10 Most Shocking Betrayals In Superhero Movie History

9. Obadiah Stane Hires The Ten Rings To Kill Tony Stark (Iron Man 1)

Captain America Civil War Cap Iron Man
Marvel Studios

This betrayal hits differently considering how close Obadiah Stane was to Tony Stark. After the tragic death of Tony's father, Howard Stark (more on this later), Obadiah Stane was the closest thing he had to a father figure. The two of them were the perfect Yin and Yang at the top of the Stark Industries pyramid: Tony, though reckless and flamboyant, was a creative genius, whilst Obadiah tried to keep Tony grounded and handled the business side of things.

However, after years of being in Tony's poster boy shadow, Obadiah Stane (who has the greatest bad guy name in the Marvel Cinema Universe by the way) hires terrorist organisation The Ten Rings to capture and kill Stark in order to be the sole head of Stark Industries, allowing him to continue trafficking weapons to terrorist organisations. That's not very father figure-y.

The confrontation scene results in a battle between Iron Man and Obadiah's Iron Monger, powered by the arc reactor which Stane had stolen from out of Tony's chest moments earlier. Not exactly a stab in the back but tearing someone's artificial heart out from their chest is certainly on par.

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