The Official Guide to the Marvel Universe said that Stark “grew” his armor from iron-depositing bacteria which had been genetically programmed to congregate (and die) in the patterns which would produce the armor segments.
Nobody has ever worked this into the canon in any way. It’s both “official” and totally non-canonical!
Unobtainium, of course.
…and for all these years I thought that Iron Man’s suit was made of an adamantium mesh. Adamantium is harder than diamond, you know.
I see that Wikipedia has an article on Iron Man’s Armor. The answer to the question is, “It varies”. In the 1960s it was iron. More recently it uses neurokinetic user-controlled morphologic nanoparticle bundles that store themselves inside Tony Stark’s posthuman body and manifest themselves when mentally commanded with a sprig of parsley and a dash of hollandaise. Or something like that.
I was wondering how long it would take to get the correct answer.
Okay, but how does he carry it around in a briefcase?
Borjemoi, that makes most treknobabble sound like first-year physics.
It bugs me that the faceplate can be shaped with a Dremel tool (in The Avengers).
Rearden Metal. 
Posthuman body? Tony Stark is not human anymore?
Seems odd that they didn’t just put some adamantium/vibranium in the mix, seeing as they are both established Marvel things, and within the rules of the marvel universe, would do the job.
I have an issue of Captain America where he survives falling from a plane by putting his shield on his feet and landing on it. I can imagine it softens the blow for his feet (a bit), but not sure how it prevents his body from crushing itself due to massive deceleration
Vibranium seems to be able to redirect kinetic energy. It does more than simply absorb vibration; it seems to be a full-featured inertial damper.
It’s all part of the “magic” aspect of Marvel’s super-geniuses. Ever wonder why Iron Man, Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and others (Peter Parker, to a lesser degree) almost never utilize one another’s tech? In essence, these devices only work for their inventors, which strongly hints that it isn’t “science” but a kind of “psionics.” Reed Richards’ devices are powered by his mental belief in them, not by any objective laws of physics.
Notice that, while he supplies “unstable molecule” superhero costumes to nearly anyone who asks…only he can produce them.
(Slight contradiction in the Armor Wars, where baddies were swiping Iron Man’s tech designs and making armored suits of their own from those designs.)
I dunno, same way George Jetson carries his car.
I love this theory. It also helps explain why the Marvel universe isn’t chock-full of crazy gadgets that the proletariat have access to. Where are the average joe’s flying cars, holograms, and universal translators?
You could also just say that Tony didn’t actually need to be caught by the Hulk. He would have survived the impact just fine, but Hulk didn’t know that.
You say Hulk not hero? Hulk smash you for that!
Someone’s already said my first choice – unobtainium. I’ll go with adamantium.
I’ll see your adamantium and up you to mithril.
Back in the day at DC they had Supermanium. It was forged out of the heart of a star.
Big whoop. So was I.
Well, yeah, but you’re DEATH.
