Sandbox / Iron Man Armors

Armors

In General

• Achilles' Heel: As powerful as his armor is, it becomes completely useless if something prevents the arc reactor from powering it. Steve and Bucky spend most of their fight against him in Captain America: Civil War trying to disable it, with Steve eventually succeeding by impaling his Vibranium shield into it.
• American Robot: His "Iron Legion" fully turns into that after being redesigned from armor suits to identical robotic drones in Iron Man 3.
• Animated Armor: He or his A.I. can control Mark 42 in Iron Man 3 and Mark 47 in Homecoming remotely.
• Arm Cannon: Several of Iron Man's weapons are mounted on his forearms, such as the Mark III's anti-tank missile and the Mark 6's lasers.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Many of his attempts to create Instant Armor resulted in this:
  • Mark 5 is a portable version of armor capable of automatically covering him rather quickly. However, it's also considerably weaker and less protective than his standard suit, and it cannot fly.
  • Mark 42 can easily split itself apart and latch onto Tony in select pieces, but this very function makes it easy to break apart.
• Back for the Dead: Marks 1 - 7 are on display in Tony's lab at the beginning of Iron Man 3. They're all blown to bits when the Mandarin sends his men to Tony's home.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The Mark 23 has a retractable arm blade, which he uses to cut Killian's arm off as does the Mark 50 in Avengers: Infinity War; it's responsible for almost stabbing Thanos.
• Chest Blaster: All models after the second show this capability. It drains more power than the palm blasters, so he mainly uses it as a backup weapon or a last resort.
• Collapsible Helmet: In the first film, his face plate just slides up or down as necessary. By Iron Man 2, not only is the helmet of Mark 5 collapsible, the whole suit is. Even then, the helmet is the last part of the suit to deploy. By Civil War, his Mark 46 armor has a helmet that can fully retract into the suit. In Infinity War, the helmet is made out of nanomachines, and a new one can reform if the first one is torn off, which happens while he is fighting Thanos.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Mark 1 also gave rise to the Iron Monger, and Mark 2 to the War Machine and Whiplash suits.
• Energy Absorption: In The Avengers, his suit absorbs Thor's lightning bolt:
  Jarvis: Power at 400% capacity.
  Tony Stark: How about that? [fires a supercharged repulsion blast back at Thor]
• Energy Weapon: Repulsors aside, lasers have been a mainstay of the armor's weapon systems starting from the Mark 6, as a one-off, last-ditch weapon. By the time of Avengers, he's upgraded the mechanisms so he can use it more than once with the Mark VII. Despite its power, Iron Man has mostly used it as a cutting tool rather than a straight weapon.
• Flying Brick: As the initial posterboy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's got the classic superhero package of flight, Super-Strength, and Super-Toughness when wearing most of his armors, letting him brawl on a reasonably level playing field with just about any monster or supervillain he faces as a solo hero or a member of the Avengers.
• Flying Firepower: His armor lets him fly at supersonic speeds and shoot energy blasts (from particle beams to lasers) and missiles. He's often compared to a humanoid fighter jet, and can take on just about anything in an aerial dogfight with a decent chance of victory.
• Heads-Up Display: With the exception of the Mark I, all of Tony's Iron Man suits and it's derivatives feature a HUD.
• Immune to Bullets: His suits are at least immune to rifle fire. However, they have limits. In the first movie, the Mark 3 has its repulsors cut out and gets scuffing and scratches to its millimeters-thick armor from a single shot from an anti-aircraft gun (not a tank, as is commonly believed). Later, the same suit suffers damage from two 20mm cannon shots, and Tony's panic definitely implies that he'd be in critical danger if F-22s landed any more hits. Pepper comments "are those bullet holes?" when seeing him take it off later. In Iron Man 3, four of the suits are blown up by a single hit from an ATGM, launched by one of the Mandarin's helicopters, though it might be because they are inert. The Mark 46 armor in Civil War completely averts this, being vulnerable to Hawkeye's arrows (being the weakest overall physically and in attack power, despite several new fancy features)
• Iconic Item: His Iron Man armor, as much as it can be considering how often he upgrades to a new model.
• Instant Armor: Downplayed, then Played Straight. Because one of the main weaknesses of the armor is that Tony must don it, which is easier said than done due to its bulk and complexity, and that without it, Tony is unable to fight superpowered criminals and aliens, he's constantly tried to make the process of wearing it be as easy and fast as possible.
  • Iron Man 2: Tony has created a considerably weaker, portable version of the armor which can automatically assemble around the user's body in a short time.
  • The Avengers: Starting from this film, his armors can fly to him and can make and unmake themselves automatically so that he walks in and out of them. Mark 7 required a special set of bracelets to lock onto.
  • Iron Man 3: With Mark 42 he tried to push the idea up to individual autonomous limbs that can fly toward him, but the technology was so buggy he scrapped the idea, only using it for the Hulkbuster armor since it was guaranteed the monster would tear off something during the process of being neutralized.
  • Infinity War: The Mark 50 armor uses the same nanotechnology as T'challa's Black Panther suit. The suit itself is stored in his arc reactor and spreads over his body with a single touch.
• Jack of All Stats: In terms of superpowered heroes. Tony's suits aren't as strong and durable as Hulk, as fast as Quicksilver or pack the sheer destructive capability of Thor or Captain Marvel. What the suits do have is a dizzying array of weapons and a huge amount of versatility which when combined with Tony's genius and skill allows him to go toe to toe with gods.
• Jet Pack: Starting with his Mark 7 armor in The Avengers, to allow him to use both of his repulsors without having to use one to stay aloft in flight. It falls off into two engines into space at the climax of The Avengers, but he can probably just replace it. From Iron Man 3 onward, the jet pack is just two small slits on the back of his torso.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Unlike in the comics, every version of the completed Iron Man armour with any serious screentime has a large, prominent jaw. It makes them look more heroic and less creepy than the blank, featureless masks that comic-Tony often uses.
