STEPHANIE DE LA SPIROZA
Real Name: Stephanie de la Spiroza
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Industrialist, aristocrat
Group Membership: Dufours Precision Manufacturing Corportion
Affiliations: Awesome Android, Henri (her butler), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Mad Thinker, Stark Solutions
Enemies: Arms Merchant (Andreas Kapelos), Dieter, Dreadnoughts, Harold "Happy" Hogan, Marcello, Pepper Potts, Siege Engineers;
formerly Iron Man (Tony Stark)
Known Relatives: Michel (husband, deceased)
Aliases: Countess de la Spiroza, Stephanie de la Spirosa
Base of Operations: A chalet in Zermatt, Switzerland;
formerly a suite on Park Avenue in New York City, New York;
formerly lived on the Riviera (French or Italian, we don't know)
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#69 (September, 1965)
Powers/Abilities: She was a rather intelligent, but spoiled aristocrat socialite. She liked to sell herself short so that people would underestimate her intelligence.
She ran a successful manufacturing business with a worldwide reputation for quality and efficiency.
Height: Unrevealed (5'9"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (140 lbs; by approximation)
Eyes: Grey, green or blue (likely wore colored lenses; her real eye color is unrevealed)
Hair: Brown
History:
(Iron Man: The Iron Age#1 (fb) - BTS) - Tony Stark went on a tennis date with Countess Stephanie de la Spiroza.
(Tales of Suspense I#69 (fb) - BTS) - Countess de la Spiroza and Tony Stark were an item until he jilted her and she never forgave him.
(Tales of Suspense I#69) - Countess de la Spiroza got bored at the Riviera in Italy and decided to travel to Alberia after learning from the press about an upcoming fight between Iron Man and Titanium Man. She was surprised to see Tony Stark (or maybe just pretended that she was) in Alberia and greeted him in the lobby of Alberia's International Hotel. She didn't tell him that she was still mad at him and sought to make him pay, but only that she was there for the fight. She offered to change and join Tony for a nightcap downstairs, but he had to go to sleep early. It didn't improve her mood towards of Tony at all.
(Tales of Suspense I#70) - The Countess was looking for Tony Stark in the crowd during the fight between Iron Man and Titanium Man, but couldn't find him. She asked Tony's employees Hogan and Potts where he was, but they didn't know either and Hogan actually thought Tony was with the Countess. She continued her search for Stark and went to Stark's lab in the hotel, but he wasn't there either. Looking for a way to make Tony run after her, she took a transistor Tony had been working on from a table and decided to let Tony somehow know that she took it because she was certain he would want it back and then she wouldn't make it easy.
(Tales of Suspense I#70 - BTS) - Iron Man lost the first round of the fight against Titanium Man and returned to the hotel to retrieve an untested sub-miniature device he had been working on. Instead of the device he only found Stephanie's handkerchief. He quickly realized that she was playing a game with Tony Stark. Iron Man sent Hogan to retrieve it.
(Tales of Suspense I#70) - Stephanie took off in her car, but Hogan quickly caught up to her in Stark's car. She was not happy that Hogan had followed her to get the device and not Stark, but Hogan took her and the device back to the battle and was nearly killed by Titanium Man while handing it over to Iron Man during the second round.
(Tales of Suspense I#71) - Stephanie waited at the hospital where Hogan was taken to with Pepper Potts because she hoped Tony would eventually be there. Pepper blamed Stephanie for what had happened to Happy because she had taken the device from Stark's lab, but Stephanie put the blame on the selfish playboy Tony Stark...and for some inexplicable reason bought into it because Stark wasn't there to watch Happy while his life was on the line.
When Tony arrived at the hospital he consoled Pepper, which angered Stephanie she felt that Pepper was a mere peasant and shouldn't get Tony's attention. Tony told her to shut up because his friend was dying. The Countess de la Spiroza slammed a door and swore that Stark would regret speaking to her like that.
(Marvels I#3 - BTS) - The press reported on Tony Stark and the Countess dating again and waiting if it was for real this time.
