• Computerized armor vastly increases strength, while boot jets enable flight.
• The damping field of Steel's hammer increases its inertia relative to the distance it is thrown; the farther it goes, the harder it hits.

Real Name: John Henry Irons
Occupation: Chief of Staff, Garden State Medical Center
Base of Operations: Jersey City, New Jersey
Marital Status: Single
Height: 6' 7"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: None
First Appearance: ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #500 (June, 1993)

Recruited by the military industrial firm AmerTek, John Henry Irons designed advanced weapons systems but had a change of heart when the deadliest of his creations fell into the wrong hands. Irons quit, destroyed his notes, and was immediately targeted for elimination by AmerTek. Thus, Dr. John Henry Irons, Ph.D., assumed the identity of construction worker Henry Johnson and moved to Metropolis.

There Irons (as Johnson) soon met his destiny. When he was rescued from certain death by Superman (see SUPERMAN), he told him, "I owe you my life," to which the Last Son of Krypton replied, "Then make sure it counts for something." When Irons discovered his most lethal weapon design in the hands of street gangs, he was stirred by the admonition. He modified prototype flight-capable armor into a facsimile of Superman's costume, carrying on the legend as the Man of Steel (and later, simply Steel).