1. Stealth Armour
The Stealth suit represents a colossal gamble on Iron Man’s part: stocked with anti-detection equipment, radar-blocking technology, mufflers and a vent cooling system designed to prevent detection by thermal scan, the suit has no room for weaponry.
No rockets, no homing missiles, none of his iconic repulsor-blasts common to almost every other Iron Man suit. When Stark chose to first don the Stealth suit to evade East German detection in Escape from Heaven’s Hand, he was trusting entirely in stealth and misdirection. After all, we can imagine that the fragile state of diplomacy between West and East Germany would not have been well served by an all-guns-blazing approach from an American icon like Iron Man.
This, I feel, is the suit of armour that offers the greatest potential for exploration, both in comics and film. Rather than being highly specialised, like the Hydro and Atmospheric armours, the Stealth suit offers a fresh approach applicable to many of the Avengers’ threats. Rather than confronting Dr. Doom in a shining suit of metal and gold, like last time and the time before, why not worm your way into Latveria in the Stealth get-up? If Thanos succeeds in establishing a foothold on Earth in The Avengers 2, how better to know your enemy, and present the audience with a fresh and tense new side to the action?
The Iron Man films have been incredible, but there are other sides to Stark’s skillset, and I’m convinced the Stealth suit is the greatest opportunity to show them.
So! Do I have my priorities all wrong? Did I miss off your favourite suit? Sound off below!
