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The Mark XLIV Armor, better known as the Hulkbuster, was Tony Stark's forty-fourth Iron Man suit, made with the help of Bruce Banner. Created solely for the purpose of restraining Hulk, it is a modular suit that Stark donned while already in another armor, such as the Mark XLIII. It was launched from an orbital tracking platform known as Veronica. It was used by Stark to fight Hulk during the Duel of Johannesburg.
After Scarlet Witch manipulated Doctor Bruce Banner into turning into Hulk, Tony Stark had no other choice but to deploy the system as all of the other Avengers with the exception of Hawkeye were incapacitated. The armor was deployed from Veronica and came split into two separate parts. The first part was a metal containment shell which helped to confine Hulk for a brief period of time.
The enraged Hulk had soon managed to break himself free. Ordering the South African police to stand down from the fight, Iron Man tried to get through to Bruce Banner by telling him that Wanda Maximoff was had disrupted his mind with utter rage, telling him that Banner was stronger and smarter than her. However, the mention of Banner's name only seemed to enrage Hulk even further.
When all of Iron Man's attempts to calm Hulk had failed, the two began to fight. Hulk launched a car at Iron Man, knocking him back, so Iron Man responded by flying to Hulk and dragging him face first through the concrete. When Hulk damaged the armor, Stark called for extra parts and used its many capabilities to try to knock Hulk down. With Hulk charging at him, Iron Man kept him at bay with his gauntlet beam while his arm was repaired.
Hulk charged forward and the pair smashed their fists into each other, causing a shockwave through Johannesburg. Pinning Hulk to the ground, Iron Man began repeatedly punching him in the face and begging him to go to sleep and finish their fight; however, Hulk's rage only continued to build. Iron Man attempted to trap his arm with the armor and fly him out of the city in order to protect the people, with Hulk still fighting back.
As Iron Man attempted to fly Hulk out of the city, he continued to fight back and forced Iron Man to crash land on the side of a large building. As Hulk furiously tried to rip him apart, Iron Man pushed him against a wall and tried spraying gas in his face, although this tactic had almost no effect. As they continued fighting, Iron Man was aware that behind him an elevator filled with people were standing just a few feet away from the battle as they attempted to escape.
When he was kicked back with incredible force, Iron Man crashed into the elevator filled with innocent people, forcing him to catch it before it hit the ground as he ordered everyone to get out while they still could. Iron Man then proceeded to use the elevator as a weapon as he slammed it down onto Hulk's head. Once Hulk was stunned, Iron Man hit him across the face, knocking out one of his teeth, an action which Iron Man then soon regretted.
The enraged Hulk then proceeded to smash Iron Man across the city, attempting to rip out the Arc Reactors powering the armor. Despite trying to get assistance from Veronica, Hulk proved to be too strong as he tore the armor apart. Eventually, Iron Man resorted to dropping Hulk through a building still going through construction; this massive impact seemingly calmed Hulk enough that Stark could knock him out with a final massive punch to the head.[1]
The suit was specifically designed to match the incredible superhuman strength of Hulk (should he ever need to be subdued), and is powered by over eleven Arc Reactors in order to grant the strength required for such a task. The suit was able to hit Hulk in the face hard enough to knock a tooth out, send Hulk flying two streets away with one punch, and ultimately succeeded in knocking Hulk out when the latter started to calm down after seeing the damage caused.
Superhuman Durability: The armor was built to be much stronger than any previous suits, to take more extreme damage, such as Hulk's brutal attacks.
Superhuman Speed: To be added
Superhuman Stamina: To be added
Superhuman Reflexes: To be added
Flight: Like all other armors, the Mark XLIV has flight capabilities, although given its size, its speed and mobility are reduced.
Heads Up Display (HUD):
The Mark XLIV Heads-Up Display
Like all of his armors, the suit contains a heads up display within the helmet to allow Stark to analyze the environment.
Self-Contained Life-Support System and Environmental Protection: To be added
Should the Hulkbuster armor sustain heavy damage, Veronica hovering above the armor will respond to the authorized user's command by sending spare parts to replace the ones that were damaged. For instance, when Hulk drove a pole into the Hulkbuster's left arm and severely damaged it, upon the command of Stark, Veronica releases several armor parts that would form an alternate left arm for the armor to battle Hulk.
Repulsors: The armor has the ability to shoot repulsor beams strong enough to hold down Hulk, if only for a while.
Missiles: The XLIV is able to launch small missiles which Stark used to increase damage to Hulk after dropping him into the building under construction.
Using an independent propulsion system, each section can fly to the user from a drop pod hovering around the combat zone and automatically assemble into the Hulkbuster Armor. Despite being composed of individual parts, the XLIV is still able to sustain quite a few blows from Hulk, unlike the XLII.
Grappling Hook: It is used to hold Hulk down long enough to use the Repulsor Beams on Hulk.
Hydraulic Rams: An addition to both arms of the armor, make them capable of delivering powerful blows, and use the fists as a jackhammer.
Sleeping Gas: The suit had a set of sleeping gas canisters outfitted in its arm which Stark tried to use on Hulk.
Though the suit's full grappling hook was not seen in the movie, part of it can be seen during the fight between Iron Man and Hulk.
Veronica's name is a reference to a character from the Archie Comics named Veronica Lodge who is the rival of Betty Cooper, a character who shares her name with Betty Ross, the former love interest of Bruce Banner. Director Joss Whedon said: "I just decided to call [the armor] Veronica because [Banner] used to be in love with a girl named Betty and Veronica is the opposite of that." [3]
