This is the third part of Akatsuki’s Marvel Legends Iron Man Retrospective, the finale to our Iron Mania week. Part 3 covers the Modular Armor Iron Man from the ML Fearsome Foes 2-packs through the Thorbuster Iron Man from ML 15. We’ll wrap up tomorrow with the final installment.
Marvel Legends Fearsome Foes, Series 2: Modular Armor Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man #300 (1994).
Official Name: Mark XIII.
Before Iron Man became a mega-star with his first blockbuster film in 2008, the Modular Armor might have been Tony’s most well-recognized armor. First appearing in Iron Man #300 (1994), the Modular Armor played the starring role in Iron Man’s animated series in the 1990s. Stark designed the Modular Armor to be a basic streamlined armored shell that he could upgrade with a variety of modular weapons and equipment pods, theoretically giving the armor a tremendous degree of versatility. Toy Biz recreated the Modular Armor’s very first two auxiliary weapons pods: a full-spectrum scanalyzer and a magnetic rail gun. The animated series played up the armor’s unique adaptive abilities by granting the armor the ability to physically morph into any of Iron Man’s specialty armors. The Modular Armor also served as the basis for Iron Man’s appearance in the popular Marvel vs. Capcom video games.
The Modular Armor debuted in a climactic battle against the massive android automaton, Ultimo. Immensely powerful and extraordinary durable, Ultimo spread destruction wherever he went. Tony Stark still lay frozen in a cryogenic chamber, while the rest of the world believed he was dead. Thus, Jim Rhodes called together a league of Tony’s old comrades who had power armor experience. Forming the Iron Legion, Rhodes donned his War Machine armor along with: “Happy” Hogan (Tony’s good friend and chauffer, played by Jon Favreau in the films) wearing the Proto-Classic Armor; Eddie March in the First Appearance Armor; Tony’s bodyguard and love interest Bethany Cabe in the Neo-Classic (Post-Armor Wars) Armor; Clayton Wilson (formerly the villain Force) in the Classic Armor; and Michael O’Brien (brother of the original Guardsman) in the Silver Centurion Armor. Despite their best efforts, the Iron Legion could not compete against Ultimo’s vast power. However, Tony Stark triumphantly returned to action, wearing his new Modular Armor and armed with weapons and equipment specifically chosen for the task of defeating Ultimo.
The Modular Armor Iron Man figure featured an all new sculpt, including a wonderful face sculpt of Tony Stark underneath the faceplate. However, somewhere in the process, the factory forgot to paint in the correct red color on the chin-guard armor. This figure featured one of the first times 45-degree angled hips were used on an Iron Man figure, as well as the first time an Iron Man figure received a full ab-crunch joint as opposed to the socket joint used on the Hulkbuster Armor. Substantially shorter than any of the previous Iron Man figures, the Modular Armor benefited from great range of motion in all of its joints, allowing the figure to recreate some of the martial arts poses that the Modular Armor would take in the Capcom video games.
Iron Man wore the Modular Armor throughout the 1990s, often battling heroes as much as he battled villains. Iron Man used the Modular Armor’s unique weapons pods to single-handedly battle: the New Warriors to a standstill (sticky goo canceled out Speedball’s powers while an anti-gravity device sent Rage flying uncontrollably into the sky); Thunderstrike; Venom; and Deathlok, to name a few. Tony also went through extensive training exercises so that he could take down the X-Men single-handedly, if such a needed ever arose.
Marvel Legend Fearsome Foes, Series 2: War Machine
First Appearance: Iron Man #281 (1992), but really is a palette swap from Marvel vs. Capcom.
Official name: Mark XI.
A variant of the Modular Armor figure, War Machine features a new unique Jim Rhodes face sculpt under the faceplate, but otherwise the figure is a complete repaint. Being a repaint is completely appropriate for this version of War Machine which is intended to serve as the Marvel vs. Capcom version of the character, which was a simple palette swap of the Iron Man model.
Marvel Legends House of M Set: House of M Iron Man:
First Appearance: Iron Man: House of M, #1.
Ostensibly a strange choice for a Marvel Legend because of its limited number of appearances in the comics, House of M Iron Man might be the best Iron Man action figure ever made. Jesse Falcon, former product manager at Toy Biz, certainly thought the House of M Iron Man figure was the best Iron Man figure that he had a part in creating.
When the Scarlet Witch used her mutant ability to manipulate chaos magic, she transformed the entire world into a form of alternate reality. In this so-called House of M world, mutants reigned supreme and subjugated the normal human population. But due to their unique creative brilliance and engineering skills, Howard Stark and his son Tony Stark managed to build a business empire despite their human limitations. The Starks placated the mutant elite and by providing advanced technologies for Magneto’s personal use, such as the Sentinel and Vision technologies.
Meanwhile, many humans participated in gladiatorial games, called Sapien Death Match. In these games, humans wearing power armor battled each other as well as giant sentinel robots, all for the entertainment of the mutants. Tony Stark was one of the most successful arena combatants, only eclipsed by his father’s piloting abilities.
