Iron Man Armor: Mark I

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!"

- Obadiah Stane

The Mark I Armor was Tony Stark's first Iron Man suit, built from rudimenary parts to help him escape from captivity.

History
While in the captivity of the terrorist orginzation, the Ten Rings, Tony was "asked" to build one of his Jericho missiles for them. However, while working on the missile, Tony was secretly building an armored suit to escape with the help of Ho Yinsen. Tony put the suit on and escaped the compound, but was forced to leave without Yinsen who died of fatal gun shot wounds.

Once Tony exited the cave he used the suit's flamethrowers to destroy the Ten Rings' stockpile of his own Stark Industries weapons. While setting the camp ablaze the suit suffered damage from enemy fire, causing some of the suit's systems to malfunction or fail. Tony then used the suit's rudimentary rocket thrusters to escape the enemy camp just before the weapons detonated.

Tony managed to escaped, but at the cost of the armor. Once he returned to America, he used the suit's model to create a more advanced version of what he later refered to as the Iron Man suit.

The remains of the Mark I are later located in the desert by the remainder of the Ten Rings group who retrieve its pieces and roughly reassemble it to examine its design. Later, durring a secrete meeting with the Ten Rings, Obadiah Stane steals the Mark I suit and uses its design as the basis for his Iron Monger armor.

Eventually, Stark retrived and reassembled the Mark I. It was kept in his workshop and was given an arc reactor. When Stark's mansion was attacked by the Mandarin it self-destructed to ensure it did not fall into the wrong hands again.

Abilities
It is the template from which every Iron Man armor after it was built. The Mark I suit was completely constructed from recycled Stark Industries machine and weapon parts, in addition to any of the other limited resources at Tony Stark's disposal while in captivity. Although not as advanced as future models, the armor is an extraordinary piece of technology, put together in a dire situation, and is forever a testament to Stark's extraordinary intelligence.

The armor increased Stark's strength and durability, enabling him to overpower armed terrorists and survive upon impact with the ground after escaping. It's only weapons were a pair flamethrowers mounted on each arm along with a single-shot missile. While not capable of sustained flight, it was capable of limited flight through single-fire rocket thrusters, enabling him to escape after the destruction of the Ten Rings camp.