• Lightning Bruiser: The vast majority of Tony's suits have incredibly potent offensive capabilities, the ability to reach supersonic speeds, and the resilience to withstand a shot from a tank followed by an uncontrolled fall from high enough to make a crater while taking negligible damage.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Starting from Mark 6 onwards, other than the one in his forearm, he has extra missiles, mostly in his shoulder and rarely in his wrist. The Hulkbuster is also capable of launching a small barrage of devastating missiles during combat. It serves as Tony's last-ditch finishing move during the battle, using it as well as the suit itself to bring down an entire (empty) skyscraper on the Hulk.
• Mana: A tech version. The Iron Man suits have a major weakness in that they consume a lot of power. Thus Tony is constantly watching his battery percentage to make sure he doesn't run out and at low power, he can't use his best attacks. The Mark 50 onwards mitigates this with backup power sources but is replaced with a similar weakness due to Tony only having so many nanomachines on him.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Tony often updates Iron Man suits mid-movie, either because the previous one became trashed or because it's become outdated.
• Palette Swap:
  • While most suits are mostly red with yellow details, Mark 42 is mostly yellow with red details. In turn, the Mark 43 throws in more red against yellow.
  • The Iron Man Mark 47 suit is exactly the same as Mark 46, just painted in the Ultimates color scheme.
• Powered Armor: Has made 50 of them by Infinity War, in addition to one or two modifications on the War Machine suit for Rhodey:
  • Iron Man to Iron Man 3: Mark 1 to Mark 7
  • Iron Man 3: Mark 8 to Mark 42 ("Iron Legion")
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron to Avengers: Infinity War: Mark 43 to Mark 50. Avengers: Endgame reveals Pepper Potts' "Rescue" Armor is officially designated Mark 49.
  • The very final suit he has in Avengers: Endgame is designated Mark 85, implying an unknown set of armors from Mark 51-84.
• Power Palms: Starting from Mark 7 his armors have additional thrusters so Tony doesn't need to use his hand repulsors to stay aloft, allowing him to shoot.
• Red Ones Go Faster: Most of the suits are primarily red in color and becomes faster with every new upgraded suit.
• Remote Body: Tony can directly control Mark 42 in Iron Man 3 over long distances with a special headset. Mark 47 in Homecoming no longer requires him to use an elaborate headpiece, so he can just pretend to be on the phone while attending a party.
• Shoulder Cannon: Several of his armors have small precision shot guns inside the shoulders, and mini missiles.
• Super-Strength: Granted to him by his armor.
  • Promotional material for Iron Man 2 gives the limit of his early "regular" suits as being able to lift 3 tons, which roughly matches the climax of his first movie where lifting an SUV over his head causes him to double over and seriously stretches the suit's capabilities to their limits.
  • The Mark 7 he uses in The Avengers had enough strength to push back one of the Helicarriers engines and even trade blows with Thor for a bit (although Thor is weakened from his trip to Earth, while Iron Man's armor is supercharged).
  • The Mark 42 has a maximum lift capacity of 900 pounds per a Freeze-Frame Bonus (see 0:24), while Hulkbuster is as strong as the Hulk before the Hulk eventually overpowered him.
  • Mark 50 is capable of dolling out physical blows strong enough to briefly stagger Thanos. It also manages to push an Asteroid the size of a small moon onto him (albeit with Gravity working in it's favour). It's also able to take direct attacks from Thanos in rapid succession, though it does end up breaking in the end.
• Super-Speed: His reflexes are those of a normal human's (albeit a trained and experienced one), but his early suits are fast enough to reach Mach 2. By Infinity War Mark 50 is able catch up to space ships exiting the atmosphere. The minimum speed required for that is Mach 20.
• Tricked-Out Shoes: Iron Man's feet do not have particularly fancy gadgets, but ever since the Mark 1 they've incorporated rockets (for the Mark 1) or repulsors (for the rest) that are the primary exhausts through which the armors can fly, the palm repulsors being designed as stabilizers. The Mark 50 evolves beyond the previous repulsor system by occasionally having the feet's nanomachines combine into a powerful rocket that multiplies the flight speed of the armor.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway:
  • Iron Man: Tony's first flight starts out like a dream - and then he encounters the icing problem and barely escapes with his life. This first-hand knowledge becomes a Chekhov's Gun in his fight with Stane.
    J.A.R.V.I.S.: Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations required before an actual flight is...
    Tony Stark: Jarvis... sometimes you gotta run before you can walk.
  • The Avengers: His old Mark 6 suit is too trashed to rely on anymore, so he demands that J.A.R.V.I.S. prepare his still in testing Mark 7. The new suit arrives Just in Time to save his life and works perfectly during the whole battle. Of course, the Mark 7 being an incremental upgrade of by then well-proven technology means there is less what could go wrong.
  • Iron Man 3: Tony's become erratic from PTSD and has been rushing through prototypes without giving them the proper testing time. The results are utterly unreliable, and in a number of action scenes he doesn't use armor at all.
• Un-Installment: While they must have existed in-universe, Marks 51 through 84 are never shown on-screen. To a lesser extent, the Mark 49 was never used by Tony himself, having been built for Pepper Potts.
• Unobtainium: What's been powering his suits since Iron Man 2. It's actually an element he created himself, with some guidance from his father, which is more potent and nontoxic to his body compared to palladium.
• Walking Armory: His armor carries a staggering amount of weaponry, including Power Palms, primarily designed as flight stabilizer and then used as Weaponized Exhaust and Chest Blaster, all three directly powered by the arc reactor. Then under the armor lie a missile powerful enough to blow up a tank (and alternatively a set of smaller missiles) under each forearm plate, needleguns or missile launchers in the shoulder area, and Frickin' Laser Beam generators under the wrists. He's also occasionally shown a cuff launcher to immobilize opponents and knee-mounted missile launchers.
• Weaponized Exhaust: His primary weapon, the repulsor, wasn't designed to be a weapon, but rather a flight stabilizer. When he realized it worked as a weapon at full power, he incorporated it.
  Pepper: I thought you said you were done making weapons?
  Tony: This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless. [boom] I didn't expect that.
• Worf Had the Flu: In all three of his solo movies, Tony is hampered by something in the climactic battle with the Big Bad; he was using a more primitive arc reactor against Stane, his arsenal was drained fighting mooks before Vanko, and his primary armor was still damaged in the third. Civil War also counts since Tony was fighting with multiple handicaps as otherwise he could have easily defeat Steve and Bucky, super-soldier or not. And in Infinity War while the suit is more powerful than ever, Tony is older and out of shape meaning that he can't take full advantage of the suit.

