Iron Man Doesn’t Deserve Any Credit for His Most Powerful Armor

Despite the Godkiller armor’s reputation as one of Iron Man‘s most powerful suits, Tony Stark can’t take credit for its design or power. The suit was used to destroy a planet while on autopilot, leaving readers to imagine its potential if actually operated by a mind as great as Stark’s. Instead, the suit was commanded to send itself to another dimension, where its potential could never be realized.

The armor First debuted in 2013’s Iron Man #12 by Kieron Gillen and Matteo Scalera. Readers eventually learn that it was built by the Aspirants in their war against the mighty Celestials, the Godkiller suit was stripped for parts and left to collect space dust. The Rigellian Recorder 451, however, saw it as his key to universal peace. After spending hundreds of years collecting data for the Rigellian colonies, 451 sought out a species that could impose its will and instill peace across the universe, and decided humanity — with an incredible creation like the Godkiller to defend it— could be that species.

The Godkiller suit had one issue to overcome: Only beings genetically coded to operate the suit could pilot it. 451’s solution came from a run-in with Howard and Maria Stark, who were looking for a way to save their sick unborn son. While fixing the illness, 451 also coded the child’s genetics to match the Godkiller. Years later, once he had finished fixing the suit, 451 kidnapped Tony and forced him to operate it — which would have put 451 in control of Tony and the Godkiller. But when Tony was forced to gain control, he couldn’t. It turned out Howard discovered 451’s genetic tinkering, and after meddling more with the child’s genes, left him needing life support shortly after he was born. To keep their son safe, they put him in foster care and adopted another child to throw 451 off their scent: Tony. The secret was kept from 451 long enough for his plan to be thwarted and their biological son, Arno, to stay out of his grasp. This means that Tony has no claim to what could have been his greatest armor.

Of the many suits Tony has donned as Iron Man, it is one of the very few he didn’t create himself. It also outright rejected him; he was unable to stop it from blowing through a planet when 451 put his connection to the Godkiller to the test. It was only after Tony proved to 451 he had no control over the suit that the next planet on the Godkiller’s trajectory, Earth, was saved from the same fate. With nobody capable of piloting the armor, 451 resolved to abandon his mission and the Godkiller was shot into another dimension.

It’s undeniable that Tony has piloted some incredibly powerful suits over the years, but the Godkiller shouldn’t be considered among them, no matter how great its potential. While he managed to hack into the suit long enough to make his escape, he never got the chance to truly pilot it. The Godkiller, with its imposing size and golden armor akin to the Celestials, will always stand out among Iron Man‘s greatest suits. But its short time on the page and Tony’s inability to control it will always leave fans wondering what the 25,000-foot suit was truly capable of.

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