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I suppose that, since this is October and the
month ends with Hallowe'en, I should be doing something with an
spooky theme or some such, but I couldn't come up with
anything like that. Instead, I decided to play around with one
of Marvel's longest running superhero titles.
It begins with a young genius who just
couldn't resist the urge to see his inventions operate in the field. In
this case, an unnamed country in Southeast Asia
(originally, it was Vietnam, but with the passage of time, the Vietnam
conflict has receded too far into the past to keep the
character reasonably young) where American soldiers
are involved in repelling communist insurgents and young
Anthony Stark's inventions are tipping the balance of the
conflict. Stark's major accomplishment, at this point, is some
kind of magnetic amplifier which he can use for various
purposes. Being young and somewhat careless, Stark wanders away
from the protection of the military and sets of a land
mine, which injures him almost fatally.
Carried away by communist insurgents, Stark
awakes in the camp of their leader, Wong-Chu. He is given an
ultimatum, a piece of shrapnel is lodged near his heart and will
soon kill him if he does not receive medical attention in
time. If Stark will build him a weapon, Wong-Chu promises,
he will receive the medical care that he needs. Stark quickly
agrees.
Finding that he is not alone in his captivity,
Tony Stark is introduced to Professor Ho Yinsen, a brilliant
physicist. Ho Yinsen informs him that he cannot trust Wong-Chu,
and agrees to help save Tony's life, while they work on
what appears to their captor to be the weapon he wants.
Using Stark's magnetic amplifier technology, they adapt it
into a kind of pacemaker, to keep Tony's heart beating and
keep the shrapnel away from his heart. The pacemaker takes the
form of a steel breastplate, which will form the basis of
Stark's new life. Under the guise of building their weapon,
Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen build a powerful suit of
electronic armor, which the Professor christened "the Iron Man".
It was a name that Tony Stark would carry for the rest of his
life.
When Wong-Chu became impatient, Stark and
Prof. Yinsen realized their time was up. Yinsen died delaying
Wong-Chu, while Tony charged the suits batteries. Enraged at the
loss of his friend and benefactor, Stark killed Wong-Chu
and scattered his soldiers, walking through the jungle to
friendly territory.
Back in the States (as they say in old
movies), Tony Stark kept the armor he and Professor Yinsen had built and
established himself as a superhero. He never quit
improving the armor, first he rebuilt the original suit, adding
to its power and capability and giving it a shiny gold
finish. Soon, he scrapped the original, cumbersome plate armor
for more flexible metal-mesh armor that allowed greater
freedom of movement and ease of wear.
The gold plating gave way to the familiar
red-and-gold of the classic Iron Man armors of the 70s and 80s, with a
few notable exceptions. There were a couple of
special-purpose suits, like the jet black, radar absorbing Stealth
Armor, the heavy, bulky Space Armor and the sea green Deep
Sea Armor, as well as the red-and-silver "new" Iron Man
armor that he wore following the so-called "Armor Wars". But
always he went back to the familiar red-and-gold that
servedhim so well.
In recent years, Iron Man has gone through
several changes. From being a remote controlled "empty
suit", while Tony Stark was immobilized due to a back injury, to the
"intelligent" armor that broke free of Tony's control
and killed Blacklash. After finally defeating his own
armor, Tony has gone back to wearing the classic suit that is
most familiar to longtime Iron Man fans.
For my design, I looked at past suits, for
elements that I liked and adapted them. I have always liked a little
"bulk" in a powered armor suit and decided to keep some of
the modular design of recent suits. Tot he helmet, I added
targeting sensors to the crest of the helm and guards
for the elbow joints, to the vambraces. Knees and elbows
are particularly vulnerable, I always thought. Of course,
I kept the color scheme that works so well.
So, that's my take on the armored Avenger.
Hope you like it.
Everyone wish Sheryl a happy birthday, and a
happy Hallowe'en to everyone else! See you next month!
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