Episode: 90
Title: HPR0090: Ironman
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0090/hpr0090.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-07 11:22:55

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Welcome back to another thrilling, exciting episode of Hacker Public Radio.
I'm Peter Nicolitis, and joining me is my good friend and host of the Fresh Ubuntu
podcast, Harlem.
How are you doing?
Good.
Good, Peter.
All right.
Thanks for joining me today.
Hey, no problem.
I heard you were talking about Iron Man, and since Iron Man is coming out, I wanted
to participate as well.
That's awesome.
Yes.
As Harlem said, by the time you're listening to this, today is the debut of the brand new
Iron Man live-action movie starring Robert Downey Jr.
And I thought that it would be appropriate to just have a little chat about Iron Man.
So for those of you who are listening to HPR, who are geeky enough to listen to it,
but not know who Iron Man is, shame on you.
Now that I've got that out of the way, though, we're going to take a little time and educate
you as to who and or what Iron Man is, and why I like him so much.
Iron Man has always been one of my favorite superheroes, and I just thought he was really
cool.
He's really powerful.
He's definitely one of them.
I don't know if he's one of the most powerful, but he's rather powerful in the Marvel universe.
He was a Marvel comic book.
And he was a founding member of the Avengers, who are, you know, what, Earth's mightiest
heroes.
I think that's their tagline.
But Iron Man is, his secret identity is Anthony Edward Stark, he goes by Tony, Tony Stark,
who is a multi-billionaire, and he owns and operates this mega-conglomerate corporation
called Stark Enterprises.
Right.
So, I've rambled a little bit, oh, Stark Industries, Interesting Industries, thank you, thank
you.
So, I've rambled a little bit about him.
Why don't you just take over, tell us a little bit about Iron Man, Harlem, anything
you like?
Well, what particularly drew me to Iron Man is that this guy is just an ordinary guy.
He doesn't have any special powers, he's not ultra-fast or anything like that.
He's just a smart guy, and on top of that, he's got some pretty good business sense.
So, that's what draws, I think a lot of the folks is that they can, they as ordinary
people, and at least this is what I was thinking, is that technology can make us better, you
know what I mean?
Yeah.
That's what sort of drew me to this guy, so, I love the, I also love the way his suit of
armor has evolved from the very beginnings back in the, you know, the very early days
where it was just this big dark gray piece of metal, not very well form fitting, to what
it is now, a nicely designed, it looks like a some really strange type of alloy, and
that can move with your skin and that kind of stuff, so, I love the evolution of that
kind of thing.
Absolutely.
Can I jump in for a second there?
The Iron Man first appeared, he was created by like so many other Marvel Comics characters
created by Stan Lee in 19, actually I shouldn't say not just Stan Lee, but also Stan Lee, Larry
Lieber, and artists by Don Heck and also with Jack Kirby, so they all collaborated and
made Iron Man in 1963, so, you know, Iron Man's been around for 45 years now, so, a long
time.
And interesting, you think about that, but it's about time that they made a movie of him,
you know, I mean, it's absolutely, you know, you keep herring it about it, you know,
I've heard that they were going to do an Iron Man movie 10 years ago, and I keep waiting
and waiting and waiting, and I thought, finally, we have finally done it, so, anyway, just
my two cents in.
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Continue where you were going.
I just wanted to get that origin little tidbit in there.
Yeah.
So, for years and years, I've been waiting for, you know, a real good Iron Man movie, and
you hear about it for years and years and years from Hollywood, and I'm hoping this
movie doesn't disappoint, doesn't disappoint me.
Yeah.
I've been disappointed by a lot of these franchise superhero movies, most notably Batman.
The first one was pretty good, the very first one with Michael Keaton.
In 1989.
Right.
And then afterwards, you know, the rest of them just got worse and worse and worse, and
then-
Absolutely.
And not to get off topic here, but it's since gotten much better with Christian
Bale.
Absolutely.
I was going to say that Batman begins stuff, but that's relevant though, because actually,
I was going to bring in Batman into this discussion, because I think Batman and Iron Man actually
have a lot of things in common, and, you know, they both are, well, for starters, they're
both, you know, multi-billionaire defense contractors, right?
