A new armor built by Tony Stark after he and the other heroes returned from Franklin Richards' Counter-Earth.

Health problems linked to exposure to the power systems led to Stark abandoning this design into a new "safe" armor.

During his status as a fugitive from Norman Osborn, Tony used this armor again while on the run around the world.

Capabilities[]

Repulsors had variable settings. Like other armors, it maintained a unibeam. Pulse bolts were powerful but power drain limited their usage. In addition to standard sonics, a "sonic beam" could now be fired. ^[2]

Explosive and tear gas pellets were stored in the left gauntlet. Flame-retardant foam was also stored.

The armor's communications with enhanced with a cellular phone and wireless modem.

Sensor upgrades included a Combex/Sonar system and seismographs.

A later add-on was a force bubble projector. This "hamster ball" provided protection for civilians.

A chin toggle was used for convenience (drinking water) and as a backup if the cybernetic link became damaged.

• This armor was originally identified as the Iron Man Armor Model 17 in 2008's All-New Iron Manual. It was subsequently renumbered to Model 16 in the Iron Manual TPB, released later that year, due to the reclassification of the previously-designated Model 14 as a subset of the Model 13. In 2018, the "Many Armors of Iron Man" variant cover series for Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 split the Model 13 back into 13 and 14, also moving up this armor's designation back to Model 17. The cover series implies other changes, as the designations for Models 42, 45, 50 and 51 remain unchanged despite the Model 13 split also bumping up the designations for Models 22, 29 and 37 (to 23, 30 and 38, respectively). Since the limited scope of the cover series makes it impossible to determine the full extent of changes in numeration (as it only spotlighted twenty suits), the Marvel Database will prioritize the numbering from the Iron Manual TPB.

• Artist Alex Ross originally co-designed this armor together with writer Kurt Busiek as part of a pitch for an Iron Man run following John Byrne's departure from the series with issue #277. When Busiek relaunched the series with Iron Man (Vol. 3) #1, he suggested using Ross' armor design, adding glowing details based on CGI renderings made by Iron Man fan Allen Bujak.^[3]