Thompson 1 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. Hes 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 trilogy 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 deployed 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

Thompson 2 somewhat influenced 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 cannot (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 exoskeleton is primarily made of steel and aluminum (Firestone 2010). Instead of actually

Thompson 3 attaching 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 involving 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 developed 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:

Thompson 4 The main purpose of the exoskeleton is to be used as a tool to assist soldiers within combat. When one thinks of a solider, the first thing that comes to mind are their extraordinary abilities in combat on the front lines. However, sometimes they cannot perform at the stellar expectations 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 exoskeleton. 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 soldiers limbs so that the movements of the soldier will correspond will go along with the exoskeleton. In return, the exoskeleton is able to conserve the soldiers energy during tasks that require heavy amounts of energy. (Yuan, Peijiang 2014). Tony Starks 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 Starks 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).

Thompson 5 In addition to the general exoskeleton, there are also exoskeletons being designed specifically 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 important 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 military: Iron man first came about from Stan Lee, who thought of having an Iron Man (comic series) based on what he saw in the Korean War (Mirrlees, Tanner). American soldiers where dying 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.

Thompson 6 The entire theme behind the Iron Man trilogy consists on boasting about the excellence of Americas military and its weapons, which is what America has been notorious for being within 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 Raytheons 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 60s, 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(Dombrowski 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.

Thompson 7

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. However, most of their motifs/reasoning usually does not involve a superhero or fictional character. 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 everything 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 Americas military fire power in such a way that it is fascinating to any audience; 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).

Thompson 8 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 Starks nemesiss were after his technology and weapons; this relates to Americas 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 his suit with a replica of Tonys chest generator and electric tentacles (observations, 2014). Another 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 account 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

Thompson 9 implemented as a vile resource to each branch of the military). I believe that this technology could definitely be a great addition to the American militarys 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 Americas military. An example of this would be in the first Iron Man movie where Tony was kidnapped while 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 missiles 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 potential 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 consideration 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 providing 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 Starks Iron Man suit and operate it with ease, I would think that the soldiers in the military could do the same with their exoskeletons.