See IRON MAN 2 "Hall of Armor" Concept Art by Jonathan Bach

One of the first official images from Iron Man was of the Hall of Armor, but did you know we almost saw it in Iron Man 2?

We've learned quite a bit about the new Iron Man movie Iron Man 3 including new designs for space, "Heartbreaker" and Hulkbuster armor that will be part of an "Iron Army".

I  thought I'd share some little seen concept art designs Jonathan Bach (The Amazing Spider-Man) posted on his blog.

Check after the jump for designs for the much bigger hall of armor, Tony Stark's unused jet and the Stark Pavilion. Click on the images to enlarge.



Besides the images I'm also sharing his comments from the blog.

Hall of Armor

Bach: "Good times. This started as an extension of the 3d holo system that Tony uses to design his toys throughout the film. One idea was that in this film you would get to see how the suit was assembled and disassembled through the awesome apple-esque work surface that covers Tony's entire garage. Michael Riva envisioned the suits on display in a clean black room at the back of the garage. Tony would walk in where a rush of air coming up from the grated floor would bring your attention downwards where you would realize that the Hall of Armor goes down another level or so. When activated one of the suits would lower through the floor on a cartridge delivering it to the machinery that disassembles it to be built onto Tony at the other end of the garage. You would see all this happening through the holographic interface covering the floor."

From film Iron Man 2 (2010)

"Jon Favreau eventually ended up going with the much simpler version--shown at top--that made it to the film."

Stark Expo
Bach: "I came onto the film initially to work on buildings for the Stark Expo. There were many slated for what was then to be a retro-futuristic re-imagining of Howard Stark's expo '74. It was a rigorous learning experience working with Production Designer Michael Riva who was ever energetic, inventive, kind and demanding. I definitely had to kick it up a notch to satisfy a loaded pre-production schedule in which a wide range of ideas were on the table; all of which had to be visualized to be a more relevant part of the conversation. There was a prescribed menu of work dictated by the script, but every once in a while there was the fun "what if we did this?" I worked on a wide range of designs for the movie and of course there were some that never made it to the screen as a three hour run time is frowned upon. Some of the designs I was fortunate enough to work on were significant to the story, some were not and didn't make the cut. I enjoyed creating all of them regardless."

"There were many buildings designed of which their placement in the expo was constantly in flux. I kept this image and the one above it clear and ready for an buildings on the site, but the idea of this very large split-domed [pavilion] got dropped and so they never got filled in.

 "This is an earlier version of the Stark Expo, which was then called the Roxxon [Pavilion]. The scale got a little too grand and I had to pull back.

"Lots and lots of buildings. Several artists attacked this large project in [pre-production] including Mark Goerner, George Hull, Nathanial West, [Daren] Doctherman and many more in post. They were highly diverse in style as they were representative of many countries and companies...not that you could tell with how fast they zoomed by. Mark Goerner and I did a lot of work for Tony's expo which happens to be a building that still exists from New York's 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows."

From film Iron Man 2 (2010)

Suitcase armor
Bach: "My small contribution. So many people took a crack at the function this thing and it came out great in the end. I had my go after an all nighter doing one of many revisions for the Hall of Armor. Ryan Meinerding was the wizard that designed the look of the suit, George Hull the actual suitcase, while my crude mock up for deployment served to guide the fx crew as they figured out how the thing was actually packaged and clasped together."

From film Iron Man 2 (2010)

Suitcase transition image by tencentticker.com

Stark Jet
Bach: "We were going to see this thing hit low low orbit and go zero G Virgin Galactic style when Tony had to make a quick trip from Cali to Washington, but for what I'm sure were many reasons it didn't make it in. Anyway, fun stuff! The final interior was designed by Nathanial West."

See more of Jonathan Bach's work at http://jbachdesign.blogspot.com

@ Copyright 2010 Marvel Studios, Jonathan Bach

Official Synopsis:
As Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) owns up to being Iron Man before the world press, Anton Vanko lies dying in Russia. Years ago, Anton worked with Tony's father to create a new source of energy. But greed got the best of Anton, and now as he slips away, his son, Ivan (Mickey Rourke), vows to make Tony pay for the sins of his father. Meanwhile, Tony fends off efforts from smarmy Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) and military weapons expert Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) to get him to divulge the secrets of his powerful Iron Man suit. The powers that be are concerned that Tony's technology may fall into the wrong hands -- fears that are soon confirmed when the cocky billionaire entrepreneur is confronted in front of the entire world by Ivan, who has built his own weapon using stolen Stark blueprints. Later, as Lt. Rhodes (Don Cheadle) wrestles with the decision to personally deliver Tony's suit to the military, Ivan finds an unlikely ally in the quest to destroy Iron Man; Stark Industries legal consultant Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) reveals her connection to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson); and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) takes on some new responsibilities.

What do you think of the illustrations?