Like the knights of yore, some of our favorite supers live the armored life… There is no Iron Man on this list. Welcome to Ten Things: Ten Supers In Armor!

Whooshman-Bicarbonate Films, in conjunction with An Amateur Comics Historian and the continued reminder that there is NO Iron Man on this list, Presents:

TEN THINGS: TEN SUPERS IN ARMOR!

10) RESCUE

Long-suffering executive assistant to Tony Stark, Virginia Potts (dubbed Pepper for her red hair and freckles) pined after Tony for years, finally marrying fellow Stark employee Happy Hogan. That marriage ended in divorce, allowing her romance with Tony rekindled. Though she’s had her Rescue armor for more than a decade (real-world time), it only recently got its own color scheme and a design upgrade to make it feel like her own identity, not coincidentally after her film counterpart wore similar armor in the climactic battle of ‘Avengers: Endgame.’

Hey, just because I said no Iron Man doesn’t mean no Stark Technology!

9) THE MAID

Believing her powers came from her faith, Joanna Dark (see what they did there?) was one of the first recruits to the Neopolis Police 10th Precinct, the department that would become known as Top 10. Fans of ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ might recognize the archetype from which she is drawn, but the art of Gene Ha really makes her unique and memorable, even though she’s a very minor character in the saga.

8) METALLIK

One of many groups of Team Titans sent back in time to prevent the ascension of future dictatort Lord Chaos, the team of Axe, Backbeat, Bongo, Brass and Fusion disguise themselves as a rock band when not in armor. In Super Sentai fashion (you can’t discuss supers in armor without mentioning them), each member can transform into an individual armored form, or they can combine into this giant armored composite form for the legendary Megazord upgrade effect. Like nearly all of the future Titans, the were erased from reality by the Zero Hour crisis, but that’s actually good, since their target was Wonder Girl’s infant son.

7) THE BEETLE

The wife of a minor-league super-villain in the Marvel Universe, Leila Davis sought revenge on Abner Jenkins, the original Beetle, after he humiliated her late husband.  She took on her own identity as Hardshall, even becoming the leader of The Sinister Syndicate before her vendetta led her to be recruited into The Redeemers, a US government-backed group sent to investigate the truth about The Thunderbolts.  (Faithfuls Spoilerites with long memories known that the Thunderbolts were in fact the villainous Masters of Evil in disguise, including Abner Jenkins as MACH-1.)  She was murdered by Graviton and has since been replaced by another new Beetle.

6) STEEL-MIGUEL

When Miguel Montez discovered the legendary H-Dial, he set out on a road trip to Metropolis to find Superman, only to be forced to use the device over and over to fight The Thunderbolt Club, whose leader covets the H-Dial.  Miguel’s transformations are very metatextual, referencing comics history and creators, such as the time his Super-Miguel persona was split into four versions, with each referencing one of the replacement Supermen who showed up to protect Metropolis during ‘The Death of Superman.’

If you don’t know this reference, you’re probably not a Shaquille O’Neal fan.

5) ROCKET RED

A dyed-in-the-wool Communist and former leader of Russia’s Rocket Red Brigade, Gavril Ivanovitch idolized deceased Rocket Red Dmitri Pushkin, using his armor to fight Western influences on his homeland. He  then fell in with Pushkin’s former Justice League International teammates as their new Rocket Red, but was killed when a villain targeted their headquarters with a bomb.

Honestly, given the horrific fates of so many JLI members, it could have been much worse.

4) LE DOCTEUR Q

A member of Les Heroes de Paris, French heroes in the Marvel Universe, le bon docteur is a master of technology and created his own armor and gimmicks.  He and his team welcomed The Thing to their ranks when that hero fled the US during the first superhero Civil War and worked together to keep Paris from being sunk by a villain.  Though not seen since, it is presumed he is still protecting France.

3) MISS TERIOUS

An enigmatic hero who was sponsored for Legion membership by Supergirl herself (after a Kryptonite accident kept Supergirl from being part of LSH missions), she and her partner Sir Prize were the source of much suspicion by the Legionnaires.  Using her special armor, she served the team well, though they all suspected she was secretly Supergirl and tried to unravel her scheme.  The discovered that she is, in truth, Nura “Dream Girl” Nal, who had once joined the team under false pretenses and been dismissed.  Both she and Sir Prize (revealed to be dismissed Legionnaire Star Boy) were accepted into the Legion again after this mission, with Nura becoming one of the longest-serving members and a multiple-time Legion leader.

2) FRONT

After being exposed to an explosion of magic energy while shopping in his favorite comic store, Paul (last name unrevealed) gained the ability to generate a psionic force field. He became part of a team of similarly empowered young people who called themselves The Good Guys, eventually fighting villains who got their powers from the same accident. They attempted to follow the rules of super-teams, even working to establish a high-tech headquarters when their book (and Defiant Comics as a whole) came to a sudden, unexpected end.

The Good Guys were based on real-life comic fans who submitted their own characters as part of a contest,, though it’s unclear if Paul is one of them, as his full name was never revealed.

1) ICE AGE MAN

After being stranded in the distant past with damaged armor and limited power, Anthony Stark was forced to cannibalize his technology and work with the resources at hand to build a new suit to face off with his foe. It’s a shame that he was fighting Mephisto, a lord of hell who is basically made of flame, but you have to admire his chutzpah and creativity. #InACaveWithABoxOfScraps

Hey, just because I said no Iron Man doesn’t mean no Tony Stark!

This week’s topic, Ten Supers In Armor, is all me but feel free to follow along @MightyKingCobra for more Ten Things madness on Twitter! You can submit your own suggestions or check out the full Twitter archive here! As with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete, if only because powered armor is the fifth most common source of super-powers, right after alien heritage, radiation, magic items and nanites. Either way, the comments section is below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!

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