oldbaldyone

10th Jun 2010

Iron Man (2008)

Question: Is Tony really in danger when Pepper pulls out the copper ring? The screens behind him light up, and he acts like he is in danger, but his reaction once the process is complete leads one to believe that he may have just been messing with Pepper. Also, why does Tony go into cardiac arrest when the copper ring is pulled out? The magnet is keeping the shards out of his heart, not keeping his heart running, even though they state in the movie that it is powering his heart). Perhaps I am just confused about what is actually happening with the device.

oldbaldyone

Chosen answer: The movie interchangeably refer to the device as keeping the shrapnel out of his heart and keeping it beating. The latter is supported by both this scene and the comment by Dr. Yinsen that the arc reactor could "run (his) heart for fifty lifetimes. The opening exposition in the cave explaining the danger of the shrapnel explains that it takes "about a week" for it to kill its subjects. Given how fast he started dying both in the scene with the copper ring and when Obadiah forcibly removed the arc reactor, it's entirely possible that the system is also acting as an admittedly very fancy pacemaker.

Alex Montenegro

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