Out of all the Iron Man armor suits to choose from, the aptly-named Hulkbuster stands in a league of its own. As it turns out, the idea of an armor suit strong enough to stand against the Hulk isn't just brilliant--it's a plan so clever, even the brightest minds of Marvel's X-Men can't help biut copy it.
Designed by founding Avenger and super-genius Tony Stark, the famous Hulkbuster armor has gone through quite the evolution since its original construction. Zeb Wells and Dale Keown's opening story in A+X #7 depicts the continued progression of the Hulkbuster armor, now being developed under S.H.I.E.L.D. by the X-Men's own Beast... Hank McCoy.
The X-Men "version" of the Hulkbuster is created by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Beast as one of many potential fail safe units against their current property Bruce Banner, in the occasion that the mild-mannered Banner ever transforms into the unpredictable Incredible Hulk and loses control once again. While Stark clearly sees the organization's fail safe as a "blatant rip off" of his original Hulkbuster design, Beast reassures the arrogant futurist that the new Hulkbuster is an independently funded S.H.I.E.L.D. project, but acting as a deterrent against the Hulk akin to the purpose of the original armor. However, there are more than a few complications to Beast and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s homage.
The hypersensitive internal cortex of Beast and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Hulkbuster has been infected by a mysterious individual (presumed to be an agent) with a well-built virus, which two of the biggest brains of the Marvel Universe in Stark and McCoy, are surprisingly unable to identify and combat. In the end, it's the timely arrival of Banner himself, in the form of his rampaging alter ego the Hulk, who quickly brings an end to Beast and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s seemingly malfunctioning passion project just as quickly as it began... with smashing.
Renditions of the Hulkbuster armor following Stark's original version are no stranger to Marvel Comics. In the years since Tony Stark's original Hulkbuster creation, many other superheroes have created their own Hulkbuster designs with the similar purpose of being a fail-safe against the Hulk albeit in drastically different styles. Recently, Greg Pak's run of Totally Awesome Hulk saw the Black Panther of Wakanda T'Challa reveal his own version of the Hulkbuster armor equipped with plating akin to his Vibranium suit.
Given how easily the Incredible Hulk was able to deconstruct S.H.I.E.L.D. and Beast's own Hulkbuster, it's likely that the armor would have been largely insufficient against the green goliath in a full battle. Let this be a warning to future Hulkbuster creators, expect the unexpected with the Hulkbuster even if the armor gets the seal of approval from a valued member of the X-Men.