History Main / PoweredArmor

* ''Fanfic/SuddenContact'': The [[VideoGame/StarCraft terrans]] have the traditional CMC. In turn, CMC armors and their derivatives are becoming popular in [[Franchise/MassEffect Citadel]] space, such as the turians' CMC-based Hardened Mobile Exosuit (HME) which are used by turian heavy infantry, and also known as "fat falcons."

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has several types, most of them Terran. The only reason the Terran infantry stands a chance against the Zerg is that they're in that armor that makes a regular human about as strong as a Hydralisk (and just as large); the guns also help, letting them draw first blood against Zerglings. Protoss Zealots get powered armor as well, but theirs is more geared around [[SomeKindOfForceField a plasma shield]] and [[HollywoodCyborg cybernetics]] than actual armor. It makes the Zealots capable of killing 3 or 4 enemies each when properly used.
** In the sequel, you get to see it up close. Marine CMC suits aside, [[KillItWithFire Firebat]] and [[StuffBlowingUp Marauder]] armor systems are frikkin' huge, more like MiniMecha than anything else; almost the size of a tank.

** We also get to see how a Marine gets suited up: the armor is [[TechnologyPorn built around him]] by multiple mechanical arms, in a scene that's [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything uncanny in its resemblance]] to the one in Film/IronMan.

** Tim "ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}" Drake villain "Scarab" is an Egyptian assassin named Maat Shadid who wears powered armor that allows her to fly. The rest of her secret organization the Covenant of Ka also wear variations of her armor with differing shades and helmets, which seem to be inspired in-universe by Blue Beetle's scarab.

** ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'' villain Raptor wears a suit of powered armor that was a Lexcorp prototype meant to be destroyed and disposed of. Instead it ended up on the black market. The armor allows the wearer to fly and has wrist-mounted weapons, but leaks radiation that ends up being fatal to the wearer.

** ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} and several other depowered mutants started wearing powered armor to [[RePower compensate]] for their [[BroughtDownToNormal lost abilities]] in the latest incarnation of the ComicBook/NewWarriors.

* ''TabletopGame/GURPSUltraTech'' has a slew of suits. The most powerful is the [[TechnologyLevels TL12]] "Warsuit" which, just for starters, is armored with layers of hyper-dense regenerating metal alloy and multiplies an ordinary person's strength 25 times over. There's also the clever "Exo-Field Belt" which is Powered Armor made out of nothing but force fields.

*** Annual #8 introduces Akila, a member of the Bana-Migdhall Amazon tribe. Akila wears a recreated version of the Shim'Tar war-suit which she modified with her impressive engineering skills, allowing her to aid Wonder Woman in battle.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': "Julia" of Daxam--[[FlyingBrick of all characters]]--ends up wearing power armor after helping Diana abolish slavery in the Sangtee Empire. It is presumably meant to protect her from lead poisoning and offset some of the damage done to her during her torture at the Empire's hands.

* ''Fanfic/{{Contraptionology}}'': Theoretically. Rainbow tries to create a set of flight-capable powered armor, but the best that she can manage is an unconvicting mockup made out of carboard boxes.

* In ''Fanfic/SpiritOfRedemption'' the quarians and geth have made War Machine battle suits for the quarians to wear.

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': The Avaloni soldiers use powered armors named Heinlein Mk 161 infantry combat suit -after Creator/RobertAHeinlein-. Misato wears one as she is leading a squad to seize the BigBad's fleet.

* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Forward}}'', the Hands of Blue wear blue bodysuits underneath their normal suits that turn out to be a "low profile" suit of powered armor. It allows them to resist bullets and crossbow bolts, as well as allowing them to move with surprising speed and to hit extremely hard. With these suits, they are fast enough and strong enough that even [[SuperSoldier River]] proves unable to match them in hand-to-hand combat. Fortunately, they aren't invincible, but it takes a lot of abuse to bring one down, unless you're [[WrenchWench Kaylee]]. [[spoiler: Kaylee just squishes them with a power loader.]]

