Marvel's new Invincible Iron Man series
by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez will launch this week as
the centerpiece of the company's latest soft reboot. Tony Stark's
newest suit, as designed by David Marquez, will possess the ability
to convert into different specialty armors and alter its shape and
color scheme accordingly.
Hmm...does that sound familiar to
anyone?
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| (Wailing metal guitar riff) |
In whatever case, I thought I'd take
this opportunity to list my top ten favorite Iron Man armors as of
this date and time! My only criteria for this list was that Tony
Stark had to have a hand in developing it to count, but otherwise
anything else goes!
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10. Ultimate Iron Man
First Appearance: Ultimates Vol. 1 # 1
(2002)
I'm not the hugest fan of the
Ultimates, but I must admit I found Mark Millar's schlocky antics
entertaining on the first go-around. Nowadays, I look back at his
first Ultimates run and kinda cringe at the topical references and
what my fellow Fanhole Derek would label as Millar's “shock jock”
storytelling. However, one thing that has remained impressive to
this day is Bryan Hitch's art.
I've always liked Hitch's primary
Ultimate Iron Man armor design. I guess the best way to describe it
is “familiar but different”. All the basic elements of an Iron
Man armor are there, but Hitch reinterprets them in new and
interesting ways. I especially like the more rounded helmet and the
blocky, less human foot-shaped boots. I was disappointed that the
Marvel Legends figure just gave him more standard boots, but at least
the Marvel Select figure reproduces them faithfully.
Thankfully, Tony being covered in weird
goo after removing the armor was NOT reproduced for those toys.
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Can you believe that Tony drinks
twenty-two martinis and designs seventy-eight new armors while inside
this thing on a Tuesday afternoon? Oh my friggin' god! Incest!!!
|
9. “Neo-Classic” Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 1 #
231 (1988)
Tony upgraded to this suit at the end
of the classic Armor Wars arc. Its color layout and basic design
cues clearly evoke the original red-and-yellow armor, but it
certainly looks much more intimidating and modernized.
It looked especially great being drawn
by John Romita Jr, who rendered it as being much bulkier than
previous artists. I don't think Armor Wars II is that great of a
story, but the art in it certainly left an impression on me, and
that's assuredly because of Romita Jr.'s rendition of the Neo-Classic
armor. My fellow Fanhole Tony Jackson is fond of referring to this suit as
the “Boots Armor”, and you can definitely see why in Romita Jr.'s
interpretation of it.
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| I'll stomp you, caption!!! |
8. “Overload” Iron Man
First Appearance: What If? Vol. 2 # 64
(1994)
I like to call this the “Liege
Maximo” armor, having been designed by legendary Transformers
artist Geoff Senior. It does not resemble your traditional Iron Man
armor AT ALL...but it worked for the story it appeared in. It is so
huge that Tony can actually use it as a HOUSE if he wants, which is
basically what happens at the end of the single issue it appeared in.
The Overload armor positions itself in orbit and becomes a
satellite, with Tony watching over the Earth forever as its guardian.
The scene that made me think this armor
was super-badass was when Tony grabbed Magneto's force-bubble between
his mitts...and popped it like a zit.
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| Maybe this armor is made of wood. |
7. Marvel Now! Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 5 # 1
(2012)
Whenever a superhero gets a new, black
costume, it almost inevitably looks sleek and cool, and Iron Man is
no exception. The “Now!” armor takes many elements from the
movie version of Iron Man's armor, to the point where the Marvel
Legends toy of it is just a redeco/retool of the Iron Man 2 Mark VI
release. However, different artists tended to emphasize or
de-emphasize the movie aesthetic based on their own personal tastes.
Much like Spider-Man's symbiotic
costume, this armor also takes on a liquid form and can cover Tony's
body at his mental command. It was a slight improvement over the
Extremis armor, except Tony himself was no longer superhuman.
