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- "That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology.
No, it was finished. It has never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my—No. Howard said the Arc Reactor was the stepping stone to something greater." - ―Nick Fury and Tony Stark
The Arc Reactor was a fusion type power source featuring a palladium core, and was the initial power source of the first Iron Man suits, and was later modified to an advanced level by Tony Stark to power his more advanced suits, as it kept on improving. During the events of Iron Man 2, Tony re-discovered and synthesized a new element theorized by Howard Stark, as a clean and safe core alternative to palladium core. This not only stopped palladium poisoning of Tony's body but also reversed its effects, saving his life.
The Stark Industries HQ in Los Angeles was once powered by an Arc Reactor, but it was destroyed when Pepper Potts overloaded it and Obadiah Stane with his Iron Monger Armor fell into the reactor. It is unknown what happened to the reactor after this event.
The Arc Reactor is also the power source of Stark Tower (later moved underground and the tower was renamed Avengers Tower) and a miniaturized arc reactor was created to power the Iron Man suit.
Types[]
Large Arc Reactor[]
Created by Howard Stark and Anton Vanko, the Large Arc Reactor powered Stark Industries for years before Tony created the original miniature Arc Reactor.
Palladium Arc Reactor Mark I[]
The Original Miniaturized Arc Reactor was created by Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen while being held captive by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan. Captured to build the Jericho missile, Stark, with the help of Yinsen, instead used the Ten Rings' spare parts and old Stark-Tech missiles to create a miniaturized palladium-cored Arc reactor to power Tony's electromagnet that keeps the shrapnel of one of Stark's own missiles from reaching his heart. Capable of generating 3 GJ/s, it can keep Stark's heart running for 50 lifetimes, as mentioned by Yinsen. To which Stark responded to that with "Yeah, or something big for 15 minutes". The reactor was later replaced by the Mark II model when Tony returned to the US with the help of Pepper Potts. Tony was forced to don the reactor again after his Mark II model was stolen. Following Tony's death, the original arc reactor was floated in a lake with the inscription "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart" around it as a form of memorial.
Palladium Arc Reactor Mark II[]
Created by Tony Stark after returning home, the Palladium Arc Reactor Mark II is used to power his electromagnet and his Mark II and Mark III suits. After finding the Mark I suit and rebuilding it into the Iron Monger, Obadiah Stane steals this reactor out of Tony's chest to power Monger armor as he is unable to replicate the technology. Tony faces him using the Mark III powered by the original reactor, but it is inadequate to power his suit properly. Finally, Tony has Pepper Potts overload the Large Arc Reactor powering Stark Industries HQ, resulting in overload inside of Stane's suit, which Shocks him and knocks him out. Stane, with his suit, fell into the reactor resulting in an explosion destroying the suit, the reactor, and killing Stane.
Palladium Arc Reactor Mark III[]
Palladium causing poisoning
The Palladium Arc Reactor Mark III was the reactor used by Tony for six months (the time jump from Iron Man 1 to Iron Man 2) to power his armors and electromagnet in the movie Iron Man 2. It was created to replace the one which was stolen by Stane and later destroyed. It is eventually replaced by an improved reactor as the palladium was slowly poisoning Tony to death. Mark II was a testbed for an Integrated reactor, allowing James Rhodes to steal the Mark II suit.
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark I[]
Up-close view of New element cored reactor
The new element Arc Reactor Mark I was the Arc Reactor created by Tony after he rediscovered the element originally discovered by Howard Stark and synthesized it, resulting in the new and more powerful clean energy source. Mark VI was the first suit to be designed with the new model reactor in mind. Sometime later, an enlarged version of the reactor was installed into newly built Stark Tower, capable of providing self-sustaining power for a whole year, as well as an integrated reactor, powering the Mark VII armor.
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark II[]
Tony eventually replaced the Mark I reactor with the Mark II to power his Iron Legion and electro-magnet. The ones powering the Iron Legion were destroyed when Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. self-destruct the suits and after having the shrapnel removed from his chest, Tony pitches the one powering the electromagnet into the sea.
