Suits that can leave you with a quizzical look or simply shaking your head



Every once in a while, a genius can get carried away tinkering with technology that needs to be constantly updated. Here are ten armours that you may not have ever realised were in Tony Stark’s arsenal.

1) Sentient Armour

In one of his more reckless advances, Stark actually created a suit that was so advanced, a stray bolt of lightning from Whiplash brought it to life. This had actually activated an Ultron programme within the suit from when he had downloaded Jocasta through the armour. In this Frankenstein’s monster scenario, the suit actually battled Tony for control. It possessed a sentience as well as a strong desire for independent life.

Having killed Whiplash, where Tony was only going to subdue him, Tony tried to teach him a lesson on humanity, to no avail. The armour eventually dumped Stark on a deserted island with an ultimatum to either join him and accept him for who he now was or to perish. After torturing him for several weeks, the sentient armour eventually killed itself when witnessing Tony having a heart attack.

2) Outer Atmospheric Armour

Initially, Stark made this suit to battle Justin Hammer on his satellite base. This armour is thinner than others, doesn’t contain thrusters, but can seal itself if there’s a breach in the armour and can also release a solar sail to prevent Stark becoming stranded.

The way Tony gets around instead is via these detachable solid fuel boosters, as depicted.

3) S.K.I.N. Armour

The S.K.I.N. Armour used liquid metal technology to shape around Stark’s body into a nigh-unbreakable shell. S.K.I.N. is a flexible alloy that can almost be as hard as adamantium. While Tony was hesitant to make another suit that Ultron could possibly overtake, he abandoned the S.K.I.N. technology for a new suit.

Rather handily, you could summon it at will. It could also cloak itself and had a tractor beam capability.

4) Tin Man Armour

This armour was more basic compared to his advanced suits. It relied less on cutting edge technology, instead relying on stuff that worked. This suit also included his personal secretary, Friday. Pepper also had some control over the suit, just in case anything should go wrong. Tin Man was made after Ultron took control of his last suit. In the end, an alien nanoplasm took over this one, forcing him to blow it.

5) Stealth Armour MK. 3

This armour was made from advanced composite ceramics, an experimental bio-neural gel pack circuitry. Through a series of holograms projected onto the surface, the wearer could be made virtually invisible. As far as weapons technology went, it was only capable of firing three repulsor blasts, making it more suited to espionage. It was also immune to anti-metal claws and vibranium through a reactive plasma discharge.

6) Thor-Buster

Based on the Destroyer, this armour was imbued with Asgardian magic, courtesy of an Asgardian Gem, gifted by Thor to humanity. It is a similar enchantment magic that is used in Mjölnir. Thanks to the magic, the Thor-Buster can levitate, keep Tony alive against Thor’s power and redirect any energy attacks used by the God of Thunder. Stark developed this suit in case Thor’s good deeds got out of control and ended up using it when Thor sought to take over the world.

7) Ablative Armour

This armour was developed to combat the alien nanoplasm that took control of the Tin Man Armour. It’s a self-healing armour in that it is composed of thousands of high-impact polymer tiles. Upon receiving damage, the suit would shed them and a kiln attached to his back would generate more of them, holding them in place with his force field.

8) Extremis Armour

The Extremis Suit was designed in the wake of the Extremis virus. Having been infected with the virus in order to save his life, Tony used it to his advantage and rewrote his entire body’s functions. As such, he is able to link to satellites and computers merely with the power of thought, marking it as his most advanced suit to date. Where does the distinction lie between man and machine?

9) High-G Armour

With boots finally big enough for his personality, Tony created the High-G Armour for stability in space. Featuring magnetic and jet compensators, Tony was ensuring he could stay oriented when not on earth. It can protect the wearer to up to 50 Gs, as well as regulating blood flow and oxygen intake. It was built merely for hyperspace travel.

10) Galactus-Buster

This beauty was built after the defeat of Galactus. After analysing the battle, Tony realised he barely defeated the brute, knowing very little about him. He came up with this anti-measure just as a precaution. Talk about overkill!

So there you have it. Ten suits of armour that you may or may not have realised existed. Did I leave any out that you thought you’d see? Of course, there’s plenty more.