Palladium Armors

Mark 1

Appearances: Iron Man | Iron Man 2 | Iron Man 3

The first suit of armor Tony made, cobbled together from pieces of weapons and machines in a cave to help him escape.

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• Beta Outfit: He builds Mark 1 "in a cave! With a box of scraps!", and it is big and bulky due to both being a mechanical prototype, and as a nod to the original Iron Man suit in the comics. After getting back to the city he creates the silver-colored Mark 2 before settling on Mark 3's coloration with gold-titanium alloy casing with red highlights, which becomes a standard for the majority of his suits.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: An In-Universe example, since it was quickly cobbled together in a cave, the Mark I has a much bulkier design than most later suits, uses flamethrowers instead of repulsers, and can't fly for that long.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: It had two flamethrowers built into its wrists. Played more realistically than most examples, being used to destroy equipment rather than as an anti-personnel weapon.
• Mighty Glacier: Unlike later armors, the Mark I can't fly for long periods of time, and is never seen moving faster than a speed-walking pace, but it is still capable of sending regular humans flying with a single punch, can launch arm mounted rockets, and is Immune to Bullets.
• Not Quite Flight: It had fuel and propulsion, but only enough to launch upward. Landing was much harder.

Mark 2

Appearances: Iron Man | Iron Man 2 | The Avengers (2012) (helmet only) | Iron Man 3 | Avengers: Endgame (helmet only)

The first suit of armor built by Tony upon his return to America, this one was far more advanced and the first capable of flight (though not too impressive on the landing front).

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• Achilles' Heel: Despite its incredible flight capabilities right out of the gate, the Mark 2 is incapable of withstanding the colder temperatures of higher altitudes, leading to its parts freezing up. Tony eventually corrects the problem. Obadiah does not.
• Amusing Injuries: Tony takes punishment after punishment getting it up and running. At first it consists of his attempts to get the jet-boots firing, causing Tony to rocket up face-first into a concrete pillar in his lab. Even after the armor has been constructed and makes a successful flight, Tony decides to make a landing on his roof only to fall through three floors, land on one of his vintage sports cars and be sprayed with a fire extinguisher by DUM-E.
• Beta Outfit: Though more advanced than Mark 1, Tony still has some kinks (like the aforementioned "icing problem") to work out with the suits before he can debut the classic red and gold armor in full.
• Chekhov's Gun: Though it's the suit worn for the shortest amount of time in Iron Man, it comes back in a big way in Iron Man 2 when Rhodey takes it and Hammer converts it into the War Machine armor.
• Chrome Champion: An all-silver ensemble to mark its prototype status. It was the last suit of armor before Tony adopted his standard red and gold look.
• Foreshadowing: The "icing problem" it sustains during its initial flight comes back when Tony fights Obadiah at the film's climax.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Since his time spent in the Mark 1 suit was mostly running for his life, Tony uses the second iteration to work out how to be Iron Man.

Mark 3

Appearances: Iron Man | Iron Man 2 | Captain America: The First Avenger^note Archive footage from Iron Man in The Stinger | Iron Man 3

Perhaps the most iconic suit of armor developed by Tony Stark, the Mark 3 was constructed after working out some of the kinks of the Mark 2 and given a red and gold color scheme that would appear prominently in most armors from thereon.

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• Break Out the Museum Piece: Tony is forced to power it with his first ARC reactor after Obadiah rips the improved one out of his chest. Built to power the relatively primitive Mark 1, Tony is basically running on fumes the entire fight with the Iron Monger in this armor.
• Mythology Gag: Tony considers leaving it all gold before deciding to have JARVIS "throw in a little hot-rod red". Tony's second suit of armor in the comics was all gold before he progressed to the more iconic red and gold.
• Shoot the Hostage Taker: During the battle of Gulmira, five Ten Rings members use some villagers as human shields to force Iron Man to surrender. However, Tony uses his armor to target all five of them and shoots them dead with his shoulder-mounted guns while leaving the hostages unharmed.

Mark 4

Appearances: Iron Man 2 | Iron Man 3 | What If...?

An armor built to replace the Mark 3 after it was heavily damaged during the fight against Iron Monger.

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• Chekhov's Gun: The aforementioned Beam-O-War. It becomes crucial at the end of the second film to defeat Whiplash.
• Mundane Utility: For the first half of Iron Man 2, Tony used this armor for purposes outside combat deployment.
  • The opening of the Stark Expo involves him dropping from high altitude in the armor, while the venue blasts out AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill". What better PR stunt for Stark Industries tech, right?
  • During his birthday party, Tony uses the various weapons of this armor to blow up alcohol bottles and watermelons in order to entertain his guests.

Mark 5

Appearances: Iron Man 2 | Iron Man 3 | What If...?^note Archive footage from Iron Man 2

A suit specialized on portability and easy access, that can be collapsed and turned into a briefcase.

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• Emergency Weapon: It is significantly less powerful than the regular armors and is only used in case of emergency.
• Flawed Prototype: Its durability limits (as a suit on the go) will be improved upon by Mark 7.
• Hammerspace: Let's face it, this is where this suit really comes from. There's no way it could fold down into a suitcase-sized package that's light enough to carry in one hand.
• Handcuffed Briefcase: The suitcase is usually carried around by Happy Hogan and locked to his wrist.
• Impossibly-Compact Folding: Somehow, a full body powered armor suit can fit in a briefcase...
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the earliest issues of Iron Man, Tony Stark would often carry his armor around in a briefcase. In later years he made the briefcase itself into armor.
  • This armor's color scheme bears a great resemblance to the Silver Centurion armor from the comics. It's just a resemblance, ultimately, as Tony builds the actual Silver Centurion later between The Avengers and Iron Man 3 as Mark 33.
• Transformation Trinket: The aforementioned suitcase can turn into and equips its user with the armor.

