As anyone who could possibly be reading this is undoubtedly aware, there is no shortage of Iron Men (or variations on the theme) in the ML line. For those not keeping score, here are the ones I came up with off the top of my head:
- ML1: Model 4 Armor (and Model 2 variant)
- Wal*Mart Make-Up Series: Model 7 (Stealth) Repaint
- ML7: Model 8 Armor (Silver Centurion)
- ML8: Model 20 Armor (Modern)
- ML9: War Machine
- ML11: Model 13 Armor (Hulkbuster)
- Young Avengers: Iron Lad
- ML14: Model 1 Armor (First Appearance)
- House of M: Iron Man
- ML15: Model 22 Armor (Thorbuster)
- Face-Off 2: Model 13 Armor (Modular)
- HML1: Ultimate Armor
- Wal*Mart Series 2: Ultimate War Machine
- Wal*Mart Series 2: Prometheum Armor
- Hasbro two-packs 2: Model 4 Armor (Classic)
- Hasbro two-packs 3: Model 7 Armor (Stealth)
- RoML1: Model 29 Armor (Extremis)
- RoML3: Model 9 Armor (Neo-Classic)
- Iron Man 3: Model 2 Armor (Horn-Head)
- Iron Man 3: Model 37 Armor (Heroic Age)
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Model 45 Armor (Space Mk.III)
- Avengers 2: Model 42 Armor (Black and Gold)
- Black Panther: Model 51 Armor (Model-Prime)
- 80th Anniversary: Model 4 Armor
- Walgreens: Iron Man 2020
- ML: Model 11 Armor (War Machine)
- Walgreens: Model 8 Armor (Silver Centurion)
- Shang-Chi Legends: Model 4 Armor (A.I. Tony)
- Iron Man Legends: Hologram Armor
- Iron Man Legends: Model 7 Armor (Stealth)
- Iron Man Legends: Model 13 Armor (Modular)
- ML 20th Anniversary: Model 2 Armor
- RoML8: Model 70 Armor
- RoML9: Model 29 Armor (Extremis)
- Avengers 60th Anniversary: Model 1 Armor (First Appearance)
- Avengers 60th Anniversary: Model 8 Armor (Silver Centurion)
- Captain Marvel 2: Model 16 Armor (Heroes Return)
People love to pick on Wolverine for ML overkill, but ol' Tony Stark is right up there in numbers, and all without the benefit of a "Classics" style sister line.
edit: Though there is now an entire movie line, but we're not really counting that (because it would drive the numbers way up).
I LOVE IRON-MAN, I'd be so freakishly upset if they didn't have that many Iron-Men! That's the only reason I collect ML!
Two of those are not Iron Man.
"or variations on the theme"
And really, the only one that isn't is Iron Lad; War Machine started out as just a new version of the armor, but Rhodey adopted it as his own. If one of the figures was a Vault Guardsman, then maybe you could make the arguement; because in that case, the armor was based on Stark's designs, but was never intended as an Iron Man suit. However, a Guardsman would still count for this list, what with him being a "variation on the theme." Make sense?
Hmm... I guess if it was Rhodey in IM armor, it could count, but if we're talking about figures of the same character(i.e. Tony), than War Machine does not. Does x-23 count as Wolverine? Maybe. But yeah, Iron Lad is related in color scheme and name only, as he's not Tony Stark, and his armor is not built by/designed by/inspired by Stark
I'd say he's definitely "inspired by" Stark. It's right there in the name. And the color. And the design.
And Iron man is a different kind of character from Wolverine - whoever puts on the suit is Iron Man, which is why Wolverine's claws aren't in his gloves. It's not like Rhodey built his own armor, you know?