The Man of Steel

Doctor John Henry Irons is Steel, steel-driven and steel-driving superhero of Earth–Α2ΔΣ–′78.

The Action & Adventure Comics project aims not to radically reinvent, dissect, or lambast the world’s greatest superheroes, but to celebrate them. Distilled from the best versions of themselves across 75+ year histories and removed from “comic book time” and “negative continuity”, characters age, learn, and evolve in a cohesive series of narratives. In an imprint named for classic Superman titles, heroes act like heroes and get to save the day.

The Azure E.S.P.′er – 
"This is part of the first group of teasers for the superheroes of Earth–Α²ΔΣ–′78: The Action and Adventure Comics project. Steel’s one of my favorite underused and underappreciated characters in the DC universe and I felt it was only right to bring him into the limelight in my take on the Superman mythos. As mentioned, “Action Comics: Superman and The Men of Steel” by Grant Morrison is one of my favorite ongoing runs and one of its many excellent alterations to Superman’s origin was making John Henry Irons a notable player in Superman’s public debut. In The A&AC Universe, Steel and Tomorrow Woman are essential members of Team Superman.

Here, we see Steel in his “Man of Steel” armor, because neither John Henry nor I are fans of subtlety. This suit of armor was specifically designed after Doctor Irons’ development of a metahuman power. Uniquely, he possesses the ability to transform every facet of his biology into organic steel. Designed to integrate and interface with Steel’s metahuman physiology, The Man of Steel armor offers him an unmatched level of power, control, and precision over both his body and his technology. It is this kind of ingenuity that led to John Henry Irons becoming one of S.T.A.R. Labs, Metropolis’ brightest minds.

*A man who already wore a suit of steel armor gained the power to turn into steel. Which, might seem uncanny – but, there’s a Perfectly Logical Scientific Explanation ^TM for why this happened. The metagene which causes humans to be born mutant, naturally mutate at adolescence, or otherwise mutate when exposed to dramatic stimulus is opportunistic and will grant powers and abilities similar to what is present in said metahuman’s environment. Which is totally logical and not at all science I just made up."

UltimateLomeli –
"The second character from a new universe from the mind of 
His designs and stories brought to life by my art. I’m having a blast working with him on all these. I made a new template specifically to match these larger than life heroes. I've never made Steel before, and I have been wanting to take a crack at more armored heroes, so, two birds, meet stone. The platinum color is meant to denote his status as a hero, and it's a lot more pleasing to look at than plain ol' gray. The armor is heavily inspired from the MCU Iron Man. This is the most fun I've had working on a micro in a while. I love the way he came out. I burned through this micro in two days, because I couldn't stop working on him, and I hope you all like him, too."

Note - As this set of micros was commissioned, please refrain from using any parts. Thanks.