Ivan Vanko is the son of Anton Vanko, a Russian physicist who had helped Howard Stark design the Arc Reactor, but who had been subsequently deported from the United States when it became clear that he was working for the money rather than for the benefit of humanity. Ivan's father fell into alcoholism and proceeded to abuse the young boy for many years. As he grew older, Ivan became highly knowledgeable in the fields of physics and mechanical sciences, while adopting his father's hatred for the Stark family. He also has a history of crime, selling illegal weapons and killing innocent people who get in his way. At some point he was caught selling Soviet grade plutonium to Pakistan and served 15 years in prison. This would be the only recorded knowledge of his existence.
After his father died in misery, Vanko vowed to avenge him and constructed an exoskeleton, powered by a miniature arc reactor, to use against Tony Stark in an effort to discredit him and live out his father's revenge. Vanko was given a fake ID and a ticket to Monaco by a mysterious person, later revealed to be a member of the Ten Rings. He attacked Stark during the Monaco Grand Prix, using his Whiplash harness to destroy several cars in the race, but Stark ultimately defeated him using a portable Iron Man suit, and Vanko was sent to prison. While in custody, Vanko was asked by Tony why he didn't sell his technology to make money. Vanko replied that he wanted to remove Stark's awe from the people and demonstrate that Iron Man could be defeated. Ivan also deduced that Tony was being poisoned by the palladium in his arc reactor, saying, "Palladium in the chest, painful way to die."Character traits
While rarely utilized, Vanko is shown to be a capable hand-to-hand combatant, easily able to kill two presumably well trained thugs of Hammer's with little damage to himself. He also is deceptively intelligent, his accent and thuggish appearance belaying a highly skilled mechanical and programming knowledge and cunning to outwit those around him, consciously manipulating Hammer and his men with their perception of him as weak or stupid. Vanko is bilingual, able to speak fluent Russian and intermediate English.
Whiplash Mark I armor Vanko's first Whiplash construct was an exoskeleton worn on the upper body that connected an arc reactor to a weapon system of hand-held two plasma whips in place of repulsors. It is very basic due to Vanko's lack of resources at the time of construction and contains barely any body armor, though it does enhance his strength. It was never revealed if the harness had any other intended uses beyond supporting the whips, but it was able to generate heat from the main harness enough to burn through a boilersuit worn over the top. The exact energy supply generated by Vanko's early RT chest piece cannot be fully evaluated due to the damage done to the device in combat with Tony. Mr. Stark's estimates are that the device generated a moderate of .8 GJ per second. The construction of the whips was crude, but they did employ a unique telescoping capability that responded to the amount of force with which the arm was thrust foward. The exact electrical discharge is unknown, but generated sufficient heat to slice steel almost instantly.
