Iron Man Helmet Info Series: The Mark III
What’s red and gold and has the ability to fly at supersonic speeds? The Mark III Iron Man armor of course! The world at large gets its first glimpse of Tony’s creation with this new design.
The familiar look of this Iron Man helmet owes to it’s status as an improved version of the Mark II, complete with a fresh paint job. Of course, there’s more to it than a simple respray- the revamp is actually functional, which we’ll talk about a bit later in this article.
The same lit eye slits that bowed for the first time on the Mark II are one of the most familiar parts of the design, along with a special alloy that allows for high altitude flight.
The Mark III Takes Flight
In the movie, Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark decides to test the high altitude capability of his Mark II armor. As fans will recall, that almost goes horribly wrong when the suit develops a layer of ice and begins to plummet.
At the last minute, Tony is able to break the ice and restart the suit’s AI. This allows him to put his genius intellect to work at making sure he doesn’t encounter this problem in the future.
Solving this issue necessitated a new suit with an alloy that prevents the icing problem while not affecting power to weight ratio. Fortunately, Stark’s resources give him unparalleled access to exotic materials of all description.
The result is a gold colored alloy for the suit, where the previous version was a shiny brushed aluminum color.
But that wasn’t the end of Tony’s tinkering- he had to put his own inimitable stamp on the design of course!
Stark Style
Tony likes the look of the suit, but has one request as he looks at one of his cars: “Throw a little hot rod red in there”.
And that’s just what J.A.R.V.I.S. does- this is the first time we see the oh so familiar design of the red and gold color scheme, some would say perfected in the comic book version by Bob Layton’s classic artwork.
A Minor Discrepancy
Although not a point of conjecture, the reasons for the red and gold paint scheme differ in the movie and comic book universes.
In the movie, we have the reason for the hot rod red being basically about style.
In the comic book version, Stark chose the colors based on his elementary school colors. Whichever you prefer, the color scheme stuck for many years, perhaps only replaced occasionally by the fan favorite stealth armor and the red and silver Silver Centurion variants.
The Helmet Itself
This is the first time we get a real good look at the mask up close and personal as Tony readies himself to destroy his weaponry and suits up.
The mask flips down and you can clearly see the brushed look of the metal, reflecting the industrial appliance that the suit is while the eye slits remind you there’s intelligence behind the behemoth.
Although the design of the Mark III Iron Man helmet and armor aren’t a radical departure from the previous iteration, it makes a bold visual statement that fans appreciate from the bottom of their hearts.
