SI Founder Found Dead

By Kate Mallory - December 17, 2009

Today we mourn the loss of a technological superstar.

Last night, a car accident took the life of Stark Industries founder and CEO Howard Stark (age 87) as well as his wife Maria (age 79) and daughter Amanda (age 34). The family was reportedly on their way to the airport for a vacation in the Bahamas when, according to police representatives, one of their car's tires blew out causing the vehicle to crash into a tree on the side of the road. Howard and Maria were pronounced dead on arrival while Amanda died en route to the hospital.

As Amanda was an only child and never married, the family is survived solely by her son, child genius and media rascal Anthony "Tony" Stark (age 8). A sudden illness had sprung up that morning, causing him to need to stay home with a family friend and saving him from the deadly crash.

Questions have begun to rise up over the future of both Stark Industries and the young Stark, but SI has only given a quick statement before closing all lines of communications for the time being. The statement, in short, revealed that Stark Industries COO Obadiah Stane would be taking over as CEO temporarily until Stark's will can be seen to. Likewise, young Tony is set to remain with the mentioned unnamed family friend until such time.

Read on for a full obituary and discussion on what this could mean for the future of Stark Industries

BREAKING NEWS: A Stark Disappearance

By Tech-miss - January 26, 2011

A late-night posting, I know, but I've got big news, readers! A leak from within Stark Industries has just revealed that the company's prized heir is currently MIA on the other side of the planet.

Two days ago, Tony Stark had been in Afghanistan for a demonstration of the Jericho Missile - a revolutionary missile system utilizing SI's repulsor tech - when the military convoy escorting him fell under attack. When backup arrived, many of the soldiers were either dead or injured while Stark was nowhere to be found. A team has already been formed for search and rescue, headed by Colonel James Rhodes: USAF officer, military liaison to SI, and friend of Stark's.

That was all the leak was willing to say, but requests have already been flooding in for further comments from the airforce, SI, and Stark's legal guardian Obadiah Stane so I'll be sure to update you all the moment I get more information!

Comment down below with your thoughts and theories my fellow techies!

The Child of Death Back From the Dead

By Ryan Prince - May 2, 2011

The business and technology worlds are in a stir today and unsurprisingly it's all due to Tony Stark.

The nine-year-old returned to the states today after having been rescued less than a week earlier from his three-month imprisonment at the hands of the Ten Rings terrorist organization. True to form, he immediately made a scene.

Mere moments after Stark was reportedly supposed to have stepped off his plane, his minder and personal assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts reached out to the Stark Industries public relations department to call together a press conference for Stark. Bolts&Blogs was on the list and I was lucky enough to be free to represent the site even with the short notice.

Stark opened the conference without the usual flare that has become his signature over the past year, though he did start it by sitting down in front of the podium with a cheeseburger and asking everyone to join him on the floor. He explained it away as an attempt to make everything less formal, but the boy was (justifiably) visibly exhausted by recent events.

Little information has been revealed about Stark's imprisonment, but it's hard not to imagine what he might have gone through and his appearance only makes it worse. He was thin with malnourishment and the rush makeup job he had gotten hadn't managed to completely cover the bruises across his face or his sunburned flush. One of his arms was tucked into a sling and his artfully styled hair was now long and limp. There was also a seriousness about him that looked alien on the formerly excitable and mischievous boy.

Once everyone but those operating cameras had sat, Stark then proceeded to greet his legal guardian, Stark Industries CEO Obadiah Stane (Why Stane hadn't been at the airport to greet his ward sooner is unknown at this time), before setting into a monologue about his grandfather, the late founder of Stark Industries Howard Stark (More information here). He wondered over what Howard had thought about the company, if he had doubts or was as confident in everything he did as the news painted him.

He then mentioned the soldiers from his escort that had died due to, as reports have hinted, Stark Industries made weaponry, stating that the company had "grown from arming the knights into arming the dragons."

