Tailkinker

28th Aug 2013

Iron Man (2008)

Question: The guy who put the magnet in Tony's chest in the cave, who was he and why was he being held captive by the soldiers?

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: His name is Ho Yinsen and he's a skilled engineer and medic. The details behind his capture are never revealed, but most likely he was kidnapped so that the terrorist group could utilise his skills, coercing him into helping by threatening to destroy his home village, exactly as we see then doing later in the movie after Stark's escape and Yinsen's death.

Tailkinker

15th May 2013

Iron Man (2008)

Question: If Tony's suit (Mark II) is powered by the miniature arc reactor in his chest, what powers War Machine?

Answer: Stark has constructed independent power sources for his older suits, presumably on the off-chance that he might need to use Rhodes, who he has given voice access, as backup, or possibly because, as he believes himself to be dying, he would want somebody he trusts to be able to access the suits after his passing. That power source is used when Rhodes takes the suit to battle Stark at his birthday party, and is subsequently used to power the upgraded War Machine armour.

Tailkinker

13th Dec 2012

Iron Man (2008)

Answer: No, it's digitally added to a rocky outcrop just outside Malibu in California.

Tailkinker

10th Jul 2010

Iron Man (2008)

Question: How come Tony doesn't die when Pepper hits the button that blows up the roof? He never cleared the roof as intended and it must have been really powerful if it killed Obediah. Tony's chest piece flickers on and off and then the scene fades. They never give an explanation for this.

Answer: Tony, even wearing the Iron Man armour, is light enough that the shockwave of the blast throws him out of the way, so he escapes the majority of the explosion's effects. Stane, in his much heavier suit, isn't so lucky and so gets the full impact, which kills him. The flickering of the chest piece is merely a device to show that Tony is still in one piece, even if injured.

Tailkinker

20th Jan 2010

Iron Man (2008)

Question: The terrorist group is called the ten rings. Does that refer to The Mandarin whose power in the cartoon came from his ten rings?

Ivan-sama

Chosen answer: It's intended as a subtle nod to the character, yes. It's been suggested that the Mandarin might be the villain in a future third film, so using the name "The Ten Rings" was a bit of foreshadowing that there might be a greater power behind the terrorist group.

Tailkinker

5th Dec 2008

Iron Man (2008)

Question: Does anyone know if there will be a massive compilation of all the Marvel heroes, e.g. the Hulk, Iron man, Spider-Man, etc., and if so, who would most likely be the director?

Answer: The current plan at Marvel Studios is to do solo films for the various members of the Avengers superteam over the next couple of years. Iron Man and the Hulk were the first two, Thor is currently in pre-production under the directorship of Kenneth Branagh for a 2010 release and Ant-Man is reportedly to be directed by Edgar Wright, possibly for release in the same year. 2011 will see Captain America: The First Avenger being released under the guidance of Joe Johnston, which will be set during World War II and deal with how Steve Rogers became Captain America. Then a couple of months later a full Avengers film will be released, featuring all five characters teaming up to fight a greater threat. The cinematic rights to other filmed Marvel characters, like Spider-Man or the X-Men currently lie with other film studios, so they could not realistically be included unless the film rights reverted to Marvel.

Tailkinker

6th Nov 2008

Iron Man (2008)

Answer: Yes. He loves messing around with customised cars like that - throwing in some of the red colour is a nod to that. Plus it stops him flying around in a gold-coloured suit, which even he considers a bit over the top.

Tailkinker

6th Nov 2008

Iron Man (2008)

Question: What was the type of jet that Tony Stark used to travel to Afghanistan in? Is this an actual jet or a movie mock-up?

Answer: It's a CGI mockup. Originally a Boeing 737 Business Jet, it was decided during production that a regular jet wasn't nearly sexy enough for Stark, leading to everything from the wings back being replaced with a digital model that looked cooler.

Tailkinker

2nd Jun 2008

Iron Man (2008)

Question: I forget why Obediah Stane went bad. Why did he?

Answer: He doesn't go bad, as such, he just is bad. It's made reasonably clear in the film that he's been surreptitiously selling weapons to pretty much anybody who'll buy them, rogue governments, terrorist groups, anybody. In all likelihood, he's been doing this for years behind Stark's back. After Stark's attitude to their work changes and he starts to investigate what Stane's been up to, Stane takes steps to protect his various illicit enterprises.

Tailkinker

Speaking of selling weapons wouldn't Stane need a license to sell weapons?

As Stark Enterprises makes weapons as a major part of their output, they would certainly have every licence they would need to sell those weapons legally. When you're selling illegally, to terrorist groups, rogue governments and the suchlike, licences aren't really something you worry about too much.

In order to legally sell weapons yes.

18th May 2008

Iron Man (2008)

Question: With its similarity to the Iron Man suit and the frequently-overlapping storylines of the Marvel universe, did Tony Stark develop the Exoskeleton in the first Spider-Man movie?

Answer: No, he didn't. The Goblin's battlesuit was developed by Oscorp, the other prototype seen in the film by Quest Aerospace. There's no indication that either has links to Stark Enterprises, plus, as Sony only had the rights to Spider-Man, rather than the Marvel Universe generally, they would not have been allowed to involve other characters without prior permission.

Tailkinker

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