John Henry Irons (New Earth)



Real Name: John Henry Irons Nicknames: Steel Former Aliases: Man of Steel Other Current Aliases: No other known current aliases

Status
Occupation: Weapons engineer Legal Status: John Henry Irons is a citizen of the United States with no criminal record Identity: Secret Marital Status: Marital status unknown Group Affiliation: Justice League of America Base of Operations: JLA Watchtower

Origin
Origin of character unknown.

Place of Birth: Believed to be in a small town in Michigan Known Relatives: Mother (deceased), Father (deceased), Grandmother (deceased), Grandfather (deceased), Butter (Grandfather), Clay Irons (brother, deceased), Jemahl (nephew), Blondell (Sister-in-law) First Appearance: Superman: Man of Steel 22 (1993)

History
John Henry Irons used to be a top weapons engineer, but quit due to one of his weapons(The BG-60) caused the death of many innocent women and children durring a war.

After a local teenage youth named Zoid, was killed by a gang war with high tech weapons that he developed when he worked for the army. John ended up in the hospital after chasing down and being injured by the gang members who killed Zoid. While in the hospital, John was visited by a woman named Myra and a young boy named Keith. Keith became distort over zoid’s death. Saying how, if Superman was still alive, he would have saved Zoid. To try and cheer Keith up, john told him a story of when Superman saved his life. John was a construction worker. At the time he was working on the high steel. He was focused on some bad things that happened and was depressed. All of a sudden his friend lost his balance and fell off a garter. John grabbed a cable and caught his friend and swung him to safety, however in the process the hook from his cable became unattached causing him to fall. Superman was able to save him in time and bring him to safety. He told Superman that he owed him his life, and Superman told him to make it count for something.

John reveled that he saw the fight between Superman and Doomsday, he felt it was time to repay Superman by helping him defeat Doomsday. As Doomsday and Superman were dealing the final blows it caused an explosion near the building he was working on. The building collapsed, and ended up falling on john. When the other 3 supermen started showing up John arose from the rubble, claiming he had to get Doomsday. After being released, he began to reflect on Zoid’s death and how he owed Superman. He then decided that Metropolis needed a Superman.

John Henry Irons was originally a brilliant weapons engineer for Amertek Industries, who eventually became disgusted when the BG-60, a powerful man-portable energy cannon he had designed, fell into the wrong hands and was used to kill innocent people. John faked his death, and eventually came to Metropolis, where one day, while working a construction job high up on a skyscraper, he fell off while saving a friend from the same fate. His own life was saved by none other than Superman. During Superman's fatal battle against Doomsday, Irons was buried in rubble amidst the devastation. Shortly after Superman's death, he finally awoke, to find out that the gangs in inner-city Metropolis were fighting a devastating gang war using BG-80 Toastmasters, an upgraded version of his earlier Amertek design. Irons created and donned a suit of powered armor in Superman's memory in order to stop the war, as well as the weapons, which were being distributed by a former partner of his.



During the Reign of the Supermen storyarc, he was often called the "Man of Steel" to identify him in contrast to the other Supermen, which was shortened to "Steel" by Superman himself.

Steel Solo Series
Steel enjoyed a solo series (written by co-creator Louise Simonson and later by Christopher Priest) from 1994-1998.

The series began by having Steel leave Metropolis and return home to Washington, D.C., which he revealed it had been five years since he had left. He erroneously believed that his old employers, Amertek, would no longer be interested in him. This turned out to be false when they attacked his home (presumably for destroying their property back when he faked his death). Between this attack and his knowledge that the Toastmasters were now being used on the streets of D.C. he reforged his armor (it was now stronger than ever) and began his crusade against Amertek, which he correctly knew was responsible for leaking the weapons onto the street. Steel decided not to use the "S" shield, however, since he felt that his battle might take him outside the law.

Steel's family was introduced in this series: his grandparents, Butter and Bess, his sister-in-law Blondell, and her five children  Jemahl, Natasha "Nat", Paco, Tyke, and Darlene (the latter two are foster children). See the article Irons Family for more details.

Steel's early adventures pit him against Amertek and against the gangs that are using his weapons. His nephew Jemahl is involved in one of the gangs, which he thinks offers him protection. He is proven wrong, however, when the gangs turn against him to get to Steel. Tyke is paralyzed by a bullet meant for Jemahl and Blondel is assaulted. Steel eventually takes down Amertek and the gangs and focuses on who was helping Amertek distribute the weapons. This leads him to track down a group called Black Ops lead by the villain Hazard.

Steel briefly joined up with Maxima, who was still on Earth at the time and working with the Justice League, to help her with an alien warlord named De'cine. During this time, Steel developed the ability teleport his armor onto and off himself. At first it appeared purely by relfex (whenever he was in mortal danger) but he soon began to better control it, although he had no idea how it happened.