When questioned about what had happened in Afghanistan, Stark answered as such:

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. I know I have no power to change the company until I'm legally declared an adult and can claim my inheritance, so that is why, effective immediately, I am leaving the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries until such a time as I am capable of deciding what the future of this company will be, what direction it should take and is consistent with the highest good…"

Whatever more he had to say was lost as Stane escorted him off the stage into Potts' waiting grasp. The man, despite his ever-present smile, had clearly been caught off guard by his ward's statement and quickly concluded the conference.

As anyone who knows anything about technology could tell you, nothing worth talking about comes out of Stark Industries without the tiny fingerprints of the company's resident genius on it, which begs the question of what this means for their weapons department? Will they still be able to stay ten steps ahead of their competitors without Stark's designs? Where will Stark's focus go now as Stark Industries has always been first and foremost a weapons manufacturer? I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

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Hidden Hero

By Tech-miss - June 27, 2011

New information has come out regarding Tony Stark's rescue, readers, and it's a doozy.

For starters, it wasn't the USAF that did the rescuing.

According to the report published early this morning, an "unknown entity" (Let's call him Uno) launched an attack on a Ten Rings base which the air force later realized was being used to hold Stark as well as a second unnamed prisoner (aka Doc) who had been brought in to treat the injuries he'd gained during his kidnapping. Uno then staged a rescue, freeing Stark and Doc before destroying the base. Afterwards, they watched over the two until a USAF chopper began to close in, at which time they took off and disappeared.

As far as anyone can tell from the report, the USAF doesn't appear to have any idea who the rescuer is. Stark apparently didn't have a clue and if Doc did, we'll never know as he, unfortunately, fell unconscious shortly after being picked up due to wounds he received protecting Stark and died not long after while in surgery.

Of course that means theories abound. Everything from a secret SI black ops team to the stereotypical ALIENS! have flooded the forums. I'm particularly interested in one such theory that posits Captain America was the one to save them, if only because all the OP said to justify it was "Cap could do it!" and I find that hilarious.

Hopefully, we'll get some more information soon. Here's hoping Zombie Cap didn't save Stark for his brains.

Comment down below with your thoughts and theories my fellow techies!

Who is Iron Man?

By CamicsComics - October 27, 2011

Hey there CamComs! Today's post is going to be different from my usual stuff, but that's because we've got confirmation that a real-life superhero is flying around!

Some background that you might be missing if you live under a comic book-lined rock like I do: Five months ago child celebrity and genius Tony Stark was rescued by an unknown person after he'd been kidnapped in Afghanistan. If you're wondering who would think sending a nine-year-old into an active war zone is a fine idea like I was, then I've got two words for you: attempted murderer. But we'll get to that.

Theories have flown about regarding who might have saved him, and today the world got its answer.

Well, at least we got his alias.

See, while the kid was in Afghanistan he found out his company's weapons had ended up in the hands of the very guys who were keeping him prisoner. Since most of the weapons were his own designs, the kid understandably decided to leave the weapons business. Honestly, the kid shouldn't have been there in the first place, but again, his legal guardian was super sketch.

Said guardian was Obadiah Stane. He'd been a partner to Stark's grandfather Howard Stark and took over as CEO after the man's death. He'd allegedly been a pseudo uncle to Stark's mother so people said it made sense the man was given guardianship. Apparently those people never considered the millions of stories about evil uncles killing off their nephews to become king.

Honestly, from what I've read, I'm surprised Colonel James Rhodes wasn't given custody. The guy was friends with Stark's mother, had a rapport with his grandparents, and is still close with Stark.

Stane had never even met Stark until he was given custody!

I'm getting off track though.

Today during a press conference, Stark revealed that he's been looking into the dirty weapons. A few days ago, his assistant Pepper Potts found evidence on Stane's computer that not only has Stane been dealing under the table, but he had put a hit out on Stark. When Stane realized he'd been found out, he decided to finish the job. He attacked Stark and nearly killed him before using an experimental piece of SI technology to try to kill Potts and the agents (they didn't say who the agents were with, just that they were agents) that had accompanied her to arrest Stane.