New Element Armors (Phase 1)

Mark 6

Appearances: Iron Man 2 | Captain America: The First Avenger^note Archive footage from The Avengers in The Stinger | The Avengers (2012) | Iron Man 3

Tony Stark's first suit powered by the element he invented, no longer relying on Palladium cores to charge the suit's (and thus his pacemaker) arc reactor.

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• Energy Absorption: Manages to absorb Thor's thunderbolt and supercharging the power levels to 475%.
• Energy Weapon: Has a laser array installed on the gloves that shoots beams in every direction.
  • Death or Glory Attack: However, it's a one-time use in any given battle.
• It Only Works Once: The Death Blossom laser can only be used once per battle, as it uses too much power to be used more often.
• Mythology Gag: This armor's triangular arc reactor bears a resemblance to the Extremis armor from the comics.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Death Blossom laser. It was never established or mentioned before Tony uses it to finish off the Hammer Drones during the final battle.
• Spectacular Spinning: When Tony uses the Death Blossom lasers during the battle with the Hammer Drones, he pulls a 360 degree spin that slices them all in half.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: This is the first armor shown to allow its wearer to go underwater, as seen when Tony uses it to work on the electrical system of Stark Tower in the Hudson River during his first scene in The Avengers (2012).
• Unobtainium: The first suit designed to run off the element that his father had postulated and Tony completed, replacing the toxic Palladium core that was driving his previous models. It's also more potent than Palladium.

Mark 7

Appearances: The Avengers (2012) | Iron Man 3 | Avengers: Endgame | Loki^note Archive footage | What If...?

An armor that Tony configured to seek two wrist-mounted beacons and form around the wearer. The suit has the honor of being deployed during the Chitauri invasion of New York, as well as being the first to experience the vortex of space when Iron Man redirects a nuclear missile to the Chitauri mothership.

The origin of the technology that would later be used for the Mark 42 and "Veronica" Hulkbuster modular system.

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• Energy Weapon: The laser array of the Mark 6 was retained, with significant increase in battery lasting power.
• Desperate Object Catch: In this case being Tony himself, as he activated the armor right before Loki throws him from Stark Tower, giving him a very real-world test of the armor's ability to properly align with the wrist beacons and attach itself before he went splat.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Blows through a large number of Chitauri to get to Cap.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Holds the largest number of missiles housed in any of the armors, enabling it to obliterate massive number of Chitauri. It is also the only armor to house missiles in its kneepads, 4 each.
• One-Hit Polykill: Bounces his repulsors off Cap's shield to kill a large number of Chitauri.

Marks 8 - 41

Appearances: Iron Man 3

Thirty-three armors of various design and specialization, created during a period of rapid development after the Battle of New York.

