Obadiah Stane was the business partner of Tony Stark and a good friend of his father, Howard Stark. After Howard's death, Stane became interim CEO of Stark Industries until Tony took over officially shortly after. Stane's jealousy of the younger Stark led him to join forces with the Ten Rings to organize a failed attempt to assassinate him so Stane could become CEO once again. He further armed the Ten Rings with Stark Industries weapons, to facilitate their campaign in the war-torn Gulmira. When his involvement with terrorists was exposed by Pepper Potts, Stane created the Iron Monger Armor and attempted to kill Stark himself, leading to his own death. He appears in IRONMAN(2008).