Iron Man has one of the most iconic looks in the entire Marvel Universe. Even when Tony Stark makes an upgrade or alteration, he’s still immediately recognizable as Iron Man. But, what about when he makes a downgrade?
While Tony Stark is certainly capable of designing the most technologically advanced suits that practically make him a mortal god, it’s perhaps even more impressive when he designs a suit that doesn’t rely on mind-blowing technology, but is just as useful and/or visually iconic. Sure, Tony Stark is famous for being a futurist, but fans might be shocked at how impressive his armor can be without the use of seemingly impossible tech (even if some of them never explicitly made it into Marvel canon). Here are 11 low-tech Iron Man suits that redefined what his armor could look like!
11 Viking Armor
Otherwise known as Asgardian Armor given the comic on which it was featured, Iron Man’s Viking Armor made its one and only appearance on a variant cover for Thor #609 by artist Esad Ribic. The armor isn’t featured in the comic itself, nor does it ever make an official appearance within Marvel Comics continuity, but the visual alone is absolutely striking.
Not only did Iron Man keep his classic color scheme, but he also added a war ax to his weapons arsenal, proving that this low-tech armor was still plenty deadly.
10 1872 Armor
This armor does appear in Marvel canon, albeit in a different timeline from the classic Earth-616. In Secret Wars, 1872 by Gerry Duggan and Nik Virella, readers are taken to an alternate reality where Marvel’s heroes lived as pale versions of themselves in 1872. Though that didn’t stop Tony Stark from being the genius-inventor he’s always been, and clearly always will be.
The armor was a love letter to steampunk aesthetic, as Iron Man used low-tech means to achieve high-tech function given the limits of the era in which he lived – with nothing but black soot and justified carnage trailing behind him.
9 Dark Ages Steampunk Armor
Staying true to the steampunk look, Iron Man invented a similar suit of armor in another alternate reality. Done by artist Ryan Stegman, Iron Man debuted this steampunk suit in Marvel Comics’ Dark Ages crossover series. That book threw the Avengers into a world that quite literally experienced a blackout, disrupting modern society and throwing it into a new dark age. While one would think that would put a damper on Iron Man’s man-made power-set, nothing could be further from the truth.
Just like with the 1872 armor, Tony Stark used the bare minimum of technology he could get his hands on to create a suit that rivaled his best armors, while also making it look undeniably badass in the process.
8 1,000,000 BC Ice Age Armor
After Iron Man was sent back in time to the ice age in Jason Aaron’s Avengers #31, and found himself stuck in a cave with little-to-no resources at his disposal, he was still able to craft a suit of armor, effectively turning himself into the new (temporary) superhero: Ice Age Man. The suit made the Avenger look like a cybernetic snowman, with weaponized icicles for attacking, sheets of ‘ice-armor’ for protection, and his arc reactor powering the whole thing.
While the suit would be lost to time upon Tony’s return trip home, it will forever exist as perhaps Iron Man’s coolest suit to date.
7 Caveman Armor
This armor is similar to the Ice Age Man suit, though without any established in-world lore surrounding it (and way less ice). Tony’s Caveman Armor was created by artist Christian Nauck, and was featured on a variant cover for Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #10 as a part of Marvel Comics’ ‘Iron Man By Design’ initiative, which challenged artists to come up with interesting designs for Iron Man suits.
Even though this suit didn’t appear in-canon, it’s still absolutely striking, and actually depicted fairly advanced technology relative to the time period, proving that every version of Tony Stark is – in fact – an inventive genius (even a caveman version).
6 Gladiator Armor
Another suit of armor only featured on a variant cover (and not in the actual canon), Iron Man’s Gladiator Armor needs no story surrounding it to convey its deadliness. No other suit has better conveyed the idea of Iron Man turning himself into a living weapon with his suits, as this armor comes with a jagged shield, a built-in sword gauntlet, and completely covers Tony Stark head to toe with sharp spikes and seemingly unbreachable steel.
This armor was created by artist Gabriele Dell’Otto, and was featured on the cover of New Mutants #12.
5 1602 Lord Iron
In the alternate Marvel Comics universe brought to life in Marvel 1602: New World by Greg Pak and Greg Tocchini, fans were introduced to Lord Iron. Lord Iron didn’t wear just any ordinary Iron Man suit that was simply adapted for the time period, but was donning arguably Marvel’s earliest Hulkbuster Armor, as Lord Iron was charged with venturing to America to find and kill Robert Banner.
The suit was bulky yet maneuverable, with a sword at Lord Iron’s waist, guns in his gauntlets, and reinforced steel surrounding him, making the armor both an offensive and defensive power-house. And best of all, even in this alternate reality set in the 1600s, the classic color scheme remained unchanged.
4 Samurai Armor
Interestingly enough, Iron Man has been depicted donning a version of samurai armor on more than one occasion. The first image featured above is Iron Man in his Iron Shogun armor, which was shown on the cover of I Am Iron Man #3 by Murewa Ayodele and Adedotun Akande. The next is Iron Man’s samurai armor from artist Simone Bianchi featured on a variant cover for Dark Wolverine #85 as a part of the ‘Iron Man By Design’ initiative. The third and final image is from Demon Wars: The Iron Samurai from artist Peach Momoko.
All three different Iron Man Samurai looks add something cool and unique to the idea of Tony Stark donning this type of armor, with each one being just as badass as the last.
3 Tesla Armor
Another ‘Iron Man By Design’ original (from artist Mike Del Mundo, featured on Daredevil #506), Tony Stark’s Tesla Armor was put on full display in all its old-school Sci-Fi glory. This piece played off the ‘Tesla coil’ invented by Nikola Tesla in 1891, as it’s surging with electricity stemming from two distinct points on Iron Man’s suit (between his hands).
This armor utilized engineering feats that were commonplace in Tesla’s recorded inventions, as if the real-world inventor actually designed his own Iron Man suit at the turn of the century.
2 Medieval Armor
Wolverine and the X-Men #28 featured a variant cover by artist Alex Maleev as a part of the ‘Many Armors of Iron Man’ initiative, which depicted Iron Man as a medieval knight. Complete with an absolutely massive battle-ax and a shield with the shape and look of Iron Man’s classic helmet-face, this alternate Iron Man is easily one of the most intimidating on this list.
Drenched in shadow, on the back of a warhorse with fresh blood still dripping from his weapon, the Medieval Armor certainly lives up to its name, even if fans never got to actually see it in action.
1 Iron Man Noir
Not a variant cover idea or a byproduct of a temporary alt-universe event, but a real character with his own comic series and rich lore, Iron Man Noir debuted in Iron Man Noir #1 by Scott Snyder and Manuel Garcia. Existing in a world where Marvel’s heroes came to be in the 1920s and 30s as opposed to their existence in the more familiar timeline of Earth-616, Iron Man Noir’s armor is a result of the era in which he rose to prominence as a hero, making his Noir suit low-tech when compared to his Earth-616 counterpart, but decidedly high-tech in relation to his own universe.
Iron Man Noir is perhaps the most significant on this list, as his relevance in Marvel Comics canon is way more impactful than arguably any other entry.
Even if a few of these are mere ideas had by Marvel Comics’ artists and not canonical Tony Stark designs, they’re still well within the scope of Stark’s engineering capabilities – and the ones that are in the official Marvel multiverse canon prove that to be true. However, regardless of whether Stark used any given suit in an actual storyline, the visual aesthetic of each of these 11 low-tech suits is absolutely stunning, and totally redefines what Iron Man’s armor could look like.