Which brings us to the reason for this post.

Apparently the person who had rescued Stark from Afghanistan had been looking into the weapons too and arrived at the mansion Stane and Stark shared just in time to save Stark. Using information the boy gave him, he then flew over to SI to take down Stane.

And yes, I did mean flew. Because this mysterious person the media had dubbed Iron Man is exactly what you'd expect from a name like that. He's got a high tech suit of armor that can fly and shoot lasers! Like I said real-life superhero! Not only that, but he's got a team of robots to back him up.

Don't believe me? Look it up! Stark leaked pictures online of said Iron Man taking down Stane to prove he's not just some kid telling stories, which was quickly followed up by a bunch of different people posting their own pics all over social media to back him up.

When questioned on Iron Man's identity, Stark refused to comment. However, he did admit that the rumors about Iron Man being his bodyguard were false.

"Although IM came to Afghanistan for me, it was because he's was a good friend and not because he was being paid as some rumors have suggested. Also, any and all rumors that I created the suit or bots are not only untrue, but also super insulting. The suit is a work of art straight from IM's genius mind and he deserves all the praise for it."

Of course, people picked up on the "good friend" comment when it comes to trying to figure out the man behind the suit. A theory that Col. Rhodes was Iron Man seemed the most likely as he is close to Stark, headed the search and rescue unit, and graduated MIT with degrees in engineering and physics. However, as some have pointed out, there are photos and videos showing Rhodes with Stark and Potts during the fight between Stane and Iron Man.

That's it for the past, but what about the future?

For Iron Man's future, it seems like he's going to be working with the US military to track down all the dirty SI weapons. For little Stark, things are still up in the air.

Since his legal guardian is out of the picture and he has no living relatives, there is some debate on where he'll go. Both Rhodes and Potts are trying to get custody. I've covered the good on Rhodes, though I should point out his position as SI's military liaison does put him in an awkward place. Potts is in a similar position as she's currently Stark's employee. That said, there's no denying Potts knows how to take care of him as she basically became his nanny after Stane took control and shifted her from her former position (the PA to the CEO) to being Stark's PA and minder, which basically means she took care of the paperwork aspect of his job, made sure he was on time for appointments, got him to eat and go to bed, kept him out of trouble, and other such things his legal guardian should have been doing instead of plotting to kill a nine-year-old.

She's also clearly fond of the kid. There are pictures all over of her and the kid together and even at her most scolding she never really seems to be angry with him (such as in these pictures from a gala where Stark apparently decided to set off a CONTROLLED EXPLOSION!? "For some entertainment"! And apparently this is typical behavior? No one's ever been hurt, but seriously kid?). In fact, she's often caught indulging in his more playful mischief (such as these pics that show the two of them dancing at the recent Firefighter's Family Fund benefit where Stark apparently gate-crashed his own party).

We also know she has no fear telling off her boss no matter what considering we've got multiple sources to prove that the reason the woman got her job in the first place was because she - and I'm not kidding here - forced her way into Howard Stark's office back when she was just a financial jocky to make him correct an error he'd made on some paperwork. She'd earned a face-full of pepper spray, a job, and a nickname for her bravery, the last courtesy of Tony Stark himself.

Well, sweet CamComs, as much as I'd love to keep talking about this, unfortunately, that's all I got for now. I'll be keeping a close eye on Iron Man and Stark (because there's zero chance that kid won't get caught up in something again. Heck, maybe he'll even build his own suit and become the hero's sidekick. Seems right up the kid's alley) and keep you updated, but unless something else happens, I'll be back to my usual content on Tuesday.

Subscribe, like, and share, CamComs! Until next time, be the hero you want to see in the world!