(Tales of Suspense I#72) - Countess de la Spiroza sat on her couch in her Park Avenue suite and watched TV while thinking about a way to get back at Tony. She heard that the whole nation wondered about Iron Man's secret identity and decided to find a way to reveal it to get back at Stark.
(Tales of Suspense I#72 - BTS) - A few phone calls and a few thousand dollars of bribes later the Countess knew the address of Mad Thinker's secret hideout because she believed he was the only one that could find out Iron Man's secret identity.
(Tales of Suspense I#72) - Stephanie arrived at the Mad Thinker's hideout and was already expected by him. He welcomed her in and told her that he knew she wanted to know Iron Man secret identity and had already sent his assistant (the Awesome Android) to capture Tony Stark because he could tell them who Iron Man was. Stephanie was more than happy.
Awesome Android delivered Tony Stark to the Mad Thinker as he had promised the Countess. Tony was surprised to see her there and even more so when he learned that she was the Mad Thinker's employer in this instance. When Mad Thinker opened Stark's briefcase, it released a sleep gas that knocked out the Mad Thinker and the Countess. Iron Man was still engaged in battle with the Awesome Android when the sleep gas wore off. The Countess was surprised by Iron Man's sudden appearance, but not the Mad Thinker, who already had a few surprised waiting for him. The Countess asked the Mad Thinker to stop the Awesome Android from killing Iron Man, but the Mad Thinker would not accept orders from her. After Iron Man defeated the Awesome Android and Mad Thinker's traps, he picked up Mad Thinker and the Countess and claimed that he had helped Stark escape while they were asleep. The Countess was just mad that her plan to learn Iron Man's identity had failed.
(Tales of Suspense I#72 - BTS) - Iron Man dropped off the Countess and she was forced to walk several miles home.
(Tales of Suspense I#72) - Back home she took a foot soak because her feet hurt after walking so far in her high heels. She would've rather gone to jail than walk that far and began to hate all men.
(Iron Man III#2 (fb)) - Stephanie was married twice before she got married to Michel Dufours, the heir to one of Europe's most respected and successful families.
(Iron Man III#3 (fb)) - Her husband introduced Andreas Kapelos to Stephanie as a friend of his family. It was obvious to her that he made her husband nervous, but he still always seemed to be around at the office and at social events.
(Iron Man III#3 (fb) - BTS) - Michael died in an accident (orchestrated by Andreas Kapelos) because he wouldn't sell his Dufours Precision Manufacturing Corporation in Zermatt.
(Iron Man III#2 (fb) - BTS) - Stefanie inherited the corporation.
(Iron Man III#3 (fb)) - After Michel's death Stephanie was approached by Kapelos, who wanted to buy the Dufours Precision Manufacturing Corporation. Stephanie thought about selling, but became suspicious and found irregularities in the accounting books. Andreas got mad that she even looked at the books and threatened to have her killed as well if she didn't sell the corporation to him. Stephanie felt it was her duty to protect her late husband's corporation and hired Tony Stark's new consulting business Stark Solutions to help.
(Iron Man III#3 (fb) - BTS) - Kapelos threatened Stephanie and Tony's lives after discovering that she had hired Stark Solutions.
(Iron Man III#2 (fb)) - Stephanie picked Tony up at the airport after he arrived in his private jet. She offered him transport in her car, but he had actually taken one of his own cars with him. Stephanie's chauffeur took his bags to her chalet while Tony drove with Stephanie in his Plymouth to her corporation. She showed Tony around and told him about the irregularities in the company's books, which she gave him to look through.
(Iron Man III#2) - Stephanie watched Tony skiing while she had a drink and was quiet impressed. She wondered if he could give her skiing lessons because her skiing skills were rather embarrassing. She offered him mineral water. She could barely wait spending the evening with Tony with dinner at L'ours Merveilleuse, at her private box at the opera and then at Lady Fowler's with a few friends. Tony declined her offer because he had to go over all the paperwork she gave him. She was afraid that he was still mad at her for what she did in the past, but Tony actually needed to do his job and Stephanie had kept him so busy that he could not even begin the job he was hired to do.
