Industrial-sized Arc Reactor.
- Obadiah Stane on cleaner energy: "We built that thing to shut the hippies up!" - Iron Man.
The Arc Reactor is a fictional source of power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is an alternative energy that Howard Stark intended to replace nuclear power with. But it was not cost effective for public use, so Stark built it as a giant generator for Stark Industries. The element Palladium powers the Arc Reactor, although Stark was looking for an improvement over that based on the Tesseract's energy, but didn't have the resources at the time to further the project.
When Howard's son, Tony Stark, was captured by the Ten Rings, he was wounded and made a miniaturized version that could fit in his chest and also power his Iron Man suits. Eventually, the Palladium was poisoning him, but there was no other viable substitute. He then discovered the blueprints his father had been working, thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury. Stark was able to synthesize a working new element that cured him of his poisoning and successfully substitute the Palladium powering his chest Arc Reactor. It presumably replaced what was powering Stark Industries, as well.
He then built another Arc Reactor for his new Stark Tower, that could power it for a whole year.
History[]
Appearances[]
- Iron Man (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- What If...?
- 105. "What If... Zombies!?" (2021)
- 106. "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?" (2021)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Total appearances: 10.