Anthony Stark was a millionaire playboy who founded Stark Industries, the largest weapons manufacturer in the United States. While field testing one of his latest weapons in Vietnam, Tony and his group were attacked by enemy forces. Tony was struck in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from an exploding bomb, and he was taken captive. He was forced to develop a super weapon for his captors, but he secretly used their laboratory to develop a magnetic chest plate that would keep the shrapnel in his chest from piercing his heart and killing him. He ended up designing an entire iron suit that he used to escape his captors, and he returned to the States. He was forced to continue to wear the iron chest plate, for if he removed it, the shrapnel would kill him. He turned his curse into a productive blessing and became Iron Man, a superhero devoted to protecting the innocent.