With all the Iron Man talk in a couple of threads got me to thinking of all the different kinds of armor that was worn by Tony Stark over the years. 42 years to be exact. When Iron Man first made his appearance in 1963 in Tales of Suspense # 39, his armor was grey. The next issue # 40 it was painted gold.

 In TOS # 48 we first get to see the red and gold armor which now is called the retro armor which by TOS  # 99 somehow morphed into the now what is called the classic armor which lasted up until Iron Man(Vol. 1) # 199.

 I posted these pics of the Bowen statues due to the fact that the people at Bowen seem to know how to capture the characters from their respective books without altering them.

 From Iron Man # 200 on up, it seems that Tony Stark had a different looking armor every so many issues as well as Volumes # 2 & 3. The, what I like to call the red and silver armor,(some call it red & white),which I thought was cool and different, back to the red and gold armor again, the War Machine armor, then to armor that looked more like a football uniform. If I'm not mistaken, that was issue # 300. With all this said I was wondering what what any of the forum members would consider, in their own opinion, the best armor that Tony Stark has worn? Roger Ott, I know that you'll definitely post on this one! I myself love the retro armor and the classic red and gold armor that I grew up reading.

 Now some questions that maybe JB and/or some of the pros on the forum as well as the rest of the forum can answer. Did Tony Stark have to keep changing the Iron Man armor? Could there have been changes or updates made to the armor without majorly altering the classic appearance of the the armor that many of us love? Does real world technology have to factor in with making changes to the armor or can it be some great sci-fi writing to make the armor so great? Should Tony Stark's heart problem still be the driving force behind the armor and it's improvements? What else could have been done to keep Iron Man armor close to being the same and yet at the same time change and improve? The floor is now yours for the answers.

My favorites are what's nowadays called the "retro" armor (debuting in TOS #48) and the "Classic" red and gold suit that held favor for so many years.  If I had to choose a third, it would be the red and silver suit from issue #200.

Real world technology should never be a noticable factor, since Iron Man's armor should always be a few steps ahead of what's current in reality.  I also think Tony Stark has gone far beyond needing the Iron Man armor to keep himself alive.  It's been done, more than once even, and much like the alcoholism, should only be mentioned in passing, if at all.

Personally, I don't mind a change in the suit once in awhile, though it did get out of hand there a few years back, and every new artist that came on the book was changing it.  I also don't think the armor should be as complex as it is right now.  One real-world thing that does need to be thought about in regards to Iron Man is that as technology gets better, it gets smaller and sleeker.  In my opinion, Iron Man's armor should get less complicated looking over time.  In theory, at some point in the future, Iron Man should look a helluva lot like the Silver Surfer (minus the surfboard, naturally).

I have no problem with the occassional armor revision, but things have gotten ridiculous.  The changing armors would not be bad if they still looked cool, but they have simply been awful in the past 15 years.  I accepted the Silver Centurion armor because it was the culmination of a long storyline, and its subsequent demise in the Armor Wars gives it a 2-3 year life span, perfectly appropriate as a specific era.  Like any plotlines it began and ended and need not have impacted the rest of the run.  Its red and gold successor armor was the last decent design and close enough to the classic armor that it should have been kept. 

There should be one standard look for the basic armor.  I prefer something lean and elegant.  All these people who assume technology means bulky must never have seen an iMac.  If I wrote Iron Man, I would go back to the classic red and gold armor with perhaps some slight changes.

Technological improvements should be rare, and should be incorporated into the armor without altering its look.

The Iron Man armor is based on fake technology - something a bit beyond what could be done in reality, but not to the extent that it becomes science fiction.  The best genre for Iron Man would be "techno thriller" like the Tom Clancy books.  Black projects and Skunk Works tech using stories of global intrigue.

It's been a long time since Stark's heart problem affected the armor design, and I think the character is better without it.  Too gimmicky in how the heart problem would be a "false" threat to Tony.  I do like it as part of why Tony became a hero - the idea that being so close to death, Tony wanted to use what time he had remaining to make a real difference in the world.  That stayed with him after his heart problem went away.

Iron Man is one of the more powerful Marvel heroes with a lot of versatility (defense, strength, power rays, surveillance and many others).  The problem with adding new powers is that creatively it'll make Iron Man too powerful.  Even if we add a new power only once every 5 years, he'd end up too invincible to make stories interesting.  Besides, many writers end up ignoring established powers anyway - how many people really use the image-inducing power?  I remember when the silver armor had the stealth "chameleon effect" and when Michelenie/Layton came back, one of the first things they did was come up with a reason to get rid of it.  Their reason was that it was too powerful: why wouldn't IM always use it?  And a practically invisible Iron Man who could repulsor you would simply be too much.

However, as a tech hero it is expected that Iron Man would be upgraded now and then.  I think the best way to handle this is to first work on subtle improvements such as power conservation, slightly more powerful settings on weapons, etc. that won't overpower the character.  The second would be the prototype armors (space, stealth, udnersea, etc.) to introduce a new technology that again is mainly flavor.  A lesser writer would simply have Iron Man go into space or the deep ocean with the same armor and not even think about it.  I think it is a credit to Michelenie and Layton that they invented a new armor to deal with a non-existent problem to give the illusion of technological change.  In terms of real new powers, I think only powers designed to deal with very specific threats be introduced so that essentially it will not impact most stories.  These new powers could be safely ignored except when a specific storyline requires it.

I like models II, III and XV as shown at the following link.

http://www.ironmanarmory.com/armors.html 

Chris Durnell:  The second would be the prototype armors (space, stealth, udnersea, etc.) to introduce a new technology that again is mainly flavor.  A lesser writer would simply have Iron Man go into space or the deep ocean with the same armor and not even think about it.

The way I've always looked at it, Iron Man's main armor can go almost anywhere, but only for short periods of time.  He's flown in space and deep underwater with his standard suit.  But if he's going to be in space for an extended period, he's got an armor that's made for that environment.  If he's going to be at the ocean floor for an extended period, he's got an armor that's geared directly toward that.  One thing I loved about the original Stealth armor was that in order for the stealth part to work, other things, like his repulsors, had to be sacrificed.

I've heard people argue that there shouldn't be a Hulkbuster suit, because way back in IM #232, he downed the Hulk in his classic suit.  Well, that may be the case, but it also taxed every circuit in the armor and locked it up tight.  So, why not have a suit that allows him to stand up to the Hulk with less of a chance of being killed?