The Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen many characters from Marvel Comics die – whether they were superheroes, villains, or people with no powers but that played an important role in the heroes’ lives – but perhaps the most relevant deaths were those of Howard and Maria Stark, Iron Man’s parents. Tony Stark was the hero that kickstarted the MCU as fans now know it thanks to his solo film Iron Man in 2008, where viewers learned that his parents died when he was 21 years old. Tony went on to become one of the leaders of the Avengers and the MCU, to the point where some events from his personal life ended up triggering bigger conflicts.
Tony’s connections with the world of superheroes go way back thanks to his father, Howard Stark (played by Gerard Sanders, Dominic Cooper, and John Slattery), who created the third version of the Super Soldier Serum and was one of the co-founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. For years, Tony believed his parents had died in a car accident, until he (and viewers) learned that Howard and Maria were actually killed by none other than the Winter Soldier himself, all because of Stark’s version of the serum.
This reveal came in Captain America: Civil War, and was what prompted the final battle between Captain America and Iron Man (and the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes, though he was left out of the battle when his robotic arm was blasted off by Iron Man’s suit’s unibeam). The film also revealed the exact date of the Starks’ murder, and it’s already been 28 years.
Iron Man’s Parents Were Killed 28 Years Ago Today
Everything viewers now know about the murder of Howard and Maria Stark is thanks to Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who gathered a lot of information on the Winter Soldier and more, including the trigger words that activated his brainwashing and the records of all the crimes he committed while under HYDRA’s control. In 1991, Howard and Maria Stark went away for a few days and left their son alone. When on the road, their car was intercepted by the Winter Soldier as arranged by Vasily Karpov. The Winter Soldier made the car crash against a tree, beat Howard to death and strangled Maria, making it all look like an accident. This happened on December 16, 1991.
When Iron Man learned this and realized Captain America had known for a while but didn’t tell him, he attacked Barnes, which prompted Captain America to fight him to defend his friend. The consequences of this could still be felt in the following films, especially during the first part of Avengers: Endgame. Iron Man and Captain America eventually teamed up again, this time to retrieve the Tesseract (and more Pym Particles) and later to fight Thanos and his armies. The death of Howard and Maria Stark wasn’t mentioned again, but the impact it had on the MCU was much bigger than fans could have anticipated.