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Brian Thompson

Mrs. Williams

English 1102

22 March 2013

How Iron Man has affected the military

Introduction

My father served as a member of the Air Force and was apart of Special Operations in

Operation Dessert Storm. He’s told me that some of his friends have said that they would have

wanted to have some sort of technology that would have helped them during the operation. Why

has the American military only limited themselves to only sources from the real world? Why

have they not considered utilizing other sources that are in the fictional realm of things? As of

late this has changed tremendously since the military has been in the works of creating a real life

iron man suit know as an exoskeleton. I strongly believe that the military should have considered

using something such as the Iron Man trilogy as a resource to brainstorm ideas so that they can

make more weapons, and they have done just that with the exoskeleton. The iron man movie tril-

ogy series has already showed how America has a strong military, and since Iron Man originated

as a comic book, Iron Man has the potential to reach a wide audience. What I mean by this is that

the movies could also strike other people in the military to use other resources (like the Iron Man

trilogy), to better the military.

For instance, take into account that their are millions of soldiers that are currently de-

ployed throughout each branch of the military. Some of these soldiers had no choice but to join a

branch due to complications of school, family issues, etc. They should be at least somewhat in-

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fluenced by a figure they once knew/potentially looked up to and was familiar with as a young

adolescent.

This paper will examine how the scientific film principles in the film trilogy Iron Man is

informing the American military design for both combat and energy efficiency purposes.

The American military has been a known dominant force throughout the

world, and could even be stronger once they start to put exoskeletons into

production. However, just like any other weapon, other forces around the

world would try to duplicate or make similar versions of the exoskeleton.

Literary Review

Terms:

Iron Man

Within the movie(s) Iron Man, Tony Stark pilots the Iron Man suit in which he uses it to

keep the population of Malibu, California, and the rest of the world, safe. The Iron Man suit is

the vocal point in the movie series, and a version of the suit is now trying to be implemented in

the military. Tony Stark is the CEO of Stark Industries, which sells the technology he makes to

the military, but others outside of the military want to take his technology and Iron Man suits for

their own use. Each suit that he possesses can perform a variety of tasks that his other suits can-

not (his first suit that he made in Afghanistan couldn't fly and maneuver as the one he uses the

most frequent, his mark 42 model).

Exoskeleton

The exoskeleton is a similar suit to that of the Iron Man suit in the movie series Iron Man.

Instead of having a multi million dollar suit that lets the wielder fly, and shoot objects, the ex-

oskeleton is primarily made of steel and aluminum (Firestone 2010). Instead of actually attaching

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to the person (like in Iron Man), the wearer has to step into the suit to put it on. The purpose of

the exoskeletons are primarily used for soldiers in the American military to help assist with their

daily tasks of being a soldier. That includes lifting heavy objects, running, and other activities in-

volving calisthenics. Sensors and actuators equipped on the exoskeleton help with this process to

make the exoskeleton operate smoothly (Firestone 2010).

Military

There are exoskeletons that have been made and

actually de- veloped but have not yet been implemented in

the military. (Zhifeng, 2013). Instead of solely relying on weapons and a soldiers skills, the suit

will be able to enhance the soldiers performance on the battle field. I will be harnessing in on

mostly the American Military.

Topics:

Combat Implementations of an Exoskeleton:

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The main purpose of the exoskeleton is to be used as a tool to assist soldiers within com-

bat. When one thinks of a solider, the first thing that comes to mind are their extraordinary abili-

ties in combat on the front lines. However, sometimes they cannot perform at the stellar expecta-

tions that the American military has set for them all the time. For example, Paul Zehr goes in

depth as to how Tony Stark (Iron Man) has operated his suit in some instances. The Iron Man

suit would only be as good as how Tony would behave (Zehr 1963). If he was reckless, then the

suit was mostly no help to him, the same concept applies to a real life soldier that has an ex-

oskeleton. A key component of the exoskeleton is that the pilot does not have to push themselves

to make exoskeleton work, rather the suit takes most of the heavy lifting (Yuan, Peijiang 2014).

