Iron Man’s Powers And Abilities

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Tony Stark is a powerful industrialist gifted with a super genius level intellect, and specializing in several fields of science including mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer sciences and both electrical and mechanical engineering. Created in 1963 as a sort of anti hero by Marvel Comics, the idea behind Iron Man was the creation of a character whose life was focussed on the accumulation of wealth, reprehensibly through the creation and sales of weapons, something that in the sixties a lot of people were beginning to protest with the beginning of the Vietnam War and what they felt was the greed and influence of the military industrial complex(they were hippies after all). But the hero of story would be redeemed and become the Armoured Avenger and use his powers and abilities for the protection of others and then he would go on to become a comic book icon as well as becoming a part of mainstream pop culture by featuring in a series of highly successful movies. Along with Ant Man, the Hulk, Wasp, Thor and Captain America who was retrospectively granted founding member status he helped form the Avengers, Earth’s mightiest heroes.

What is Iron Man’s Superpower?

So you are wondering what is Iron Man’s superpower? And the answer is none. Zero. But before you close this post, bear with us, you see even though Iron Man has no superpowers, it does not mean he is not super powered. Confused yet? Let us here at Superheroes Central explain our point of view.

• Is he super strong? Check. Encased in his state of the art armor he is able to go toe to toe with super strong guys like the Hulk and Thor(it was a small misunderstanding) giving as good as he gets, making him one of Earth’s strongest heroes
• Does he possess invulnerability? Check(To a certain degree). His armour is resistant to gunfire and shrapnel(that’s pretty handy). As mentioned above when duking it with powerhouses like Thor and the Hulk he can a take a punch(whereas the normal folks like us would be spending a month in traction, if we were lucky) That is definitely a handy ability for a superhero and counts as a superpower(technically anyway).
• Can he fly? Check. Enough said really, his suit gives him the power of flight which is a comic book staple for top tier superheroes, just another reason to love the Armoured Avenger
• Can he shoot energy beams from his hands and chest? Check. This suit’s powers makes him a deadly ranged opponent as well as a fearsome close combatant(he can kick butt from anywhere).

So you see when Tony Stark dons the Iron Man armour he is a true Superhero as powerful as his more traditionally super powered allies, his main armored suit is a general purpose model, with Tony developing specialized models which he then has access to if the situation requires it. Other specialized suits include some designed to achieve orbit in space, others are developed for stealth or deep sea diving and are highly resistant to the crushing pressures found at those depths, one of the most famous specialised suits is the Hulkbuster Armor which is an oversized Armour consisting of additional and replaceable components which give it incredible strength and durability.

Most of the suits have several common features, all of them give Tony a durability and strength far exceeding normal human levels, most allow flight, this is achieved through the use of patented Stark repulsor technology, with the main thrusters mounted in the boots and also thrusters mounted in the gauntlets for flight stabilization(these repulsors are also able to be used as offensive weapon, as they can shoot short bursts of concussive energy), most suits have a powerful uni-beam chest mounted weapons system that projects even more powerful kinectic bursts(which actually do more damage the further they travel). The suits have been known to incorporate electro magnetic pulse generators, manipulate magnetic fields, emit sonic bursts(disabling enemies) project a defensive energy field or even 3-D holograms(to project defensive decoys).  Iron Man’s powers are only limited by Tony Stark’s engineering abilities(which is to say they are considerable)

Iron Man’s powers have always evolved in the comics as technology in the real world advanced and more and more things were thought possible, one factor was always a constant and that was at a point Tony Stark had to have access to a suit of armor to be become super powered, and if he didn’t he would be at the mercy of his enemies, that all changed irrevocably with the advent of the Extremis Armor. The Extemis Armor is based on a techno-organic virus which stores the Iron Man armor in tony Stark’s bones and can be activated with thought patterns(So obviously it’s pretty hard to ambush the guy now), and although he lost the original Extremis Armor it was replaced by a more advanced version(because it’s the comics), it can be argued that with this technology Tony Stark now truly possesses a super power as real as more traditional heroes.

How did Iron Man get his powers?

Well as we pointed out it is pretty pointless to ask how Iron Man got his powers, as technically he has none(well not at the beginning anyway), but yes there was a moment when Iron Man was born. When Tony Stark was created in 1963 he was an almost unrivalled genius but he was also an almost unrivalled douche, he had gained control of his deceased father’s vast corporate holdings and carried on with the family business of weapons manufacturing(he also was a selfish, self centred womanising playboy) so during the Vietnam War he visited the country to observe a field test of some of his weapons systems, but his party was ambushed and Tony Stark was captured.

During the firefight Tony Stark was critically wounded and lay near to death with a piece of shrapnel near his heart, back at his attacker’s base, his condition was stabilized by fellow captive, and Nobel Prize winning physicist Ho Yinsen who was had studied Stark’s work and was to construct an electro magnetic chest plate that kept the metallic fragment away from Tony’s heart(how lucky was it that the bad guys had captured two geniuses?)anyway this chest plate would go on to become the central piece of a personalized suit of powered body armor that the two would construct in secret from their captors, that suit would be the Iron Man Armor Mark 1.

Unfortunately the story didn’t have a happy ending for everyone, as time for their escape was running out, they needed to charge the suit up to make it combat ready, desperately needing to buy more time Dr Yinson sacrificed himself to distract their captors allowing Tony to charge the armor and exact bloody vengeance(it didn’t really help Dr Yinsen though). Still when Tony returned to civilization he was a changed man and he put aside his selfish nature and become a true hero of the people, using his new found powers and abilities to protect others. If you want to read more about Iron Man’s original story click here.

How Powerful Is Iron man?

Just how powerful is Iron Man? Although he is one the more powerful superheroes in the Marvel Universe that is question that can’t be answered easily, because unlike most of his superhero comrades who are either born with their powers or have acquired them at a later date, Tony Stark’s “powers” can evolve and be upgraded or even be tailored to be mission specific. Because Tony’s abilities directly stem from the armour he is wearing, he can always invent a more powerful suit of armour or one that is specific crafted to do a certain job(hulkbuster anyone?) So we found a great You Tube clip that lists the top 10 Iron Man armours, enjoy.