Steel

Business Partner of STAR Labs
Employee of LexCorp (Formerly)
 Age
 Status
 Weight

**John Henry Irons** was a weapons engineer at LexCorp, who after realizing what his weapons were being used for, resigned from the company and made his own in the form of Steelworks. With his new business, John Henry sought to honor the memory of Superman, who fell in battle against Lex Luthor's Doomsday. To do this, John Henry created an advanced exoskeleton suit of armor, and forged a Kinetic Hammer to use in his adventures as **Steel**. He has been known to work alongside STAR Labs, and serve as a member of the Justice League.

## Biography

### Early Life

**John Henry Irons'** parents were murdered when he was young, and he felt that the only way to protect his family was to become rich and powerful. John Henry went to Yale on a sports scholarship before getting hired by LexCorp. John Henry Irons, a ballistics expert, enjoyed both wealth and success designing highly advanced weapons for a contractor with government ties. Irons used the money to help his family and was convinced he was doing good for the world. But John Henry started having misgivings when he discovered that a shipment of prototype LexCorp weapons somehow ended up in the hands of a terrorist cell in Nairomi. These weapons were used in a fire fight which left many people dead and, in a secret conspiracy left Superman blamed for the event.

### Seeking Redemption

Though Irons could not confirm that his weapons were the ones used by the terrorists, he later found evidence that they were indeed his. John Henry was horrified at the thought of what his work had led to. In the aftermath of Superman's battle with Doomsday, and the arrest of LexCorp leader Lex Luthor, John Henry destroyed his remaining prototypes before he resigned from LexCorp. In addition, when Lois Lane gathered the evidence needed to put Lex in prison, John Henry provided Lois with more evidence of the wrongful use of his technology. After leaving LexCorp, John Henry was able to start his own company called Steelworks which operates as an advanced industrial design factory. This company has been known forge a partnership with STAR Labs, developing products such as non-lethal Meta-Human control technology for use by Metropolis' Special Crimes Unit.

### A New "Man of Steel"

Several weeks after the death of Superman, even though he destroyed the prototypes, somehow criminals in Metropolis were being supplied with Irons weapons to use against the MDCP and innocent civilians. Without Superman to stop this threat, John Henry decided that he had to take matters into his own hands. Using resources from both Steelworks and STAR Labs, John Henry was able to forge a suit of armor derived from research collected from STAR Labs employee Silas Stone and from Kryptonian Battle Suits. Using his new arsenal of equipment, John Henry puts his armor to the test by taking a stand against the criminals using his own work against innocents, as a successor to Superman's mantle with the alias of **Steel**.

## Abilities

* **Genius Level Intellect**: He is an exceptionally gifted intellect that specializes in various fields of engineering. A genius of the highest order, he built a bullet proof suit of armor whose computerized pneumatic exoskeletal joints gave him superhuman strength.
	+ **Mechanical Engineering**
	+ **Weaponry**
	+ **Computer Operation**

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* **Steel Power Armor**: Steel's powers vary in accordance with what hardware is currently available to him. He has modified the original weapons systems and suit several times since its debut and continues to refine its abilities. With his engineering, physics and ballistics knowledge, it is conceivable that the suit may potentially possess even greater power in the future.
	+ **Energy Resistance**: Steel has immune systems in his armor to help him fight off computer viruses. This system also protects him against mind control agents.
	+ **Radioscopic Scans**: His armor is able to analyze photonic energy given off from an object through readouts the armor gives.
	+ **Superhuman Durability**: The suit's ability to impart a resistance to physical injury was quite considerable before the addition of the inertial dampening field. Small arms fire was generally not a threat but larger firearms could prove dangerous. All of the suits have performed admirably considering Steel's opponents.
	+ **Superhuman Strength**

### Transportation

* **Jet Boots**: With what are probably his greatest creations, the flight protocols for his armor are every engineer's dream. The distance that can be traveled before refueling is unknown, but Steel has made a documented trip of at least 1,500 miles before touching down again.

### Weapons

* **Kinetic Hammer**: Steel's current hammer has the ability to increase its kinetic energy the farther it is thrown. At a distance up to 20 yards, it can stop a car, at 30 yards a truck, at 60 yards a tank, and at distances greater than 60 yards its destructive capacity rivals that of Superman.
	+ **Inertial Damage Field**: The hammer can also store the energy it has gathered along its flight path within the kinetic field and release it on contact with a target (on command), even if its flight is interrupted by a command. It is unknown how long this device can store such energy. This device appears to have the ability to temporarily disrupt temporal/kinetic energy in a localized field and manipulate it for limited effects such as energy transfer based on a linear distance traveled. Such technology may be alien in origin, and its owner and manufacturer bear watching because of it. Its power source is also unknown.
	+ **Programmable Flight**: The hammer can stop in mid-air and be called back into his hands.
	+ **Electromagnetic Sensors**: The hammer has sensors in it to measure electromagnetic energy.
	+ **Electromagnetism**: The hammer can create several electromagnetic effects such as an EMP to disrupt electronic devices in Steel's vicinity. It can also set itself in tune to the Earth's magnetic field, making it virtually impossible to move. When not using the hammer, Steel can magnetically attach it to his back.

* **Rivet Cannon**: This short range weapon has fired red-hot rivets similar to those used in construction.