An aspect of the Iron Man character that I like
One of the aspects of the Iron Man character that I quite like is the evolution of the armour. To be completely honest I probably prefer what is known in some circles as the ‘classic armour’ that appeared throughout the 80s, even over the movie version (although I don’t think that classic armour would’ve worked even half as well on the screen).
Unlike a lot of the other characters Iron Man isn’t really stuck with what he’s got. Spider-Man for instance was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained the proportional strength of a spider (though some science types argue this point), agility, stickiness..? That’s it though, apart from his home built web shooters he has his base powers and he can’t really improve upon them. If they aren’t good enough then it’s tough. He has to make do with what he’s got.
Tony Stark on the other hand can take an absolute beating from someone and use that experience to build a bigger stick (as it were).
A really popular armour (according to my extensive research) is the Hulkbuster armour, it was a figurine, appeared on trading cards and is one of the armours in the Super Squad Iron Man edition. What is interesting (in at least my mind and the one other Iron Man fan still reading this to see where I actually go with it) is that the armour only appeared ever in two actual issues and one of those was for one page!
The cool thing about the armour apart from looking cool is that Stark had faced the Hulk before and rebuilt the armour modules to make the challenge he was about to face. Superman can’t ‘get more strong’, Mr Fantastic can’t ‘get more stretchy’ and Aquaman can’t get more… um… fishy?
Stark can upgrade his powers and it doesn’t mess with the character, in fact we expect it! Costume changes for him are a given.
Think about the times they try changing Spider-Mans costumes, only once in my opinion was that a good thing (Black-suit Spidey). Iron Spider-MAn was wrong, the clone ‘hoody’ costume was very wrong and now dated! I’m not even really a fan of the new Captain America costume. But with Iron Man I can’t wait to see the next generation of armour and if I don’t care for it I just have to wait for Iron Man classic to return!
Popularity: 23% [?]
I’ll go with you on that one.
I’m assuming by Iron Spider-Man you mean the suit Tony made for Peter. I hadn’t seen that before getting back into comics with the Civil War series, but the whole time he had it I was thinking he’s gotta lose it and go back to standard.
Though the most memorable and enjoyable part of the Civil War series, for me, was the fight between Iron Man and Spider-Man, and the suit played a part in that.
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That’s an interesting question in itself actually Jeff as there were arguably two ‘Iron Spider-Man’ suits in my mind (there may be more) the one that I am referring to is indeed the Stark suit but there was also a silver metal outfit (that looked better in my opinion, although as I stare at it maybe I’m not convinced) from the 90s.
It wouldn’t ever replace the actual Spider-Man costume.
I’ve been reading Iron Man on and off (mostly on) since the 90’s, and the main reason I keep coming back is the regular change in armout design.
You’re right about the Hulkbuster Ironman suit did only appear in 2 issues. I have both those issues and rate them quite high in my collection.
Marvel tried the “super suit” idea again a few years ago when Iron-Man doned specially-made armour to stop Thor starting a war(http://www.ironmanarmory.com/thorarmor.html). I like the idea that Tony has special armour to tackle any hero in case they go bad, as this suits his character, but I wasn’t as impressed with this one.
Does the same hold for batman? Of course I’ve only seen different versions in the movies, not the comic books so have no idea if they do this through the comics, but I wanted to leave some kind of comment in some related to the topic at hand so this is what you get
lol
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Ian - yeah the Thorbuster armour wasn’t that cool at all. They made a figurine out of that one too and it’s pretty average in my mind.
I did like the new version of the Hulkbuster armour in World War Hulk, it didn’t really help him too much though.
I also see in the current issues (last weeks new series at least) that the moustache is back??? That’s not a good move.
Bettina, Batman is a similar character but arguably we don’t see it as much with him, Batmobiles used to come and go LOL. The costume evolved to a degree over the course of the comics (and gone back again too).
The movies did it to some degree though some would argue that adding nipples to suit was a step sideways rather than forward or backwards!
Oh and every comment is precious!
You remember that Hulk game I was talking about in the Iron Man game thread… well, there is a lot of dudes in Hulk Buster armor in that game…
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spiderman should just keep to a closet full of the same suits. ‘hmm which one should I wear today…ah yes..’*picks one*
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MC - I’m really going to have to check that game out!
Arjan - I always pictured Spider-Man with the one costume, that’s why I find it odd that he rips it in almost every issue nowadays!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT4ttppTkVs
I looked it up in the game, and it turns out that the company that makes the suits is called HGMC Industries, so it seems there isn’t really an Iron Man connection after all.
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They may want to watch themselves though if Tony finds out that HGMC is using Stark technology he’ll go in and bust them up! Or land the SHIELD carrier on them.
Obviously, I’m going to jump to Spidey’s defence a little here. In the classic Spidey adventures, Peter often used his scientific know-how to beat criminals that his spider-powers couldn’t handle. Whether it was sucking Sandman up in an industrial-sized hoover or getting himself rubber gloves for punching out Electro, or even making a more acidic web formula that melted Doc Ock’s tentacles together.
This facet of Peter’s character has often been ignored by contemporary writers, but it was an important factor of the way Stan and Steve devised him.
Not quite as hi-tec as Tony Stark’s solutions though… but having said that, I was re-reading the first appearance of The Melter the other night (his power - to melt iron, but I’m sure you know that), and Tony’s hi-tec solution was to build a suit out of aluminum instead! The 60’s were definitely a more simple time…
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Rol - I hadn’t considered the industrial sized hoover or rubber gloves.
I miss the simpler 60s comics sometimes.
Spider-Man has forgotten he was married?????