Summary
- Iron Man’s first suit, built from scraps, showcased his technical proficiency and marked a strong debut for the character in the MCU.
- Iron Man’s ability to hold his own against Thor demonstrated the strength, durability, and impressive features of his suit.
- From infiltrating bases with odds and ends to using an army of suits in battle, Iron Man continually displayed his innovation and technological prowess throughout his MCU journey.
Marvel Studios’ first on-screen superhero, Iron Man, demonstrated some incredible feats of power and intelligence over his lengthy MCU career. Robert Downey Jr. debuted as Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios’ first big screen project that kick-started the MCU. Downey Jr. appeared in a total of ten MCU projects before Iron Man sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos and save the universe in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, making him one of the most consistent characters of the franchise’s Infinity Saga. Tony Stark saw a huge amount of growth after becoming Iron Man and displayed some amazing moments of strength, genius, and technological prowess.
Iron Man was at the core of the MCU timeline for eleven years, and his absence is now being felt in the Multiverse Saga, particularly since nobody has stepped up to replace him. Don Cheadle’s War Machine and Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart have been teased as Iron Man’s legacy heroes in the MCU, but filling Stark’s shoes will be a challenge. Iron Man was one of the most innovative, ambitious, and complex heroes in the MCU, which led to the creation of dozens of suits of armor in the name of global protection, each giving him brilliant powers. Here are ten of Iron Man’s most impressive displays of power in the MCU.
10 Tony Stark Built His First Iron Man Suit Out Of Scraps
2008’s Iron Man introduced mass audiences to Tony Stark, beginning in the days before he became Iron Man. After being taken captive by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, Stark was tasked with building a Jericho missile for the organization, but instead worked with fellow prisoner Ho Yinsen to build the MCU’s first Iron Man suit. Using only the materials available to him in his cave prison, Stark was able to build an arc reactor and a functioning suit, fit with weapons, flamethrowers, and flight capabilities. This proved right out the gate how technically proficient Stark was and marked a strong debut for Marvel Studios’ live-action Iron Man.
9 Iron Man Held His Own Against Thor In The Avengers
Before the titular team was officially formed in 2012’s The Avengers, the separate heroes found themselves butting heads, including Thor and Iron Man. While the Asgardian God of Thunder perhaps seemed like the obvious winner of this skirmish, Tony Stark’s suit and his hand-to-hand combat skills allowed him to hold his own against Thor, with Thor’s lightning even supercharging the Iron Man armor to 400%. Not many people have gone up against Thor and managed to defeat him, so this was certainly a point of pride for Iron Man and a brilliant display of the suit’s features, durability, and strength, setting him up as a valuable member of the Avengers.
8 Tony Stark Used Odds & Ends To Infiltrate Killian’s Base In Iron Man 3
After his suit was drained of its power in Iron Man 3, Tony Stark was left with nothing but his wit and his genius to go on the hunt for the mysterious Mandarin. In order to infiltrate Aldrich Killian’s Miami base, Stark pieced together several handmade weapons, using his engineering background to create various tools to take out Killian’s guards, including a dart gun, bombs made from Christmas ornaments, a taser glove, a tripwire, and a taser inside a camera. These allowed Stark to get access to Trevor Slattery, who had been acting as the Mandarin, without the help of his more technologically advanced Iron Man suit.
7 Iron Man Used Several Suits To Battle Aldrich Killian In Iron Man 3
While Stark had been without his suit for much of Iron Man 3, the film’s final battle saw him gather all of his creations to take on the Extremis-powered Aldrich Killian. Dubbed the “Iron Legion,” Stark used roughly 35 Iron Man suits to battle Killian and his soldiers in Iron Man 3, each coming with a specific set of abilities, including being able to separate and rejoin, being strong enough to hold the collapsing rig, and being able to attach to his body remotely. Stark used the latter to contain and explode Killian, though it was Pepper Potts who delivered the final blow. This display proved just how innovative Stark had become.
6 Iron Man Almost Sacrificed Himself In The Avengers
Iron Man had some great displays of power during The Avengers, but his final act puts them all to shame. After the World Security Council fired a nuclear missile at New York City in an effort to wipe out Loki and the Chitauri army, Stark intercepted the missile and instead flew it through the portal into space. This selfless act was an incredible moment of strength from the armored Avenger, not least because it ended the battle, but also because it could have cost him his own life. This proved that Stark was willing to pay the ultimate price to save others – and he eventually would during Avengers: Endgame.
5 Iron Man Beat Hulk In Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Over the course of his MCU career, Iron Man went toe-to-toe with several of the other Avengers individually, and Avengers: Age of Ultron saw him take on a rampaging Hulk in the streets of Johannesburg. The Scarlet Witch had manipulated Bruce Banner into wreaking havoc, but Tony Stark called “Veronica” down from his satellite, enabling him to enhance his Iron Man suit into a Hulk-sized machine, which meant he was able to subdue Banner. While this did come at the expense of a skyscraper that had been in construction, Stark’s Veronica add-ons were seriously impressive, and his ability to defeat the Hulk is a feat accomplished by not many others.
4 Iron Man Almost Beat Captain America & Bucky Barnes In Civil War
After he had battled Thor in The Avengers and the Hulk in Age of Ultron, Iron Man next took on Steve Rogers in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but he wasn’t as successful. Bucky Barnes became a target for Stark after the latter learned that the Winter Soldier had killed his parents in 1991, leading to an intense battle between Stark, Barnes, and Rogers. Iron Man gained the upper hand after destroying Bucky’s metal arm and analyzing Rogers’ fight pattern, but Captain America’s brute strength eventually saw the armored Avenger defeated. This was a moment of heightened emotion, and was an impressive show of power from all three characters.
3 Iron Man Drew Blood From Thanos In Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War saw Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, and Peter Parker journey to Thanos’ homeworld of Titan to meet the Mad Titan and try to thwart his destructive plans. Since Thanos had already acquired two Infinity Stones, it seemed impossible for the few Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy to take him down, yet Iron Man came close after the other heroes had been incapacitated. Stark was the only hero to draw some blood from Thanos during their battle, using the nanotechnology comprising his updated Iron Man suit to gift him some exciting new weapons and increase his strength, though this would eventually do nothing to stop Thanos.
2 Tony Stark Discovered Time Travel In Avengers: Endgame
Five years after the Avengers were defeated by Thanos, Scott Lang returned with a plan of using the Quantum Realm to travel back in time, collect the Infinity Stones for themselves, and reverse the devastation. Stark initially thought this impossible, but after finding some inspiration in a photo of himself with the then-deceased Peter Parker, he finally cracked the secret to time travel in the MCU. This allowed the Avengers to embark on the Time Heist, but the sheer intelligence, dedication, and persistence that this discovery and invention would have taken has often been ignored, despite Stark being firmly cemented as one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.
1 Iron Man Used The Infinity Gauntlet To Defeat Thanos In Endgame
Only three MCU characters have sported all six Infinity Stones: Thanos, the Hulk, and Tony Stark himself. The power of the Infinity Stones seriously injured Thanos and the Hulk, so there was no chance that Stark would have survived, and he certainly would have known this. Even so, Stark acquired the Infinity Stones during the Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame, and snapped his fingers to eliminate Thanos and his armies from existence, saving the universe at the cost of his own life. This was by far the most impressive display of power from the MCU’s Iron Man, and ensured he’d go down in history as the universe’s savior.