What Iron Man's Best Armor In The MCU Really Is

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has had a lot of suits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but which of his armor was the most impressive one? Arguably one of the best-executed character arcs in recent cinematic history, Tony Stark's character personal journey had a clear progression. He started as a self-centered industrialist and playboy who couldn't be bothered by other people's problems to a devoted family fan who willingly sacrificed his life to ensure a safer universe.

Best known for his genius, quick wit, and sarcasm, there's also one thing that Tony was famous for: his suits. During his stint in the MCU, Iron Man wore 19 suits and created 85 armors in total, but which one was truly the best? It's difficult to choose just one, especially since he consistently upgraded his battle gear. He donned many memorable battle costumes throughout the Infinity Saga, including the Mark L that he sported in Avengers: Infinity War. There are also specialized suits like the Mark XV (codename "Sneaky"), which was the first armor designed to have stealth capabilities. Unfortunately, it got destroyed in Iron Man before Tony was able to get the most out of it.

When talking about the best Iron Man armor, the answer is arguably still going to be Mark I for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was created in such dire circumstances while he was abducted by the Ten Rings. Tony didn't just have to think of its design, he also had to be strategic in terms of the materials needed for it fully knowing where he was. Since he didn't have access to his resources, he had to make sure that the Ten Rings can deliver him the materials without getting suspicious of what he was actually doing. He had to do everything manually — from drawing up the plan to putting on the suit, with some help from Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub). Thankfully, Mark I worked. Between doing a full body armor that has the ability to fly and building it in such a nerve-wracking environment, the fact that it worked the way it did was a testament to Tony's genius and precision.

Admittedly, Mark I wasn't as powerful or cool as his succeeding Iron Man armors, like the Hulkbuster, designed to contain the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), but it did the job. Most notably, it got him out of his cave jail far enough to be rescued. Had it not been for this, he would've eventually been killed by the Ten Rings, since he refused to heed to their demands. Every single Iron Man armor that came after it was based on that original design. Tony didn't have the 0riginal plan for Mark I when he got back home. Since he was the one who built it from scratch, everything else was still fresh in his mind when he began upgrading his armor with Mark II and Mark III. Aside from the suit's cool factor provided by its flame throwers, which were immensely helpful in his escape, it's also the only Iron Man armor whose overall appearance is quickly distinguishable from the rest.

On top of his own, Tony also created suits for other people. He's known to make small but significant upgrades to all of his teammates' costumes and tech as recently revealed in Clint Barton's (Jeremy Renner) Stark Tech-powered arrows in Hawkeye. He also freely gave full battle armors to other MCU characters. Rhodey's (Don Cheadle) War Machine ensembles are arguably the most similar to his Iron Man suits. After meeting Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in Captain America: Civil War, the genius billionaire also went out to immediately create a high-tech suit for the web-slinger. The last non-Iron Man armor he created was for his wife, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), in the Rescue suit, which she donned during Avengers: Endgame's final battle.

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