However, the film makers have claimed to use Elon Musk as inspiration for Tony Stark in the new Iron Man movies (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10544247/Meet-tec...)
We also see the same thing with Edison - claiming credit for other people's work.
The most impressive engineer i can think of is altschuler , which in the 1950's, in russia, even after/while being in a russian labor camp - invented a method of systematic invention(TRIZ) that is used to this day, and really enables every engineer to become an inventor.
So why am i mentioning him ? because to a certain extent - coming up with good inventive ideas may not be the hard part(to some extent). But refining the details,building prototypes,testing, etc is the filter that takes a bunch of good inventive ideas and comes with a great invention.
But usually this process takes an infinite amount of work, so it's beyond the capability of a single guy.
Not the flamboyant playboy, like Stark. But silent, smart, determined and hard working.