20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Iron Man

5. He's Based On Howard Hughes

Stan Lee describes reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes as, "one of the most colourful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies' man and finally a nutcase." Sound familiar? The writer based Tony Stark on Hughes, and the similarities are easy to see. They don't end there though as he was also a defence contractor who developed new weapons technologies, something which was a major part of Iron Man's character upon his introduction. However, Lee did leave out the man's many mental issues as that probably wouldn't have gone down too well in the comic books of the time.