Iron Man's armor
Iron Man's armor is a fictional powered exoskeleton appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is built and worn by billionaire Tony Stark when he assumes the identity of the superhero Iron Man. The first armor was created in-story by Stark and Ho Yinsen, and was designed by artist Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39.
In the fictional multiverse, the appearance of Stark's armor has changed over the years. Stark has modified or optimized the armor to adapt to specific situations. As various artists have depicted Iron Man and his armor, its appearance has changed over time.
Overview
Stark's suits are each unique in design and purpose. They are made of incredibly strong, fictional materials bolstered by a force field. Every suit has a self-contained environment, assorted onboard weapons systems, enhanced strength, thruster-aided flight, and various communications arrays and sensors, such as radar and radio.Creation
While Tony Stark himself was designed by Don Heck, the designer of the character's first gray suit of armor in 1963 was Jack Kirby. It was recolored gold for the character's initial batch of adventures in Tales of Suspense, before being redesigned again by Steve Ditko later in the year – this was the first version to feature a red and gold/yellow scheme, which would come to be Iron Man's most recognizable look.Bob Layton would redesign the character's armor several times during his stint on the book. In 2008 he recalled that editorial directions in 1981 were that going into outer space was "a big deal", and devised the first space-going Iron Man suit with this edict in mind. He later devised the 1985 red and silver/white "Silver Centurion" armor with input from Mark Gruenwald, who directed him to base it along samurai motifs. The 1994 "Modular" armor was designed by Tom Morgan. When writing the title, David Michelinie avoided overuse of stealth technology in the armor. His eventual successor Len Kaminski disagreed, and in 1994 decided the suit's abilities should be boosted drastically. He devised a component system of armor that could be customised according to various missions, and noted he didn't "like to play fast and loose" with the rules of science and technology. This "Modular" armor was designed by Tom Morgan, and was the first that could be converted into a "Hulkbuster" configuration.
In Invincible Iron Man #25, Stark creates a new armor in the aftermath of the "Stark: Disassembled" storyline. Created by writer Matt Fraction and artist Ryan Meinerding, this new armor is sleeker in appearance, and is featured in the 2010 crossover storyline the "Heroic Age". When writer Tom Taylor and artist Yildiray Cinar created the "Endo-Sym Armor" in 2014, they designed it to glow red/orange when Tony was angry.
Fictional history
The first Iron Man armor was created by Stark with the help of Ho Yinsen in issue 39 of Tales of Suspense, which he used to escape captivity. After his escape, Stark created a new version with a wide array of improvements; it was colored gold in this second version. He would then change up the color scheme to a mixture of red and gold, which would become a staple of the armor's appearance throughout successive iterations, before briefly being changed to an armor colored red and silver in the 1980s, before returning to the red and gold color scheme during the Armor Wars storyline, with only the occasional change in color scheme for specific armors and storylines, after which he invariably returns to the "classic" red and gold colors.Bleeding Edge Armor
After defeating Norman Osborn in 2010, Stark creates a new "Bleeding Edge" Iron Man suit to replace the Extremis version. Asked whether the Bleeding Edge is an upgrade to Extremis, Stark says, "Nah — this is what comes next." The new armor is a part of Stark's now-posthuman biology; it is stored inside Stark's body, "manifesting" itself when mentally commanded. The neurokinetic user-controlled morphologic nanoparticle bundles that form the suit reside in Stark's body, and form a fibrous wetweb of iron and platinum, that can be commanded to form any type of structure upon Stark's skin, such as large boxing gloves, or weapons, including large guns extending from his arms or a lightsaber-like energy sword with which Iron Man was able to harm one of the Worthy. The nano-machines can mimic the appearance of clothes, then dissociate to transform into the Iron Man armor as Stark wishes. The suit adds less than 25 pounds to Stark's body mass. It can stop a howitzer shell.The armor and Stark's own transhuman body are powered by the high-yield arc reactor mounted in his chest. The reactor augments Stark's intelligence and enables superhuman multitasking and learning. Unlike earlier armors, this new armor does not appear to rely on motors and servos for motion. Instead, the nano-machines create a secondary artificial musculature over Stark's body, upon which additional rigid structures are assembled. This also enables the armor to self-repair and be almost invulnerable, as the armor is capable of transforming and healing itself as long as the power output from the arc reactor is not interrupted or terminated; when the armor is briefly apparently destroyed in a fight with an alternate version of the Scarlet Witch, it is restored to normal after only a matter of seconds. In the 2012 "Ends of the Earth" storyline, Doctor Octopus is able to disable the armor using technology derived from the armor of Iron Man 2020.
The suit's repulsor rays, which are located around the knuckles, chest, back, and legs of the armor, as well as in the traditional palms, also function as cameras or "eyeballs", which afford Stark a 360-degree panoramic view. Temporarily replacing the suit's primary composite—iron/platinum—with carbon nanotubes renders it immune to Magneto's powers when he and Iron Man fight over Utopia.
After Stark decides to retire as Iron Man, he undergoes a surgical procedure that expels the Bleeding Edge technology from his body, rendering the armor inert.
