Zeke Stane
Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as the son of Obadiah Stane and an enemy of Iron Man. Created by writer Matt Fraction and artist Barry Kitson, he first appeared in The Order #10.
Alden Ehrenreich portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ series Ironheart.
Publication history
Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane first appeared in The Order #8, written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Barry Kitson.Fictional character biography
Zeke Stane is the son of Obadiah Stane who manipulates other villains who have set out to destroy the Order. Stane targets the Order, Tony Stark's showcase Initiative team of California, while seeking revenge against Stark for the death of his father. Stane subsequently leaves California and prepares for the next stage in his vendetta against Stark.Zeke Stane appears in the series The Invincible Iron Man, where he furthers his vendetta against Tony Stark. Stane is first seen attending a meeting with a large tobacco company after being hired to create a type of tobacco that enhances metabolism, resulting in weight loss. Stane reveals that he only took the job to use the company's resources to upgrade the biotechnology he placed in his body. He swiftly kills the company's board of directors before being contacted by Sasha Hammer about a group of African suicide bombers who were test subjects for his biotechnology. Stane meets with Stark during a party moments before the suicide bombers attack, injuring Pepper Potts.
Stane confronts Stark with his own armor, while having terrorists armed with his technology attack Stark Industries facilities around the world. However, Stark defeats Stane's plan with his control of all of his various Iron Man armors, allowing him to be in multiple locations and neutralize all of Stane's bombs at once. Stark then disables all of Stane's tech and both of their armors with electromagnetic pulses and defeats Stane in hand-to-hand combat. Stane is imprisoned, but is paroled shortly afterward by the Mandarin and Justine Hammer, Sasha Hammer's parents.
Mandarin becomes increasingly discontent when Stane is unable to build Dreadnoughts and Titanomechs on a tight schedule and low budget. Mandarin begins affecting Stane with his ring, making him obsessed with the work and gradually damaging his brain. After the Mandarin brings Tony Stark under his control as well, Stark and Stane work together to produce the Titanomechs.
After Mandarin uses three of his rings to power the first Titanomech, Stark and Stane convince Whirlwind, Blizzard, and Living Laser to join him in a rebellion with the final purpose of defeating Mandarin. After having the Extremis virus inside his body reactivated, Stark creates a mental link with the Swarm, a swarm of microbots. Stark uses the Swarm to destroy Mandarin's weapons while Stane confronts and kills the Mandarin.
In the series The Mighty Thor, Zeke Stane represents Stane International while attending a meeting with Tiberius Stone, Wilson Fisk, Sebastian Shaw, Darren Cross, Shingen Harada, Frr'dox, Wilhelmina Kensington, and Dario Agger to discuss Agger's plan to exploit the ten realms of Asgard. Exterminatrix arrives and knocks Agger out, declaring herself to be a new member of their assembly.
Characterization
Zeke Stane is the son of Obadiah Stane, and has been building bioweaponry and manufacturing next-generation weapons for terrorists and supervillains since he was nine. Though he is the son of Obadiah, as well as a supervillain rather than a hero, Ezekiel Stane's creator, Matt Fraction, considers Zeke to be the next generation of Tony Stark/Iron Man rather than of Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger: often referring to the character as "Tony Stark/Iron Man 2.0".Fraction states the similarities between the pair's characteristics, with Ezekiel being an evolution of Tony Stark's character: a younger, smarter, sharper futurist of a post-national supercorporate world moving into a future that Stark has no control over. Overtaking Stark and his Iron Man technology by not taking the route of armored suits but upgrading the human body itself.
Fraction often describes the contrast between the two characters using software terms, due to the character's technological basis.
Powers and abilities
Zeke Stane's genius-level intellect and considerable fortune has allowed him to cannibalize and reverse-engineer Stark Tech from the black-market to upgrade his own biology, most notably his hypothalamus. Stane successfully reduced the caloric energy consumption of his body from 70% to 9%, leaving him surplus energy which he uses in repulsor bolts at the end of his fingers. Other upgrades have allowed his body to vastly repair itself from injury.This excessive use of the body's energy has shown that Stane must constantly keep his body's blood sugar level high to make up for its rapid consumption. Stane does this by eating a high calorie paste.
In other media
Television
Ezekiel Stane appears in the Marvel Future Avengers episode "Secret Past of Iron Man", voiced by Yōhei Azakami in the original Japanese version and by Benjamin Diskin in the English dub.Film
Ezekiel Stane appears in Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Miyu Irino in the Japanese version and by Eric Bauza in the English dub. This version created the eponymous Technovore. He and Sasha Hammer utilize the Raiders via A.I.M. until Ezekiel is confronted by Iron Man. After Technovore takes over his body, Iron Man and War Machine defeat it before Ezekiel is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Ezekiel Stane was intended to appear in an early draft of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Avengers.
- Ezekiel Stane appears in the MCU miniseries Ironheart, portrayed by Alden Ehrenreich. This version is a tech ethicist who uses the alias of Joe McGillicuddy. After befriending Riri Williams, she inadvertently causes a series of events that lead to his identity being exposed and him being imprisoned. He later receives bionic implants from the Hood, who uses him in an attempt to fight Riri until she defeats Stane.
Video games