View Full Version : 52: STEEL Discussion *Possible Spoilers*
This thread is for discussing and speculating on Steel, one of my main characters of 52. If you want to generally discuss a certain 52 issue, please try to keep it in that issue’s designated thread.
Also remember, if you want to post any information from an issue before it hits the stands on Wed., please use [spoil ] [/spoil ] tags.
Steel’s History:
John Henry Irons used to design high-tech weapons for the government. When he learned that his weapons were being used to kill innocent people, he quit his job. He ended up working constuction on a skyscrapper project in Metropolis. By accident, he fell off the high-rise and was saved by Superman. After the monster Doomsday had killed Superman, John was inspired to become a hero in Superman's place as a "Man of Steel." He used his knowledge of weapons and rockets to create a suit of armor and hammer for himself. When Superman returned, he remained as a super-hero called "Steel." Throughout his career, he's been a member of the Justice League.
Recently, he had to give up being Steel and gave his niece a suit of armor of her own to carry on the Steel tradition.
Covers:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/haggard/steel1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/haggard/steel2.jpg
SuperManny
05-15-2006, 11:56 PM
Anybody else find that bottom cover of Steel disturbing? Hope nothing happens to Natasha Irons/Steel IV/ Iron Maiden......
*hugs Steel fan!*
Justin D.
05-16-2006, 12:24 AM
Anybody else find that bottom cover of Steel disturbing? Hope nothing happens to Natasha Irons/Steel IV/ Iron Maiden......
*hugs Steel fan!*
I find it more disturbing that John's flesh is now apparently metallic and no one else seems to have noticed but me.
DubipR
05-16-2006, 06:33 AM
I find it more disturbing that John's flesh is now apparently metallic and no one else seems to have noticed but me.
I wouldn't say his skin is metallic, its the lighting to show melancholy. Its his skin, just bluelite. I think the bottom cover is a beautiful piece. That's one of the better covers I've seen in ages that expresses emotion.
And I wouldn't mind seeing Natasha get it or at least revert her back to her former status before the armour. Frankly I hated what Loeb did to Steel with OWAW and then creating Kid Steel. I prefered the nosey 'Tasha back in the Simonson/Batista Steel days.
That is a great cover! I have never been a big Steel fan, but 52 #1 really got me into his character. I enjoyed his old school attitude and his heart of a true hero. I look forward to reading more about this character.
Spamotron
05-16-2006, 09:25 AM
I wonder if they'll explain how John Henry can still be Steel. IIRC Manchester Black psychically fried his nervous system and because of that the strain of wearing the armor became potentially fatal.
ducklord
05-16-2006, 09:58 AM
What I wanna know is, what ever happened to Natasha's funky platonic sorta-boyfriend, Boris? He was a hoot.
Darn that Priest and his amusing, idiosyncratic supporting characters,
Mike.
I wouldn't say his skin is metallic, its the lighting to show melancholy. Its his skin, just bluelite....
No his skin is metallic.
BoosterBronze
05-16-2006, 11:21 AM
No his skin is metallic.
Symbolism?
fenixrisingxl
05-16-2006, 11:29 AM
Interesting how the S shield in the background is the Superman Returns one.
Anyone have any idea why they're using that for this Steel cover, but the Superman titles are using usual one?
Maybe I'll ask Steven Whacker, or whatever the editor's name is on the 52 series...
DubipR
05-16-2006, 11:38 AM
No his skin is metallic.
Got confirmation on that one?
JuggernautRM
05-16-2006, 01:56 PM
Maybe he developed a new armor system?
Choppa
05-16-2006, 03:08 PM
Interesting how the S shield in the background is the Superman Returns one.
Anyone have any idea why they're using that for this Steel cover, but the Superman titles are using usual one?
Maybe I'll ask Steven Whacker, or whatever the editor's name is on the 52 series...
The dudes name is Whacker??
DarthAstuart
05-16-2006, 04:01 PM
there's no way that's mood lighting! that's metal skin.
maybe he's the 52 cast member who gets powers beyond what he had before, as has been rumored and mentioned (in that Wizard list, I think)?
TCJohnson
05-16-2006, 04:06 PM
Or maybe it is just the cover.
That's pretty clearly metallic skin. It's too shiny to just be mood lighting.
Anybody else find that bottom cover of Steel disturbing? Hope nothing happens to Natasha Irons/Steel IV/ Iron Maiden......
*hugs Steel fan!*I think it's supposed to be an homage to Macbeth. It might not mean anything bad will happen to Natasha.
Leslie Lee III
05-16-2006, 09:33 PM
Alas poor Natasha, I knew her well.
DarthAstuart
05-17-2006, 11:46 AM
I think it's supposed to be an homage to Macbeth. It might not mean anything bad will happen to Natasha.
[anal retentive geek mode]
i think you meant Hamlet. with the skull and yorick and all.
[/anal retentive geek mode]
(man, that's my first nitpicky correction at CBR! do I get a party?)
Hahahahahahaha! You're right. I got my Shakespeare confused.
[anal retentive geek mode]
i think you meant Hamlet. with the skull and yorick and all.
