I am Iron Man: 50+ Super Cool Super-suits From The Marvel-ous Tony Stark
Iron Man is a controversial character in the Marvel Universe. You either love him, or you hate him. His big brain has a knack for getting on people's nerves, but if there's one thing he's better at than annoying people, it's building really cool super-suits. But, Tony Stark didn't start out as the cool, sleek Avengers Iron Man we know today. Everyone has to start somewhere, and once you dive into it, it's amazing to see how far he came from his origins to the hyper-advanced suits he wears today.
To be honest, we knew there were evolutions of Iron Man throughout the Marvel comic books, but we had no idea there were this many variations. You can really see how each one improves from the last and builds off the technology previously created. He truly is a genius, and we'll always have an iron place for him where our hearts should be.
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Iron Man
The original Iron Man armor. The Model 1 was built around Tony Stark's groundbreaking 'Repulsor' technology. Repulsor technology greatly expanded the electromagnetic properties of otherwise ordinary magnets, allowing Iron Man to create powerful attractive and repulsive fields, and radio jamming waves. In addition, the Model 1 had electronic pressurized air jet-assisted jumping ability, various tools, a blow torch, and an external pacemaker to keep its occupant alive.
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Movie Mark 1
The Mark 1 in the first Iron Man movie was sufficiently different to warrant its own picture. This Mark 1 was built around and powered by Tony Stark's revolutionary miniaturized Arc reactor technology. While lacking the repulsor technology of the comic armor, this suit possessed dual full-sized flamethrowers, a wrist-mounted mini-rocket launcher, and chemical boot-rockets providing short term flight
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Gold Armor
Painted gold to liven up the old drab gray armor, this suit possessed boot jets, jet skates, and a chest-mounted search light.
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Proto-Classic Armor
This was the first suit to dispense with the bulky iron of the original suits. Certain portions of the armor (the feet, the wrists, the torso and head) remained rigid while being composed of stronger but lighter-weight material, while the rest was composed of an ultra-lightweight flexible metal fabric
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Classic Armor
This suit completed the aesthetic transition between the initial suits and what would become the standard Iron Man armor.
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Hydro Armor
Several of Iron Man's armors were capable of operating underwater, but this was the first suit designed specifically for it, with this suit able to function at a depth of 3 miles. It possessed repulsor technology adapted for underwater use, as well as torpedoes. Taking queues from aquatic life it could electrify itself like an eel and eject ink like an octopus
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Hydro Armor, updated
A more recent iteration of the Hydro Armor
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Silver Centurion
An upgrade to the basic armor that came before it, and a template for nearly every armor that came after it, was the Silver Centurion armor. In addition to improved flight capabilities, life-support, and repulsor technology, this armor possessed powerful lasers, tractor beams, disruptor fields, sonic weaponry, freon streams, and chameleon holography.
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Arctic Armor
Designed for use in cold environments, this suit was capable of operating even when fully encased in ice, completely heating its entire surface to melt its way out. It had increased life support capabilities for long-term survival at ultra-low temperatures and the repulsors were adjusted to emit increased amounts of thermal energy
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Stealth Armor
The Stealth Armor eschewed offensive weaponry. It was totally coated in Radar absorbing material, possessed advance jamming technology, and could defeat attempts of hostile tracking systems to target it by distorting incoming signals. The thermal signature from the boot thrusters was obscured by supercooled air from liquid oxygen rings. Gadgetry included a microfilm camera and chaff launchers.
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Stealth Armor
A more recent iteration of the Stealth Armor, possessing active camouflage ability, and immunity to Vibranium.
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Stealth Armor (Plastic Ghost)
A more recent iteration of the Stealth Armor, possessing active camouflage ability, and immunity to Vibranium.
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Space Armor
A suit of armor specifically designed with travel and survival in space in mind.
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Space Armor - Model 45
The most recent version of Tony's space-oriented armors, this suit was used while Iron Man was a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. This suit is capable of FTL travel.