** Lex Lutho has several times donned a suit of green-and-purple Powered Armor to fight mano a mano; once in the early '80s, quickly abandoned after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''; and once in the mid-'00s, during the run-up to ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis.'' His armour was a gift from Darkseid (it was part of the ongoing plot thread in Jeph Loeb's run about an alliance between Luthor and Darkseid.) Later stories (like ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' and ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'') would show Luthor occasionally using upgraded versions of the armour when necessary, and the ''ComicBook/SupermanUpUpAndAway'' arc had some goons attempt to steal some of Luthor's suits as well.

** ComicBook/LexLuthor:
*** Lex has several times donned a suit of green and purple Powered Armor to fight mano a mano: Once in the early '80s, quickly abandoned after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''; and once in the mid-'00s, during the run-up to ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis.'' His armour was a gift from Darkseid (it was part of the ongoing plot thread in Jeph Loeb's run about an alliance between Luthor and Darkseid.) Later stories (like ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' and ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'') would show Luthor occasionally using upgraded versions of the armour when necessary, and the ''ComicBook/SupermanUpUpAndAway'' arc had some goons attempt to steal some of Luthor's suits as well.

** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Robotnik wears War-Armour to battle [[TheStarscream Brutus]] which has a distinctive green and purple colour scheme, much like the battle-suit worn by super-villain, ComicBook/LexLuthor. It also has a [[KillItWithIce hose-like weapon that sprays liquid nitrogen]] which allows Robotnik to destroy [[MadeOfIndestructium Brutus]].

* In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', ComicBook/LexLuthor wears his green-and-purple warsuit during his final confrontation with Franchise/{{Superman}}. Later on, Kara uses a high-tech armor suit which lets her keep her powers under a red sun.

* As in the comic book continuity, ComicBook/LexLuthor occasionally donned a Kryptonite-powered battlesuit in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' franchise. Possibly as a friendly ShoutOut to ComicBook/IronMan, it was originally intended to slow the effects of a terminal heart condition (ironically the result of constantly carrying around a piece of Kryptonite). Also ironically, it packed Kryptonite rays up the wazoo, making it quite appropriate for battling Franchise/{{Superman}}.

** ComicBook/SpiderMan once donned one of his own, the Iron Spider armor. However, he dumped it in favor of his old red-and-blues when ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' really picked up and he defected from Iron Man's side.

** In one notable issue of Mighty Avengers (just before ComicBook/CivilWar) Doom and Iron Man go one-on-one after the rest of the Avengers were subdued by an army of [[MechaMooks Doombots]] and an array of traps. Their suits are so well matched that it comes down to whose suit's battery can last longer. [[spoiler: It's Doom's.]]

* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Series/TheMandalorian''. Mando's Beskar steel armor is light enough that it doesn't need mobility assistance, but it's still [[ImmuneToBullets Immune to Blasters]] and sports enough other goodies to make him a SpaceWestern equivalent of Iron Man. For the titular character, it is also presented to be not airtight and of modular construction (which means he can still be vulnerable to blaster fire in unprotected parts. Other Mandalorians presented, however (particularly the remnants of Death Watch) are shown to wear more SpaceMarine-styled outfits, with the power and skillset these imply.

* ''VideoGame/TheSacredArmourOfAntiriad'': Naturally, it is an Anti-Radiation suit with a "[[JetPack gravity displacer]]" and a [[ArmCannon "pulsar beam" launcher.]]

* ''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' (from the old UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum game of the same name). Naturally, it is an Anti-Radiation suit with a "[[JetPack gravity displacer]]" and a [[ArmCannon "pulsar beam" launcher.]]

** The Masters saga, based on the ''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross'', has the Bioroids, that would actually be considered MiniMecha if not for their [[UnusualUserInterface telepathic drive system]].

