to turn over his armored suits to the government. To continue the legacy of his father Howard, he re-institutes the Stark Expo in New York City's Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. Stark learns that the palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps him alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he cannot find a substitute. Growing increasingly reckless and despondent about his impending death, and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Stark appoints his assistant Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries and hires Stark employee Natalie Rushman to replace her as his assistant. Stark competes in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, where he is attacked in the middle of the race by Vanko, who wields electrified whips. Stark dons his armor and defeats Vanko, but the suit is severely damaged. Vanko explains that he intended to prove to the world that Iron Man is not invincible. Impressed by Vanko's performance, Stark's rival, Justin Hammer, fakes Vanko's death while breaking him out of prison and asks him to build a line of armored suits to upstage Stark, though Vanko decides that unmanned drones are a better idea. During what he believes is his final birthday party, Stark gets drunk while wearing the Iron Man suit. Disgusted, Stark's best friend, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, dons Stark's prototype armor and tries to restrain him. The fight ends in a stalemate, and Rhodes confiscates the armor for the U.S. Air Force. Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., approaches Stark, revealing that "Rushman" is agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard Stark was the S.H.I.E.L.D. founder whom Fury knew personally. Fury explains that Vanko's father and Stark invented the arc reactor together, but when Anton tried to sell it, Stark had him deported. The Soviets sent Anton to the Gulag. Fury gives Stark some of his father's old material. Tony discovers a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo; it proves to be a diagram of the atomic structure of a new element. With the aid of his A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark synthesizes it. When he learns that Vanko is still alive, he places the new element in his arc reactor and ends his palladium dependency. At the current Expo, Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones, led by Rhodes in a heavily weaponized version of the prototype armor. Stark arrives to warn Rhodes, but Vanko takes remote control