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• Action Bomb: During the Final Battle, Tony activates the self destruct on some of the Iron Legion armors to take out Extremis soldiers.
• Affectionate Nickname: Starting with the Mark 15, Tony gave them all nicknames. Marks 15 through 41 are, in order: Sneaky, Nightclub, Heartbreaker, Cassanova, Tiger, Python, Midas, Hot Rod, Shades, Tank, Striker/Thumper, Gamma, Disco, Jack, Fiddler, Blue Steel, Piston, Romeo, Silver Centurion, Southpaw, Red Snapper, Peacemaker, Hammerhead, Igor, Starboost/Gemini, Shotgun, and Bones.
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • The Mark 18 combines the stealth capabilities of the Mark 16 with the weapons systems of Mark 17.
  • The Mark 31 combines the speed of the Mark 21 with the energy effeciency of the Mark 30.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: The Mark 39 was designed for suborbital space travel.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The Mark 30 has extendable blades in its arms. Presumably, these were added because it takes minimal energy to use them, as opposed to a repulsor. Mark 33 retains this trait, likely for similar reasons.
• Blue Is Heroic: Mark 27, Mark 30, and Mark 38 are primarily blue.
• Boring, but Practical: The Mark 20's specialization is... energy efficiency and long-distance flight. Rather underwhelming considering the Mark 3 could get him from America to Afghanistan and back three years earlier, but considering later armors needed to power both weapons and flight for long periods or go into space, it's developments were crucial for future armors. Marks 30 and 33 later returns to refine the concept.
• Chrome Champion: Marks 12 through 15, as well as 18, 22, 29, 32, and 34, are all primarily silver or gray in coloration.
• Color Contrast:
  • The Mark 22 has a gray body but bright red arms and legs. The boots even have hot rod flames painted on them!
  • The Mark 24 is mostly black with some bright white sections.
  • The Mark 27 is blue with orange highlights.
  • The Mark 28 is mostly dark grey with some bright orange plates. This one may actually have some motivation to it: if you see it, it's probably drenched in radiation and some hazard markings are likely in order.
• Costume Evolution: Many of them diverge from Tony's usual armor design. It would be easier to list the ones that kept the traditional red and gold color scheme^note Marks 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 33, 35; a mere nine out of thirty-three, and Marks 35 and 38 have significant changes to the base form. Though by the time of the film they appear in, Tony's come back around to a more standard armor design, so it didn't exactly go anywhere.
• Deflector Shields:
  • The Mark 24 incorporated repulsor shields for added durability.
  • The Mark 33 had a magnetic polarity shield that could repel incoming metal items (such as bullets), which could also be reversed to pull metallic items in.
• Detachment Combat: The Mark 41 uses this as its primary method of attack, breaking into multiple parts to hit multiple enemies at once.
• Exotic Weapon Supremacy: The Mark 39 has a "concussion cannon" unique to it. Presumably this was designed out of a need for a weapon meant to function in space.
• Fashionable Asymmetry:
  • Unlike Marks 25 and 26, the Mark 29 only has a jackhammer on one arm.
  • Mark 34 had a large hydraulic claw on its left arm for aiding in disaster recovery.
• Flawed Prototype: On the low end of "flawed," the Mark 22 is a serviceable prototype of the War Machine 2, but it's nothing to write home about.
• Fragile Speedster:
  • Mark 14, which has been stripped of all its weapons apart from the repulsors and a few missiles in favor of increased speed.
  • Mark 40, which lost nearly all armor in order to boost speed and maneuverability.
• Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Most of the armors are fairly flashy, but there are a few of particular note.
  • Averted with the Mark 23, which is painted in multi-scale camo, a design choice made even more bizarre than the opposite considering it's not one of the stealth focused armors.
  • Very notable with the Mark 27, which is a stealth armor with a bright blue and orange color scheme.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: The Mark 21 uses the solid gold color scheme Tony dismissed for the Mark 3.
• Hot Paint Job: Mark 22, appropriately nicknamed "Hot Rod", is a prototype of the War Machine Mark 2 armor that has flames painted on its arms and legs.
• Long-Range Fighter:
  • Mark 17, which specializes in repulsor artillery.
  • Mark 32, whose oversized arc reactor fuels an equally large unibeam.
  • Mark 33 has pulse cannons whose projectiles build in power the longer they travel.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Python (Mark 20) was named because of the snake's ability to function for a long time on one meal.
  • Romeo (Mark 32) was named because of its large chest reactor, aka its big heart.
• Mundane Utility: Tony's genius and near limitless resources created the Marks 25 and 26, armors designed for construction. He comes back to the concept three armors later with the Mark 29, where he put enough thought into it to say the previous models weren't maneuverable enough for a construction site and needed an updated model.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Mark 24 was built specifically for combat, and as such it can take more of a beating than any previous armor.
• Non-Lethal Warfare: The Mark 36, which was designed for crowd control and riot suppression.
• No-Sell:
  • The Mark 23 was specifically designed to endure extreme heat, presumably for work around volcanoes or other similar environments. This would be Crippling Overspecialization, but the only fight we see it take part in is against the Extremis supersoldiers, who have a strong heat basis to their powers.
  • Marks 25 and 26 can survive high temperatures and electrical surges. The 26 in particular is also resistant to Gamma radiation.
  • The Mark 28 is specifically designed to protect the wearer from all radiation.
• Power Pincers: The Mark 35 has extendable hydraulic claws for use in disaster aid, such as moving rubble.
• Punch Parry: While wearing the Mark 16, Tony does this with Killian during the final fight.
• Stealth Expert: The Mark 15 is designed to be sensor invisible, with a nearly nonexistent radar profile and the ability to change its outer coloring to blend in with the environment. Mark 16 takes it farther at the cost of armor and all weapons save the repulsors, making it more suited for infiltrating buildings than airspaces where it would risk being shot down if detected. The Mark 27 continues this trend, noted for having a color scheme that allows it to use a special kind of stealth... somehow.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: The Mark 37, which was designed for deep sea traversal.
• Super-Speed: Marks 19, 21, and 40 are specialized for hypersonic flight, each improving on the last.
• Super-Strength: The Mark 38, which is the strongest of all the armors and may have served as a prototype to the Hulkbuster. However, in combat this is the only trait it can rely on, as it was designed for heavy lifting and lacks any other weapon systems.
• Utility Weapon: Utility before weapon, but the Marks 25, 26, and 29 have pneumatic jackhammers. They can pulverize concrete with ease. Now imagine what one would do to a person.
• Voice of the Legion: Literally in Iron Man 3.
  Tony: Jarvis, target Extremis heat signatures, terminate with extreme prejudice.
  Jarvis: [from the remaining 34 armors] Yes, sir.
• Weaponized Exhaust: The Mark 40 can use its repulsors to enhance the power behind its punches, as shown during the fight against Killian.

Mark 42 / Autonomous Prehensile Propulsion Suit

Appearances: Iron Man 3 | Spider-Man: Homecoming

An armor that can split itself apart and can be controlled from afar.

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• Action Bomb: Became this during the final battle of Iron Man 3, in which Tony made the suit assemble around Killian's body before telling Jarvis to blow it up in order to kill him. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
• The Cameo: Appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming as one of the items in the shipment Vulture tries to hijack near the end.
• Detachment Combat: Its main design concept is to be able to separate into its own pieces and fly independently.
• Flawed Prototype: Of the Mark 43, as seen in Age of Ultron. The Mark 43 is virtually identical to the Mark 42 (save for the paint scheme) but it works. It's hinted that the Mark 42's flaws come from Tony creating it while he was heavily sleep deprived and coping in his own manic way with his post-traumatic stress.
• Fragile Speedster: Fast, mobile, can barely take a hit. Downplayed though, it falls apart only when its doesn't have anybody in it.
• Unexplained Recovery: Even though the suit exploded at the end of Iron Man 3, it later reappears in the background inside the jet carrying all the tech from Avengers Tower during Spider-Man: Homecoming, complete with all of its battle damage from Iron Man 3. In-universe, Tony probably felt some attachment to the suit and, like his lost Hall of Armors, and in particular, the Mark 1 armor, kept it as a memento.

New Element Armors (Phase 2)

Mark 43

Appearances: Avengers: Age of Ultron | What If...?

The first armor that Tony created after the others were destroyed by the "Clean Slate Protocol".

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• Animated Armor: This armor has a voice-activated feature called "Sentry Mode" that allows it to act on its own when Tony activates it.
• Attack Its Weak Point: After using his armor to detect the power source of Baron Strucker's HYDRA base, Tony fires a missile at it to deactivate the energy shield.
• Macross Missile Massacre: This armor can fire a large number of missiles, as seen during the fight against Ultron in South Africa.

