Iron Man was the first chapter in a franchise that's since become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but little did we know back in 2008 what Tony Stark's big screen debut would lead to.
The hero's story reached its end in Avengers: Endgame, but Marvel Studios concept artist Phil Saunders has now shared some throwback concept art from Jon Favreau's classic blockbuster. As you can see, this Iron Man's armour was quite a bit bulkier than the version Adi Granov ultimately dreamed up for the movie, but would have still looked great on screen.
"[My] very first sketch for the MkIII Iron Man suit," Saunders recalls. "Trying to capture the vibe of the original red and gold suit from the comics, and give a him a thick-armored 'bruiser' look. Prismacolor pencil on vellum, colored in Photoshop. Oh how far we’ve come!"
Later, the artist would share another take on Tony's suit that he describes as an "Original pencil line drawing for 'add-on armor' that was originally planned for [Iron Man] [MkIII]."
While that idea wasn't used in Iron Man, Saunders points out that this became "Likely the first [War Machine] sketch ever done for the movies!" That character didn't appear in the Armoured Avenger's first adventure, of course, but Rhodey did ultimately suit up in 2010's Iron Man 2.
Check out both pieces of concept art below:
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