Perhaps my favorite look and possibly the most unique looking of the primary suits worn by
Tony Stark, is the
Silver Centurion Iron Man armor. The darker red and silver colors were a vast departure from the typical gold and red armor normally worn by the character. The suit first appeared back in 1985 in
Iron Man #200.
Besides looking very different from previous armors in both colors and design, the debut of this armor also marked the long return of
Tony Stark as Iron Man. 2 years earlier in
Iron Man #169, Stark gave up being Iron Man due to his struggles with alcohol and handed the reins over to his best friend
James Rhodes. Rhodes was the man behind the helmet for such major events as the first
Secret Wars and became one of the founding members of the
West Coast Avengers.
Stark had actually created the Silver Centurion armor for Rhodes, but ended up having to don the suit himself after Rhodes was critically injured at the hands of
Obadiah Stane and Stan's
Iron Monger armor. Stane and the Iron Monger armor of course later appeared in the first Iron Man movie.
Stark continued wearing the red and silver armor for around 3 years, in both the Iron Man and West Coast Avengers comics. Eventually the suit was badly damaged in
issue #230 at the hands of another armored character known as
Firepower. This was during the classic
"The Armor Wars" storyline where Stark also took on former ally Steve Rogers, who at the time wore the USAgent costume and was going by the name of The Captain. The shield Rogers used during that time was actually created by Stark and only contained Vibranium.
After the events of "The Armor Wars" and his battle with Firepower in issue #230, Stark faked Iron Man's death and created a new armor and persona for the armored Avenger. At the time Stark's identity as Iron Man was a secret. The new armor while pretty cool in design returned to the traditional gold and red colors.
Over the years we have gotten a few action figures based on the comic book version of the Silver Centurion armor.
Toy Biz gave us a very cool
6" Marvel Legends version, which featured a removable faceplate and a giant rocket space pack that also acted as a display stand.
While
Hasbro has yet to give us a 6" version, they did give us a
3.75" version in their
Iron Man 2 line, and then again in their
Marvel Universe line as part of their comic 2-pack assortment. We have also seen variations of the Silver Centurion from the movies and Armored Adventures done as figures, but those weren't comic book accurate.
So when will
Hasbro give us a
modern 6" Marvel Legends figure based on the
Silver Centurion armor from the comics? Well if rumors and computer listings are to be believed, the answer should be sometime later this year, likely released as a
Walgreens exclusive.
Whether this will be a retooled figure based on one of the more recent Iron Man figures Hasbro has released, or a completely new sculpt remains to be seen, but I have high hopes it will look good either way.
The Walgreens's exclusive
Iron Man 2020 figure is hitting shelves now, and we know Hasbro also has a new War Machine figure slated for release later this year as a deluxe figure. My guess is, we will see the Silver Centurion announced around July with a later in the year release date.
Until then check out this cool custom 6" Silver Centurion Iron Man figure done by
Lokoboys.
Let us know in the
COMMENTS SECTION, will a Silver Centurion Iron Man Marvel Legends figure be a must buy purchase for you?