Mark 45

Appearances: Avengers: Age of Ultron | WandaVision^note Archive footage from Age of Ultron

The armor used by Tony during the final battle of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

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• Combined Energy Attack: During the climax of Age of Ultron, Tony combines his armor's repulsors with Thor's lightning and Vision's laser beam in an attack that severely damages Ultron's vibranium armor.
• High-Tech Hexagons: Unlike any of its predecessors, the Mark 45 has a hexagonal-shaped indent around the circular Arc Reactor. It's also the most advanced armor at the time of Age of Ultron.
• Red Is Heroic: This armor has a predominantly red color scheme.

Mark 46

Appearances: Captain America: Civil War | Spider-Man: Homecoming^note Cameo in a video recording | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier^note Flashback with archive footage from Civil War

The armor worn during the Avengers' Civil War.

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• Awesomeness by Analysis: In the final fight scene, Tony has F.R.I.D.A.Y. analyze Captain America's hand-to-hand combat moves and provide a programmed countermeasure tactic, allowing him to gain the upper hand.
• Collapsible Helmet: Mark 46, along with War Machine Mark 3, gives us fully collapsible helmets, as opposed to simply having the faceplate open.
• EMP: This armor can fire EMP projectiles from its lower forearm. During the airport battle, Tony uses this to disable a helicopter before Captain America could use it to flee.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Much like the Mark 7, this armor has several mini-missile launchers on each shoulder. Tony fires many of them to stop Clint and Wanda during the airport battle.
• Power Up Let Down: The Mark 46 Iron Man armor he uses during Captain America: Civil War doesn't seem quite up to standards set by him until that point. Although still a powerful suit, it can be temporarily pinned and even damaged by people on Super-Soldier tiers of power, whereas Tony had demonstrated that earlier models took the strength of demigods before it could be damaged by bare hands. It probably isn't even bulletproof and gets pierced by Hawkeye's arrow. Unlike the much earlier Mark 6 armor, it also isn't airtight, which allows Ant-Man to sneak into the suit and sabotage its internal systems. Its flight speed is also downgraded, being unable to catch up to a Quinjet or catch Rhodey before he hit the ground or move out of the way of falling cars, when the suits had been supersonic since Mark 3. Its repulsors are weaker too, as while the previous ones were capable of blasting people through concrete walls, shoving aside vehicles, even destroying bunkers and hurting Asgardians, these repulsors are only able to stun Falcon and super-soldiers and only chip asphalt. Given how badly Tony was affected by the fallout of Sokovia and recent events, he may have intentionally made the suit weaker^note to avoid collateral damage and not kill his friends or rushed its production like the Iron Legion.
• Supernormal Bindings: This armor can launch two disc-like projectiles capable of forming a powered clamp that automatically attach to the enemy's legs, and is strong enough to restrain Captain America himself.
• Tron Lines: Sort of. Mark 46 shows smaller Arc Reactors that dot the suit as additional power sources.

Mark 47

Appearances: Spider-Man: Homecoming

The armor worn during Vulture's attempted theft of the Avengers Tower cargo.

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• Animated Armor: Mark 47 shows that Tony still employs its technology when he has it save Peter from drowning, remote controlled all the way from India. Peter later tries to turn his absence on him later on after his disastrous attempt to snag the Vulture but that time, Tony is in the suit.
• Big Damn Hero:
  • Tony sends the armor to rescue Peter as he's about to drown in a lake after a fight with the Vulture.
  • When the Staten Island Ferry starts falling apart, Tony uses the armor himself to save Peter and the passengers.
• Energy Weapon: The Mark 47 has a laser system far more advanced than its predecessors, allowing it to rebuild the collapsing Staten Island Ferry by welding together the cutlines.
• Knows the Ropes: This armor can shoot ropes from its wrists, as seen when Tony uses this to reattach the broken parts of the ferry together.
• Mythology Gag: The color scheme of the armor is based on the Iron Tech armor from the Ultimate Marvel comics.
• Palette Swap: Beyond the color scheme, Mark 47 has few significant differences from Mark 46.

Hulkbuster Armors

Mark 44 / "Veronica"

Appearances: Avengers: Age of Ultron | WandaVision^note Archive footage from Age of Ultron | What If...?

