When
we watch movies there is always a bit of suspension of disbelief. Suspension of disbelief is the
acceptance of unbelievable, fantastic or non-realistic elements in a story. However, film has to walk a fine line
when creating the unbelievable. If
an element is too fantastic or pushes the physical laws of the world too
egregiously, it can throw the audience for a loop and ultimately lose their
interest. An excellent example of
a movie pushing the envelope of the fantastic, yet successfully doing it in a
believable manner is the film "Iron Man" (2008). Set in the Marvel universe, a world of
super powered heroes and villains, the audience is already prepared for the
fantastic and are therefore more accepting of it. However, despite the existence of super-humans, the world
otherwise appears to follow the laws of physics. Following this logic, the technology based Iron Man suit
should follow basic physical laws but instead borders on the magical and its
superhuman feats do not seem possible.
One
of Iron Man's most notable feature is his ability to fly. Marvel superheroes such as Thor, Silver
Surfer, and Dr. Strange all fly through some sort of mystical or magical means. Thor has a magical hammer, the Silver
Surfer has a cosmic surfboard. Dr.
Strange is a master of black magic.
Iron Man's flight however is a physical event, and should follow the law
of action-reaction or that of simple aerodynamics. Sustained flight requires one of two methods. Either flight through the usage of an
airfoil or that of a rocket. An
airfoil is a simple shape where when it passes through a fluid (air being
treated as a fluid), it creates lift.
On conventional aircraft, the fixed wing is the airfoil which allows
flight when pushed/pulled through the air. You can even find more modern and experimental aircraft
which lack wings and instead use a lifting body, where the whole vehicle is an
airfoil. The Iron Man suit
possesses neither, and visibly, actually looks like it would perform more like
a rocket or a missile. And in a
vacuum, he would actually work quite well since there is no atmosphere to
affect stability, much like our own astronauts using small thrusters to propel
themselves on their spacewalks.
Without an atmosphere, a box with a fire extinguisher can fly, as shown
in Pixar's "Wall-E". In an atmosphere
though, rockets need large stabilizers, much akin to wings, to keep themselves
flying true. If we were to model
an Iron Man suit and place it in a wind tunnel, I theorize that stable flight
would not be a result, rather a tumble would ensue.
Another
example of action without reaction is Iron Man’s repulsor blasts. A basic law of physics is that for
every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In several instances in the movie, Iron Man uses his
repulsors as firearms against many types of targets, humans, vehicles etc. Most notably was in the final battle
against Iron Monger where Iron Man fires a bolt out of his chest that blasts
his opponent off his feet. Iron
Monger is significantly more massive than Iron Man and that kind of force
should have propelled Iron Man backwards as well, but there was very little to
no visible recoil.
The
Iron Man suit not only allows Tony Stark to fly, but it also gives him
incredible durability and protection through its impossibly dense and strong
metal shell. As seen in the movie,
the suit is made up of a thin metal skin of incredibly tough makeup which
covers the complex mechanics underneath.
In the film, a scene where Iron Man is flying what looks to be hundreds
of feet off the ground, is knocked out of the sky by a tank shell.
This scene is preposterous on several
counts. Firstly, while it might be
believable that the Iron Man suit could stop small arms, it is unimaginable
that it would be able to stop a shell from a tank cannon. Even if the metal skin were able to
withstand the incredible impact, that does not mean the occupant would, which
directly leads into the second point.
The suit is not only unbelievably durable, it also has incredible shock
absorbing tendencies which is demonstrated both when Iron Man is hit by the
tank fire but also when he leaves the giant crater in the ground. Newton’s First Law of Motion is that
objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
Our bodies are essentially bags of water. Just because the Iron Man suit came to a stop does not mean
that Tony Stark’s body did as well.
I recall reading an article where it detailed that the leading cause of
death in head on collisions in automobiles is a torn aorta. Essentially the car stops abruptly, the
seat belt abruptly stops your torso, but your internal organs keep going. According to the laws of physical
motion, Tony should have been jelly after the impact with the ground.
A
final example of questionable physics used throughout the film are simply
inconsistencies in weight and strange arcs. In the beginning of the film, Tony first tries out his armor
and when he lands he falls through the roof and several stories of his house,
crushing one of his many cars. At
the end of the movie however, he gets thrown onto a glass ceiling and does not
fall through.
In another scene, an unprotected Tony survives being propelled
against the ceiling of his lab when he miscalculates the thrust of his rocket
boots.
And finally, when Iron Man
fires his chest repulsor at Iron Monger when he was carry the car over his
head, the car should’ve fallen straight down instead of launching forward into
Iron Man’s arms.
In
conclusion, the Iron Man film not only bends but severely breaks several laws
of motion and physics to make the Iron Man character possible. But even though the logistics of such a
suit is unfeasible in our world, great storytelling and attention to detail
make the impossible possible in the audience’s eyes and our suspension of
disbelief is never truly tested.
This is further aided by the fact that the movie is set in the Marvel
Universe where the viewer expects superhuman feats and elements. All in all, Iron Man is an enjoyable
and successful tale of a popular superhero.