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark III[]
Some time after the Iron Legion's destruction, Tony perfected the Mark XLII's design resulting in the Mark XLIII and its Modular extension, Mark XLIV. Powered by multiple New Element Reactors, the Mark XLIV managed to take down the Hulk during his rampage in South Africa. The Mark XLV also utilized this new generation reactor in conjunction with a new repulsor design to give it better power distribution, resulting in faster and more stable flight, quicker charge times of repulsor blasts in flight (higher charging tone, when power levels inside the suit is high) and instant charge when on ground as well as higher intensity of said blasts (capable of destroying Ultron Sentries in one blast).
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark IV[]
Utilized by the Mark XLVI and XLVII, this new reactor borrowed ideas from the Mark XLIV's Multiple RT design, allowing for an around-100kg suit to operate even with the main RT damaged or destroyed, and providing greater power distribution which results in equally fast weapons grade repulsor blasts, both while in flight and on ground (despite being fast charging, it does not support instant-blast capability). The main RT's blast (Unibeam) was powerful enough to vaporize the Winter Soldier's Bionic Arm.
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark V[]
New Element Arc Reactor Mark V
This is the second most advanced reactor designed by Tony Stark. This heart shaped reactor is capable of not only working as power source of newest generation of Iron Man armors, but also being capable of storing the nano-particles necessary in the forming of not only the Mark L armor, but all the modules needed depending on situation. This reactor, like its previous iteration also works in conjunction to form bigger, more efficient Micro-RTs to provide better power distribution and powering new formed modules. With this increased power, Iron Man was able to send Cull Obsidian flying in New York with his brand new energy displacer cannons.
The New Element Arc Reactor Mark VI[]
The most advanced and final model of arc reactor designed by Tony Stark. This latest reactor combines features from both the Mark V reactor and the Mark III used on the Mark XLV (while retaining Mark Vs visual design), as well as allowing the reactor be supercharged without being damaged in the process. This reactor housed the Mark LXXXV and it's modules. This power source allowed Iron Man to kill Outriders in one blast each. Smaller variant of this reactor model also powers the Mark XLIX (Rescue Mark I) armor, a modified version of this reactor with a different shape also powers the Iron Patriot Mark II armor, but neither of the suits feature nano-particle storage or module formation/augmentation features. This Reactor variant is slightly larger than the Mark V.
History[]
Early Design and Creation
In the aftermath of World War II, Howard Stark studied the Tesseract to harness its energy, with the intent of providing a limitless power source for the future of mankind. Unable to harness its power, Howard used his research on the Tesseract to create the first Arc Reactor, which Howard began to develop alongside Anton Vanko and Obadiah Stane. However, Howard considered the reactor to be simply "a first step" to a much bigger project.
While Howard saw the Arc Reactor as a way to create a new, cleaner method to replace nuclear power, Anton only saw it as an idea he could sell to get rich. Due to this, Howard accused him of espionage and had him deported back to Russia, an event that later motivated Whiplash, to use the Arc Reactor technology to seek revenge on Tony Stark for ruining their lives.
Eventually, a large Arc Reactor for industrial energy production was created in Stark Industries Headquarters. Howard developed a theoretical new element which would be the key to completing the perfect Arc Reactor. However, he was unable to synthesize it due to being limited by the technology available at the time, and progress in Arc Reactor project stagnated. Knowing he wouldn't be able to truly harness the power of the Tesseract or create the perfect Arc Reactor in his lifespan, Howard left a blueprint of his theoretical new element hidden within a model of the 1974 Stark Expo, along with a recorded message to his son with clues about the Stark Expo model's true nature hoping he would rediscover it and finish his work.
Iron Man (film)[]
Miniaturization
During the Ten Rings attack on Tony Stark's convoy, a bomb exploded near Stark, causing shrapnel to enter near his heart, threatening his life. His fellow captor Ho Yinsen removed most of the shrapnel, but some shards were too risky to remove, so he fashioned an electromagnet powered by a car battery to keep the shrapnel from killing him. Stark knew that the car battery wouldn't keep him alive for long, so he adapted the design of the large Arc Reactor that powered his factory and miniaturized it so it could fit into his chest.
With the surplus power from the miniaturized Arc Reactor, Stark decided to create a suit of armor to escape his captivity.
Perfecting the Reactor
Once Stark got back to America, he suggested that Stark Industries should focus on the Arc Reactor once again, which Obadiah Stane remained skeptical about until he saw the miniature reactor. After creating a much more powerful Arc Reactor, Stark had his closest friend Pepper Potts help him remove the original one and put the new one into his chest. Stark then gave his first Arc Reactor to Potts. She gifted the Arc Reactor in a display case, which was framed with an engraving that read: "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart".
