Tony Stark has worn different versions of the Iron Man armor throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

In Iron Man (2008), physical armor was built by Stan Winston Studios, with the digital version and other visual effects done by Industrial Light & Magic.

Iron Man (2008) director Jon Favreau wanted the film to be believable by showing the eventual construction of the Mark III suit in its three stages.

The Mark I design was intended to look like it was built from spare parts: particularly, the back is less armored than the front, as Tony Stark would use his resources to make a forward attack.

[3] Iron Man comic book artist Adi Granov designed the Mark III with illustrator Phil Saunders.

[5] Saunders streamlined Granov's concept art, making it stealthier and less cartoonish in its proportions,[2] and also designed the War Machine armor, but it was "cut from the script about halfway through pre-production."

"[6] Concerned with the transition between the computer-generated and practical costumes, Favreau hired Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to create the bulk of the visual effects for the film after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) and Transformers (2007).

[9] For The Avengers (2012), Saunders stated that "director Joss Whedon was looking for something that had the 'cool' factor of the suitcase suit" from Iron Man 2, but would be tough enough to survive the alien army from the film's climax.

[10] Saunders reworked concepts from the first two films into the Mark VII, a design with "big ammo packets on the arms and a backpack".

The film featured over 2,000 visual effects shots and was worked on by 17 studios: Weta Digital, Digital Domain, Scanline VFX, Trixter, Framestore, Luma Pictures, Fuel VFX, Cantina Creative, Cinesite, The Embassy Visual Effects, Lola, Capital T, Prologue, and Rise FX.

For the Mark XLII and Iron Patriot armors, Legacy Effects constructed partial suits that were worn on set.

[17] For Avengers: Infinity War (2018), visual effects vendor Framestore created Iron Man's Mark 50 suit, based on the Bleeding Edge armor from the comics, which is made up of singular nanobots which move around his body to form a suit, and was developed alongside Marvel for about two years.