It’s a solid thought. Back in the 1960s the first “armored suits” were mostly seen as hulking machines or giant robots, like the Atlas from 1965 or the Iron Man prototype in the 1967 “Giant-Size X-Men.” But if you look at the schematics, they were basically exoskeletons designed to augment a pilot’s strength and mobility. The line between a tank and a personal mech was still blurry—just a bit of creative license and a need for dramatic visual impact. That’s why the early Marvel armor feels more like a bulky suit than a true tank, even though the creators were already picturing it as a giant “exoskeletal” companion.