Steel continued his battle against Hazard's Black Ops and against the return of the White Rabbit. A bounty hunter named Chindi attempted to take down Steel, but after realizing Hazard was experimenting with children he ended up as an ally of Irons. [Steel #14-19] He was called away from Earth as party of the Superman "Rescue Squad" when Superman was put on trial for the destruction of Krypton.

Tragedy would strike the Irons family upon his return from space. Tyke, frustrated and angry over his handicap, betrayed John Henry's true identity to men working with Hazard. Hazard unleashed a cyborg named Hardwire who opens fire on the Irons family. Most of them receive minor injuries, though Butter is seriously wounded. Child Protective services some to reclaim Tyke and Darlene. Tyke is later shown to end up in the custody of Hazard. Hardwire battles Steel at the Washington Monument, resulting in Hardwire's suicide. Steel had to send his armor away to save his life--this resulted in his secret identity being made to the world at large. Steel is then taken by Hazard but he manages to escape. Steel retrieves an anti-matter weapon, called the Annihilator, which he had designed and hidden years before, for his showdown with Hazard. He also learns at this point that he can teleport himself, not just his armor. He destroys Hazard and his lair and in the battle, three young soldiers of Hazard are apparently killed by Irons.

Now that Steel's identity is out, his family has no peace. They are harassed by neighbors and mobs of people. Then the family is attacked by Doctor Polaris, Parasite, and others. John Henry's beloved grandmother Bess is killed and the family is force to go into hiding, relocated by a friend of Steel's called Double.

Stell learns that the three Black Ops agents were not trully killed. They briefly join him in battling a monstrous, animated form of his armor that attacks him. Steel speculates that the armor came alive because of his own guilt and the strange teleportation effects. He manages to banish the monster and recall his true armor.

The title received a shakeup when Christopher Priest became the lead writer for issue #34. Steel relocated to Jersey City with Natasha and began to work at a hospital. He built a new suit of armor that was significanly less powerful than the previous one (but one that featured the retun of an "S" shield on it). His adventures in Jersey City are pretty mundane, despite the change in direction (which, in addition to a job, also included a love interest). The series featured the return of his brother, Clay, who was a hitman that everyone assumed had been killed. Clay assumed the alias "Crash" and managed to acquire a pair of Steel's flightboots before turning himself in so that he could save his dauhgter, Nat, when she needed a blood transfusion. The series was cancelled with issue #52 which featured Steel running the hospital after the unmasking of its previous coordinator, Dr. Villain (pronounced "Will-hane").

JLA and the Men of Steel
Around the time of Steel's cancellation, he was recruited as a member of the Justice League. He stayed on as a supporting member for quite some time. He also became a regular member in the Superman titles, having relocated with Nat to Metropolis to run his own workshop there, called "Steelworks." He also revealed at this time that he had known Superman's identity for some time. The two became partners of a sort and John Henry helped Superman build a new Fortress of Solitude.

Steel retired from active duty after he was injured while wearing the Entropy Aegis, an alien armor created on the evil planet, Apokolips, which nearly consumed his soul.

Character
Real Name: John Henry Nicknames: Uncle John, Steel Voiced by: Michael Dorn

Much like his comic counter part, John was a weapons engineer. He worked at Lex corp, but quit over a disagreement with Lex luthor about his prototype suit. At the end of the episode prototype, Superman said he wouldn’t mind a little help. This gave Henry the idea to complete the suit and become a super hero.

Prototype
John Henry doesn’t play a lead role in this episode, but he designed the Series alpha police battle suit, that is warn by Corry Mills. The suit carries all the abilities of Superman and more. However the suit is still a prototype and John tries to warn Lex about this, but Lex disagrees. As the episode progresses we see Corry Mills become attached to the suit, and becomes obsessed with it’s power. He also becomes very violent with criminals and lashs out at his wife. This is because John designed the suit to integrate with the user’s central nervous system. There is a problem within the suit that causes massive amounts of aggression. Lex refuses to accept that their might be any problems, and still wants the suit to go into production. John then quits Lex corp. Corry is out on patrol when he sees a stolen car go into a chop shop, he busts in, and pushes over a gas can and sets it on fire. This causes the entire building to explode, and as the criminals escape Corry deals with them in a very violent manor. Superman shows up to stop him, he then attacks Superman. Before they can fight, the police show up. We learn from a news report that Cory is on medical leave due to the effect the suit is causing on his mental health. Cory becomes aggressive over the news and storms out of his house planning to steal the suit back.