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Space Armor - Model 45
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War Machine
The JRXL-1000 armor, also known as the War Machine armor. Bristling with armaments, this suit added to the traditional repulsor weaponry. It possessed chain guns, a pulse and plasma cannon, a box rocket launcher, and was capable of firing a number of munition types including: depleted uranium, HiEx, concussion, thermite, tear gas, flare, smoke, tracer, and anti-armor. It had additional armor plating, as well as a poly-prismatic coating to counter the Living Laser. A later modified version of this armor was given to Tony's best friend Jim Rhodes.
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SKIN armor
The SKIN armor was a somewhat "dumbed" down version of the typical Iron Man suit, having a less sophisticated AI operating system. It did however have a number of unique properties, most notably the nature of the armor itself could at one moment be similar to rubber, and the next moment nearly as rigid as Adamantium. It also possessed the ability to absorb energy and release it through its chest-mounted omnibeam.
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Ablative Armor
This armor was designed to break away to minimize the damage caused by high-speed impacts. This armor was specially designed to deal with high velocity objects in space. Pieces of the armor would chip off after impact, and then force fields would return them afterward, or the armor itself would replace them with internal nanofactories.
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Telepresence Armor
Appearing similar to other contemporary Iron Man armors, the primary difference of this armor was that no one was inside it. This was Tony's first effort to build a totally remote-controlled armor. The obvious disadvantages of remote controlling armor aside, this armor served as a precursor to the technology that allowed Tony to remotely operate all other armors in the future, including sometimes many suits at once.
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Modular Armor
The Modular Armor provided flexibility for Iron Man. Not a full suit itself, it possessed the ability to mix and match various components to meet the needs of the moment, unlike previous armors designed around a single central theme. Some of the more impressive add-ons to this armor included the Hulk- and Thor- buster armors.
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Hulkbuster Armor
The Hulkbuster Armor was an add-on designed to fit around the modular Iron Man armor. This suit was designed with increased durability and strength in mind, built to combat and withstand the Hulk.
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Hulkbuster Armor
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Phoenix Buster Armor
An armor designed to deal with the cosmic Phoenix force, this suit was huge, heavily armored, and armed with multiple repulsor units, and a disruptor beam. This is the 2nd largest armor Tony has built to date, after the Digger Argonaut.
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Prometheum Armor
Aside from being aesthetically quite different from previous suits, the Prometheum Armor was capable of absorbing, and returning, massive amounts of heat energy. At the time of its use, it was also the only thing keeping Stark alive.
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Thorbuster Armor
Also known as Asgardian armor, the Thorbuster Armor was powered by an Asgardian crystal, possessing immense magical energy, given to Tony Stark by Thor. The magical energy provided for a tremendously more powerful and resilient suit than previous iterations of Iron Man armors. Deliberately modeled after the Destroyer, it was capable of absorbing and manipulating Asgardian energy, and stopping Mjolnir in flight.
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Anti-Mandarin Rebellion
The Anti-Mandarin Rebellion armor was, as its name suggest, designed specifically for dealing with the Mandarin and his rings. It contained internal containment areas capable to restraining and nullifying the Mandarin's power rings.
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Extremis
The Extremis armor was one of the most technologically impressive armors Tony Stark ever built. With the construction of this suit the distinction between Tony Stark and Iron Man became essentially meaningless. The armor formed over a sheath produced by Stark's body, stored inside his bones when not in use, and was controlled by Tony's thoughts. This sheath was capable of repairing damage to both Tony and the armor. The suit possessed most of the features of all previous armors, offensive and defensive, all upgraded, as well as the ability to remotely operate several other armors at the same time. The complexity of operating the suit required the use of the Extremis drug.
