As we saw on full display in last year’s Iron Man 3, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) is a character that some might categorize as a "tinkerer," and there’s few things in the world that he loves more than spending time in his lab designing different kinds of suits for any and all situations. In the comics, one of the fan-favorite versions is known as the Hulkbuster: an armor so powerful that it can potentially be used to try and help subdue the Hulk when he get s a bit too crazy. Tonight, thanks to the ABC Special Marvel Studios: Assembling A Universe and the concept art you see above (via Movies.com) we now know that the suit will be making its big screen debut in Joss Whedon’s upcoming The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
While the design is obviously subject to change (this is "concept" art, after all, not visual effects tests), this is at the very least a solid foundation from which the final design was born. The suit will apparently be much, much bigger than the Hulk himself (maybe 15, 20 feet tall?), and unlike many of Iron Man’s other armors apparently this one will be keeping the same red and gold color scheme. Obviously at this stage we don’t know exactly why Tony or whoever is in the suit has to subdue the Hulk, but I’m sure all of you readers will be happy to guess.
Those of you who have been following Marvel Studios news for a while will probably recognize that this isn’t the first time that the Hulkbuster armor has been rumored in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Back when the first theatrical trailer for Iron Man 3 came online there was a great deal of speculation that the movie would introduce the heavy-duty suit, but it turned out to just be a design called Igor:
Now it finally looks like we’re getting the real deal, but how? At the end of Shane Black’s film we saw Tony Stark not only destroy all of his armor but even get the arc reactor and shrapnel removed from his chest. How will this affect his ability to go into battle as Iron Man? We’ll just have to wait to find out.
In addition to Downey Jr., The Avengers: Age of Ultron will also star Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany. First unit production on the film is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks in anticipation of the movie’s May 1, 2015 release date.