An armor developed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner specifically to stop the Hulk should Banner ever lose control. More properly, "Veronica" isn't Powered Armor so much as a drone containing modular components that can assemble into a Mini-Mecha capable of matching the Hulk in strength. This modular nature also means that the Hulkbuster can easily call for replacements of damaged or destroyed pieces of itself, something vital in a protracted fight against the Hulk.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Because the user is secured in the Hulkbuster's chest cavity, the limbs are able to bend in ways that are anatomically impossible for a human. In one instance, Tony rotates one arm in its shoulder socket to land a punch on the Hulk behind his back.
• Achilles' Heel: Though the Hulkbuster itself is designed to avert this with its many redundancies and the ability to replace its components, it does have one crucial weak point: the drone that actually deploys the replacements. Since it needs to remain close enough to the Hulkbuster for it to receive deployed care packages in time, it's vulnerable to collateral damage, shown when the Hulk backhands a deployed care package back into it, knocking it out the sky. Luckily Tony manages to end the fight soon afterwards, meaning the Hulk doesn't get a chance to capitalize on this development.
• Adaptational Badass: The Hulkbuster armor is not nearly as powerful or durable in the comics as it is in the movie, relatively speaking. Not to mention, the comics version never won a fight against the Hulk like the movie version did. Justified though, because this version was designed by both Tony AND Bruce, thus making it more festive in taking its target out.
• An Arm and a Leg: In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the armor loses its left arm during the fight against Hulk, though it gets quickly replaced.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: The suit is never called "Hulkbuster"; the system that deploys it is named "Veronica" by Stark and Banner. A Freeze-Frame Bonus at least shows "Hulkbuster" appearing backwards on Tony's HUD.
• Crazy-Prepared: It's made specifically to stop the Hulk, with input from Bruce Banner, so it's prepared for almost any eventuality. Its modular design allows damaged components to be replaced on the fly from the Veronica unit, it has customised attachments designed to restrain the Hulk and limit his mobility, multiple mini-arc reactors for power so Hulk can't just rip out one central powerplant, and has Unibeam-strength repulsors to keep the Hulk at bay.
• Crippling Overspecialization: It's built solely to stop the Hulk, making it the Mighty Glacier to Stark's usual Lightning Bruiser armors. However, because it's built to play the same game as the Hulk, Bruce Banner uses it to imitate the Hulk's fighting style when Hulk refuses to fight in Wakanda.
• Detachment Combat: Much like the Mark 42, the Hulkbuster comes in separate pieces that fly down from a storage satellite and assemble to make the greater armor. This design is actually needed because the Hulk can easily wreck through the limbs and they'll need regular replacement in order for the armor to stand a chance. In Infinity War, Banner even uses one of the wrists as a makeshift Rocket Punch by sticking it on Cull Obsidian hand and make it fly into Wakandan's forcefield, killing the alien when he collides with the field.
• Fluffy the Terrible: "Veronica", while a Meaningful Name, isn't exactly the nomenclature you'll expect to be given to Tony's largest and physically strongest suit (or at least the delivery system for its components).
• Four-Fingered Hands: In contrast to Tony's other armors.
• Glass Cannon: Played with. Despite being by far the biggest, most physically powerful suit Tony has ever built, being able to take and dish out damage to a degree not seen in any other suit - save for perhaps his nanotech ones - in a straight-up fight, the Hulk can still tear the Hulkbuster apart with ease, hence why it has a multitude of redundancies and specialized weapons made solely for neutralizing the Hulk, such as the ability to replace badly damage components.
• Godzilla Threshold: The armor was designed to neutralize a rampaging Hulk. This meant the armor was stored on a Stark satellite, ready to be called to anywhere on Earth at any moment, and used the technology of the Mk 42 armor to be able to fly out in parts. For this reason, it can do as much collateral damage as the Hulk himself, so Tony spends pretty much all of the fight against the Hulk taking extreme care not to have any civilians die in the crossfire.
• Knockout Gas: It's a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but the Hulkbuster possesses a sedative gas sprayer within its right arm. During the battle, Tony can be seen briefly attempting to use it to help calm the enraged Bruce down, very unsuccessfully.
• Kryptonite Ring: It was designed with the help of Bruce Banner specifically to neutralize the Hulk. This also makes it very useful in taking down opponents who share similarities with the Hulk, such as Cull Obsidian and Thanos.
• Logical Weakness: Though Tony is able to replace the Hulkbuster's damaged components, he does so by calling in care packages from a drone flying nearby, which take time to deploy and assemble. Not only does this leave the Hulkbuster somewhat vulnerable in the meantime, it also means the replacement components can be intercepted, which the Hulk does so when it's busy tearing apart the Hulkbuster, incidentally deflecting it straight into the drone as a result and taking it out of the fight.
• Meaningful Name: "Veronica" is an allusion to Betty and Veronica, in that Veronica is called in when the sweet, non-violent Betty method can't stop the Hulk. (As a bonus, Betty's also the name of Banner's former girlfriend.)
• Meta Mecha: The suit forms around the existing Iron Man Armor, with the main armor being contained inside the central chest cavity. It even forms a dual-layered HUD when fully assembled. By Infinity War, it's been modified for use by unarmored pilots as well, with Bruce Banner using it during Infinity War.
• Mighty Glacier: The biggest drawback of the Hulkbuster is that while it is strong and tough enough to trade blows with the Hulk, it's not nearly as agile. Tony got in trouble a couple times because the Hulk could quickly move to exploit lapses in the massive armor's defense. Similarly, Thanos' Outriders manage to (temporarily) bring it down through sheer numbers and Cull Obsidian manages to tear off an arm, though admittedly Bruce was a bit distracted at the time.
• Mini-Mecha: This suit is closer to one than a Powered Armor, having completely mechanized limbs that can be easily replaced if they're ever torn off.
• Punch Catch: The piston arm has a secondary function that allows it to lock on to Hulk's arm by retracting the fist and then clamping down restraints once Hulk's arm is drawn in. Amusingly, this was done right after Hulk had pulled a punch catch on the Hulkbuster.
  • This gets done again during Infinity War, with the Hulkbuster's severed left arm being used to catch Cull Obsidian's arm when he goes in for a finishing blow, leading to his subsequent demise by the severed arm hurling him into Wakanda's energy field.
• Punch Parry: At one point the Hulk and the Hulkbuster's fists strike each other full force, resulting in a shockwave reverberating.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: One of the arm attachments is a piston-powered fist which Tony uses to rapidly punch Hulk in the face.
  'Hulkbuster's fist: *BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM*
  Tony: Go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep...

'Sakaaran Mark 44 / "Veronica"''

Appearances: What If...?

A version of the Hulkbuster Armor that a Variant of Tony Stark constructs on Sakaar.

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• Noodle Incident: How it was crafted isn't explained when it appears due to the episode it originally appeared in being delayed.

Mark 48

Appearances: Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame

An updated version of the Hulkbuster Armor used by Bruce Banner in the Battle of Wakanda and the Ambush on Thanos.

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• Advertised Extra: Many promotional art for Avengers: Endgame showed the Hulkbuster armor with a slightly updated color scheme. However, the Hulkbuster is in the actual movie for all of one scene, and it doesn't even have that color scheme.
• An Arm and a Leg: During Infinity War the armor loses its left arm against Cull Obsidian. It is repaired by the beginning of Endgame.
• Forgot About His Powers: Save for the brute strength and repulsors, the redundancies built into the first Hulkbuster, along with the missiles, knockout gas, rapid-fire punching option and punch-catch mechanisms go unused during Infinity War, possibly because it was Bruce's first time using it, or because this new Hulkbuster armor doesn't have the same weapons as its predecessor. This makes his battle with Cull Obsidian much more difficult as a result.
• Four-Fingered Hands: It's even more visible in this version.
• Midseason Upgrade: The Hulkbuster was substantially redesigned between Civil War and Infinity War/Endgame, losing a bit of bulk and becoming sleeker in the process. It still retains its signature brute strength, though the combat repulsors have taken on a red tint and explosive properties.
• Tiny-Headed Behemoth: The effect given off by Bruce Banner inside the Hulkbuster when he opens the helmet part, his normal-sized head poking out of the Hulk-sized machine.

