Steel: Difference between revisions

The first Steel debuted in the series ''Steel, The Indestructible Man'' in the [[The Seventies|1970s]] (though it was set in [[World War II]].) Henry "Hank" Heywood was an American soldier who, after being badly hurt, was remade as a cyborg with "indestructible" skin. Still having a human appearance, he developed a secret identity as a superhero wearing [[Wearing a Flag on Your Head|a costume based on the American flag]]. He first appeared in ''Steel, The Indestructible Man'' #1 (March, 1978), created by Gerry Conway and Don Heck.

The original ''Steel'' series only lasted 5 issues, ending in November, 1978. The cancellation was part of the so-called DC Implosion, the abrupt end to over 24 series. The character was not forgotten. He became a regular in the [[All-Star Squadron]], a series devoted to Golden Age heroes. Using the alternative codename Commander Steel. In the "present" day, Hank turned very much alive in [[The Eighties|1980s]] tales of the [[Justice League of America]]. He went on to become one of several heroes fighting against Eclipso, in a series spotlighting this villain. He was finally killed in ''Eclipso'' #13 (November, 1993).

The second Steel was Henry "Hank" Heywood III, a grandson of the original. He debuted in ''Justice League of America Annual'' #2 (October, 1984), created by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton. He was part of the [[Justice League of America]] during the series' infamous "Detroit" period. Having suffered an accident, his grandfather -now a rich corporate head- had him rebuilt as a similar cyborg and [[Stage Mom|goaded him into becoming a hero]]; he also provided the League's new headquarters.

Sadly the younger Steel had to retire when severely wounded in ''Justice League of America'' #260 (March, 1987). He was left surviving on life support. He was [[Killed Off for Real]] in ''Justice League America'' #38 (May, 1990). His old foe Despero located the comatose body of Hank and "shredded him limb from limb."

The third Steel was created for ''[[Superman|The Man of Steel]]'' series, which normally starred Superman, during [[The Death of Superman]] storyline. DC had decided to delay bringing Superman back to exploit the success of this event, but that left them without a protagonist for Superman's four titles. Their solution was to create four Superman [[Expy|pretenders]] and make a mystery of which one of them could be the real Superman [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]]. (It's also possible that DC wanted to make sure they didn't lose the trademark to the name "Steel" from lack of use.)

In any case the character first appeared in ''The Adventures of Superman'' #500 (June, 1993), created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove. This Steel was really John Henry Irons, a construction worker whose life had been saved by Superman once, and who decided to become a hero [[Legacy Character|to uphold his legacy]]. In addition, he was actually a former weapons designer hiding from the government; the use of weapons he had invented by some street gangs was also part of the reason why he created a suit of [[Power Armor]] to fight crime with (along with a [[BFS|really big hammer.]]) There was also a hint that Superman's not-quite-dead soul had linked to Irons, keeping a hold on this world before returning to life. Of the other three beings claiming the title of Superman, Steel was also the only one who freely admitted that he was ''not'' Superman, but was working to uphold his legacy in his honor.

Steel was also obviously partially based on the legend of John Henry, and happens to be the first black character to be major part of the Superman mythos (though his armor hid this fact from the public.) Later on, Steel would join the Justice League of America, and his identity would become public. His niece Natasha, who like him was a [[Gadgeteer Genius]], also became a power-armor heroine (and later gained actual powers as part of an [[Evil Plan]] by Lex Luthor in the series [[Fifty Two52]].)

* [[Wearing a Flag on Your Head]]: The original Steel Uniform displayed the colors red, white, and blue. Along with a prominent white star on his chest. Rather clearly based on the flag of the United States.

* [[Legacy Character]]: He was granted the mantle of his grandfather.

* [[Anti-Hero Substitute]]: Inverted; the other Superman pretenders trying to replace the Big Blue Boyscout after his death were varying degrees of [[Anti-Hero]], but Steel is [[The Cape (trope)|just as heroic as the original]], [[Up to Eleven|if not MORE so]]. Which may be related to why he had the best reception of them all. It also probably helped that unlike the others, Steel never actually claimed to be Superman or his substitute, but was just operating as best he could in Superman's memory and honor.

* [[Arm Cannon]]: The original armor packed a wrist-mounted rivet gun.

* [[Expy]]: {[[Hardware (comics)|Hardware]]