A Brief History of Steel on Film
John Henry Irons Dons a Suit of Armor to Fight for Justice
Dec 29, 2008
The character of Steel came about as part of the Death of Superman storyline, in which the Man of Steel perishes at the hands of Doomsday. Four heroes arise to take his place, including a new version of Superboy, a cyborg version of Superman, an apparent alien clone of the Man of Steel and a man in a steel suit who called himself "The Man of Steel" and wielded a huge hammer.
When Superman returned from the dead and sorted out the mess left by his enemies and two of the pretenders to the throne, namely the cyborg and the alien, he found himself with two new allies in his never ending battle against evil, Superboy (a clone grown by Lex Luthor, but who ultimately chose to side with Superman) and The Man of Steel, who Superman rechristened "Steel".
Steel is actually John Henry Irons, a weapons engineer, who Superman had once saved. Irons became The Man of Steel to honour the memory of his hero and his namesake.
Steel on the Silver Screen
In the mid 1990's, to capitalize on The Death of Superman comic event, a new Superman movie was proposed, Superman Reborn. The script would loosely follow the plot of the comic series. Several drafts and writers later, the entire project was scrapped.
One part did survive. A spin-off movie, featuring the African American hero, Steel, had been proposed. While originally intended to tie directly to the new Superman film, the casting of basketball superstar, Shaq, in the title role was though to be big enough news that the film could open without a foundation in a Superman movie. The movie was made for a small percentage of what other summer blockbusters cost at the time.
Sadly, a lack of budget, poor writing and worse acting kept Steel from breaking even. The movie failed miserably.
Film Failure, Animated Success
While Steel the movie failed during the summer of 1997, it wasn't long before the character reappeared. Michael Dorn voiced John Henry Irons on Superman - The Animated Series in October of that year and would return in November, this time donning the armour of Steel and helping Superman battle Metallo.
When Justice League Unlimited replaced the Justice League series, Steel was among the many heroes added to the League's roster. He appeared in several episodes, usually working with Supergirl. Phil LaMarr, who voiced myriad characters in the DC Animated Universe, added the character of Steel to his already lengthy resume of voices.
While he never speaks, a very young John Henry Irons can briefly be seen in the recent direct to DVD film, Justice League: The New Frontier.
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