Guardsman (character)

• Harold "Harry" Bright[13] - member of the Vault Retrieval Team
• James "Jim" Cunningham^[14] - tried not to panic during the mass breakout of the Vault
• Marc Danson^[15]
• Paul Danvers^[15]
• Charles "Charlie" DeMulder^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Terence "Terry" Doocey^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Frank Ensign (Guardsman Prime)^[16] - helped transport the Wizard to prison; later aided Iron Man (Tony Stark).
• William "Billy" Fredricks
  Portal
  in hospital and later seen at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Book.
• Sam Hanson^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Patrick Herbert^[18] - worked at the Vault, was tricked by Mainframe (Ian Wajler)
• Michael "Mike" Ivy^[16] - aided Guardsman Prime in the transportation of the Wizard.
• Emilio Layton^[13] - member of the Vault Retrieval Team
• Conrad Mahlstedt^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Russ Mendoza^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Fred Miller^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Asher O'Brien^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Howard Samuels^[14] - mentally attacked by Mentallo, but survived the breakout
• Jaxson Schirra^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Gregory Smoot
  U.S. Agent using the Iron Monger
  armor
• Tim Teller^[volume & issue needed]
• Jerry Tinsley^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Eliot Villagran
  Portal

Former members

• Marty Delarosa^[20] - while off-duty, he met and flirted with Calypso who convinced him to sneak her into the Vault; once in, she killed him.^[20]
• Larson Dzon^{[volume & issue needed]} - deceased
• Curtis Elkins (Sentry)^[21] - member of the Jury and former friend of Hugh Taylor
• Chris Fallon^[22] - deceased
• Walt Hanna^{[volume & issue needed]} - deceased
• Rick McLaurin^[15] - deceased
• Ravello Medina^[15] - deceased
• Corbin Rubinstein^[15] - deceased
• Chuck Scott^{[volume & issue needed]} - deceased
• Danny Stephens^[14] - worked at the Vault and was the first Guardsman taken hostage and killed by Venom (Eddie Brock)^[14]
• Pascal Tyler
  Rhino
• Ernie Vancata^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Scott Washington (Hybrid)^[23] - also known as Guardsman 6, became known as Hybrid when the Riot, Phage, Lasher and Agony symbiotes merged with him after he was paralyzed in a gang shoot out^[24]

Powers and abilities

Both Guardsmen wore powered armor designed by Stark Industries. The Guardsman armor contained a powered exoskeleton that gave the wearer superhuman strength, allowing the operator to lift 40 tons under optimal conditions for about 3 minutes. The Guardsman armor's high-carbon steel-alloy mesh and radiation shielding also offer protection from most ballistic and even energy weapons. The Guardsman armor can fly via chemically-powered boot jets at a maximum speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) for 3 hours, and contains 30 minutes air supply for submersion or high-altitude flight.

Each palm of the Guardsman armor's gauntlets contains a charged ion "repulsor ray" emitter, capable of 45 seconds continuous discharge at a range of 40 feet (12 m) before irregularities in the plasma cone diffuse the beam.

Kevin O'Brien had earned a Ph.D. in Engineering and was a gifted inventor. He also used a "stun-ray" device as a weapon.

Michael O'Brien is a good hand-to-hand combatant and was coached by Captain America. As a policeman, he carried a police-issue handgun and, as Avengers Security Chief, he used stun guns and other advanced weaponry.

Both Kevin and Michael suffered from emotional instability that was exacerbated by the cybernetic circuitry in the original Guardsman battle-suit, causing both men to go insane. Michael O'Brien was able to wear the Guardsman armor safely after psychologically coming to terms with his trauma over his brother's death. The armor circuitry has since been modified by Tony Stark to prevent its causing such adverse effects.

The Guardsman armor was replicated by Stane International for use at the Vault, and retained similar abilities to the original version. When the original armors were destroyed by Iron Man during the Armor Wars, Stane International attempted to re-create the Guardsman armor without Stark's designs; however, they proved inferior to the Stark-based models. Stark Enterprises replaced the second-generation Stane models with an improved design from Tony Stark. Although superior to the Stane models, the new Stark Enterprises suits were limited to operation within the vicinity of the Vault, as a security measure to prevent misuse of their Iron Man-derived technology.

In other media

Television

• The Guardsmen appear in the
  Vault alongside Hawkeye until Iron Man breaks in to disable the Guardsmen's armor.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Two separate depictions of Guardsman appear in Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
  • Michael O'Brien (voiced by
    Stark International's security chief under Obadiah Stane. While he does not initially wear a powered suit of armor for most of his appearances, he eventually pilots the Crimson Dynamo suit in the episode "Seeing Red"^[26] and the Iron Monger mech in "Enter: Iron Monger". In the latter episode, he refuses to kill Iron Man while the hero was aiding a civilian and is subsequently fired by Stane for showing mercy. Near the end of the second season, he reappears as Howard Stark's bodyguard.^[27]
  • The Guardsmen appear in the episode "Armor Wars" as criminals and former Maggia enforcers, consisting of Force, Shockwave, and later Firepower, who were hired by Stane to become Stark International's commercial mascots and masquerade as superheroes by causing disasters to stop. Upon learning their armors are based on stolen specs for that of Iron Man's, Pepper Potts exposes the Guardsmen as criminals while Iron Man and War Machine defeat them, though Stane escapes suspicion by claiming not to have had any knowledge of the Guardsmen's pasts.
• The Guardsmen appear in
  Raft
  .