Marvel Legends Iron Man Retrospective, Part 1

To cap off our Iron Mania week, we’ve got a retrospective on the Iron Man action figures that have appeared in the classic Marvel Legends line, by Toy Biz and Hasbro. Who better to put this together than Akatsuki, Platoon Leader of the Fwoosh’s Armored Division?

There’s been so many Marvel Legends Iron Men over the years, we had to break up Akat’s retrospective into multiple parts. Here’s part one, covering the original ML 1 Iron Men through the ML 7’s Silver Centurion.

Marvel Legends Series 1: Classic Armor Iron Man
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #85 (1967).
Official Name:  Mark IV.

We all have a story about our first experience with Marvel Legends.  For me, it all began with seeing Marvel Legends 1 Iron Man on the shelves in 2002.  I fell in love with action figures all over again, and I have been hooked ever since.  Arguably one of the most influential action figures of the 2000s, ML 1 Iron Man helped begin the craze for super-articulated, highly detailed, 6” action figures.  Toy Biz managed to create inexpensive poseable works of art based on our favorite Marvel Comics superheroes.  Boasting an unmatched 36 points of articulation, (depending on how you count them), ML 1 Iron Man remains one of the most impressive and beloved Marvel Legends figures despite the progression in action figure design over the last nine years.  The Classic Armor even featured a removable faceplate, and a wonderfully detailed and painted sculpt of Tony Stark’s face.  This removable faceplate set a trend of later Iron Man figures.

ML 1 Iron Man featured Iron Man’s Classic Armor, a fitting beginning for the first wave of Marvel Legends.  First appearing in 1967, the Classic Armor remains one of Iron Man’s most famous armors, and it appeared in one of Iron Man’s most famous stories:  The Demon in a Bottle story arc.  But the Classic Armor continues to endure, serving as a backup armor in times of emergency.  Most recently, Tony Stark donned the Classic Armor yet again in the pages of the ongoing Siege event, giving this great armor over 40 years of active appearances in the comics.

Despite its age, the Classic Armor remains one of Iron Man’s more powerful armors.  The Classic Armor retains the title for many of Iron Man’s greatest feats.  This is the armor that Tony Stark wore to K.O. a raging Hulk with a single, magnificent punch (draining all of the armor’s power supply in the process).  This is also the armor that Tony wore to K.O. Namor the Submariner, despite the battle taking place underwater and despite the fact that Tony was drunk during the duel.  As technology progresses, Iron Man’s armors become more and more powerful, but the Classic Armor remains the armor to beat.  The Classic Armor set the standard of excellence.

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Marvel Legends Series 1: Classic Armor Iron Man (Gold)
First Appearance: Based on armor that first appeared in Tales of Suspense #48 (1963).
Official Name:  Mark II.

Adding an extra level of thrill and frustration to the hunt for Marvel Legends, Toy Biz gave a select few of its action figures special variants.  Blessed with such a wide variety of armors in the comics canon, Iron Man continues to receive variant versions throughout the entire run of Marvel Legends.  The Gold variant of ML 1 Iron Man remains one of the most sought after figures of the Marvel Legends line.

Reusing the ML 1 Classic Armor body, the Gold variant actually represents an earlier version of the Iron Man armor.  This is the Proto-Classic Armor, the first version of Iron Man’s armor to use the famous red and gold color scheme.  Besides its coloration, the Proto-Classic Armor is famous for its horned faceplate, faithfully recreated by Toy Biz.  A vital part of Iron Man’s history and the history of Marvel Legends, the ML 1 Gold variant is the highlight of many collections, and is only part of my collection thanks to the wonderful generosity of Fwoosh admin, Robokillah!

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Marvel Legends Series 1: Stealth Armor Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man, Vol. 1, #152 (1981).
Official Name:  Mark VI.

Iron Man received two variants in the first wave of Marvel Legends, including the distinctive and sleek Stealth Armor.  Like the Gold variant, the Stealth Armor also used the ML 1 Classic Armor as a base.  In fact, the Stealth variant is straight repaint, using dark blue plastic and red paint details.  Although the Stealth Armor in the comics actually features its own distinctive shoulder pauldron armor, gauntlets, and boot designs, the Stealth Armor resembles the Classic Armor in terms of its overall aesthetic.  The ML 1 Stealth Armor variant remains one of the most famous and prized variants, and the variant was famous enough to be recreated in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends 2-Packs in the late Summer of 2009.