List of armors
In 2008, Marvel issued a handbook called All-New Iron Manual, which issued model numbers to the various armor suits that had been seen in the comics up to that point. When the guide was printed in trade paperback alongside the Iron Manual, the numbering of the armors was revised so that the Model 14 listed in the original printing was now a sub-model of Model 13. Since then other guidebooks have named several newer models, although most armors featured since 2016 have not received official designations.| Model | Debut | Name | Notes |
| Model 01 | Tales of Suspense #39 | Build with the aid of Ho Yinsen in captivity | |
| Model 01 Mark II | Tales of Suspense #40 | Golden Avenger | Revised version |
| Model 02 | Tales of Suspense #48 | First to use red and gold color scheme; a lightweight suit devised to combat Mister Doll | |
| Model 03 | Tales of Suspense #56 | Also later piloted by Happy Hogan | |
| Model 04 | Tales of Suspense #85 | Created to rescue Happy Hogan from the Mandarin; also later piloted by James Rhodes | |
| Model 05 | Iron Man #142 | Space Armor | Space capable, created to battle the Sunturion |
| Model 06 | Iron Man #218 | Hydro Armor | Subsea capable |
| Model 07 | Iron Man #152 | Stealth Armor | Created to infiltrate Heaven's Hand Fortress in East Germany |
| Model 08 | Iron Man #200 | Silver Centurion Armor | Created to defeat Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger armor |
| Model 09 | Iron Man #231 | First used at the conclusion of the Armor Wars | |
| Model 10 | Iron Man #278 | Space Armor | Used during Operation: Galactic Storm |
| Model 11 | Iron Man #281 | War Machine Armor | Later used by James Rhodes as War Machine |
| Model 12 | Iron Man #290 | Neuromimetic Telepresence Unit-150 | Operated by telepresence |
| Model 13 | Iron Man #300 | Modular Armor | Capable of converting into a Hulkbuster configuration |
| Model 14 | Iron Man #318 | Arctic Armor | |
| Model 15 | Iron Man #319 | ||
| Model YT1 | Iron Man #328 | Created by a teenage version of Tony Stark from Earth-96020 | |
| Model CE1 | Iron Man #1 | Prometheum Armor | Created on Counter-Earth |
| Model 16 | Iron Man #1 | Renaissance Armor | Created after Tony Stark's return from Counter-Earth |
| Model 17 | Fantastic Four #15 | Experimental Safe Armor | Space capable |
| Model 18 | Iron Man: Bad Blood #4 | Outer Atmospheric Armor | Space capable |
| Model 19 | Iron Man #42 | S.K.I.N. Armor | Flexible alloy shell |
| Model 20 | Iron Man #50 | ||
| Model 21 | Black Panther #44 | Stealth Armor | Created to combat the Black Panther |
| Model 22 | Iron Man #64 | Thorbuster Armor | Created to combat Thor |
| Model 23 | Iron Man #71 | Ablative Armor | |
| Model 24 | Iron Man #73 | Used when serving as the United States Secretary of Defense | |
| Model 25 | Iron Man #74 | Replacement for Model 24 | |
| Model 26 | The Incredible Hulk #71 | Anti-Radiation Armor | Co-created with Robert Bruce Banner |
| Model 27 | Iron Man #83 | High Gravity Suit | Space capable |
| Model 28 | Iron Man: Hypervelocity #1 | Used by the artificial intelligence Tony Stark 2.0 | |
| Model 29 | Iron Man #4 | Extremis Armor | Partly incorporated into Stark's body via an Extremis virus strain |
| Model 30 | Iron Man #7 | Battle Argonaut | Only used by remote before its destruction |
| Model 31 | Iron Man #7 | Hulkbuster Argonaut | Only used by remote before its destruction |
| Model 32 | Iron Man #7 | Subterranean Argonaut | Only used by remote before its destruction |
| Model 33 | Iron Man #7 | Submarine Argonaut | Only used by remote before its destruction |
| Model 34 | Iron Man #7 | Stealth Argonaut | Only used by remote before its destruction |
| Model 35 | Wolverine #45 | Hydro Armor | Stolen by Wolverine |
| Model 36 | World War Hulk #1 | Hulkbuster Armor | Created to combat the Hulk |
| Model 37 | Invincible Iron Man #25 | Bleeding Edge Armor | |
| Model 38 | Avengers vs. X-Men #5 | Phoenix-Killer Armor | Created to combat the Phoenix Force |
| Model 39 | Invincible Iron Man #517 | ||
| Model 40 | Invincible Iron Man #523 | Black Armor | |
| Model 41 | Invincible Iron Man #527 | Space capable | |
| Model 42 | Iron Man #1 | ||
| Model 43 | Iron Man #3 | Stealth Armor | |
| Model 44 | Iron Man #4 | Heavy Duty Armor | |
| Model 45 | Iron Man #5 | Deep Space Armor | Used when a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy |
| Model 46 | Iron Man #15 | ||
| Model 47 | Iron Man #15 | ||
| Model 48 | Iron Man #24 | Cold Iron Armor | |
| Model 49 | Original Sin #3.1 | ||
| Model 50 | The Avengers #32 | Endo-Sym Armor | Based on symbiote technology |
| Model 51 | Invincible Iron Man #1 | Model-Prime Armor | |
| Model 52 | All-New, All-Different Avengers #1 | Hulkbuster Armor | |
| Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe #1 | Created to combat Squirrel Girl | ||
| Spider-Man #9 | Created to combat Captain Marvel | ||
| Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends #1 | |||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 | |||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 | Fin Fang Foombuster Armor | Created to combat Fin Fang Foom | |
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 | Nano Iron Man Armor | ||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #2 | |||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #4 | |||
| The Avengers #5 | Godkiller Armor Mk. II | ||
| The Avengers #9 | Subsea capable | ||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #10 | Godbuster Armor | ||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #14 | |||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #16 | Ultronbuster Armor | ||
| The Avengers #31 | Ice Armor | ||
| Tony Stark: Iron Man #19 | Created by Arno Stark | ||
| Iron Man 2020 #5 | Virtual Armor | ||
| Iron Man 2020 #6 | |||
| Model 70 | Iron Man #1 | ||
| Hulk #1 | Hulkbuster Armor | ||
| Thor #25 | Hulkbuster Armor |