But despite Tony Stark’s business success, Howard had far grander goals for his son. First, Howard secretly encouraged Stark employee Hank Pym to develop a genetically targeted anti-mutant bomb weapon. Next, Howard tried to manipulate Tony into deposing the Lord of the House of M world, Magneto. Howard and Pym planted the anti-mutant gene bombs throughout the capitol. Wearing his most advanced suit of Iron Man armor and joined by fellow Sapien Death Match fighters such as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. the regular human, Human Torch), Tony had to race around the city to disarm the bombs all the while battling Magneto’s sentinel army. As both Magneto and Howard Stark (clad in power armor) descended onto the battlefield, Tony was forced to decide between whether he would be the champion of a homo sapiens revolution (by assassinating Magneto with one of the bombs), or a hero for all humanity (by destroying all the bombs in the city, saving humans and mutants alike).
The House of M Iron Man figure may feature one of most intricately detailed sculpts of the Marvel Legends line. From the minute detail in the armors complex faceplate, down to the sculpted plating in the armors gauntlets and boots, this figure is packed with detail. The armor design seems to take design cues from a variety of pop-culture robot sources such as the Gundam anime series.
House of M Iron Man came packed with his massive turbine engines, which he used to augment his speed during the race against the clock to disarm the gene bombs. The figure also comes equipped with Iron Man’s powerful arm-mounted cannon and ammo clip. Iron Man used this weapon throughout the comics to combat numerous Sentinels and enhanced Vision Sentinels. This weapon and Iron Man’s hip-mounted stabilizer wings were painted in a great metallic silver blue.
Despite all that detail and gear, House of M Iron Man is also one of the most effectively articulated Iron Man figures. Although the hinged shoulder design provides for less range of motion than the ML 8 Modern Armor figure, the House of M figure features a much more effective ab-crunch. Furthermore, the House of M Iron Man figure is one of the best examples of an action of an armored character possessing the appropriate bulk and proportions.
Although Iron Man only played a limited role in the House of M world, confined to his own mini-series, the House of M Iron Man figure gave Toy Biz such a detailed and challenging design that they managed to go all out and give us what I think is the best figure of the entire line.
Marvel Legends Series 15: Thorbuster Armor Iron Man
First Appearance: Iron Man, vol. 3, #64 (2003).
Official Name: Mark XXII.
Another powerful exo-armor, the Thorbuster Armor is technically one of Iron Man’s most powerful suits. Powered by the energies of a magical Asgardian jewel fragment and harnessed by a special reactor, the Thorbuster Armor could tap into the same energies as Thor. This allowed the mighty exo-armor to go toe-to-toe with Lord Thor, himself possessing the power of Odin.
Although Iron Man has a lengthy history of having to battle his own comrades, Tony always has a good reason. In this case, Thor was unintentionally on the brink of igniting World War III. In Eastern Europe, the ancient Asgardian religion began to gain new followers, particularly in the small nation of Slokovia. Feeling threatened by the religious movement and its very real gods, the Slokovian dictatorship government attempted to crackdown on the Asgardian worshippers, even threatening genocide. When Thor led the Asgardian army to Slokovia to intervene, he accidentally destabilized the already precarious balance of power in the region. Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria, supplied the Slokovian government with its weapons, while Russia and other Eastern European states readied their militaries, while American and NATO forces mobilized. The U.S. government officially asked Tony Stark to intervene to try to convince Thor to stand down and avoid open war.
Fueled by Asgardian magic, a special reactor, and the Iron Man technology, the Thorbuster Armor takes some clear design inspiration from the mystical Destroyer Armor. The Thorbuster suit was capable of matching Thor’s vast strength as well as the ability to re-channel and re-direct any energy Thor threw at the suit. For example, Tony could re-direct the trajectory of Thor’s mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Or Tony could fire Thor’s lightning right back at the god as an enchanted repulsor ray. The Thorbuster Armor also featured a unique flip-down visor, just like the Destroyer. But despite all of its abilities, the Thorbuster suit’s untested reactor design was ultimately no match for the Lord of Thunder, who stripped the exo-armor away, revealing Iron Man’s basic armor.
For the Marvel Legends Thorbuster Armor figure, Toy Biz managed to kill two birds with one stone, giving us both the Thorbuster Armor and the Destroyer Armor as a wonderful variant. The Thorbuster Armor featured a shiny, almost candy-like coating on its red and gold armor, giving the figure a unique, but aesthetically pleasing visual appeal. The figure also stands quite tall, and bulky, fitting the majestic power of the armor and that fact that it is actually an exo-armor.
Although ML 8 Modern Armor is more articulated, the Thorbuster Armor features all the basic articulation model that I love: bicep swivels, double joints, 90-degree hips; great side-to-side ankles, and a nice ab-crunch, all without having to sacrifice a powerful amount of mass. The one and only problem is that this figure really should be able to form at least one fist, given how much Tony had to rely on hand-to-hand combat against Thor.
Big, shiny, and poseable, the Thorbuster Armor may not have been a huge fan favorite before its release (although I always liked it), but the final figure stands as one of the great triumphs of the Marvel Legends line.
Great series of write ups! I enjoyed every one of em…really takes you back to the beginning of the modern age of action figure collecting!
Thanks and bravo!