John Henry Irons (UE-44)

"Forged in fire, strong as steel."

- John Henry Irons

John Henry Irons, formerly mistaken by his A.I. device as Captain Luthor, is a former soldier in the U.S. Army who fought to liberate his world from Superman. He failed in this mission and his world was destroyed, but he survived and made his way to Earth-Prime where he became an enemy of Superman of Earth-Prime, nicknamed by Lois Lane as The Stranger and also known as Steel. After a final confrontation with Superman at the Department of Defense, Irons agreed to work with Superman against the war started by Morgan Edge.

Early Life
Prior to joining the army, John was a student at Yale University.

"To hell and back."

- Captain John Henry Irons

At some point, John joined the U.S. Army and served alongside General Sam Lane who he came to be close friends with. John later met Lois Lane, the daughter of his commanding officer and had a daughter named after Lois' grandmother.

Hunting Superman
Years later, John and Lois woke up in bed and were greeted by their daughter, who was disgusted by their close relationship. Before leaving Nat to school, the family witnessed Superman leading a group of powered individuals destroying Metropolis using heat vision. The family then hid in an underground facility. However, Lois was killed by Superman during her report on Superman's weakness, Kryptonite.

He and a group of soldiers would later fight Superman who used his heat vision to kill the entire squadron except himself. Among the dead from this battle was Sam Lane which caused John to harbor a vendetta against Superman,

With the help of her daughter, John acquired technology from LuthorCorp and built a warsuit, capable of fighting Superman. Nat later attempted to reprogram an A.I. and failed, leaving the device to mistake John as Captain Lex Luthor.

As John lured Superman in his ship, Superman attacked him and damaged the ballistic shields, leaving John vulnerable. John fired a Red Solar Rocket at him before being sent to Earth-Prime.

Attacking Nuclear Facilities
Once he arrived on Earth-Prime, he came up with a plan where he would attack nuclear power plants in the United States while hiding behind the lead walls to test the abilities of this earth's Superman.

He first attacked a power plant at Oyster Creek before going on to attack the Elison Nuclear Power Plant, but Superman soon came to the rescue and prevented a meltdown at both plants.

Deciding that he needed more information, he decided to lure Superman into a trap at the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant which eventually lead to a battle in the Earth's atmosphere. During this battle, Luthor stabbed Superman in the chest with a kryptonite blade and left him to fall to the planet's surface, but he soon pulled the blade out of his chest and flew back to Smallville to help his sons after Lois had signalled to him using an ELT.

John then returned to his ship to talk with his AI about gathering more kryptonite as he had exhausted his supply.

Searching for Kryptonite
John then began to search for kryptonite with his first target being a black market warehouse in Moldova. He took his ship to the warehouse and subdued the guards with a sonic blast before breaking into the vault only to find that they had run out some time ago. He demanded that the remaining guard acquire more kryptonite for him but when he said that this was not possible he blasted him with a sonic propulsion and returned to his ship.

He then travelled to Mongolia in his ship to another facility he believed to have kryptonite but when he scanned it he found none within. Superman then arrived after being told the location by General Lane who had been tracking the ship and briefly fought John, almost defeating him before being told that his ship was on a course for Metropolis and would explode unless Superman stopped it which ended the battle.

John later sent an automaton wearing his warsuit to a Department of Defense facility where General Lane was to warn him about trusting Superman and to give him a keychain that belonged to his doppelgänger. This warning was interrupted by Superman who burst through the wall and fought the robot until finally destroying it by slamming it into the ground.

John then talked with his AI about reconstructing his new suit before reminiscing on his time in the army with Sam Lane.

Marcus Bridgewater
During the Smallville Harvest Fest, John stole the identity of Marcus Bridgewater and deleted any data related to him online. He then approached Lois Lane as a freelance reporter and told her that he has information on Morgan Edge. Later, John followed the fight between Superman and Derek Powell, shooting a rocket at them and knocking Superman down on the ground. However, he was then unable to find any of them at the site of collision as Derek committed suicide and Superman leaving moments later,

Days later, John attempted to enter Shuster Mines but was refused by security employees. He then forged two security badges and invited Lois, who was previously refused as well, to the mines. John and Lois found X-Kryptonite in the mines as John used his laser device to cut a piece of the rock away. Unfortunately, they were discovered by Leslie Larr and was attacked by her heat vision. John then slightly altered the device as a blaster and shot Leslie, quickly bringing Lois away from the site.

Arrived to safety, Lois started asking John a series of questions regarding his advanced laser device and his realistic forgery badge. Before John could answer, Lois received a call and left quickly.

Man of Steel
Later, Lois returned and confronted John once more. John proposed to meet her at Victoria May's Diner while Clark Kent investigated his RV. However, Clark was unaware of the misprogrammed A.I. device and thought John was a part of the Luthor family. John the intercepted one of Morgan Edge's truck carrying X-Kryptonite. As Clark and Lois arrived, Clark brought one of the vehicles away and the couple confronted John. John then threw a magnetic bomb on the truck, opening the door and taking the box of X-Kryptonite away. Clark and Lois bargained with John and exchanged the box for a meeting with Superman.