Superman catches wind of this event, and goes to see John on how to deactivate the suit. John made a jamming device that can be attached to the suit’s weak point on the back, causing it to shut down; however it will paralyze the user. Superman asks for the device, but Lex is the one who has it. Corry shows up at Lex’s office, he needs Lex’s help because he wants to keep the suit. Lex double crosses corry and sticks the jamming device on the suit, Corry however, fell on his back and broke the device. He isn’t paralyzed for long and gets up to attack Lex. He shoots at Lex, but misses and the aquarium in Lex’s office breaks. Superman shows up and saves Lex, Superman and Corry start to fight in the Lex corp building. Corry then shoots Superman in the face, temporally blinding him. Corry charges Superman threw a wall, sending him flying outside. Superman uses his super hearing to locate Corry, he throws a loading truck at him but misses. Superman lures in the direction that he threw the truck so it can land on him. Superman tries to find him, but Corry has already gotten away. Corry grabs Superman and smashes him threw a power plane wall. Corry wraps his arms around Superman’s neck, as Superman is struggling to get free he then regains his eye sight. He sees that they are in front of a high voltage generator, Superman grabs the wires so a charge can run threw him. Corry breaks his grip; Superman comes up from behind and shocks him on the suit’s weak point. Corry is now free from the suits hold, and Superman begins to remove it. Corry has withdraws from the suit but is said to make a full recover, John starts to doubt about the suit. Superman said it was a good idea, if only someone could get it to work right.

Heavy Metal
The episode starts out with John forging his suit, with help from his niece Nate. As they are putting the finishing touches on the suit, a news cast interrupts the show they were watching. Apparently B. Bibowski was a witness to a bank robbery. He said one of the robbers did a karate chop to the bank wall causing it to break. The head anchorman said that the strong robber has ties to Intergang. John shuts off the TV, and puts on a wristband from his suit. In the next frame we see the robbers entering another bank. The leader of the group goes over to the vault, and rips off the door. A teller pushes the alarm button and the crooks make for a fast escape, the leader stays behind to get rid of the cops. After a short battle the leader gets away.



We seen john testing out his wrist band, doing massive damage to the objects he’s shooting at. John sees the get away truck, and chases after it. He shoots out the rear tire causing the truck to turn over on its side. The robbers get out of the truck and start shooting at john, he starts deflecting the bullets with the wristband but one manages to pierce it. John runs and hides behind a bunch of barrels trying to fix the wristband, the robbers find him and soon superman saves him. The leader soon appears and says he gives up, as soon as superman grabs him, he punches superman knocking him down. The leader then rips off his outfit, and revels himself to be metallo.

Metallo and Superman begin to fight, Superman appears to have the upper hand but soon Metallo blasts him with a beam of kryptonite. As Superman lays on the ground, Metallo exposes the kryptonite rock in his chest. John tries to stop him but fails, Nate comes rushing in with a van and hits metallo. John scoops up superman and puts him in the van. Metallo begins to chase the van in a stolen police car, but they soon escape. The van breaks down in front of john’s workshop. John places superman on a table with lights that generate sunlight. Metallo appears outside, demanding to know where Superman is and destroying everything in his path to get answers. Nate sees what’s going on and asks what should they do, john put on his Steel suit. The suit looks like an advanced model of the Series alpha police battle suit, from episide 16. Steel goes outside and begins to do battle with metallo and his henchmen. Steel gets rid of the henchmen by throwing them into a trash can and welding the lid shut. Metallo then throws a car at Steel. As he is laying on the ground, metallo gets near him, Steel then trips Metallo with his hammer. He grabs Metallo and flies into the air, but Metallo causes him to lose his momentum and they start falling. They end up falling on john’s workshop, Metallo picks up Steel’s hammer, but Superman stops him before he can hit Steel. Metallo blasts Superman with a kryptonite beam, Steel gets up and grabs his hammer. Steel throws his hammer at Metallo hitting him in the chest, crushing the kryptonite rock and smashing him threw a wall onto the street. Superman thanks him and they shake hands.

Characteristics
Height: x'xx" Weight: xxx lbs (xxx kg) Eyes: Brown Hair: Bald Unusual Features: No unusual features

Powers
Known Powers: John Henry Irons can at will turn his entire skin into stainless steel.

Known Abilities: No known abilities. Strength Level: Strength level unknown
 * Armor - His armor makes him bullet proof.
 * Jet boots - The jetboots give him the abilty of flight.
 * Wristband - His wristband shoots out Steel bolts.
 * Also noted In the Superman TAS, his wristband shoots out a laser rather than bolts.
 * Hammer - The kinetic engery in his hammer increases when thrown. At 20 yards it can stop a car, at 60 yards it can crush a tank.

Miscellaneous
Equipment: Steel suit Transportation: Jet Boots Weapons: Steel Hammer

Recommended Readings

 * Steel first appeared in Superman: Man of Steel 22 (1993)


 * Soon after, he got his own comic book series from 1993 to 1998. It ran 52 issues, had 2 Annuals and 1 trade paperback


 * In 2006, JLA Issue #16, Steel became a member of the Justice League of America.

Related Articles

 * Steel (John Henry Irons)/Appearances