They both use technology to enhance themselves, although Batman, you know, I guess, he's
dependent on technology, I think, to a lesser degree, you know, because he also epitomizes
or represents like the epitome of human potential, and, you know, like what a human can do,
whereas, you know, and they're both really, really smart.
I'm not sure, I've seen a ranking somewhere, but I'm pretty sure they're both in like
the top, you know, four or five, as far as intelligence goes, and in their respective
fictional universes, you know, on their worlds anyway.
You know, because Batman is, you know, he's definitely outsmarted Lex Luthor before, and
he's generally the smartest in, you know, in DC universe.
And, you know, Iron Man, I think, you know, he's on Tony Stark, is in league with Reed
Richards and Dr. Doom and Marvel Comics side, so.
But, you know, the thing is different is Iron Man, you know, he, I think he utilizes the
technology a lot more.
I mean, he wears the thing, but he's also dependent on it.
I don't know if this is true in the current scheme, because I, I, I, I haven't been buying
Iron Man comics for several years now, but he originally created the armor to keep
him alive, right?
Yes, absolutely.
And that, that's, yeah, and that was the whole, I think that's how it all came about,
is that he went over to, because of his, well, you know, his job, he went over to a place
and he got kidnapped, apparently, and, well, it was Vietnam, I think originally, wasn't
it?
Yeah, I think it was.
You know, it was Vietnam originally, because that was the setting at the time they, the,
the original comic was in, you know, in the 60s, and they wanted to play off of what was
going on, which is kind of a neat little microcosm about, about comic books, is that it's
sort of a, you know, it's a pop culture look at what's going on at the time.
And that's the kind of neat thing about comic books.
Yeah.
Anyway.
It is.
And I guess in the movie, then what it, it starts out in, is an Iraq or Afghanistan, I think
it's Afghanistan.
Afghanistan now.
Yeah.
So it updated again to be Afghanistan, which is what it says in the wiki here in wiki
pdf.
And a lot of the, the, the factoids and facts that we're pulling out today were, we're,
we're pulling out of the wiki pdf article on Iron Man, which is pretty cool.
So he's, he's a multi billionaire.
We've established that.
Right.
And he, so this is the movie is starting over, okay, so we're, it's the movie starting
in Afghanistan.
Right.
That's, that's something that they definitely, they do with comics a lot because, I mean,
you know, right now, I guess it's just who wants to read about a superhero who was formed
in fiat non, right?
That's just so pass A.
Right.
So they even, cliche, exactly.
Right.
So if, so they, they, they, they do things like that to keep things fresh.
And I know like, they did that with Magneto when they did the, the first X-Men movie several
years ago now, he was a child in the concentration camps in World War II.
But I guess I forget how old he was when they originally introduced him in the comic book.
I think, I don't remember if he was in, you know, like in his 20s or if he was, you
know, or 30s or whatnot, but he was a lot older.
So, you know, if they want to keep Magneto around, they're going to have to get rid of that
whole thing.
And unfortunately, that's a, you know, a lot of ties into his, his past and stuff.
I'd be curious, I guess, you know, it's not, not so critical with Tony Stark, they can
just take him out of one war and drop him into another.
So, you know, I guess that's a little to the story of writers advantages, but, right.
But so what are some of the things that the Iron Man armor, let's Iron Man do?
Well, fly for one thing, and that's great.
The, the, the first and foremost thing that pops out of my head is that the guy can fly.
The coolest thing to me and other than, well, it's a suit of armor and it's strong
and stuff and, and impenetrable, the thing that stands out the most is that the, the guy
can fly and that's kind of cool.
Yep.
I think that's of any superpower, I would, I would think that flying would be probably
one of the top two things that I would want to have.
Yeah.
It's up there.
It's definitely up there.
Actually, I just remember I got a little bit off topic.
I wanted to also say that that the Iron Man suit, you know, was designed to keep him alive
because he was over in the war.
It was originally in Vietnam, but I forget exactly what happens, but he, you know, gets
he's near an explosion and some shrapnel goes into his chest and starts like working
its way to his heart, right?