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| He still carries it in a briefcase,
so is that really an upgrade? |
6. War Machine (Original)
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 1 # 282
(1992)
This is what I like to term the
“proto-War Machine” armor. It is distinguishable from the
version James Rhodes first wore by its lack of chest “uni-beam”
projector. It looks a bit boxier and more unrefined than Rhodey's
armor, which I actually find more appealing. Its weaponry just seems
more...apparent in this version than later iterations. It also has a
light saber built into the gauntlet, which is frickin' cool.
I always thought it was funny that Tony
specifically donned this armor to fight and then team-up with the
Masters of Silence...a bunch of stealthy ninja types.
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| Ninja say- make bad joke and carry a
bunch of firepower. |
5. Hulkbuster Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 1 # 305
(1994)
I ain't afraid of no Hulk.
Let's face it; the concept of Tony
Stark getting into his armor, then getting into a BIGGER suit of
armor will always be pretty badass. While he initially created this
armor as a deterrent against the Hulk in the comics, the Hulkbuster
can also be seen as simply one of the biggest guns in Tony's arsenal.
In the 90s cartoon's adaptation of Armor Wars, this is the suit that
Tony brings out in the end to take on Justin Hammer's anti-Iron Man
drone, Firepower. It was quite the unexpected and badass reveal and a memorable
scene from that series.
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| I'm off to take down big business with
my BIGGER business. Rhodey, Julia...tape my shows. |
There's obviously been a number of
different versions of the Hulkbuster, and I wanted to narrow it down
to one choice for this entry. I ended up deciding the movie
incarnation of the Hulkbuster was the best representation for one main reason; it actually busted
the Hulk! Usually, the Hulkbuster armor is portrayed as a delaying
tactic at best, and the Hulk will eventually prevail over it. But in
Age of Ultron, Tony apparently manages to finally score a KO with it!
Or at least wins via cutaway...I think he'll take that.
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| EPIC SCIENCE BRO FIST!!! | |
I also dig the parts-swapping and
replacement from its delivery system, and of course, its amusing
code-name “Veronica”. Cuz ya see...Bruce Banner was in love with
a girl named Betty and...well, you get it. Or wait...does that even
make sense? It's not like Veronica was bad for Archie or...aaagh,
don't think about it.
4. War Machine (Initiative)
First Appearance: Avengers: The
Initiative # 1 (2007)
The “Initiative” War Machine armor
was developed by Tony Stark for his good friend James Rhodes, and
actually uses Stane technology instead of Stark. This little bit of
foresight on Tony's behalf allowed James Rhodes to continue to
operate even if all Starktech was disabled, which of course it WAS
during Secret Invasion.
I always thought this get-up was a nice
companion to Tony's Extremis armor, both visually and conceptually.
You can obviously see the design elements in common with the Extremis
armor, especially in the helmet design. However, whereas Tony's
Extremis upgrade immeasurably improves his vitality and makes him
more than human, this War Machine armor is basically a life support
system for the man inside it. James Rhodes sustained near-fatal
injuries and lost his arms and legs in a terrorist attack. His good
pal Tony Stark saved his life and made him into a cyborg. Throughout
Avengers: The Initiative and his solo series by Greg Pak, he was
basically a pseudo-Deathlok.
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| Hey, maybe I can get on Agents of SHIE-
AHAHAHAHA, no. |
Rhodey would eventually get better,
being plugged into a cloned body of himself in perfect health by the
end of that story, but I did find that setup ironic. At a time when
Tony Stark had become more metahuman than ever before, Jim Rhodes was
also distanced from his own humanity, albeit in a lot harsher and
visceral manner. Rather appropriate for the two characters; Tony
does things the easy way and Jim does things the hard way.
But I love this armor design,
specifically how it was originally drawn by Stefano Caselli. I love
the holo displays and targeting scopes that pop up with the weapons
are live. And of course, when shit gets real, Rhodey can truly live
up to his name.
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| I...I can see you're upset, Mr. Howard,
but we still need to cut your pay for Iron Man 2. |
3. Extremis Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 4 # 5
(2006)
With its sleek, elegant design and
updating of the classic Iron Man theme, you can see why it lasted
awhile and enjoys a place in many cross-media portrayals. This was
also the armor that most of the inspiration for the movie version was
drawn.
