How Powerful Killmonger’s Gundam Army Are Compared To Stark's Iron Legion

How would Killmonger’s Gundam-inspired army of drones in Marvel’s What If…? stack up against the Iron Legion in the MCU’s main timeline? The Iron Legion is the name given to the collection of Iron Man armors that Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) designed to help safeguard the world. Over the years, Tony Stark developed numerous Iron Man suits, some of which being those he piloted himself in his MCU movies, with others being drones that he operated remotely.

The Killmonger story in Marvel’s What If…? episode 6 introduced an alternative to the Iron Legion in the form of vibranium alloy drones. Born from a vibranium ring, the hulking Stark Industries robots featured in the episode were quite clearly influenced by the Gundam franchise, as indicated by the two characters’ exchange about anime. Significantly larger than what Stark ultimately came up with in Iron Man, the drones played a major part in Killmonger’s scheme to trick the U.S. military, earn the trust of the Wakandan people, and become T’Challa’s replacement as the Black Panther.

It’s worth wondering if Killmonger and Stark’s Liberator drone design really is better than the Iron Legion armors. The armors shown in Marvel’s What If…? have a big advantage over Iron Man’s armor in that they were constructed with vibranium, which Stark didn’t have access to in the movies. Because of this, it makes sense that the drones could be stronger. That being said, it should be noted that vibranium-alloy is not the same thing as pure vibranium, which is what Captain America’s shield is made of in the MCU. In other words, they should never have been expected to be as durable or as effective as the shield or Black Panther’s claws.

That’s why the spears of Wakanda's Dora Milaje warriors didn’t face much resistance when puncturing through the drones’ armor. Killmonger and the Dora Milaje were able to take down these robots with their vibranium spears quite easily, which reflects the idea that the Liberators weren’t perfect by any means.

In addition, it’s hard to imagine the Dora Milaje faring as well against Stark’s Iron Legion. As noted above, none of the Iron Man armors have the benefit of a vibranium alloy composition, but they did have a lot more weapons and tools at their disposal. They came equipped with powerful repulsor blasts and jets that enabled flight. The Liberator drones, on the other hand, were missing these weapons. If the Dora Milaje had fought the Iron Legion instead, winning likely would have been more difficult. The towering size of the robots proved to be more of a disadvantage than it was a boon in Marvel’s What If…? episode 6, since it made them big, easy targets. The Iron Legion flying all around, blasting repulsor beams everywhere would have made them more challenging adversaries. So as powerful as the Liberators were, they’re not on the same level as Stark’s original MCU inventions.

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