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Plot Synopsis:
Weapons Manufacturer Tony Stark is traveling through Afghanistan after demonstrating a new missile system to the US Military. The convoy comes under attack by terrorists, and Tony is injured after one of his own missiles is used in the attack, and explodes near him, hitting him with shrapnel.
We flashback to days before, and Tony is shown as a careless playboy, enjoying life with little care for those around him. He is surrounded by his good friends, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes, and Happy Hogan who try to keep him out of trouble. Obadiah Stane, former associate of Tony's father Howard, helps to run Stark Industries. Eventually Tony goes to Afghanistan and the attack occurs.
Tony is given life saving medical treatment in a cave, and when he awakes he's had an electromagnetic device implanted into his chest, powered by a car battery, to keep pieces of shrapnel from traveling into his heart. He's threatened and told to build a replica of the missile he demonstrated for the terrorists, and then he will be allowed to go. Tony discovers the terrorists are well stocked with weaponry from Stark Industries. He reluctantly agrees to comply, but aided by Yinsen (another prisoner) builds a miniature arc reactor to power the device in his chest. He then shows Yinsen his escape plan - a armored suit that can be powered by his mini reactor. They construct the suit in secret, using components scavenged from the various parts they are supplied to build the missile from. Yinsen sacrifices himself to buy Tony time to escape. The prototype suit is damaged after coming under heavy fire. The suit is smashed after crashing into the dunes, but Stark makes his way across the desert, and is rescued by the military.
Back in the US, Tony calls a press conference and announces that Stark Industries will no longer be making weapons. Obadiah isn't happy about this news, and tries to downplay it. Tony tells him he doesn't want his legacy to be nothing but destruction and misery. He's thinking of using his improved Arc Reactor technology to produce new non-military products. Obadiah tells Tony to lie low for awhile and recover.
Tony throws himself into developing the next generation of his armor. He builds a new improved arc reactor for his chest, which Pepper has to help him install. He labors in the basement of his home with his computers and robots building a new suit. As he tests and develops new parts, gradually refining the idea. His first test run of the Mark II suit, sends him into the skies, but when he flies too high and the suit ices up, he is almost killed, narrowly avoiding plunging to the pavement below.
After some further modifications, Tony puts the final MK III into production. While the robots are building the suit, he attends a company party that he wasn't invited too. There he is confronted by a reporter about Stark's latest attrocity - photos of Stark weapons being used in Afghanistan the day before. Tony confronts Obadiah, and Obi admits that they are selling weapons to whoever will buy them. He also says he was the one who approached the board of directors about locking Tony out of Stark Industries.
Tony returns home and watches the news footage of the attacks in Afghanistan. The robots assemble the MK III suit on his body, and he flies to Afghanistan. He liberates a village from the terrorists then sets about destroying their stockpiles of Stark weaponry. Returning to the US, Stark is pursued by military jets intent on identifying what attacked the terrorists. They open fire on him, while trying to avoid them, damages one of the planes. When the pilot's chute fails to open, Tony risks his own safety to rescue him. Rhodes covers up Tony's involvement.
Meanwhile, the terrorist leaders have recovered the pieces of Tony's MK I suit, and reassembled it. They hand it over to Obadiah, who has been conspiring with them to kill Tony since the beginning. He takes the prototype suit, and has the terrorist camp wiped out. Back in the US, he sets his scientists to building a new improved suit based on Tony's prototype.
Pepper finds Tony struggling to get out of the damaged suit, and is upset to find it full of bullet holes. Later, Tony is repairing the suit, and asks Pepper to go to the office to retrieve some files so he can get evidence of Obadiah's double-dealings. Pepper initially refuses because she doesn't want to help Tony kill himself, but he convinces her. At the office, she is copying the files from Obadiah's office when he walks in. She manages to escape with the files, but he quickly realises. As she is leaving, she grabs a SHIELD agent, and explains what's going on.
Obadiah goes to check on the suit his scientists are building in Area 16, but finds they are unable to construct the miniature Arc Reactor needed to power it. That evening, he break's into Tony's house, incapacitates him, and steals the device from Tony's chest. Obadiah brags how he has been trying to kill Tony, but was worried about killing the golden goose. Now he has Tony's final innovation, and he'll use it to make newer, more powerful weapons.
Tony manages to claw his way to the garage, where the original MK I device is, and reinstall it before he dies. Rhodes is alerted to Obadiah's plans, and helps Tony. Tony suits up in the MK III armor, and goes to rescue Pepper from Obadiah. Unfortunately, the MK I arc reactor cannot provide enough power for the MK III suit, and is losing power rapidly.
Obadiah powers up his Iron Monger suit and pursues Pepper and the SHIELD agents through the factory, when Tony interrupts and they fight out into the streets and onto the freeway. Obadiah smashes him with a car and motorcycle. Tony lures him into the atmosphere, where the Iron Monger suit ices up, and crashes back to Earth. Drained of power, the MK III erratically hops back to the factory. Iron Monger survives, and continues attacking Stark on the roof top of the Arc Reactor building at Stark Industries. Tony asks Pepper to help him by overloading the Arc Reactor. She does so, and Iron Monger gets blasted by the full power of the reactor. The disabled suit crashes through the ceiling of the installation and falls into the reactor, which explodes.
Tony survives, and SHIELD helps to clean up the mess, arranging for Obadiah to be found in a light plane crash, and creating the story that Stark was saved by one of his security personnel in the armored suit. The press are calling him Iron Man. At the press conference, Tony goes against instructions, and admits that he is Iron Man.
After the credits, Tony arrives home to find Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD in his living room. He has come to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative.