Right.
Exactly.
That's what, that's exactly what happens.
Some shrapnel is in there and then, um, uh, well, well, there's, there's conflicting
things that I'm thinking of.
It's been a long time since I've read the origin, but, um, apparently he's got so long to,
to make this, this, uh, uh, uh, pacemaker, I suppose you can call it and, um, uh, or, or
a weapon and he chooses to, to live and make a pacemaker and, um, and a weapon and a weapon
makes himself into the weapon.
That's right.
But, yeah, um, so, yeah, he's got, like you said, the first off, he can fly, he's in
a big suit of armor.
And that's another thing too, is if you've never, have you ever worn any sort of armor?
I mean, any sort of like padding or anything like that?
Uh, like a, like football padding, yes.
Yeah, okay.
I mean, you, you think about it, it's kind of cool.
If you've never put on any sort of armor, like, you know, for martial arts sparring or
just, you know, mountain biking gear or football, it's kind of cool.
Try it out sometime.
It immediately, you know, you feel tougher, you know, you feel less vulnerable when, like,
you can take more.
I know I do it when I'm mountain bike.
Um, you know, if I go out with my padding on, I am a lot more comfortable, you know,
with like the risks that I take mountain biking than I am without it, you know, right.
And let me add, the coolest thing to is the helmet, yeah, and it could be any old
helmet, you know, football players wear the helmet, but like my kids, we'll see guys
on motorcycles with these fancy helmets on and, and they will automatically think that
those guys are superheroes, you know, and it's really, it's, it's pretty cool, though.
Yeah, but you're right, you feel in, you know, almost invulnerable in one of those things.
And, and just imagine what it would be like if you were wearing the Ironman suit, though.
Exactly.
So, I mean, it makes him pretty much invulnerable to, you know, unless he's dealing with some
other super high tech villain or, you know, super powered, super, super powered villain, Ironman's
pretty darn tough.
Yep.
And, uh, he's it, he is.
He's super strong, right?
The, the power armor gives him super strength.
That's right.
Um, and he's, his famous attack is the repulsar race, you know, that shoot out of the,
out of his gauntlets.
And, um, I get what I think the, the chest beam, though, had a different, it wasn't that,
like, the uni beam, I think that was what it used to be called.
But he has a, another, you know, like laser type thing out of his chest also.
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about that.
I thought it was about the same as the, the pulse bolts.
Oh, pulse bolts, those came later.
Pulse bolts, pulse bolts came around in the, uh, the white and red armor, I believe.
Oh, okay.
And that was right around the time when he was, uh, after he had lost stark
industries to Obadaya stain and, you know, stain industries that basically became.
And, uh, so he built the new armor.
And that's one of the things you've mentioned that, you know, it started out as this big clunky,
he basically looked like a walking potbelly stove.
Right.
That's how I think of him.
And, yeah, you know, and then, um, somebody, uh, I, I, I've read the early, uh, Iron Man comics.
And, um, you know, someone, I guess he was talking to his girlfriend or wife or whatever.
And they said, oh, you know, you know, he, he's a good guy, but he looks so scary.
And, you know, if he, if only he was like a shining night.
So he goes and he paints his armor gold.
Right.
And it was a still stain, you know, giant.
So he looked like a big giant yellow potbelly stove.
Walking around and then over time, you know, like you said, it slimmed down, you know,
the, the armor got thinner and, uh, you know, nowadays, he doesn't look much bigger.
Depending on like what, what timeline you're reading or what continuity it is, uh, you know,
sometimes the armor doesn't look much larger than a man at all.
It looks like it's paper thin, you know.
Right.
Exactly.
But, um, he's gone through various incarnations.
And, uh, when he, uh, he basically added red to the, uh, the suit after a while.
So he went from like gold, uh, I'm sorry, like, you know, steel, gray steel,
to gold, to gold and red.
And that was the color scheme that he stuck with for the longest time.
And then I forget when it was, but, um, it's sometimes, uh, during the, the storyline involved,
involving Obadiastane, who was the bad guy in the movie, the iron monger.
Uh, he changed it and turned it to, um, white and red.
