Written by Julius K. (KIS'19)
Edited by Angela Y. (VHS'21)
━━ August 4th, 2018 ━━
Iron Man
Anyone who has seen Iron Man wishes that they had an Iron Man suit themselves. Especially with the recent release of Avengers: Infinity War, Tony Stark’s new iron suit equipped with nanotechnology and other deadly weapons has never been cooler. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe clearly stretches the limitations of what’s possible and what isn’t (shockingly), and sadly the Iron Man suit is one of those fantasies. Here are 4 major aspects of the Iron Man suit that are unreachable as of this dimension.
1. The Arc Reactor
The source of energy that powers the Iron Man suit is perhaps the biggest lie told to the MCU fans. Well what do we know about the Arc Reactor? We know that the suit’s source of energy, the Arc Reactor, originally was a power core made out of Palladium, where he later on improved it to an element that he rediscovered/created. It has an electromagnetic coil in a torus, and it emits a blue and white light. Also, it can be made in a cave with scraps. The Palladium in the core is damaged by neutrons, so the isotope(an element with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons) that the arc reactor contains is important for the function of the arc reactor. But besides all this science mumbo-jumbo, the biggest issue with the idea of the arc reactor is that the energy produced is caused by radioactive decay: the same type of radioactive decay that comes from the very nuclear power plants we see today. In the real world, any type of constant exposure to even the weakest gamma rays would get you cancer or killed. Even if the container of the arc reactor was made of lead, not even lead substitutes as the perfect radiation shield, so Tony Stark should’ve died long ago. In the movie, however, the only side effects shown from the Palladium powered arc reactor is a minor poisoning. Yes in the film it did state that the same core that was keeping him alive was also killing him. But compared to what actually would’ve happened in real life, which is a gruesome death due to nuclear radiation exposure, the minor poisoning Tony Stark suffered in the films is laughable. But hey, this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe we’re talking about here.
2. The Size
The size of the Iron Man suit is also one of its biggest issues. Now, it would be awesome to have a suit as cool as Iron Man’s that is only slightly bigger than your own body. However, considering the amount of technology and weapons that is contained within the Iron Man suit, it would at least have to be the size of the Hulkbuster suit that Iron Man created to fight the Hulk. With the size of the Iron Man suit, the capabilities of the suit would be extremely limited. For example, it would only be able to either fly, or shoot energy beams, or just serve as a bulletproof shield for the whole body. Yes, it is disappointing that the actually possible capabilities of the Iron Man suit at its size is so limited, but that’s what makes it so cool.
3. Speed
It would be quite difficult for any regular person to move a giant mold of metal on their body at his or her will like its second nature. But that’s exactly what happens what Tony Stark does. Indeed, in the Iron Man movies, the motion and strength of the person in the suit are amplified with the help of the arc reactor, but technologically, it would be far from possible for the suit to amplify the person’s motion in the suit at a controlled rate of the human’s wish. Especially when such complex movement in a metal suit is difficult. To make this more clear, here is an example. When Iron Man punches through something like a wall, the arc reactor and his AI system Jarvis sense his motion and amplify the speed and power within his punching motion. However, when that much power is amplified as shown in any of the Iron Man scenes in the Marvel films, it would be extremely difficult for the AI system Jarvis or Tony to stop the motion of his amplified body at his will. Luckily, this feat is only extremely difficult. It is not far beyond this world.
4. Damage Absorbance
The damage absorbance of the Iron Man suit is off the charts. Yes, the material of his suit is made from gold titanium alloy that is also used in satellites, but that doesn’t explain how the suit can take so much damage and heat, yet the amount of shock that actually transmits to Tony Stark himself in the suit is practically negligible. With the Iron Man suit being the size to look aesthetically pleasing, the suit should not be nowhere near as protective as it is in the film. Realistically, with the damage that Tony Stark normally receives in battle, he should be left with bruises, cuts, and broken bones all around his body. When a foe strikes the Iron suit, the person inside the suit should be injured when he hits the inside of the suit at the same force as a result of being struck. However, in the film, it depicts it as if his suit absorbs the damage, almost as if it were made of vibranium, a complete shock, and vibration proof metal also within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But as far as unrealistic goes, Iron Man’s suit may be one of the closest components to reality that we see in the films. After all, Captain America’s super strength is even more ridiculous than the Iron Man suits. He can punch the Iron Man suit without any broken bones in his fist.
━━━━━━━━
Bibliography:
“Arc Reactor.” Iron Man Wiki, ironman.wikia.com/wiki/Arc_Reactor.
Quora, Ryan Carlyle -. “How Iron Man's Arc Reactor (Probably) Works.” Gizmodo, Gizmodo.com, 21 Nov. 2014, gizmodo.com/how-iron-mans-arc-reactor-probably-works-1661613682.
Pictures:
- Arnold, Ben. “Robert Downey Jr.'s Original Iron Man Suit Has Been Stolen.” Yahoo! News, Yahoo!, 10 May 2018, www.yahoo.com/entertainment/robert-downey-jr-s-original-iron-man-suit-stolen-135926320.html.
- “Hulkbuster 1.Jpg.” DeviantArt, www.deviantart.com/art/Hulkbuster-1-jpg-537128408.
- MoviMare. “Iron Man's Arc Reactor in Real Life.” Iron Man Fanatic, 5 Oct. 2015, ironman-fanatic.blogspot.kr/2015/10/iron-mans-arc-reactor-in-real-life.html.
- “Get a Look at How Iron Man's Bleeding Edge Armor Works in New AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Promo Spot.” GeekTyrant, Apr. 2018, geektyrant.com/news/get-a-look-at-how-iron-mans-bleeding-edge-armor-works-in-new-avengers-infinity-war-promo-spot.
- https://i.stack.imgur.com/xdkXE.jpg
━━━━━━━━
Comments