One of Iron Man‘s most criminally overlooked suits of armor received a subtle live-action adaptation that never actually made it to the big screen. Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark wore nineteen suits of armor throughout his on-screen Iron Man career in the MCU, most of them with a clear design throughline that made the Armored Avenger globally iconic in the MCU and in the real world.
Most of Iron Man’s 85 MCU suits closely resemble each other, with a few exceptions. Many units of the Iron Legion, like Red Snapper, Peacemaker, and Hammerhead, diverge significantly from Tony Stark’s design maxims due to their experimental nature. Others, like the Hulkbusters and Mark 50, represent a specific upgrade in his tech.
Some of the biggest changes in Iron Man’s technological evolution happened off-screen, however.
Iron Man’s All-New, All-Different Suit Of Armor Was Considered For Avengers: Infinity War
MCU Concept Art Shows What Iron Man’s All-New Suit Could Have Looked Like In Live-Action
Official Avengers: Infinity War concept art by Phil Saunders includes several variations of Tony Stark’s Iron Man Mark 50 nanotech suit. A few of Iron Man’s discarded Infinity War suits are versions that look quite similar to Iron Man’s All-New, All-Different armor, with a sleek, rounded helmet, plus a flat, squarish torso, predominantly red, body-fitting neck and shoulder pieces, and a slim to nonexistent mouth slit. The rounded upper part of the faceplate and the angular nose area are giveaways that these suits are based on the 2015 Marvel Comics relaunch.
If Marvel Doesn’t Reinvent Iron Man’s Key Power, His Future Is Doomed
One of Iron Man’s many challenges in Marvel Comics surrounds Tony Stark’s once-revolutionary technology, all thanks to real-world developments.
Ultimately, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark does introduce a significant design change to his Iron Man suit between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War. The Iron Man Mark 50 suit is much sleeker than every previous Tony Stark creation, even more so than his comic book counterpart’s All-New, All-Different design. Avengers: Endgame took a step back in this regard, keeping the nanotech upgrade but making the Iron Man Mark 85 suit much more solid-looking than its on-screen predecessor.
Iron Man’s All-New, All-Different Suit Is Ideal For A Post-Secret Wars MCU Reboot
Iron Man’s Faceplate Is The Symbol Of A Whole Era
While Marvel Studios has yet to officially confirm it, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars‘ multiversal plot provides the opportunity to soft-reboot the whole MCU in order to introduce a new continuity where every Marvel character exists in the same place, at the same time. And in order to allow Iron Man to coexist with the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, he’d need to be played by a new actor, unburdened by Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal.
A literally all-new, all-different suit of armor would serve as a powerful psychological reset button for the audience, and what better for this purpose than the All-New, All-Different Model Prime armor? Unlike the blocky, mechanical aesthetic of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man suits, the comics’ Model 51 features a significantly sleeker, more angular faceplate that often replaces the traditional mouth slit with a glowing, hexagonal light pattern. A live-action adaptation of this suit would establish the new Iron Man as a fresh iteration for a new generation.
Beyond the Model Prime, Marvel’s rebooted Iron Man could lean into the polished, liquid-metal horror of Superior Iron Man‘s Endo-Sym, or the cosmic scale of the Godkiller suit, designs that would have felt out of place in the more grounded early phases of the MCU. There are many comic book suits that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark never wore, and comic book stories he never experienced. Although Downey’s portrayal is iconic, Iron Man still has plenty of untapped live-action potential.
Which Iron Man suit designs would you want to see in the MCU if Iron Man returns?
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- NAME
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Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark
- Alias
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Iron Man
- FIRST APP
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“Tales of Suspense” #39 (1963)
- Created By
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Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber
- POWERS
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Genius intellect, armor providing flight, hacking, superhuman strength, reflexes, and durability.
- TEAM
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The Avengers
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- Release Date
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April 27, 2018
- Runtime
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149 minutes
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