And added a bunch of new weapons at that time.
And that's where the pulse bolts came in.
So, you know, the repulsor rays are basically jacked up a notch or two.
And, uh, you know, he became even more powerful.
And that was one of the interesting things that I think Iron Man represents an interesting,
um, escalation, you know, in, in power, in the power struggle between the villains and heroes.
And again, with Batman, you know, you sort of saw this when, um, when Bruce Wayne had his
back broken and, uh, asriel became Batman for a while in the Batman continuity.
Right.
Uh, he was so much more powerful, you know, just physical power because of the, the armor
that that guy wore, that, um, you know, for the first few episodes or first few issues,
he's just walking around Gotham City, cleaning house, you know, because nobody could lift a
finger to him because he was just so much tougher. But then the bad guy started to get tougher too,
you know, right, right.
But, uh, but anyway, so Iron Man, you know, got stronger and more powerful.
And, uh, he also evolved into a gray and white suit at one point called the war machine.
And then, uh, I forget exactly what happened, but he ended up giving that armor to his sidekick,
Jim Rhodes.
Uh, do you remember Rody?
Yes, I do.
So Rody became a war machine and I guess they had a falling out at one point.
And, um, you know, he kept the armor and they split off.
And I forget who went where, but, uh, I think that he went and stayed with the West Coast
Avengers for a while. I don't remember the West Coast Avengers period of Marvel comics was kind
of a low point for me. So, but, uh, but Jim Rhodes, um, you know, he was what he starts pilot,
chauffeur, bodyguard, confidante, yeah, all of those things. And, uh, he plays, he's in the role in
the, um, in the movie as well, along with a couple of other, um, you know, characters from the,
from the, uh, the comics. So, um, you know, that's, that's, that's pretty much it in a nutshell.
Do you have anything else we should talk about to, you know, give folks an idea of who Iron Man is?
I think the, the best thing is really to go see the movie and get, again, get reacquainted with,
with, uh, Iron Man and the whole comic book universe. Um, other than that, all I remember is
that Tony Stark was kind of a jerk. I was just, yes. And also an alcoholic. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
That's right. You're right. He was an alcoholic and a jerk. Yep. He was kind of a jerk. And
they, the, the comic was one of the, you know, they did dive into that. They dealt a lot with
substance abuse and alcoholism. Uh-huh. And that was an interesting thing, especially like in the
70s and 80s and stuff where, um, you know, a lot of comics did that. Well, not a lot, but, but
some did. They, you know, dived into real, you know, social issues at the time, human, human issues,
human exactly. And, and that's, again, like you said, you know, underneath all that, you know,
that golden yellow armor there, it's just a guy. Right. And that's perhaps that, that's what they
were trying to go for. There's, there's this outer armor that we all have, you know, a mask,
so to speak, but inside where are these human people with, with, uh, weaknesses and, uh,
character flaws and that kind of stuff. So, yep. Perhaps that's where they, they wanted us to,
to look at the dichotomy of the, uh, the human nature, you know. Well, we could have to get
on like, yeah. But I think we did a good little overview of Iron Man. Again, the ultimate, uh,
techie, um, you know, tech, tech hacker hero, in my opinion. So, yeah, I agree. And if you
haven't seen the trailers there, out now, by the time you hear this episode, obviously, um,
you know, the, the movie will be out now too. Yep. Um, but, um, I thought from, from the trailers
that I've seen, they looked really good. Um, you know, Robert Downey Jr. is playing Tony Stark,
and who's better to play an alcoholic than, you know, someone who's got substance abuse issues,
right? That's right. You know, I think, I think it's going to work out really well.
I think so too. I can't wait for the movie. And, um, I know my kids can't. My, uh, I got kids who
already are begging me to see it. So we'll be out there. Well, Randy, uh, Randy knows,
we're the, the knows, uh, from Fresh Ubuntu, Colley and Fame. And I will be, uh, connecting
sometime on Saturday to talk about the movie. So, uh, I'll look for you too if you want to
join in and we can, uh, you know, do a little roundtable discussion on it.
Sounds good. All right. Take care, everybody. Thank you for listening to my
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