Obadiah Stane's Project
After seeing Stark on the news of battling the Ten Rings, Stane commissioned William Ginter Riva and other Stark Industries scientists to duplicate the miniature version of the Arc Reactor so he could power his own suit. The Stark Industries scientists could not replicate the Arc Reactor, believing the technology was impossible. Stane then stole the Arc Reactor from Stark's chest to power his Iron Monger Armor, leaving Stark to crawl to his old reactor Pepper saved, to save his life.
During the fight against Iron Monger, Stark and Pepper overloaded the Arc Reactor in the Stark Industries facility, discharging a massive amount of electricity through the suit and electrocuting Stane, who then fell to his demise into the exploding reactor.
Iron Man 2[]
Ivan Vanko used his father,Anton Vanko's schematics to produce a replicated version of the miniaturized Arc Reactor, although the replica was lower in energy output than Stark's version.
After Stark's encounter with Ivan Vanko's Whiplash suit, he crushed the crude reactor in the hands of the Mark V armor, destroying it in order to keep the technology from being exploited as a tool of war. He revealed to an imprisoned Vanko the error in his design, causing Vanko to improve his arc reactor for the Hammer Drones and the Whiplash Armor Mark II in his later battle against Iron Man and War Machine.
Avengers[]
Tony Stark created an Industrial Arc Reactor to power the newly built Stark Tower in New York City. The tower was completely removed from the city's power grid and ran entirely from the Arc Reactor in order to make Stark Tower a “beacon of clean energy” and show the world the capability of Arc Reactor technology on a large scale. Though only a prototype, the reactor was capable of maintaining the buliding for an entire year.
Loki later uses the reactor's power to create a wormhole using a special device in conjunction with the Tesseract. J.A.R.V.I.S. shuts down the reactor but not before the device became self-sufficient.
The Arc Reactor also prevented Loki from possessing Stark with his scepter. After failing to control Tony and throwing him from Stark Tower, the Mark VII armor was deployed to save him, with its own built-in reactor that slid over the reactor in his chest.
Iron Man 3[]
Armors in the Iron Legion were all equipped with built in arc reactors.
Following the battle on the Norco, Tony Stark studied Extremis to cure Pepper Potts and used a variant of the serum to survive the operation to remove the shrapnel from his heart. No longer requiring an Arc Reactor in his chest, he later drove to the ruins of his Mansion and threw the Arc Reactor into the ocean.
Avengers: Age of Ultron[]
Arc reactors were standard in the new Iron Legion Armor Drones.
Captain America: Civil War[]
In 2016, during the clash of the Avengers, War Machine instructed Vision to disable the Falcon's suit with his laser beam. Vision, however, missed Falcon and hit War Machine's Arc Reactor, shutting off his armor and causing him to crash, resulting in spinal injuries leading to partial paralysis.
Later, in the HYDRA Siberian Facility, Iron Man fought against Captain America and Winter Soldier. During the fight, Winter Soldier tried to remove Iron Man's Arc Reactor with his prosthetic arm, only for Iron Man to blast out a Unibeam, which disintegrated the arm. Captain America then used his shield to disable Iron Man's suit by destroying the Arc Reactor.
Spider-Man: Homecoming[]
Vulture tried to steal a large case of arc reactors from the Stark cargo plane crash on Coney Island after his battle with Spider-Man, but failed when his damaged flight suit malfunctioned causing the reactors to explode on impact.
Avengers: Endgame[]
The Arc Reactor gifted back to Tony by Pepper, inscribed with "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart", was sent adrift in the lake at the Stark Eco-Compound during Stark’s funeral.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
In 2024, Max Dillon seized the Arc Reactor from the Stark Industries Fabricator and built a new Electro suit with the Arc Reactor as its core. However, Doctor Octopus later removed the Arc Reactor from Electro's chest and stated in awe that the power of the sun was in the palm of his hand.
Notes[]
- The Arc Reactor is based on the reactor of the same name in the comics, both having almost the same appearance and functionality.
- In the Iron Man 2 novelization, the element created for the new arc reactor is referred to as vibranium. However, in the movie continuity, vibranium is a metal compound from the region of Wakanda that was used to create Captain America's shield; it was not an element created by Howard Stark and used in the arc reactor.
Gallery[]
