ORIGIN

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John Henry Irons is a hero forged from his own making. When Superman saved Irons from a fatal fall off a Metropolis skyscraper, he challenged the construction worker to make his life count for something. A former weapons engineer for the ruthless AmerTek Company, Irons longed to atone for the deaths his designs had caused. For the purpose, he built a suit of exoskeletal armor for himself and assumed the primary alias of Steel. As Steel, he crusaded to dimantle AmerTek's weapons programs, including the destruction of every last production model of the BG-60 "Toastmaster," the deadly assault rifle he had designed. Superman is proud to call Steel his partner. Irons even helped Superman rebuild his Fortress of Solitude and gave it a computer linkage to Irons's headquarters, called "The Steelworks," an abandoned arms factory in Suicide Slums. After the death of Superman by Doomsday, Steel took his place, soaring over Metropolis in high-tech armor and smashing crime with a sledgehammer.

TEAM SUPERMAN

In Superman's absence, or if the Man of Steel needs assistance, Steel often coordinates and leads "Team Superman," a cadre of S-shield-wearing heroes including himself, Supergirl, and Superboy. Steel provided this Super-Squad with stealthy combat-garb meant to protect them from the necrotic touch of Kancer as they aided Superman in battle with General Zod and the armies of Pokolistan.

THE DEATH OF STEEL

Irons suffered mortal wounds releasing Doomsday from the JLA Watchtower to battle Imperiex. Superman was unable to turn away the Black Racer, a being that gathers souls and ushers them into the afterlife. This time,however,the Black Racer delivered Irons to Apokolips, where the evil Darkseid restored life to Iron's body. But the cost at which Steel was brought back to life has still not been determined.

THE DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

Darkseid placed Irons in the Entropy Aegis, a burned out Imperiex-probe altered by Apokoliptic science. This new armor was far superior to his old, but Apokoliptic upgrades made it more of a curse than a blessing.

John Henry Irons's known relatives include a niece, named Natasha Irons, who later became the fourth user of the alias of Steel. The identities of the second and third users of the alias of Steel are not known.

SCREEN STEEL-ER

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Shaquille O'Neal, best known for his athletics in NBA pro basketball, acted out the title role in the first film about the character to date, titled Steel. His castmates included Annabeth Gish and Judd Nelson. The former acted out Susan Sparks, one of Irons's Army compatriots, and the latter acted out Nathaniel Burke, the enemy Steel had to face off against.

According to the story of the film, John Henry Irons (O'Neal) was a former first lieutenant in the United States Army, one of whose weapons experts and designers he had been. Susan Sparks suffered paralysis as a direct result of ordnance tests that Irons and Nathaniel Burke were conducting, owing to Burke's sabotage of Irons's project to create weapons that would neutralize soldiers harmlessly, and Irons allowed himself to be mustered out in disgust. Burke became an arms dealer and a crime boss in civilian life, and after seeing gangs using his weapons on the street, Irons joined forces with Sparks using his intellect and the junkyard know-how of his his Uncle Joseph Irons (Richard Roundtree) to forge an exoskeletal power suit, becoming a real man of "steel." Making no effort to duplicate Superman's power to fly in the motion picture, Irons, using the alias of Steel, instead traveled by motorcycle. Moreover, Steel's hammer was primarily an energy rifle. Nor was the existence or non-existence of Superman even discussed in the film, which instead linked Irons to him through a tattoo of Superman's jacket emblem. O'Neal was forced, by dint of his sheer height, to perform all his own stunts; Kenneth Culver Johnson, who directed the film, could not find any stuntmen who could match O'Neal's height.

None of Steel's activities sat well with Burke, who framed Steel for a bank robbery. In reality, hoodlums who reported to Burke had committed the robbery.

Steel's armor was supposed to be made from steel which he had forged himself, but the armor and helmet that O'Neal wore flexed, as if it had been made from painted rubber, throughout the movie.

Steel was not a box-office success.