Since the exoskeleton appears as a mechanical skeleton, the soldier would wear it as if they are

wearing a second skeleton. Unlike the Iron Man suit, the exoskeleton will wrap around the sol-

dier’s limbs so that the movements of the soldier will correspond will go along with the exoskele-

ton. In return, the exoskeleton is able to conserve the soldiers energy during tasks that require

heavy amounts of energy. (Yuan, Peijiang 2014). Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit was able to do all

of what an exoskeleton can do, but on a much higher level.

There is also another invention on the rise called the Q-Warrior System or the “Iron Man

Helmet” (Ben Farmer 2014). The Q-warrior system displays a HUD system similar to the helmet

that Tony wears in Iron Man. Tony Stark’s Iron Man helmet helped him guide himself (along

with the help of JARVIS, his artificial intelligence system) to locations and gave him updates on

the status of his suit. Within the HUD of the Q-Warrior, the user can see in night vision (via heat

sensing), his enemy, where he has to go, etc with all different indicators and colors (Ben Farmer

2014). However, Iron Man wouldn't be Iron Man without his various suits built for different

tasks (the suit he utilizes the most in the movies is his 42nd suit he built).

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In addition to the general exoskeleton, there are also exoskeletons being designed specifi-

cally for certain tasks. For example, at the University of California the ExoHiker is used for long

distance marches (Kopp 2011). By using the ExoHiker, soldiers will have the capability to use

their trained abilities elsewhere, instead of worrying about their endurance. The ExClimber is

used to carry an extraneous amount of cargo (that the soldiers carry) in mountainous terrain

(Kopp 2011). It is already rather difficult to hike mountains, especially as long as soldiers do, so

with an invention such as the ExClimber this will make their hikes much easier. Another impor-

tant matter to consider is the elevation could change at any time and could result in the soldier

getting severely injured due to the heavy loads the have to carry. However, both could be used

interchangeably.

How Iron Man and other influences influenced the creation of the exoskeleton and the mili-

tary:

Iron man first came about from Stan Lee, who thought of having an Iron Man (comic se-

ries) based on what he saw in the Korean War (Mirrlees, Tanner). American soldiers where dy-

ing profusely in the war and had no figure to look up to. Since he recognized this, he wanted to

create the Iron Man series so that he could present a figure that was unstoppable (once he put on

his suit) to the soldiers in Korea to help them get through the war (Mirrlees, Tanner). This was

the first instance of Iron Man influencing the military. However, the actual movie trilogy made

an equally important contribution on influencing the creation of the exoskeleton in the militar(y.

The entire theme behind the Iron Man trilogy consists on boasting about the excellence of

America’s military and its weapons, which is what America has been notorious for being within

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the wars they have been in. The first Iron Man movie within the trilogy hit theaters April 30,

2008. This is initially when the public received a chance to see what robot like technology was

actually capable of in the military (Lim, 2013). Three years later in 2011, the latest version of the

exoskeleton ,XOS2, had been made by Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems division (but it

was still five years away from being in the production stage) (Karlin 2011). Since Iron Man has

been apart of Marvel comics since the late 60’s, there has been quite a build up of the series ever

since.

Benefits of exoskeletons outside the Military:

The exoskeleton models are primarily used for military use, but they can also be used in

other jobs and for rehabilitation (Dombrowski 2012). A job that would use an exoskeleton would

be firefighters since they have to lift debris off of children, or other residents in the house(Dom-

browski 2012). Most injuries that occur in the military deal with joints (shoulders, lower back,

knees and ankles) that occur from heavy lifting or extraneous calisthenics.(Dombrowski 2012).

With the help of the exoskeleton, extraneous pressure and stress will be elevated of off soldiers

tremendously, and reducing the chances of them getting injured due to calisthenics very slim. In

turn, soldiers will be able to last longer and be more durable while they serve in the military.

Entering the conversation

How have fictional characters we looked up to as an adolescent influenced our actions in

real life? There are several reasons and motifs as to why people behave, and do what they do.

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However, most of their motifs/reasoning usually does not involve a superhero or fictional charac-

ter. The majority of children through young adults are fascinated with these fictional characters,

such as Iron Man for example. Most of us adored these superheroes growing up, but once we hit

a certain age, we are supposed to not associate with them because we will be seen as childish. I

would have to disagree with this because how would people be creative? How would they be

able to think outside the box (as a kid I know I was influenced by what I saw on TV and every-

thing I did). Another thing to consider is that something such as Iron Man (a marvel superhero)

would not be seen as a reliable source to be used in the professional world. However, I think this

is a different scenario relating to the Iron Man trilogy series. There are seldom instances when

there are unrealistic components that would never happen in the real world within this trilogy.

