The 2008 San Diego Comic-Con featured a suit from Marvel Studios’ Iron Man . The verdict from prop-collecting industry was undecided. Some thought it was a static display while others were convinced it was a screen-used suit. With the varying opinions in mind, we moved in for a closer look.

The Iron Man Suit, brought to you by the MPPC:

The suit is dark, especially under low light. In the morning, the spotlights over the suit were turned off, and the reds and golds appeared very subdued.

The suit looked and felt like fiberglass. Most of the crucial joints/bending points were a semi-soft rubber with special paint that is intended not to crack when bent or flexed. The gauntlets also have the same rubber on the finger joints, as well as a fiberglass hand cover on top that could slide back on a mini track. This allows the fingers to flex.

Iron Man, standing

The suit looked like it would be comfortable to wear; you could probably move around in it very easily. The waist was extremely thin – probably 29 to 30 inches in circumference, meaning stunt-doubles and Iron Man himself (Robert Downey Jr.) had to be very thin to fit into the suit.

The back plate had two spring-loaded flaps, possibly for flying sequences. We could not detect actuators for the flaps but they had a mousetrap-style spring system that must have returned the flaps to a closed position.

The helmet was impressive. Five LEDs illuminated each eye position, covered by an opaque gel sheet. The dark recesses around the jaw were painted a flat black, and the faceplate did not appeared to be fixed and unremoveable, unlike some of the suits used in the film. However, this didn’t preclude our suit from being screen used. There were a few tricks left up its iron sleeve.

Close-up of left gauntlet

For example, unique markings were found on the round discs making up the shoulders. “M3 B RD” was engraved, obviously indicating this was a Mark III suit. And as many collectors know, items used in films are frequently marked to denote their quality level or purpose. One common way of distinguishing hero pieces from background or stunt pieces is to label them “A” or “B.” It’s possible the “B” on our suit could signal that it was a stunt suit.

In further support of the stunt suit theory, it was apparent that this suit had seen some action. There were broken flaps on the back of the suit, numerous cracks and small missing pieces broken off from the armor.

And the “RD” which terminates the engraved code? It’s likely a reference to the wearer of the suit, Robert Downey Jr.

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