Tony Stark's genius knows no bounds. This regular human with an oversized intellect managed to concoct a series of nearly-invincible armors that turned him into one of the most recognizable superheroes in comic book history. Iron Man has since gone on to dominate pop culture, thanks to his predominance within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
His penchant for crafting new suits of armor is well-documented, but not all of them are created equal. A significant sum have turned out to be duds, in one form or another. Here's ten of his worst suits, some of which completely missed the target and others that were undone by a few significantly fatal design flaws.
10 The Gold Armor Was Just Plain Awkward And Weird
While most Iron Man fans simply can't mistake the classic Mark I armor that Tony Stark built to escape a highly dangerous situation, many have forgotten what came next. Sure, Tony redesigned the entire Iron Man suit into the iconic form that has taken on reminiscent forms we know and love today. It wasn't a straight evolution, however.
For a time, Tony changed its color from a dull gunmetal grey to bright gold, which he believed people would be more receptive towards. This paint job might have earned him the nickname "The Golden Avenger," but it was too hard on people's corneas, and was put out to pasture in favor of the redesign.
9 The Mark 33 Argonaut Suit Was Silly, Pointless, And Short-Lived
There was a time when Tony Stark believed it was necessary to construct a series of underwater Iron Man armors capable of withstanding deep-sea pressures, and the dangers that lie within. That idea was scrapped about as fast as it was conceived, and the character was a lot better off for it.
From the Conehead-inspired helmet design to the odd paint job and sharp lines, this armor seemed relatively out of place, even during the Extremis era. The armor eventually found a permanent resting place at the bottom of the sea, and the Iron Man comics were spared a brief, yet downright weak suit.
8 The Heroes Reborn Armor Was A Major Technological Step Backwards
After Onslaught laid waste to the entire Marvel universe, the decision was made to reboot many of the characters into what is now known as the infamous "Heroes Reborn" storyline. Though the sheer shock of such an event was designed to shake things up creatively, many characters, including Iron Man, were not terribly well-received.
In this alternate universe and timeline, Tony Stark was effectively married to a bulky and far less eloquently designed Iron Man suit that kept him alive. It was a major departure from the streamlined suits audiences had come to know by that point, and it even recharged constantly via bulky lab cables. Bordering on the impractical, this Iron Man suit received wholly justified criticism.
7 The Model 52 Effectively Ripped Off Hot Rod From The Transformers
Hulk Buster armors are nothing new at this point. The suit was featured predominantly as a key scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron and comic book fans already knew of its existence long before that film was released. For some reason, the writers decided to take it a step further with the dreaded Model 52 Hulk Buster, which made little sense.
While a straight-up Hulk Buster would have been fine, this particular armor decided to disguise itself as a flashy muscle car. It was capable of transforming (literally) from car to bipedal suit form at a moment's notice. Besides flirting with copyright infringement, the Model 52 seemed completely pointless, and out of place.
6 The Iron Lantern Armor Was Too Over The Top To Be Taken Seriously
Coming straight out of the Amalgam Universe was this cross between Iron Man and DC's own Green Lantern. It created a suit of armor that nobody asked for, and even less thought was a good idea. There's something to be said for the quirk and uniqueness of blending technology with the lantern power, but that dies rather fast.
In its place is a relatively cool-looking suit that unfortunately falls victim to a premise that is just too weird. Perhaps the reason is that the Green Lantern himself is a character that stretches the limits of what's considered over the top. Adding Iron Man to the mix is the straw that effectively breaks the camel's back.
5 The Nose Helmet Was So Bad, Even Other Marvel Characters Made Fun Of It
During the 1970s, it was decided that Tony Stark would implant a big old nose onto the faceplate of his Iron Man helmet. There's some backstory to this debacle that centers around Stan Lee making an offhand remark about the suit lacking a visible nose, which unfortunately spawned a rather silly decision.
Though it wasn't an entirely new suit design, the added nose did make waves. Fans didn't care for it, and as it turns out, neither did Stark's fellow superheroes. Multiple characters poked fun at the nose, putting Stark on the defense. Needless to say, Iron Man looks absolutely perfect without a big schnoz to ruin it all.
4 The Arctic Suit Seemed Like A Pointless Waste Of Time
It's been made abundantly clear that Iron Man's suits were designed to shield him from all types of outside threats. That's what makes the Arctic Suit such a weird pitch. Surely his existing armor would have been sufficient to deal with sub-zero temperatures, but he decided to go ahead and over-specialize.
The result was an interesting blue and white paint job in place of the suit's traditional colors, but the novelty ended there. The suit was put out to pasture after just a single outing. Perhaps Stark gathered some valuable data he could implement on future suits, but that's doubtful.
3 The Bleeding Edge Suit Was Too Much, At Too Great A Cost
There comes a time when comic book writers go a bit too far off the deep end when it comes to "upgrading" key characters. The result are creations like Tony Stark's Bleeding Edge armor, which looks cool. The premise might seem amazing as well, at least until reality sets in.
It was a bit odd for Tony to adopt nanotech armor that sits underneath his skin, even by comic book standards. Still, that wasn't what made this armor so bad. In truth, it was simply too overpowered and did too many different things. All this, at the cost of Stark's health. It's a good thing this armor didn't stick around for the long haul because it was simply too much to swallow.
2 The Flexi-Armor Was Artist Laziness Given Form
Not all Iron Man armors are created equal, but fans already know that. What they may not know is that certain armors were the byproduct of laziness on either the writer or the artist's part. The proof is in the pudding with Iron Man's Flexi-Armor, which is about as bad as it gets.
The obvious problem with the Flexi-Armor is that it was obviously designed for the artist's benefit. Less technical and rigid than traditional armors, this skin-tight variant allowed artists to simply draw the superhero like all the other muscled characters, to the detriment of both realism, and cool factor. Yes, the armor had its high points, but it was undone by its own cheapness.
1 The Stealth Armor Was Weak, Toothless, And Totally Impractical
Iron Man is known for getting down and dirty in a scrap, with all the weapons and impervious materials to back himself up. The Stealth Armor was the polar opposite, in every way. It's effectively one of the weakest and most pointless armors in Stark's arsenal, and it's not close.
Made of a polarized mesh metal material designed to evade detection, the Stealth Armor was unique in that it initially featured no weapons systems. Worse, it couldn't take much of a beating before coming apart at the seams. To top it all off, the suit required the use of two horrendously oversized rocket boosters for flight, which is the exact antithesis of everything it means to be stealthy. Blame Stark's personal foibles for that one.