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Iron Man's armor
Fictional exoskeleton worn by Iron Man From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 (March 1963).
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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.
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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.[3]
Creation
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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.[4] It was recolored gold for the character's initial batch of adventures in Tales of Suspense,[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8] This "Modular" armor was designed by Tom Morgan, and was the first that could be converted into a "Hulkbuster" configuration.[7]
In Invincible Iron Man #25 (2010), Stark creates a new armor in the aftermath of the "Stark: Disassembled" storyline.[9] 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".[10] 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.[11]
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Fictional history
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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 changing 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.[12] 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,[13] that can be commanded to form any type of structure upon Stark's skin, such as large boxing gloves,[14] or weapons, including large guns extending from his arms[13] or a lightsaber-like energy sword with which Iron Man was able to harm one of the Worthy.[15] The nano-machines can mimic the appearance of clothes, then dissociate to transform into the Iron Man armor as Stark wishes.[16] The suit adds less than 25 pounds to Stark's body mass. It can stop a howitzer shell.[13]
The armor and Stark's own transhuman body are powered by the high-yield arc reactor mounted in his chest.[12] 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 (although it remains inactive long enough to require Spider-Man to rescue Stark from plummeting to the ground).[17] 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.[18]
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.[13] 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.[19]
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.[20]
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List of armors
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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.[21] Since then other guidebooks have named several newer models, although most armors featured since 2016 have not received official designations.
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In other media
Film
Iron Man's armors feature prominently in several films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
References
External links
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