Iron Man Comics
The International Iron Man #7 cover featuring Tony Stark Marvel

The latest issue of Marvel comics finally revealed the true parentage of American superhero, Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Comic book readers met Tony Stark's birth mother, former SHIELD agent Amanda Armstrong, and his father, a SHIELD agent simply named Jude, in the earlier issue.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis, International Iron Man #7 confirmed that Jude is indeed the biological father of Tony, but there is a Hydra twist to it. Jude was revealed to be a double agent for Hydra.

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Concerned about his family's safety, Jude went against SHIELD and sold secrets in exchange for protection. However, Amanda did not take this news too well and stabbed Jude to death. Not being able to handle the betrayal, Amanda quit her job at SHIELD and asked Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to find a family for her baby. That is when Howard Stark came into the picture and took the child.

Michael Bendis spoke about International Iron Man in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, and explained how Tony Stark's character fits into the Marvel Universe. "We have this character Tony Stark, who has over the course of the last two years become the crown jewel of the Disney-Marvel empire. People couldn't be more interested in Tony, and we have all this opportunity, with the fabric of the Marvel universe changing so much, to find out where Tony fits into all of it," he said.

According to Bendis, "We have some really great stories to tell about Tony." He explained, "Quite a few things have happened to him in his life over the last few years that are prime, choice cuts of yummy story to look into Tony's character in ways we haven't before, including the fact that Tony was adopted, and we don't know who his biological parents are."

"He's going to find out this year, and in this brand new book, the quest for who he is and why he's wired the way he is — which is very unique and different — is something he's gonna face. We have some really great stories to tell about Tony," the writer added.