howard Stark, Jr., to enlist in the United States Army for a tour in order to prove that he could handle responsibility. Despite being on the fast-track to becoming an officer due to his education, Tony's own nature ensured he was constantly passed over for the officer training program. During his third year of service, he was assigned to a unit in Afghanistan. While there, he made friends with helicopter pilot Jim Rhodes. Tony told Rhodes that if he ever got tired of the military that he would be more than willing to hire him. While on patrol in the Afghanistan mountains, Tony's convoy was ambushed and Tony taken prisoner by a group of foreign fighters who called themselves the Ten Rings. During the ambush, however, shrapnel entered Tony's heart; only the efforts of a man named Yinsen, also a captive of the Ten Rings, enabled Tony to survive. While in captivity, the Ten Rings attempted to coerce Tony into building newer advanced weapons for them. Tony first built a miniaturized ARC reactor, based off the design of the larger prototype powering the Stark Industries Los Angeles plant, to power an electromagnet keeping the shrapnel out of his heart. The ARC reactor in his chest, however, was only a stepping stone in his plan; with Yinsen's help, he built a suit of armor – the Iron Man Mk I suit – which was powered off the reactor. Yinsen died buying time for the suit to become fully operational.