In the comics, the Stealth Armor was jet black in color, with blue highlights used to show the armor’s details.  This blue coloration became the hallmark of the armor, which has often been depicted as actually being blue in later appearances.  Built with electronic evasion in mind, the Stealth Armor could coat itself in an electromagnetic field designed to alter the armor’s radar profile. Also, the armor could cool off its jet exhaust using super-cooled air.  All the stealth equipment left the armor no room for weapons in its initial mission.  Later during the Armor Wars, Stark managed to upgrade the Stealth Armor to be able to produce a couple of repulsor blasts.  Tony Stark donned this upgraded version of the Stealth Armor in his famous Siberian battle against Crimson Dynamo (Mark IV) and Titanium Man II (Gremlin) during the Armor Wars.

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Marvel Legends Series 7: Silver Centurion Armor Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man #200 (1985).
Official Name:  Mark VIII.

While ML 1 Iron Man helped put Marvel Legends on the map and spurred several more waves of popular Marvel Legends action figures, Iron Man fans salivated for more armors.  Toy Biz answered our calls by giving us the Silver Centurion Armor Iron Man in Marvel Legends 7.  Reusing the super-articulated base body from ML 1 Iron Man, the Silver Centurion Armor featured plenty of new detailed pieces to recreate the Silver Centurion’s unique design.  The figure featured a new helmet and faceplate design.  In addition to the removable faceplate design from ML 1, the Silver Centurion armor also included eye slots to see Tony’s face through the faceplate.  The figure also featured new shoulder pauldron armor, new gloves, new torso armor (complete with the armor’s distinctive triangular uni-beam), new belt pieces, new boots, and the armor’s unique backpack.  In the comics, the Silver Centurion Armor set the standard for future Iron Man armors to feature this kind of pointed shoulder design.

Toy Biz enhanced the Silver Centurion’s appearance with new levels of paint detailing.  The red sections of the armor featured a brilliant metallic red paint underscored by deep black painted lines that showed all the intricate detail Toy Biz sculpted into the armor.  Meanwhile the silver sections of the armor featured a nice silver paint scheme enhanced by a darker wash, giving the armor more of a gun metal appearance, making the whole figure look much more realistic.
In the comics, the Silver Centurion Armor was one of Iron Man’s most powerful and technologically advanced designs.  First appearing in Iron Man #200, the armor marked Tony Stark’s final answer to his villainous business rival Obadiah Stane.  Living life like a game of chess, Stane conducted a calculated campaign against Tony Stark.  Stane took control of Stark International via a hostile takeover and prompted Tony to relapse into alcoholism and give up the mantle of Iron Man to James Rhodes.  However, Tony Stark managed to pull himself back together.  Harnessing his renewed determination, Stark created the Silver Centurion Armor.

The Silver Centurion Armor featured a wide variety of new systems.  Famously, the armor featured the ability to cast realistic holograms, which it could use for a variety of purposes.  Tony could use the hologram ability to cloak the armor in active camouflage, making the armor nearly invisible.  This prompted the armor’s nickname of the Chameleon Armor.  In fact, Toy Biz marketed the 5” action figure of this armor as the Hologram Armor.  In addition, the Silver Centurion Armor featured advanced electronic stealth systems, making this armor one of Iron Man’s stealthiest designs.  However, this system proved to have significant drawbacks.  The complicated energy fields used for the chameleon effect put substantial stress on Tony’s body, so much so that he was forced to replace the system.

The Silver Centurion Armor also featured a new weapons system:  pulse bolts.  This system fired relatively slow-moving electromagnetic particles that picked up additional kinetic energy as they flew the air, making the beam more powerful the farther it traveled.  The armor also possessed the capacity for far more physical strength than past Iron Man armors.
Using the Silver Centurion Armor, Iron Man easily outpaced Stane and his Iron Monger armor.  Despite using hostages (even a baby), Stane could not compete, and he ultimately committed suicide in shame.

The Silver Centurion Armor was Iron Man’s primary armor throughout the famous Armor War series.  The Armor Wars pitted Iron Man against virtually every armor-clad hero and villain in the Marvel Universe, so that Tony Stark could ensure that his armor designs were not being used irresponsibly.  Unfortunately, the Silver Centurion Armor met its end in battle against the extremely powerful Firepower armor.  Tony Stark faked his own death by filling the Silver Centurion Armor with blood and then operating the armor to combat Firepower in a battle that resulted in the destruction of the Silver Centurion Armor.  However, Tony Stark rebuilt the Silver Centurion Armor, and it has continued to appear in the comics.  Most recently, Tony Stark wore the armor into battle against the Mandarin during Tony’s reign as Director of SHIELD.