"This hero act of yours is all propaganda, a way to soften the masses before you turn on them. I made a promise to kill you once. I wasn’t able to keep that promise on my Earth. But I will here."

- John to Superman

Hiding in an abandoned facility, John built a series of Solar Flares and his Kinetic Hammer. As Superman arrived, John talked to him about his past with the alternate Superman, luring Superman to step forward while activating the Solar Flares, weakening his abilities. John then retrieved the hammer and utilized the kinetic energy collected from the retrieval, hitting Superman and sending him flying to a wall. John slowly walked towards Superman as the Kent twins arrived and hit John with the Kent Farm Truck. Jonathan destroyed the solar flares and freed Clark from the power-inhibiting device. Superman approached John and John hallucinated him as his enemy.

Change of Heart
John was then brought to the D.O.D. waiting for interrogation. John was soon interrogated by Superman and Sam Lane. However, Trask attempted to interrogate John and brought him away with Rosetti. While Trask taunted Rosetti for following protocol, Rosetti threw Trask against the wall and threatened John to follow him with his heat vision. They then arrived at 7734, where the Kryptonite experimental weapons are developed in. Superman fought Rosetti and was briefly saved by John, who was holding the Kryptonite spear and attempted to kill Superman. Lois arrived and talked him down, allowing Superman to bring him away as a prove that he has a change of heart.

John was allowed back to his RV and ordered the A.I. to create a profile for John Henry Irons and delete his former profile as "Captain Luthor". He told the device to shut down for a while as he drove away.

Powers/Warsuit Capabilities

 * Steel Warsuit Application: John was extremely skilled in the use of his warsuit which was specially designed to counteract the abilities of Superman. This suit was later destroyed during a confrontation with Superman at a Department of Defense facility.
 * Flight: John's warsuit allowed him to fly even in the upper atmosphere.
 * Sonic Propulsions: John's warsuit was able to release a sonic blast from its gauntlets that was able to forcefully push away opponents.
 * Superhuman Durability: John's warsuit allowed him to fight Superman and was even able to withstand his heat vision and freeze breath.
 * Superhuman Speed: John's warsuit allowed him to travel at superhuman speeds with it even being able to travel around the Earth's upper atmosphere. After its upgrades, the warsuit is able to fly at supersonic speed, keep up with Superman and create multiple sonic booms before landing at the Kent Farm.
 * Superhuman Reflexes: John's warsuit allowed him to keep up with and quickly dodge Superman's attacks.
 * Self-Contained Life-Support System: John was able to survive in outer space and battle Superman. The suit is also completely sealed for operations in vacuum and created with lead, preventing Superman's X-Ray vision.
 * Superhuman Strength: John's warsuit gave him superhuman levels of strength with him even being able to lift Superman with one arm.
 * Heads Up Display (HUD): The warsuit has a HUD that allows John to monitor the exterior environment and operate multiple scanners as well as the suit telemetry. The HUD was later connected to the DOD, maintaining a communication link.
 * X-Ray Vision: The warsuit allows John to see through buildings.
 * Kinetic Hammer Summoning: After creating the Kinetic Hammer and installing upgrades on his warsuit, John is able to summon the hammer from a great distance.
 * Red Solar Rocket: John and Lex Luthor co-created a Red Solar Rocket before their home universe's destruction. With the ammunition provided by A.R.G.U.S., John is able to utilize the rocket against Morgan Edge and deplete his powers.

Abilities

 * Bilingualism: John is able to fluently speak English and Kryptonese.
 * Skilled Hand-to-Hand Combatant: John is skilled in hand-to-hand combat as he has been able to match Superman in a battle.
 * master Tactician: John is a skilled tactician and has been shown to be able to outmaneuver Superman on numerous occasions.
 * Skilled Hacker: John claims to have access to Edge EnerCorp using his hacking skills.
 * Master Engineer: John was able to build an exosuit with the help of his daughter. He later built a Solar Flare against Superman-Prime.

Current Equipment

 * Steel Warsuit: John wore a high-tech warsuit that gave him various superpowers, but he eventually lost it when it was destroyed by Superman. Later, John created an upgraded warsuit and installed it with a Red Solar Rocket while fighting Morgan Edge.
 * A.I.: John utilized the A.I. device from LuthorCorp. However, it was programmed to Lex Luthor and was unable to be reprogrammed by Nat before John using it for himself.
 * Auto-Drive RV: After losing his ship and warsuit, John utilized an RV and upgraded it with his A.I. device.
 * Red Solar Rocket: John is able to knock out Superman using a state-of-the-art rocket-powered projectile.
 * Solar Weapons: John uses a series of solar blasters as his standard firearms against Superman.
 * High-Tech Ray Gun: John uses a laser weapon as a saw and a blaster.
 * Kinetic Hammer: John built the hammer and was able to use it against Superman.
 * Bombs: John used a series of magnetic bombs while hijacking the X-Kryptonite transportation.

Former Equipment

 * Kryptonite Blade: John used a retractable kryptonite blade to stab Superman but lost it once he pulled it out.
 * Ship: Prior to its destruction, John transports in a spaceship.

Trivia

 * Using Marcus Bridgewater's identity, John works for the Reuters.