Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is the head of Stark Industries, a major military contracting company he inherited from his father. Even though Stark is an inventive genius and wunderkind, he is also a playboy. One day, while his father's old partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), takes care of day-to-day operations, Tony flies to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes a.k.a. "Rhodey" (Terrence Howard), for a demonstration of Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho" missile. However, Tony is critically wounded in an assault and finds himself the prisoner of an Afghan terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. Anelectromagnet has been embedded in his chest by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) to keep shrapnel from killing him. The Ten Rings leader, Raza (Faran Tahir), offers Tony his freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group. Yinsen later confirms Tony's suspicion that Raza will not keep his word.