8 Superhero Origin Stories And Their Real World Implications

7) Tony Stark/Iron Man

The origins story:

According to Jon Favreau’s Iron Man movie, brilliant/asshole arms baron Tony Stark first sets out on the path of becoming power-armored hero Iron Man when he’s taken captive by rebels in the Afghan desert. In his prison cave, Stark builds a full-body mecha suit, which comes fully stocked with weaponry. Stark blasts his way out of captivity and onto freedom. Back home he perfects the suit to eventually become Iron Man.

What would really happen:

Let’s, for the sake of argument, say Tony Stark would deep in an Afghan cave find the materials he needs to mock up a battling mech suit, and let’s say he would manage to get it working within the narrow time frame he has – his first Iron Man suit is still not a very impressive machine, is it? To be blunt, it looks like what Ned Kelly was using to protect himself against Australian coppers back in the 19th century. One well-aimed RPG (providing Stark’s captors stop laughing long enough to fire some shots off) and that hunk of scrap metal is in pieces.