Whats Your Favorite Iron Man?

[wayfarejourneyman]

Hey All:

Over the last seven years, readers have seen Iron Man become increasingly about transhumanism -- about man becoming one with technology. Over the last year or so, there seems to have been a big step back from that idea -- Tony expelling the bleeding edge tech, reverting to more "solid" types of armor, going back towards the older "Man in a Suit" Iron Man rather than the "Man is the Suit" idea that took center stage post Extremis.

My question to you:

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!

[Nitz the Bloody]

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

"Man is the suit". With Extremis, Tony Stark was essentially a cyborg who could turn his enhancements on and off, as opposed to squishy meat in a robot shell. We actually have powered exoskeletons in real life (albeit on the level of the original cave-built grey suit, and so expensive that they're currently impractical for most uses), so Tony has to stay at the forefront of the science we can conceive.

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

The Extremis suit, in both form and function.

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

About mid-range in terms of power. Iron Man has a wide arrange of abilities with super-strength, flight, energy blasts, sensors, force fields, and various other weapons; if you make those abilities too strong, he renders the rest of the superheroes obsolete. Also, Tony's real skills are in his inventive genius and his strategic/manipulative mind.

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!

Could be good for a change of pace, as we're seeing with his "vacation" on the Guardians of the Galaxy, but probably wouldn't work as a long-term status quo.

[wayfarejourneyman]

I loved the cyberpunk "Man is the Suit" approach too, though I thought it was better illustrated in the Warmachine mini.

My favorite suits were the Telepresence armor, along with the modular armor as well -- both vaguely reminded me of TRON, which just made the visual really pop to me. Also, there was a silver and blue armor I remember seeing, but I'm not certain what era it was from. It had blasters on top of the gauntlet units, but thats all I can recall beyond the color scheme.

[Ingonyama]

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

"Billionaire genius playboy philanthropist." RDJ said it best. The suit is the culmination of what makes Tony Stark really great; his keen mind and technical brilliance. He's a Smart Guy who just happens to be able to design and pilot a one-of-a-kind (at least it used to be) suit of battle armor.

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

The movie/EMH armor, modelled I believe after his Mark VII/Extremis suit, is really iconic enough by now that it's his signature design. And I'm OK with that.

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

I don't like Iron Man when he's another flying, brick-like, unbeatable big gun. Tony's biggest asset as a character is his brain, and so he should have to think his way through problems, even as Iron Man. Granted, street-level bad or Spider-Man's foes should be cake for him, but anything stronger and I want him to be less with the repulsor rays and Uni-beams and more with the clever solutions and tech interfaces.

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!

Actually, kinda. It's a frontier we've only rarely seen him in, and I'm totally on board with him being a Reed Richards-style explorer, always out to expand his horizons and explore new frontiers of knowledge and intellect.

OK I admit it: I want Iron Man to be The Doctor, and the suit to be his TARDIS and sonic screwdriver.

[wayfarejourneyman]

@'Yama: I agree with your assessment of his abilities. I've always thought that if you had to do the Flying Brick with Iron Man, you should probably do it with Warmachine instead.

[KurtW95]

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

Man in a Suit. I dislike the idea of the armor being under his skin. Let it be a backpack or a briefcase.

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

Extremis. (but not under his skin) But I am okay with him being able to control it with his mind.

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

Powerful in intellect and strategy. The armor should be tough enough to protect him from bullets and explosions with an air filter in case of a gas bomb or exposure to radiation, and the repulsors should be able to cause some damage. And the unibeam should be the most powwerful.

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!

I think he can go there occasionally on missions, but I do not want it to be a normal thing, like with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

[destro]

Man in a suit. It's the whole concept of the character to me. When you make him a superhuman without the armor it takes some of his humanity away.

On the power question, I like him at a sweet spot between mid-level and high. I always liked the idea of Iron Man as being as powerful as how much energy he has access to. Normally he is fairly powerful, but with enough energy he can pump up the armor to ridiculous levels for a short time before it burns out.

But as Ingoyama pointed out, Stark's most powerful asset should always be portrayed as his brain. I like the idea of Stark the man being more dangerous and formidable than the armor!

[tony ingram]

I hate the whole cyborg thing. Iron Man should be a man in a suit, as he was originally intended to be. As for the design: the 60s-80s red and gold classic look has always been the best, to me.