[/anal retentive geek mode]
(man, that's my first nitpicky correction at CBR! do I get a party?)
No, you get a funeral. For your soul.
DarthAstuart
05-17-2006, 02:05 PM
No, you get a funeral. For your soul.
dude, that is WAY overdue. my soul was dead when I showed up here.
on-topic: maybe steel is switching places with colossus from the marvel universe? wouldn't that be a shocking twist.
dude, that is WAY overdue. my soul was dead when I showed up here.
on-topic: maybe steel is switching places with colossus from the marvel universe? wouldn't that be a shocking twist.
It's metallic skin, but it's also.... just a cover.
The Punished
05-17-2006, 03:21 PM
No, its more than a cover. It's a statement...a life's choice...to ever be vigilant against the hoary host...Always remembering what you are fighting for...Truth...Justice...the American Way...
SuperManny
05-17-2006, 04:50 PM
I find it more disturbing that John's flesh is now apparently metallic and no one else seems to have noticed but me.
That's deceiving, it could just be the cover of the issue in a color to set the tone.
At least that's what made me think twice about it.
SuperManny
05-17-2006, 04:53 PM
I wonder if they'll explain how John Henry can still be Steel. IIRC Manchester Black psychically fried his nervous system and because of that the strain of wearing the armor became potentially fatal.
Maybe his new suit of armor is like Iron Man's, in that it could support his nervous system problems.
It's all about the re-design! :p
SuperManny
05-17-2006, 04:54 PM
there's no way that's mood lighting! that's metal skin.
maybe he's the 52 cast member who gets powers beyond what he had before, as has been rumored and mentioned (in that Wizard list, I think)?
Maybe the editors don't want him associated with the 'S' anymore, and want to give him powers more to his name?
A Colossus clone? :p
Maybe the editors don't want him associated with the 'S' anymore, and want to give him powers more to his name?
A Colossus clone? :p
If this is a redesign, I think it's more likely motivated by years of people saying he was an Iron Man clone.
I kinda hope it is a new armour, and I also hope that it includes the original, Return of Superman S.
Was Iron Man really the first "normal man in a tech suit" character?
DubipR
05-18-2006, 06:23 AM
I like the original costume Bogdonove designed, right down to the long sledgehammer. Cowyn's nasty design wasn't working and all incarnations after that were just putrid.
I'm hoping not for metallic skin. Its been done. His suit is a neo-classic. Don't eff with it.
SuperManny
05-18-2006, 11:17 AM
If this is a redesign, I think it's more likely motivated by years of people saying he was an Iron Man clone.
But even DC needs an Iron Man clone. Sentry over at Marvel is essentially a Superman clone....I don't see why we can't have a super-hero who is self-made, as the 52 theme is supposed to describe.
Now we're going to call him a Colossus clone ;)
Yeah, but Colossus is just a Ferro Lad clone.
I always thought John Henry was a great character who suffered from an unfortunately derivative powerset and overall look. I'm interested where they're going with this.
Evil Sneak
05-18-2006, 01:18 PM
Didn't Steel towards the tail end of his series develop some powers? I seem to remember he could summon & store his armor in some pocket dimension.
Or maybe that was Hardware from Milestone comics, I may be confused.
Maybe this (assumed) metallic skin is deriviative of that power.
DubipR
05-18-2006, 02:19 PM
Didn't Steel towards the tail end of his series develop some powers? I seem to remember he could summon & store his armor in some pocket dimension.
Or maybe that was Hardware from Milestone comics, I may be confused.
Maybe this (assumed) metallic skin is deriviative of that power.
No, you're right. During the end of the Simonson/Batista run of Steel before Priest and Cowyn fucked up John Henry before Loeb really dismantled him. He was able to summon his armor in a white void-esque dimension. DC was tinkering that John was a Meta because his brief brush with Superman while working on a construction site and some stupid transference of Kyrpton energy went to him...really stupid Simonson stuff.
SuperManny
05-18-2006, 03:07 PM
Yeah, but Colossus is just a Ferro Lad clone.
I always thought John Henry was a great character who suffered from an unfortunately derivative powerset and overall look. I'm interested where they're going with this.
Don't you think John Henry's character is based on the fact he's a tech artisan? And not so much having a super-power? I remember when they almost gave him a teleportation metagene and Priest quickly remedied it.
:cool:
SuperManny
05-18-2006, 03:09 PM
No, you're right. During the end of the Simonson/Batista run of Steel before Priest and Cowyn fucked up John Henry before Loeb really dismantled him.
Are you thinking about Loeb or Schultz? I'm trying to recall when Loeb put his super-imaginative dialogue into him.
I thought Schultz was an excellent era for the character.
SuperManny
05-18-2006, 03:12 PM
Or maybe that was Hardware from Milestone comics, I may be confused.
Hardware....there's another character I never had a chance to read about.
*remembers the Milestone era*
Don't you think John Henry's character is based on the fact he's a tech artisan? And not so much having a super-power? Yeah, but who's to say that won't still be the case? That metallic skin might just be a highly advanced form of technology.
