Bulkier and more awkward than the regular Marvel Universe armors, the Ultimate Armor 2.0, is more mecha/robotic and less inspiring/heroic than most of Tony Stark’s armor. Its first appearance was The Ultimates, Vol. 1, issue #2, when Stark took it out for a spin in Manhattan, zooming around in the canyons of steel skyscrapers. (Ultimate Tony came up with this model "in the mountains," which at first seems like an allusion to his origin but upon later references to this not being his first suit means he must have thought it up while vacationing.)

The suit isn’t just an armor Stark slaps on. The Ultimate Armor 2.0 is more of a mechanical system than a suit of armor. Although not as big as an exo-suit, it borrows many design cues. Most importantly, Stark has to climb into the armor. In fact, it's such a complicated machine, Tony needs a whole team to support him. Technicians prep the suit and help him in and out of it while others (including Pepper and Happy) monitor the suit from a command center. Stark even has a special Backup Support Team standing at the ready to come and re-charge the suit as needed.

The suit is stored and maintained in a huge facility Stark keeps. His team readies the suit on the Iron-Tech Launch-Pad, from where Ultimate Shellhead can fire up into action through a silo.

Once Tony is inside the suit, it fills with a green gel. The suit then plugs into him via ports on his skin located on the shoulders, the bicep just above his elbows, and just above his wrists. This sub-dermal interface allows Tony to control the armor—linking him to the suit directly.

The suit is not much to look at. It's more like a space suit, an unfinished project. The overall body is gray and it's covered with a few red areas, accented with gold panels here and there. There's a red shoulder/upper torso piece featuring two blue ports surrounding the blue chestbeam. These glowing ports provide some contrast to the overall drab appearance, as do glowing eyes on the facemask. Flaired boots complete the suit. (It’s a fairly boring design, but Stark swears it’s like wearing an F-14 [an odd reference--after all, that’s a 30+ year old retired aircraft, only cutting edge in Iran]).

The suit is equipped with jet thrusters in the boots for flight (including boosters). A blue flame can often be seen when Iron Man rockets into action.

All-in-all, the suit served Stark well—at least it hasn’t killed him. He has confessed that he’s not thrilled about its performance, that Model 2.0 has let him down on occasion. (On occasion, he’s even worried SHIELD’s techs won’t approve its use due to the problems he’s had with the force fields.) Stark also admitted that every time someone snaps a picture of him in the suit, his stock takes a big dip.