[Prince Of Orphans]

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

I like the Man is the Suit idea. It's believable in a way that suggests Earth's greatest industrialist would be ahead of the game as far as technology is concerned.

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

I liked the Iron Patriot model, simply for its design and nothing more.

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

Below Thor level, unlike his portrayal in the movies. I'd say at Ms Marvel level.

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!


I'd say leave that to the GotG. It's not a bad concept, but let's be honest, writers would use him to a point where his actions would undermine the GotG's efforts.

[Omega Alpha]

"Man is the suit". With Extremis, Tony Stark was essentially a cyborg who could turn his enhancements on and off, as opposed to squishy meat in a robot shell. We actually have powered exoskeletons in real life (albeit on the level of the original cave-built grey suit, and so expensive that they're currently impractical for most uses), so Tony has to stay at the forefront of the science we can conceive.



The Extremis suit, in both form and function.



About mid-range in terms of power. Iron Man has a wide arrange of abilities with super-strength, flight, energy blasts, sensors, force fields, and various other weapons; if you make those abilities too strong, he renders the rest of the superheroes obsolete. Also, Tony's real skills are in his inventive genius and his strategic/manipulative mind.



Could be good for a change of pace, as we're seeing with his "vacation" on the Guardians of the Galaxy, but probably wouldn't work as a long-term status quo.

This. Extremis is the natural next stage in the character's evolution- becoming his own technology and transcending humankind, without losing his humanity.

[tingray]

I hate the whole cyborg thing. Iron Man should be a man in a suit, as he was originally intended to be. As for the design: the 60s-80s red and gold classic look has always been the best, to me.

This is exactly what I was going to say. Iron Man is a guy who designed a suit of armor, not a cyborg. The tech has gotten more and more sophisticated over the years, but he should still just be human.

[Nomads1]

1) Which do you prefer "Man in a Suit" or "Man is the Suit"?

Man in the suit. IMHO, while he may have some hindrance that connects him to the armour, such as an artificial heart or some such, Iron Man should be the ultimate human accomplishment. What sets Tony Stark apart is his ability to create an invencible suit of armor, but he is still human, not a mechanicaal superbeing.

2) What is your favorite Iron Man model (lets toss in derived tech like warmachine/rescue/guardsmen/ONE too)?

I always lived the silver centurion that he started using in IM# 200, not so much for the design, which, admitedly, very few artists could make look good, but for the color scheme, which I always found beautiful. In terms of design, I'll go with the one he wore at the beggining of the Heroes Return relaunch, in the Busiek/Perez and Busiek/Chen eras. IINM, it was designed by Alex Ross.

3) How powerful should Iron Man be relative to other heroes?

While not capable of taking down Thor, Iron Man should come close to doing it. He should be a force to be reckoned with, a heavy hitter, not only in terms of muscle, but in the vast array of high tech weapons that he can bring to the battle. I've always said that Iron Man (and writers, of course) have become quite uncreative recently, making him a flying brick that fires repulsors and missles. I miss those days of Micheline and Leminski, in which he sported a new gadget every couple of months. Here's hoping Gillen and Hickman are able to revert this.

4) Do you like the idea of Iron Man -- INNNN SPAAAAACE!

Nothing agisnt him doing it every now and then, but I really don't want to see him joining the GotG. IMHO, IM should always be an Earth Based hero.

Peace

[Nitz the Bloody]

I hate the whole cyborg thing. Iron Man should be a man in a suit, as he was originally intended to be. As for the design: the 60s-80s red and gold classic look has always been the best, to me.

As I mentioned earlier, a man in a suit is no longer so futuristic. The accessories might still be beyond our current technology, but they provide abilities that are fairly standard in the genre (flight, energy blasts, radar, etc.). I prefer Iron Man to be at the bleeding edge of what we can imagine without straying from human civilization. That means upgrading his synapses to immediately hook into the armor, because the time it takes for commands to go from his brain to the suit's OS to the suit's hardware is time he can't spare in life or death situations.

Similarly, the original red-and-gold design is based on a 1960's/1970's vision of what was high-tech and fashionable. By today's standards it's a pretty bland look, with blocky sections of red and yellow, and a texture that varies from just being shiny to looking like generic tights. I prefer suits like the Extremis armor or the Bleeding Edge, which are streamlined in a way that flows organically, so that the shell truly does look like part of Tony's body.