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Bleeding Edge
An upgrade to the Extremis armor, developed jointly with Dr. Reed Richards. Unlike the Extremis armor which only stored the under-sheath within Tony, the entirety of this armor was stored internally and was completely composed of nanomachines. It possessed all the typical repulsor-based offensive weaponry, as well as a deflector shield. However, due to being composed of nanomachines the armor was capable of forming an essentially limitless number of weapons, and reshaping itself into any form.
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Anti-Elf Armor
Designed with huge iron (which Dark Elves are particularly vulnerable to) blades, this suit was designed to engage in physical combat with hordes of elves during an excursion to their realm in search of the Mandarin's displaced power rings.
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Model 42 - Black & Gold
A liquid metal armor with a different color scheme to the traditional Red and Gold. This armor could be kept in a briefcase, emerging and forming around Tony when needed.
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Heavy Duty Armor
A blend of themes, combining elements of the Model 42, the War Machine armor and the Hulkbuster Armor, this suit was designed to deal with the aftermath of A.I.M. gaining Extremis technology. Engineered with both extreme durability, and massive short-term energy output, this armor was able to deal with multiple Extremis-augmented soldiers simultaneously.
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Superior - Symbiote Armor
Liquid metal melded with symbiote biotechnology resulted in this semi-sentient suit which behaves as a psionically controlled second skin for Tony. This suit is also capable of acting semi-autonomously, including improvising rescue attempts when forcibly separated from Tony.
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Superior - Symbiote Armor
The Symbiote armor is capable of forming into a bulkier, more heavily fortified, suit capable of dealing with multiple other suits simultaneously, as well as easily dispatching the Hulkbuster armor.
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Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This suit was designed with augmented cheek bone armor, for increased authoritarian ambiance.
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Argonauts
The Argonauts armor series, a set of strictly remotely controlled armors. Their names, which follow, explain the primary role of each drone.
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Argonaut - Space Ghost
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Argonaut - Hulkbuster II
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Argonaut - Submariner
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Argonaut - Battlefield
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Argonaut - Subterranean Digger
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Iron Lord
The creation of Tony Stark from alternate Earth 311, the Iron Lord was a basic electric powered suit of armor used to locate and defeat David Banner at the behest of King James I of England.
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Iron Maniac
Created by a psychotic Tony Stark from alternate Earth 5012, this suit was used to terrorize the New Avengers.
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Cyborg Stark
In an alternate timeline where Wolverine kills Dr. Pym to prevent the creation of Ultron, an Asgard vs. Latveria war erupts during which much of Tony's body is destroyed. Later, as technocratic overlord of half the Earth, with the magical Morgana La Fey controlling the other half, Tony has constructed a cyborg suit for himself which also acts as the central controlling unit of a massive army of robotic soldiers and automated helicarriers
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Guardsman Armor
Tony also made suits for other people besides Rhodes. A pared down version of the standard Iron Man suit built by Tony and intended for use by Kevin O'Brien. Possessing the standard repulsor technology, this suit was inferior in terms of strength, speed, durability, and power to the Iron Man suit.
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Rescue
This one was for Pepper and carried no directly offensive weaponry. It did however possess the standard repulsor technology, could fly, and was similarly armored to other basic Iron Man suits.
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Your friendly neighborhood Iron Spider Man
This armor possessed a number of spider-themed abilities. Openings for webing, extra manipulating arms, glider arm webbing, and life support, among other things.
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Iron Spider Man
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O.N.E. Armor
Built by Tony using Sentinel technology (this armor was also known as Sentinel Armor) this suit was used by James Rhodes.
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Iron Patriot
While not built by Stark, this armor built and used by Norman Osborn was entirely based off of stolen Stark technology.
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Thank you for viewing...
The list is by no means exhaustive as there have been seemingly hundreds of variations in Iron Man's suit, as well as minor tweaks to multiple models, and versions from alternate Earths. Likewise, for many suits there really isn't a whole lot of information explaining how one suit was different from another, excepting perhaps a single line of explanatory dialogue in the comic itself.
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51
The Future....
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52
...here's an Iron Cat.
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