Iron Tweet

By Ryan Prince - November 12, 2011

Does the mysterious superhero Iron Man have a Twitter? It would seem so!

Two days ago, (a)1r0n_M4n opened with the name 0111 01 1011. At first glance, one might think it was just a fan account, but the accounts first Tweet - "Is this how I do it (a) Tony?" - was not only liked by Tony Stark, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, and Col. James Rhodes, but Stark also replied to it with "Yeah, but you actually have to use my thing, (a)1r0n_M4n". Rhodes followed suit with "Was Iron Man spelled out normally seriously taken already?" and Potts responded with "Yes, but (a)1r0n_M4n wanted it spelled like that to begin with." By that point, many had taken notice of the account and it only increased when the account became verified late last night.

While the account has since been flooded with questions about the hero and suit, none have been answered. However, when someone jokingly asked for help with a math homework problem, Iron Man responded with a picture of the problem worked out. This began a slew of people asking for Iron Man's help with their varying homework problems until Potts spoke up with "(a)1r0n_M4n you can't just do people's homework for them. They need to learn how to do it themselves." Iron Man immediately apologized and afterward only responded to such tweets with links to varying sites that proved to have useful information for whatever the problem might be. While most gave up afterward, some -usually college-age - continued to request assistance with grateful thanks afterward.

The account currently has 500k+ followers and growing, but only follows six accounts. Stark, Potts, and Rhodes are obvious, but people have become curious over the other three: (a)GirlFriday, (a)Uuuuuuuuuu, and (a)DUM_E.

(a)GirlFriday (named F.R.I.D.A.Y.) appears to be a graphic artist. The account boasts no personal tweets, but many designs have been posted, some of which are said to have been sold to different companies. A few Stark Industries logos have even been found on the site, including the current one.

(a)Uuuuuuuuuu's (named U) account consists entirely of retweeted music videos with genres ranging from classical to rap with the only comments being a sad or happy emoji for each to apparently give the account owner's approval or disapproval.

(a)DUM_E (named Butterfingers) is a more wildcard account. It mostly consists of retweeted recipes and cooking videos, but there are also links to recipes on what appears to be (a)DUM_E's own personal cookbook website as well as original cooking videos featuring far less appetizing mixtures (such as this one which features what appears to be motor oil being blended with strawberries, a banana, and almond milk). This seems to be the most curious account though as it is the only one with personal comments, though they are all coded in an odd mix of binary and morse code. Most of the comments either review recipes they've tried out or complain of annoying brothers and sisters without giving any names, but that's not the curious part.

You see, those that put in the effort to decode (a)DUM_E's comments realized that the same code was used for (a)1r0n_M4n's name. Translated it reads Jay. Although that's not much to go on, it is more than we had before. That's not all though, because people have compared pictures from Stark's workshop to screenshots from (a)DUM_E's videos and website to show that the videos were filmed at the kitchenette in the lab. This has led some to believe the account might be a "shitpost" account of Stark's, though others have argued that the comments about siblings wouldn't make sense for him. When questioned, (a)DUM_E responded with a pair of tweets that, when translated, read, "Tony could not make good food like me." and "If I didn't make him food and bring it to him, he'd never eat."

Before anyone else could respond, (a)1r0n_M4n added, "The recipes in (a)DUM_E's videos are his more experimental ones and (a)TStark rarely partakes in them. (a)DUM_E usually feeds him the recipes from his site."

Stark's Twitter was immediately bombarded with questions of which of the video recipes fell into the "rarely" column, which Stark refused to reply to. Rhodes, however, posted a none too subtle tweet a short time later about how Tony and he agreed motor oil tasted better with bananas than chocolate.

Who could these mystery accounts belong to and how are they connected to Stark and Iron Man? How are Iron Man and Stark connected in the first place? Could these mystery accounts be the key? How many times has Stark eaten motor oil? Time will tell.

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Had to replace the at symbol with (a) because FF hates everything.