In the Heroes Reborn timeline, the Iron Man armor was test piloted by someone other than Tony Stark, but that wasn’t the end for this rebel.
Everyone knows that Iron Man built and tested his armor before the start of his superhero career, but there was another person who piloted the armor before him. Rebel O’Reilly was a close friend of Tony Stark’s in college and something of a daredevil (not the superhero, just an adrenaline junkie) who volunteered to test pilot Tony’s newly developed armor. But why is this integral part of Iron Man’s origins not referenced in his comics? Because Rebel only exists in a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards.
Following the battle with the psychic entity, Onslaught, the Avengers and Fantastic Four sacrificed their lives to stop him. Unwilling to let them go, Franklin Richards instead sent them to a pocket dimension he created. This created Marvel’s “Heroes Reborn” story arc, a year-long event where Marvel outsourced its most famous comics to their popular former employees, Jim Lee and Rob Liefield. The idea was for Marvel’s characters to be updated for the modern-day, for example, Ben Grimm being a soldier during the Gulf War instead of World War II.
But with the new more modern aesthetic came changes to the characters’ lives and world. Their origins were mostly the same, with some tweaks. One of those tweaks came from the nature of their new world. Unaware of any changes to their lives, the heroes living on “Counter Earth” as it would come to be called, also encountered new individuals unique to their new reality. One of these people was Rebel O’Reilly.
Born Connor O’Reilly, he debuted in Heroes Reborn #1/2 by Rob Liefeld, Jeph Loeb, Rob Liefeld, Mario Alquiza, and Comicraft. Connor became a friend of Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Victor Von Doom. Connor had a wild streak to him, fearing no danger and almost having suicidal tendencies when seeking thrills. This earned him the nickname “Rebel” from his friends. During their time together, Tony began developing his Promethean armor, even though the Russians had ostensibly beaten him to the punch with their Titanium Man project.
When the armor was completed, Tony asked Rebel to be the test pilot. Rebel agreed but secretly took the armor for an early test flight to challenge Titanium Man. Engaging the Russian agent in a fight, Rebel lost badly and returned home, spared by Titanium Man, who hoped the defeat would dissuade anyone else from pursuing the same line of technology. Rebel did not tell anyone what happened or that he even took the armor.
The next day, Rebel went on his “first” test flight. But whether due to the damage sustained in a fight or some unknown malfunction, the suit overloaded and exploded, seemingly killing Rebel. The grief-stricken Tony would then discontinue his armor project for years, becoming a corrupt businessman before finally changing to become the hero Iron Man.