A superhero guest put a smile on the faces of staff and children at Bradford Royal Infirmary Hospital yesterday when he called in to pay a visit.

It is not every day patients see Iron Man walking down the ward corridor in his iconic red and gold suit, but children were not fazed by their special visitor and were excited to shake his hand and have a photograph with him.

Car body repairer Mark Pearson, 45, of Tyersal, created the fascinating costume worn by his 6ft friend Darren Higgins, 25, who took to the role as a superhero with ease.

Mr Pearson said: “It makes all the hard work worthwhile to put a smile on the children’s faces and seeing that is worth more than money to me. It’s fantastic to give something back and Darren loves dressing up in the costume, he plays the part so well.”

He added: “When I first unveiled the costume I couldn’t have imagined the reaction; the adults were worse than the kids.”

Iron Man spent the afternoon meeting staff and children at the hospital.

Sister Jan Foster said: “The children absolutely love it when we get characters in and we really appreciate it when they come onto the wards.”

Mark spent around 14 months building the costume in his garage at home as a hobby and is now moving on to building two more characters out of The Avengers film.

The Iron Man suit is made out of 400 sheets of cardboard covered in fibre glass .

Cath Piggot, Hospital Play Specialist, said: “Our visit from Iron Man was excellent all the kids really enjoyed it and so did the adults.”

Mark has made another Iron Man costume which will go on display at The Royal Armouries, Leeds, from July 21.