The next day after a run-in with Arms Merchant's Siege Engineers as Iron Man, Tony Stark had breakfast with Stephanie at her chalet. He was rather surprised to see her guarded by two guys named Dieter and Marcello, who she claimed were from the office. Stephanie suggested to skip work and do some sightseeing with the helicopter. Tony had enough and confronted her about hiring him even though it had become clear to him that she didn't need him, but his bodyguard Iron Man because she was in trouble. Dieter and Marcello pulled their guns, but Tony distracted them with an explosion nearby and then knocked them out. Tony told Stephanie to go to the safe room with her butler Henri while he called Iron Man.
(Iron Man III#3) - Dreadnoughts destroyed the chalet, but Stefanie and Henri survived in the safe room and were brought to the Hotel Alpine for safety by Iron Man. During the flight Iron Man had already called ahead so that Stephanie and her butler were checked in upon arrival.
Later at the Alpine's Lounge Stephanie told Tony everything she knew about Andreas Kapelos and his business her late husband. Stephanie admitted that she had kept Tony busy not just because Kapelos had threatened her and Tony, but also because she enjoyed her time with Tony and was afraid that he would just leave again. Tony made it clear that he had long forgiven her, but received a phone call from Pepper before he could kiss Stephanie.
After an interview on TV wherein Tony made it clear that he and Iron Man would expose the Arms Merchant and whoever was working with him, he returned to Stefanie, who felt guilty for making Tony a target of the Arms Merchant. That night Iron Man dealt with Kapelos and his Dreadnought before returning as Tony Stark to Stephanie. They had late dinner and Stephanie promised to keep the Dufours' corporation running to restore its good name. She knew Tony would move on to other clients and women, but this night Stephanie wanted to spend with Tony as a farewell.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Don Heck & Vince Colletta.
The woman that attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm with Tony Stark was not identified in Fantastic Four Annual I#3. She resembled the Countess, but it seems weird to have her as his plus one when she was revealed to be out for revenge against Tony over in Tales of Suspense for jilting her some time ago and it must have been some time ago because the flashback in Iron Age was way before he became Iron Man and he dated several women after the Countess.
The spelling of her last name was very inconsistent and switched between Spiroza and Spirosa a few times:
Spiroza in Tales of Suspense I#69 and #72.
Spirosa in 70-71, Iron Man: The Iron Age#1 & Iron Man III#2-3
For the purpose of this profile I use the original spelling from Tales of Suspense I#69 as the title even though it was less common.
Where is she from? Spain? France? Switzerland? I don't know!
She also appeared in three episodes of the cartoon The Marvel Super Heroes (1966).
This profile was completed on 11/11/2025, but its publication was delayed for Stan Lee's birthday on 12/28.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Countess Stefanie de la Spiroza has no known connections to:
images:
Iron Man III#2, p7, pan4 (main)
Tales of Suspense I#72, p3, pan7 (head shot)
Tales of Suspense I#69, p10, pan1 (body shot)
Marvels I#3, p1 (article on the couple)
Iron Man III#2, p4, pan6 (head shot, green eyes)
Iron Man III#3, p21, pan5 (head shot, blue eyes)
Iron Man III#3, p6, pan5 (black outfit)
Fantastic Four Annual I#3, p3, pan1 (Tony's date at FF wedding)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#69 (September, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Don Heck (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks)
Fantastic Four Annual I#3 (October, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks)
Tales of Suspense I#70 (October, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Don Heck (pencils), Mickey Demeo (Mike Esposito) (inks)
Tales of Suspense I#71 (November, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Don Heck (pencils), Wally Wood (inks)
Tales of Suspense I#72 (December, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Don Heck (pencils), Mickey Demeo (Mike Esposito) (inks)
Marvels I#3 (March, 1994) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Alex Ross (artist), Marc McLaurin (editor)
Iron Man III#2 (March, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Eric Cannon, Sean Parsons & Al Milgrom (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man III#3 (April, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Eric Cannon, Troy Hubbs & Sean Parsons (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man: The Iron Age#1 (August, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 12/28/2025
Last updated: 11/11/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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