An actual suit (exoskeleton) that replicates similar uses to the Iron Man suit was derived

from the Iron Man trilogy to be used in the military and places outside of the military. The Iron

Man trilogy glorifies America’s military fire power in such a way that it is fascinating to any au-

dience; in this case the actual United States Military (Zehr, Inventing Iron Man). If a genius like

Tony Stark who was involved in several fictional movies can assemble a plethora of suits that are

able to save the world, there should be no reason as to why the real American military can do the

same or something similar in regards to the technology (Zehr, Inventing Iron Man).

I witnessed several instances within Iron Man that correlate to the United States Military

and the need for new weapons in my observations of the trilogy. For example, throughout the

trilogy, all of Tony Stark’s nemesis’s were after his technology and weapons; this relates to

America’s military since they have a history of making innovative weapons first, followed by

other countries making similar products(White Mark). Take into account when Tony was at the

grand prix in Iron Man 2, and his new nemesis Ivan Vanko almost was successful at destroying

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his suit with a replica of Tony’s chest generator and electric tentacles (observations, 2014). An-

other instance in which I saw a correlation between two Soldiers was actually in reference to the

comic book series (Mirlees, Tanner). Stan Lee (a key producer of putting Iron Man together) first

associated Iron Man with the American soldiers in the Korean War to give them someone to look

up to for inspiration (Since so many of them were wasting away on the battlefield). Also with the

exoskeletons, more soldiers could potentially join a military branch of their choice since they

could be assisted with an exoskeleton. An example of this would be someone who could not

quite qualify for being in the military due to physical fitness; instead of sending them back home

the branch they tried out for could assign them an exoskeleton to use. For instance take into ac-

count a soldier who is an amputee. He or she could still potentially be able to participate on the

battle field along side the healthy soldiers.

So What?

Iron man has truly influenced the military in such a way that they had to come up with

their very own type of suit. Even though the exoskeleton is still working to be in the production

phase, the potential and interest for it has been shown by the military. We are likely to see the

exoskeleton in approximately five years from now (it will be in the production stage and imple-

mented as a vile resource to each branch of the military). I believe that this technology could def-

initely be a great addition to the American military’s already robust haul of weapons.

I wouldn't be surprised if the military started to exchange these suits for other weapons;

other countries would try to duplicate them. Countries in Asia such as Japan and China already

have prototypes developed. However just like in Iron Man, other countries as well will be out to

seek these exoskeletons for their own use, by any means necessary just to one up America’s mili-

tary. An example of this would be in the first Iron Man movie where Tony was kidnapped while

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he was in Afghanistan demonstrating his Jericho Missiles and his only choice of freedom was to

demonstrate how to build his Jericho Missiles (Observations, 2014). Instead of making the mis-

siles like he was supposed to, Tony made his first Iron Man suit and escaped back to Malibu,

California to continue to work on more weapons for the military (observations, 2014).

The exoskeleton (deprived from the idea of the recent Iron Man trilogy) has great poten-

tial in the near future, but the only question that has yet to be answered is how will the soldiers

prepare? Will they have to undergo extra training sessions to be able to efficiently work with the

suit to maximize its full potential? This is something the military will have to take into consider-

ation as well. Also, since the exoskeleton is relatively new to the military, it is highly likely that

they could only be accessed by the special forces. There is also a budget aspect in producing

these exoskeletons them (they cost millions of dollars to make just one exoskeleton) and provid-

ing soldiers with the extra training to properly operate. All of these elements need to be thought

about to successfully implement the exoskeleton within the military. In Iron Man 2, Cody

Rhodes was able to get into one of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit and operate it with ease, I would

think that the soldiers in the military could do the same with their exoskeletons.

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Pictures of Inventions made in the

military that have

been influ-enced by Iron Man

ExoClimber Exohiker

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Q Warrior “Iron Man” Helmet

Video Clips: Berkeley Bionics Human Exoskeleton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdK2y3lphmE

Lockheed Martin HULC Exoskeleton:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kat8I5UM_Vs

Q Warrior Helmet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJMq6UCv1_s

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