Their partnership hit its peak in the mid-2000s, when Spider-Man joined the New Avengers and Tony became a true mentor — even building Peter a custom armored "Iron Spider" costume and welcoming his family into Stark Tower.
That closeness made their eventual falling-out during Civil War sting all the more. Peter first backed Tony, then broke away to follow his own conscience. Over the years since, the two have patched things up and remain teammates and friends who genuinely respect each other.
Peter Parker and Tony Stark crossed paths early as fellow costumed heroes, teaming up as far back as Marvel Team-Up #9 (1973) against Kang the Conqueror. Their bond deepened decades later when Spider-Man joined the New Avengers (2005) and Tony took Peter and his family under his wing, moving them into Stark's own tower and becoming a genuine mentor to the younger hero.
Years after their Civil War split, Iron Man and Spider-Man have long since reconciled. They remain Avengers allies and friends, with Tony still regarded as one of Peter's most important mentors among the hero community, and the two continue to cross paths as teammates in team books and crossovers.
Tony Stark is a genius inventor and billionaire industrialist who built a life-saving suit of armor to escape captivity — and then kept improving it. As Iron Man, he wraps himself in high-tech armor packed with repulsor blasts, a chest-mounted unibeam, and boot jets for flight, becoming one of the founding Avengers.
Behind the mask, Tony is brilliant, charming, and sometimes his own worst enemy, wrestling with ego and, famously, a struggle with drinking. His real superpower is his mind: give him a workshop and a problem, and he'll engineer his way out of almost anything.