Iron Giant


 * This article is about the Fighter. For other uses, see Iron Giant (Disambiguation).

The Iron Giant is a Fighter from The Iron Giant Universe in MultiVersus. He was revealed on May 16th, 2022.

Origin
The Iron Giant is the main protagonist of the 1999 animated movie of the same name, as well as the Iron Man's counterpart from the 1968 sci-fi novel of the same name written by Laureate Ted Hughes. The Giant himself is a 50-foot tall autonomous "Metal Man" from another planet (possibly Mars) that crash lands on Earth in the middle of the Cold War, where he's found and befriended by an American young boy called Hogarth Hughes and the junkman/beatnik artist Dean McCoppin. While the Giant himself was created with the intention of being a mass-destruction war weapon, a living "gun", the Giant instead chooses to emulate Superman and fight for truth and justice. Still, his hunger for metallic objects, which cause him to unintentionally bring chaos and destruction wherever he goes, combined with his scary appearance, causes Kent Masley, a corrupt U.S.A. government agent, to assume that the Giant is related to the Russian Soviet Union Sputnik 1, which inspires him to actively try and destroy the Giant.

According to the main lead writer for MultiVersus, the Giant's portrayal in the game comes from after the ending of his titular movie, where the Giant is on his way back to Hogarth after reassembling himself.

Official Biography
"Robotic hero from beyond the stars."

The enigmatic, mechanical marvel nicknamed “The Iron Giant” crash-landed off the shore of Rockwell, Maine shortly after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. With no memory of his past and no clear direction for his future, he was found by a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who quickly became his best friend. Loyal and brave, the Iron Giant is a defender of the innocent and has vowed to always emulate his hero: Superman.

Default Variant
Iron Giant's default look is a reference to the Giant's "Superman" cosplay from the movie, which consists of his normal design but with a giant "S" symbol on his chest that comes from a scrapped advertisement for a "Seafood" store that he found in Dean's junkyard.

Gameplay
The Iron Giant is a Tank-type character who specializes in providing a solid frontline for his ally while mitigating damage with his Neutral Special, Bolt Friends, which will grant him temporary armor based on the amount of bolts he currently has (up to five). Bolts will generate over time, but will also spawn when the Iron Giant hits opponents with certain moves, namely his ground neutral attack, ground up attack and ground down attack; when bolts are picked by allies, they will gain gray health. The Iron Giant cannot use items, and any item he picks up will be eaten and added to his bolt count.

The core mechanic of the Iron Giant is to activate his Rage Mode, which grants him a whole new set of attacks and specials, most of them being ranged. When used on 2v2, the partner ally can enter the Iron Giant while in Rage Mode and unleash even more attacks. Rage fills whenever the Iron Giant deals damage and/or his ally takes damage. Among his other notable abilities are his up special, which hits multiple times and can be tilted up or downwards; this ability can effectively score low percentage KOs by dragging opponents to the edges of the blast zone. His other notable ability is his down special, which, while being very predictable, has very high knockback scaling and can be very potent when used in 2v2 while his ally is keeping opponents in hitstun.

Overall, the Iron Giant has decent frame data, with certain attacks covering all around his body and have extended reach, and he is also able to fly, which greatly improves his mobility and recovery. These attributes, however are offset by his slower movement and attack speed, as well as a long window for frame cancelling with dodge and/or jump. Additionally, the Iron Giant is currently the largest character in the game, meaning he has a large hitbox, making him very susceptible to being combo'ed and juggled by other characters, particularly fast hitting Assassins, such as Harley Quinn and Arya Stark. Nevertheless, he is currently the heaviest character in the game, with Bolt Friends and Rage Mode providing exceptional survivability and comeback power, respectively. Because of this, Last Stand is one of the best Perks for him.

For 2v2 fights, the Iron Giant finds the best in partners that can provide cover fire; fast attackers (either melee or ranged) that can keep opponents staggered with combos are great as it creates openings for the Iron Giant to exploit. On the other hand, supports that can provide buffs and utility, such as Velma and Steven Universe, can further reinforce the Iron Giant's strongest points, which are his high damage and survivability. Velma's ability to grant hastened makes Iron Giant a more oppressive force, on top of her Motivational Speaker being easier to hit him and project the additional beam. Meanwhile, Steven Universe can use his bubble to make the Iron Giant even more resilient.

Trivia

 * Iron Giant (Classic)'s render is oftentimes used to represent Iron Giant as a character more so than his default render. The reason for why this is the case is currently unknown.

External

 * The Iron Giant (character) on The Iron Giant Wiki.