* The ''Total Justice'' mini-series ([[MerchandiseDriven which was based off a popular Hasbro toyline]]) revolved around the members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeague losing their powers and being forced to don suits of armor that mimicked their abilities.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Marionettes}}'', [[BigBad Director Masquerade]], the leader of the Stallions in Black, wears this underneath her standard-issue suit and tie. While it doesn't cover her entire body, it boosts her strength enough to let her match strength with an Earth Pony despite being a unicorn herself. [[spoiler:She dons a full-body Alicorn-based one later on called the Puppeteer that was based off the Marionette concept and intended to survive combat with Celestia for the FinalBattle between her and Trixie (who'd been upgraded into a "mecha Alicorn" at the time). While it boosts her greatly and gives her a lot of weapons, it's also [[FlawedPrototype an untested, dangerous prototype that would put immense strain on her body even if she wasn't already injured at the time]].]]

* Mach from ''Literature/RumorsBlock'' uses power armor that she based off of two older heroes' named Panzer and Sherman.

* ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' [[TropeCodifier codified the concept]], building off Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' as TheFuture spinoff of ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' there are various suits of power armor based off of purely physical engineering, {{Magitek}} or pure enchantment.

* Several hobbyists build these things in their garages. For example, ''Make it Real'' (AKA "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYRWhjVBeOQ The Hacksmith]]") has built an upper-body rig based off ''Film/{{Elysium}},'' a full body rig based off of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare.'' While the former can only be used to deadlift cinder blocks (and ended up being used as a display stand for a katana), the second is modular, can recharge its pneumatic power supply with a built-in battery-powered air compressor, and even incorporates ballistic plating (albeit only tested against a crossbow due to Canada's gun control laws), and an Augmented-Reality H.U.D. (or at least it will when it's done). SuperPrototype is very much averted. While the prototype gives the wearer the strength to lift a car, it boils down to, as one Website/YouTube commenter put it, "A jack you can sit in." The prototype also lacked the ability to ''turn properly'' until U-joints were added to the hip assembly. While the project was shelved indefinitely in favour of the creator's "Fly like Iron Man" project, it could potentially be married to it... They're also working on [[DeFictionalization de-fictionalizing]] the power loader from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (although it uses treads instead of legs), and built a "bionic arm" based off of ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}.''

In order to boost the wearer's mobility, certain armor versions also have built-in thrusters that allow them to fly, at least for [[NotQuiteFlight short distances]] or via [[InASingleBound rocket-assisted jumps]]. If this gives them good mobility and speed without sacrificing protection, the users often join the LightningBruiser camp, with the disadvantage, if any, being bulk and low maneuverability. There might, however, be variants that are (comparative) {{Fragile Speedster}}s, which forego the thick plating in lieu of even more equipment made to amplify the movements of its wearer, providing a boost to agility and movement speed.

* The eponymous LightNovel/InfiniteStratos suits are powered armor that [[{{Stripperiffic}} doesn't do much to actually armor]] the pilot's torso and head, instead enveloping it in [[DeflectorShields some kind of force field]]. They are also of the InstantArmor variety, being summonable at will.
* {{Tokusatsu}} {{Deconstruction}} ''Manga/{{Zetman}}'' has [[HeroicWannabe Alfasz,]] who combats the [[BodyHorror Players.]] The suit's wearer, Kouga Amagi, purposefully modelled it on a Children's show hero, due to being a bit of a Justice Freak.

** Later books reveal that Shardplate is created from the bodies of [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spren]] associated with each particular order of the Knights Radiant, as long as the Knight has been able to swear their [[BadassCreed Fourth Ideal]]. Compared with the "inert" sets of Plate that are more commonly worn, an "active" set of Shardplate is effectively InstantArmor that can appear and vanish at will, and can form floating protective barriers or even be sent to form around a non-Radiant to shield them from harm.