Zeke Stane
Zeke Stane | |
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Iron Man 2.0 | |
Abilities | Genius-level intellect Superhuman abilities derived from bio-upgrades Accelerated metabolism |
Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as the son of Obadiah Stane and an enemy of Iron Man. Created by writer Matt Fraction and artist Barry Kitson, he first appeared in The Order #10 (April 2008).[1]
Characterization
Zeke Stane is the son of
Fraction states the similarities between the pair's characteristics with Ezekiel being evolution of Tony Stark's character: a younger, smarter, sharper futurist of a post-national supercorporate world moving into a future that Stark has no control over.[2] Overtaking Stark and his Iron Man technology by not taking the route of armored suits but upgrading the human body itself.
No matter how high tech or evolved, even with
Extremis, the Iron Man armor is still a guy in a suit, if you get between the man and the suit you can undo it. So Stane doesn't need a suit. That's the difference. That's what we start to see, the future of Iron Man is that there's no gap between Iron and Man. It's one being and Stane is quite literally evolving himself and people who pay him as we see in the book's opening.— Matt Fraction[3]
Fraction often describes the contrast between the two characters using software terms, due to the character's technological basis.
Zeke is a post-national business man and kind of an
closed source oppressiveness. He has no headquarters, no base, and no bank account. He's a true ghost in the machine; completely off the grid, flexible, and mobile. That absolutely flies in the face of Tony's received business wisdom and in the way business is done. There are banks and lawyers and you have facilities and testing. Stane is a much more different animal. He's a much smarter, more mobile, and much quicker to respond and evolved futurist.— Matt Fraction[3]
Publication history
Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane first appeared in Matt Fraction's critically acclaimed book The Order #8 (April 2008) where he was drawn by Barry Kitson.[4]
Fictional character biography
Zeke Stane is the son of
In the final issue of The Order, #10, Stane meets Iron Man face-to-face for the first time ever. Due to Stane's life off the grid, Iron Man fails to realize who he actually is, even with Stark's resources as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Stane subsequently leaves California and prepares for the next stage in his vendetta against Stark.[7]
Fraction would follow The Order with a new monthly on-going Invincible Iron Man title, with Zeke Stane appearing in its first story arc "The Five Nightmares" to further his vendetta against Tony Stark.
Stane ultimately confronts Stark with his own unique armor, while also using terrorists armed with his technology to attack Stark Industries facilities around the world. However, Stark defeats Stane's plan with his control of all of his various Iron Man armors, allowing him to be in multiple locations and neutralize all of Stane's bombs at once. Stark then disables all of Stane's tech and both of their armors with electromagnetic pulses and defeats the younger man in hand-to-hand combat. Stark delivers the final emotional blow to the defeated Stane by telling him that "your father [Obadiah] was smarter than you. And harder to beat." However, Stark is left disturbed by Stane's attack, particularly with the notion of what he may have to become to face the future Stane represents.[11]
Zeke Stane had been visited a few times in his prison sentence and was "paroled" by the
Mandarin became increasingly discontent when Stane could not build Dreadnoughts and Titanomechs on impossible schedules and nonexistent budgets. He started affecting Stane with his ring, making him obsessed with the work. Irked by this, Stane managed to remove his bomb implant and face off against Mandarin. However, Mandarin cranked up the ring's effect, making Stane his slave, causing increasing brain damage in the process. After the Mandarin succeeded in bringing Stark under his control, Tony and Zeke worked together to produce the Titanomechs.[14]
After Mandarin used 3 of his rings to power the first Titanomech, Tony started a plan with Zeke where they convinced super villains Whirlwind, Blizzard II and Living Laser to join him in a rebellion with the final purpose of defeating Mandarin, and managed to use the technology in his body to help Resilient to find him, using microbots known as the Swarm, which tracked the repulsor technology of Tony's body. Resilient asked for help to the Triumph Division and the Dynasty to help Tony defeat Mandarin and his Titanomech. After Tim Cababa managed to reactivate the Extremis virus inside Stark's body, Tony created a link with the Swarm, and use them as bombs to destroy Mandarin's weapons, who in the end was killed by Stane.[15]
As part of the
Recently, he is also revealed to be the financial backer of a rebellion against
Powers and abilities
Zeke Stane's genius-level intellect and considerable fortune has allowed him to cannibalize and reverse engineer Stark Tech from the
This excessive use of the body's energy has shown that Stane must constantly keep his body's blood sugar level high to make up for its rapid consumption. Stane does this by eating a high (20,000) calorie paste.[9]
In other media
Television
- Ezekiel Stane appears in the Marvel Future Avengers episode "Secret Past of Iron Man", voiced by Yōhei Azakami in Japanese and Benjamin Diskin in English.[18]
Film
- While developing the story and rewriting Obadiah Stane was previously killed in the preceding MCU film Iron Man. Ultimately, Ezekiel did not make it into the final draft due to producer Kevin Feige's opinion.[19]
- Ezekiel Stane appears in Tony Stark as well as create the "Technovore" utilizing A.I.M. funding. Ezekiel is confronted by Iron Man, but he paralyzes him with Technovore and details his plan to replace humanity with his new technology by using the Howard satellite to eliminate all human life on Earth. Upon being arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D., Ezekiel is betrayed by the Technovore, which takes over his body to fight Iron Man and War Machine. Iron Man defeats Technovore by destroying the Howard satellite while a comatose Ezekiel is re-taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
Video games
Ezekiel Stane appears as a boss in Iron Man 3: The Official Game, voiced by Tom Wayland. This version's mother withheld information about his father and did not learn of him until the latter died and Ezekiel received his inheritance. He works with A.I.M., Aldrich Killian / MODOK, and the Living Laser to capture Pepper Potts until Ezekiel is killed by Iron Man.
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ a b Matt Fraction On Invincible Iron Man – Newsarama
- ^ a b Comic Book Resources > CBR News: A Stark Contrast: Fraction talks “Invincible Iron Man”
- ^ The Order vol. 2, #8 (April 2008)
- ^ Vice, Jeff. "Man of Iron: Writer finds dream job — at Marvel Comics". Deseret News. May 9, 2008
- ^ The Order #8
- ^ The Order #9-10
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #4-7
- ^ a b Invincible Iron Man vol. 5, #1 (July 2008)
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #20
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #25-28
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #500
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #510-513
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #520
- ^ Invincible Iron Man #525
- ^ Mighty Thor Vol. 2 #8
- ^ Black Panther Vol. 6 #4
- ^ "Behind The Voice Actors – Marvel Future Avengers". Behind The Voice Actors.
- ^ Patches, Matt; Failes, Ian (April 23, 2018). "The Battle of New York: An 'Avengers' Oral History". Thrillist. Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
- ^ "Newsarama | GamesRadar+".