Nanotech Armors

Mark 50 / Bleeding Edge

Appearances: Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | What If...?

Tony's first suit that eschews the solid metal of his other armors in favor of being comprised entirely of nanobots.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Mark 50 has one major weakness - there's a finite amount of nanites stored in the Arc Reactor. A lengthy battle can use up the nanobots with no way for Tony to replace them.
• Morph Weapon: Being made entirely of nanobots, it can reshape itself at a thought to form a wide variety of gadgets and weapons.
• Hollywood Healing: With the Bleeding Edge nanomachine colony at his disposal, Stark becomes the first hero in the MCU capable of casting "Healing Magic", by spraying surplus nanomachines over wounds, even critical ones, to staunch bleeding, and presumably eat harmful pathogens and knit together damaged tissue. The hasty application of this "healing spray" allowed him to survive having a nano-machine sword driven clean through his liver, intestines, left lung and kidney by Thanos. Though he still required further medical treatment from Nebula to fully recover from this lethal injury.
• Nanomachines: What his Mark 50 suit is made of. It assembles itself over him instantly very much like T'Challa's suit in Black Panther. It also has a surplus of nanos beyond what is needed to make the suit, which not only allows him to summon extra weapons and armor on the fly but also to immediately replace pieces of the suit that get torn off (though this has its upper limits, as his bout with Thanos shows).
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Mark 50 suit features a vast array of new abilities on top of the ones introduced in previous movies. No matter what the bad guys throw at Iron Man, he'll counter it with something you've never seen him use before. Justified, because tinkering with his suit and improving its technology is what Tony does with his spare time.
• Power Fist: Can enlarge the size of his fists and feet to hit harder.
• Rocket Punch: While other suits can invoke this in spirit via the palm and foot repulsors, using its nanomachines, this suit can outright form rocket boosters on its elbows and ankles, giving its blows one hell of an oomph.
• Super-Toughness: Probably has THE standout durability feat amongst Tony's armors, getting hit by a massive chunk of moon Thanos hurled at him and getting back up pretty quickly. The armor survives a battle with the Black Order despite getting knocked around, a crash on Titan, a flock of bat-like creatures sent by the Reality Stone, a fireblast powered by the Power Stone, having a moon dropped on it, six direct punches from Thanos, and two direct hits from the Power Stone.
  Tony: You throw another moon at me, I'm gonna lose it.
• Transformation Trinket: He now has a proper one, in the form of an attachable chest-mounted Arc Reactor. Tapping the reactor is all Tony needs to do to summon the armor. Endgame shows that Tony can simply stick it on and rip it off his chest with no external process needed or injury to him.
• Walking Armory: His Bleeding Edge armor is a Morph Weapon allowing him to create anything from the reserves of nanomachines he has. So he adds to his arsenal a shield, additional big repulsors to create an even more intense blast, an Arm Cannon he threatens Drax with but never uses, even more powerful missiles, Power Fists that can at least stagger Thanos, a Blade Below the Shoulder and a fancy sword.
• The Worf Barrage: Iron Man unleashes everything he has on Thanos in a one-on-one confrontation. The end result: a small cut on Thanos' cheek.
  Thanos: All that for a drop of blood...

Mark 85 / Model-Prime

Appearances: Avengers: Endgame | What If...?

Built five years after the Snap. In many ways, it's pretty much identical to the Mark 50 in terms of technology, with some minor upgrades to its weaponry. This armor has the honor of being worn during the Battle of Earth and being the final armor built and worn by Tony Stark before his ultimate sacrifice.

Unless noted, much of the tropes regarding its abilities are the same as the Mark 50.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: The very last thing it does is serve as a third Infinity Gauntlet, granting Tony nigh-unlimited power moments before he died.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: After the more gilded Mark 42, the Mark 85 has very prominent gold, primarily on the shoulders, upper arms, and thighs. Particularly notable as the featured suits for Tony between this and 43 placed more focus on red as the primary color with gold as merely accents (with the exception of the Mark 47).
• Composite Character: While functionally identical to the nanotech Mark 50, the armor brings back the signature faceplate mechanism of previous armors, when being nanotech it didn't need to have that again.
• Energy Absorption: Tony actually asks Thor to hit him with lightning so he can channel that energy against Thanos, much like what Thor did to him accidentally in The Avengers. This ability also explains how it was able to handle housing the energy of the Infinity Stones.
• Hard Light: The shields are now made of this rather than solid material. Presumably this was done to address Mark 50's ultimate handicap—in that generating solid weaponry eats up the nanomachines for the armor.
• Mythology Gag: As the final armor, it is only fitting that its appearance evokes the classic Ditko armors (Models 2 and 4). Not simply in color scheme, but the organic aesthetics of the nanomachine armors allow the suit to evoke musculature.
• Multiform Balance: Somewhat. In addition to this armor, Tony also has his quantum suit when travelling through the Quantum Realm, and switches between the two. Unlike with Rhodey^note whose quantum suit is just an additional layer over his not-nanotech War Machine armor, Tony can't, or at least isn't shown to be able to, simultaneously don both at once, and certainly doesn't wear his Iron Man helmet with his quantum suit like toy packaging would have you believe.
• Nanomachines: Same as the Mark 50, but we see the full extent of how fluid the nanotechnology is when Tony configures his right gauntlet into a makeshift Infinity Gauntlet by floating the six stones pilfered from Thanos into position.
• Socketed Equipment: Notably capable of becoming one due to its nanomachine construction. Pivotally, Tony manages to make a makeshift Infinity Gauntlet out of his right-hand armor after stealing it from Thanos—culminating with his own Badass Fingersnap Heroic Sacrifice.
• Walking Armory: Mostly same as the Mark 50, but this time around the armament mostly consists of Hard Light energy weapons to compensate for the Mark 50's Achilles' Heel.

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"What am I even tripping for? Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to. I love you 3000."