In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark's Iron Man suits are among the most powerful pieces of weaponry on Earth, and they've even given some alien technology a run for their money. Sadly, in the real word, we don't have anything quite as advanced, but at least these Iron Man suits still look just as cool as they do on the big screen. They're also highly valuable, and today the news broke that one of the suits used in the MCU has been stolen.
The Los Angeles Police Department is currently investigating the theft of one of the Iron Man suits from a Pacoima prop storage warehouse, which occurred between February and late April of this year. The theft was reported yesterday, as employees "just happened to check" on the armor and noticed it was gone. According to The Los Angeles Times, the armor is valued at $325,000, though I imagine that if whoever stole the suit tries to sell it, it won't be the easiest piece of movie memorabilia to pass off to a buyer. There are no suspects at the moment.
Before Iron Man made his theatrical debut in 2008, he was considered to be a B-list comic book character at best. Sure he'd been one of the more important players in the Marvel Comics universe for decades, and had appeared in animated TV shows, animated movies and video games, but if you'd asked some random person on the street if they knew who Iron Man was, they probably wouldn't have known who you were talking about. That changed with the Iron Man movie, which saw Robert Downey Jr. bringing Tony Stark to life. Iron Man not only propelled Downey to global fame, it also launched the MCU, which has become one of the most successful and profitable film franchises of all time. Now we live in an age where Iron Man is an A-lister, so it's understandable that one of these suits would fetch a pretty penny.
Has anyone looked into James Rhodes? He has past experience with taking one of Tony Stark's suits. Someone should also check out Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture, who has a grudge against Tony for ruining his business. One person we can almost certainly rule out is Robert Downey Jr. himself, because given his status over at Marvel Studios, he wouldn't need to steal one of the Iron Man suits for himself. If he was that keen on displaying said suit in his home (like Chris Hemsworth does with Mjolnir), he's certainly not lacking for money to pay for it. Or maybe there's a chance (slim as it may be) the Marvel bigwigs would just give it to him if he politely asked.
You can currently watch Tony Stark donning the Mark L armor (which can materialize around him, just like Black Panther's suit) in Avengers: Infinity War, and Robert Downey Jr. will reprise the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist potentially for the last time when Avengers 4 is released on May 3, 2019.
