Iron Man Armour: Mark l

The Mark I Iron Man Armor is Tony Stark's first Iron Man suit, built to help him escape from forced captivity by an unnamed terrorist group. The suit was crafted from the limited resources around him, including salvaged pieces of scrap metal, machine parts, and pieces of Jericho missiles.

## History

*"So* this *is how he did it."* *"This is only a first, crude effort. Stark has perfected his design."*
―Obadiah Stane and Wong-Chu[src]
While in the captivity of the terrorist organization, Tony Stark was forced to build one of his Jericho missiles for them. However, while working on the missile, Stark was secretly building an armored suit to escape with the help of his fellow captive, Ho Yinsen. Stark put the suit on and escaped the compound but was forced to leave without Yinsen, who died of fatal gunshot wounds buying time for Stark to power up the armor.

Once Stark exited the cave, he used the suit's flamethrowers to destroy the their' stockpile of his own Stark Industries weapons. While setting the camp ablaze the suit suffered damage from enemy gunfire, causing some of the suit's systems to malfunction or fail. With the suit nearing failure, Stark then used the suit's rudimentary rocket thrusters to escape the enemy camp just before the weapons detonated.

Stark managed to escape, but at the cost of the armor, which he was forced to leave behind. Once he returned to America, he used the suit's schematics to create a more advanced version of what he later referred to as the Iron Man suit.

The remains of the Mark I are later located in the desert by the remainder of the terrorist group, who retrieved its pieces and roughly reassemble it according to Stark's see-through schematics to examine its design. Later, during a secret meeting with the group, Tony Stark's mentor and business partner, Obadiah Stane, stole the Mark I suit and used it to kill his former partner himself.

After stopping Stane, Stark retrieved the suit and kept it at his mansion.

## Capabilities

*"How do you think the Mark I chest piece is gonna hold up?""That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight."*
―Iron Man and J.A.R.V.I.S.[src]
Tony Stark's original Iron Man Armor serves as the basic template from which every armor after it was built. The Mark I armor was constructed entirely from recycled Stark Industries machine and weapon parts, in addition to any of the other limited resources at Tony Stark's disposal while held captive. Although not as advanced as future models, the armor is an extraordinary piece of technology put together in a dire situation and is a longstanding testament to Stark's extraordinary intelligence.

* **Superhuman Strength**: The armor greatly increased Stark's strength and durability, enabling him to overpower armed terrorists and survive an aerial impact with the ground after escaping. The suit was powered by a small electric motor that is partially exposed at the suit's lower back. The engine powered a pair of external, belt driven mechanisms in the suit's legs that helped support the vast weight of the metal suit. Similar mechanisms in the suit's arms and legs helped Stark to move around while wearing the armor and amplified the strength behind his movements, allowing him to throw punches that could destroy a heavy metal door, knock human enemies back several feet, and partially embedded his arm in a cave wall. Wrapping his hands with tape and the thick welding gloves prevented his hands from breaking on the impact.
* **Superhuman Durability**: Multiple layers of durable metal salvaged from missile casings made the armor impervious to medium caliber firearms and reinforced its physical attacks. Because the armor only covered a majority of the vital areas to keep from becoming too cumbersome, Stark wore the thick pants, leather jacket, hand wraps and gloves that he used for welding and molten metalwork, underneath the armor as added protection and insulation against the heat from the suit's flamethrowers.
* **Flight**: While not capable of sustained flight, and likely incapable of handling upper atmosphere temperatures even if it was given the icing problem encountered by Stark with the Mark II , the armor was capable of limited flight through single-fire rocket thrusters located on the back of each leg, enabling him to escape during the destruction of the camp.
* **Flamethrowers**: The armor possess a flamethrower on each wrist. It is the main method of attacking at medium range.
* **Missiles**: The armor has mounted on each arm missiles along with one single-shot missile concealed in the left arm.