As mentioned in the last entry, the man
inside was changed as well, as Tony Stark had himself injected with
the Extremis bio-enhancement. This gave him a healing factor,
complete telekinetic control of his armor, and the ability to
remotely access virtually any computer system.
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| SPACE TONY IZ WATCHING U SHOWER. |
It was such a massive upgrade to Iron
Man's power set, and yet it seemingly hamstrung writers most of the
time into coming up with ways to disable or screw with his Extremis
abilities. Several of the following stories, like “Execute
Program”, the return of the Mandarin, and Secret Invasion all had
Tony's new powers go haywire, be suppressed or even controlled.
Eventually, the Extremis was purged from his own system, although
Tony would deal with Extremis-enhanced enemies several more times.
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| Thankfully, he has a taser now. |
So all in all, his Extremis powers were
probably more trouble than they were worth. Still, it was a badass
armor design, a faithful updating of the usual Iron Man theme, and
one can see why it is ingrained in many people's minds as their
mental image of the character.
2. “Renaissance” Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol. 3 # 1
(1998)
Tony traded in Rob Liefeld and
smokestacks for this little number. At first, I didn't have any
strong feelings about this design, but it certainly grew on me as I
read more and more stories featuring it. I started to appreciate
things like the return of the “pointy” mask, and the Tron-like
detailing around the collar and arms.
I know my fellow Fanhole Derek doesn't
much care for the story, but the Renaissance armor also served as an
effective “villain” of sorts in Joe Quesada and Sean Chen's “Man
in the Iron Mask” storyline. While the story gave the Y2K bug as
the laughable reason the AI went rogue, it would eventually be
retconned as Ultron having infected it with a version of its
intelligence.
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| I had strings, but now I'm FREE-KING
SCARY. |
When portrayed like this, the design
takes on quite the menacing air, and the story certainly left an
impression on me when Tony had to break out his trusty old Modular
armor to fight it.
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| Oh god, help me, Tron Bonne!!! |
Eventually this armor became a shell
that stored an AI essence of Tony's deceased mentor, Ho Yinsen.
Yinsen's consciousness had been plugged into it by a cult that
worshiped him, and aggghhh, I don't wanna get into it. Ho Yinsen's
comic book history is pretty nightmarish and up there with Cable's in
terms of convoluted, contradictory continuity. Try saying that three
times fast!!!
But speaking of the Modular armor...
1. Modular Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man Vol.1 # 300
(1994)
My favorite run of Iron Man comics
features this armor, and it probably is the most recognized and
iconic of the armors Tony used in the 90s. It showed up most
prominently in the Capcom fighting games and appeared (after a
fashion) in the 90s cartoon.
Like many, I was a bigger fan of the
more stylized second season version of this design. I like to refer
to it as the “Red Sky” cartoon Iron Man, after the similar
slimming down and simplifying done to Batman's character design in
the fourth season of Batman the Animated series. The loss of the
dorky “mouth” slot certainly was a massive improvement and some
might liken it to the elimination of the yellow oval under Batman's
chest symbol. Just a simpler and more visually-effective look.
I like Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark,
as most people do, but second season Robert Hays is probably my
favorite portrayal of the character. He was doing constant snark and
sarcasm as Tony Stark LONG before RDJ. This, combined with the sleek
look of this version of the Modular armor, left me with a lot of
fondness for the second season of the 90s cartoon.
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| He lost a mouth, but gained a mullet. |
The Modular armor does have the
unfortunate “honor” of featuring in Force Works, the mention of
which probably sends shudders down the spine of many long-time comic
fans. However, I fondly recall many Len Kaminski stories featuring
this suit in the main Iron Man title and especially enjoyed him
taking a lot of shots at the “popular kids” of the day while
wearing this armor.
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| Take that, Venom! |
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| Take that, Wolverine! |
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|
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| Take that, Night Thrasher and
Thundersr- hmmm...I guess they can't afford to be taken down anymore
pegs... | | |
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So there we have it! My top ten
favorite Iron Man armors! There are others I like, but these
immediately came to mind. Comments? Questions?
- Mike