Although, having said that, I also felt that one of the weaker points to the character was that he was, when you got right down to it, a form of cyborg and, well...
http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/images/cyborg-classic.gif
SuperManny
05-18-2006, 06:01 PM
Although, having said that, I also felt that one of the weaker points to the character was that he was, when you got right down to it, a form of cyborg and, well...
Ah! But Cyborg's character has always been struggling with the fact he's half-human and half-robot, and how different he is. It was forced on him so that he stays alive. Steel on the other hand, built the savvy suit for himself so that he can help people more effectively.
However, the metallic skin a form of technology = welcome addition. I like that angle than just a simple metagene fix. It reminds me of that paint that Tony Stark's father invented in Ultimate Iron Man, by Orson Scott Card.
*has a more optimistic view now*
Sharcque
06-03-2006, 10:01 PM
...just imagining the talks he's having with Natasha? You think maybe she's really dead, and what we're seeing is him "building" a new "her"?
dupersuper
06-03-2006, 10:03 PM
On the 1 hand, that'd be a hugely cool story development for him...on the other, I'd miss Natasha.
Michael Painter
06-04-2006, 12:24 AM
Sharcque, its interesting, because I reread issue 3 of the series, and I think the weirdest thing to me was that John had a shocked face that he would have to identify a body. Maybe Natasha did die in Crisis, but as is the case with most comic deaths, her body wasn't recovered, and John is living a lie that she is still alive. The Steel armour telling him to that he's hallucinating probably might mean he's been hallucinating for the last month since her death.
WalterKovacs
06-05-2006, 12:55 AM
I got this from another messageboard and wanted to know what you guys thought.
Here's the idea; Natasha Irons is dead.
As we see in #4 of 52, John Henry Irons is having some sort of mental breakdown, hallucinating and talking with his armor. In addition, the only scenes with Natasha are with Irons and Irons alone. Perhaps Natasha died during the crisis and Irons is unable to cope with it? This brings me to another theory...
We also see him with some sort of metallic spinal cord. And in that upcoming cover of 52, he's holding Natasha's helmet in what appears to be a remorseful pose. Perhaps he's trying to build a new Natasha?
Thoughts?
Sharcque
06-05-2006, 03:00 AM
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?p=3189787#post3189787
Evil Sneak
06-05-2006, 08:00 AM
Maybe her body died, but her consciousness got "downloaded" into the armor, and that's who he's talking too.
I was thinking that Steel's "accident" is related to the kidnappings.
John Henry Irons is a scientist. He's also hallucinating. What does that make him? :D
In Stephen Wacker's weekly 52 column (http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/WAcker/Wacker07.html), he showed a page for next week's issue of 52. Here it is:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/haggard/natasha.jpg
I think it's pretty interesting. John was poisoned with the metagene by Luthor, but Natasha thinks it was voluntary.
I think that's an interesting development.
doomworm
06-24-2006, 03:31 AM
I was thinking that Steel's "accident" is related to the kidnappings.
John Henry Irons is a scientist. He's also hallucinating. What does that make him? :D
I have that same suspicion. I believe John Henry Irons is turning into a Mad Scientist. It will end up being him, Morrow, and Metal Man all trying to break the laws of science.
As you may or may not know, the character of Steel is based on the american folk hero John Henry.
John Henry's story is that he was a steel driver who challenged a steam-powered hammer to a contest in order to save his job and the job of the other black workers. He wins, but then subsequently dies of a heart attack.
As you also may or may not know, the character of Steel is John Henry Irons, a man who built himself a suit of power armour to become a hero in the wake of Superman's death, becoming known as the Man of Steel, but has now been infected with a metagene, literalising that original name.
So, since Steel was inspired by John Henry, does having powers bring him closer to that story or further from it?
On one hand, the story is about men versus machines, and having Steel reliant on machines goes against that. On the other hand, the story is about relying on your own strength, and until now Steel has always been a self-made man.
What do you think?
TCJohnson
06-30-2006, 02:33 PM
Didn't he already have powers in his series?
titanfan
06-30-2006, 04:06 PM
Irrelevant to me. I've always saw Steel's true superpower as being his brains. Whether or not he has armor or real metal skin doesn't make me care either way.
Jack Zodiac
06-30-2006, 11:23 PM
I think he can still be compared to John Henry's mastery over his element. The folk tale John Henry was such a great steel-driver that he was able to pummel through a mountain faster than a steam-powered hammer. Of course, in the folk tale he dies, but before his death he's victorious over a machine at his lot in life.
John Henry Irons is a hero and a scientist. He overcame his own science by becoming a hero to stop thugs from using weapons he'd created against innocents, and now he'll face the task of overcoming Lex Luthor's science to remain the hero he is.
Personally, I thought John was a fantastic character when he was building his own armor and weapons. Not a lot of DC characters can be compared to Tony Stark as far as engineering goes, but John's the best we've got. Men conquering machines. His new powers make armor obsolete, so I'm not going to take to his new powers very well. They'll need some strong writers to keep his character intact. I'll give it time, though.
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