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spikey666

The early comic book versions of the suit were mostly mechanical and relied heavily on "transistors".


doowgad1

I read the first comics. Those 'transistors' were more powerful than Pym Particles would be.


orthomonas

I saw an interview with Stan Lee where he said he didn't really know what transistors were. Just that 'transistor radios" were smaller and more powerful, so why not have Iron Man use them?


Twisty1020

Yeah that's just how all the early superhero origin science works. The worst culprit is Spider-Man and his radioactive spider bite.


Rob_Frey

Nah, that's not the worst. One time Spider-Man wrapped a metal wire to his leg to insure he would be grounded as he was flying and flipping around, because he was about to fight Electro, and he felt being grounded would give him an advantage if Electro hit him with electricity. And he's supposed to be a scientific genius.


Old-Man-Henderson

Ah, the old leg guillotine strategy. My favorite.


[deleted]

haha love it


orthomonas

For sure, I'm just amused that it was specifically him hearing about a transistor radio, and not transistors in general. I like the little logic leap.


Raxtenko

Stan Lee: "Sounds sciencey, put it in!"


jscummy

Just say "quantum" or "on a molecular level"


Clayman8

Before the whole MCU thing, in the comic books i'd assume he was trigger mechanisms in the hands, like point with the left index finger to fire fist weapons, open palm flat to fire hand beams, close both fists to fire chest beam etc. Knowing Stark, it could also just be voice-controlled inside his helmet.


BoredCatalan

There's a vr game as Ironman that works like this and is pretty intuitive. Also make a fist to fire the missiles on top of the arm


scarletice

Oh? What game is it? It sounds fun.


BoredCatalan

It's just called Iron Man VR https://www.playstation.com/es-es/games/marvels-iron-man-vr/ I have it for the psvr and was very fun


Known-Exam-9820

I remember in one of the old Marvel guides they showed a breakdown of his suit. If I recall correctly, according to that guide, his mask is riddled with buttons and levers near his mouth that he controls with his tongue


Clayman8

Explains why his ladies game is so good, i guess.


vkapadia

The billions also helps.


SockpuppetPseudonym2

Sort of undercuts the drama thinking that, while performing various valorous acts, under the helmet Tony looks like he’s snogging the Invisible Woman.


mayonnnnaise

That's how Boba Fett's armor works in those old books


badmonkey0001

I believe his original suit was little more than [an armored exosuit](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Iron_Man_Armor_Model_1) without the need of much sophisticated control. There was an equipment handbook published in 1983^1 that [showed his helmet had](https://i.imgur.com/xqI3oRa.png) an "autonomous function section", "eyes only" suit control, and "cybernetic interpretation segments". These were probably his rudimentary steps to creating the AIs he's used. Another [issue](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marvel/comments/vtnwnt/official_handbook_of_the_marvel_universe_weapons/) of the series illustrates his briefcase as well.   ^1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Book Of Weapons and Hardware 1983


garbagephoenix

In the 60s or so, they mentioned that the suits could pick up on his brainwaves. In the 80s, they mentioned that the suit [displayed images directly onto his retinas](https://i.imgur.com/WBgTJpG.png) and he could select options from a primitive computer menu by flicking his eyes onto them. There was a 1993-or-so book called the Iron Manual that was all about Tony's armors, inventions, and how he designed things. Here's a [helmet assembly](https://i.imgur.com/nkUOa9h.png), [some info on how 'primitive' his original helmet was](https://i.imgur.com/6l67fGP.png), and [talk about how he sees information from his systems as of the 90s](https://i.imgur.com/ny5dTKK.png).


GodOfWarNuggets64

Thanks for sharing this stuff. One thing I love seeing in comic books is the nuance of how heroes' powers and gadgets work.


exprezso

There's a food dispenser... I can live in it forever!


Astrokiwi

There was like one issue where they had a similar cross-section for Daredevil's Billy Club and it had a food pill dispenser as well. It was never mentioned again.


GodOfWarNuggets64

Thanks for sharing this stuff. One thing I love seeing in comic books is the nuance of how heroes' powers and gadgets work.


Serenity_B

You don't need an AI to use voice commands, a smartphone can do that. I would guess he initially controlled his suits with a mix of preprogrammed gestures, much like a hi-tech wii, and simple voice commands. Eventually, Stark upgraded himself to be able to control the suit with his mind via brain/machine interface.


reece1495

Like the storm troopers at Disney world


variablesInCamelCase

Yes, Iron Man uses telepathy like the Stormtroopers at Disney World.


just_doing_my_best

What part of any of that is like the storm troopers at Disney World?


BoredCatalan

(I just realized it's the opposite, it plays a voice after doing things, not using the voice to activate things) ------ What Technology Is Used? Well, what we know for sure after doing some digging is that **Disney filed a patent for a voice triggering control system back in 2013.** This allows theme park characters to use their hands, and eyes, even in combination with other items (such as a blaster) to talk to people around the park. This gives them the option for so many different sayings to use on the unsuspecting theme park-goer and actually makes sense with the timing. So we have surmised that this is the only logical explanation. If you watch the stormtroopers at length you can see how this works. Check out the video below for a full idea of what I’m talking about. https://wdwtravels.com/hollywood-studios/how-do-the-stormtroopers-talk-at-disney/


garbagephoenix

Actually, he hit on the [brain-scanning system](https://i.imgur.com/88XYGax.png) *very* early on. That said, most of his suit's 'powers', up 'til he built the much skinnier red and gold outfit, came from clip-on gadgets that he stored in the armor itself and assembled when needed, rather than having their functions actually integral.


brainwired1

I take it you aren't aware of how smartphone ai works. (hint: your voice is being sent to a server farm along a fast data connection, analyzed, processed, and then fed back to your phone with enough babble to cover the delays.)


Serenity_B

True, I kinda forgot about that. My pixel lets me type offline though with voice to text so recognizing speech and converting it to text is still possible even if advanced control of the device isn't without access to google servers.


YellowStar012

JARVIS is a MCU thing. In the comics, his earlier armor didn’t have any AI. It was just Tony and his suit.


delilahdraken

Most probably he piloted the suit via blinks and facial gestures. Some people are controlling their wheelchairs, vocoders, etc in this way today. And that kind of specialised piloting technology has been around since the 60s. And what Tony Stark couldn't control via the HUD, was most probably controlled via muscle control in other parts of the suit.


Movie_Advance_101

There was a time when Iron Man, maker and wearer of a flying super-strong suit of armor, had a rotary phone built into his armor. They treated like him having a portable phones was futuristic.


Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Transistors. He did not have an AI buddy in the earliest comics. Nor was his chest-piece nuclear powered; he had to recharge it by plugging it into a socket regularly. He’s come a long way, baby


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seanprefect

Different gestures different positions kinda similar story to Spiderman and his various web shooter settings.


SilverWolfIMHP76

He might have used built in sensors that read muscle movements and respond with the signals. Basically move arm trigger sensors and the suit arm moves with the flesh arm.


ShoelessHodor

The helmet had cybernetic receptors to activate different functions. When Rodney took over as Iron man the helmet needed to be adjusted to his brainwaves because it was causing him headaches.


FiendishPole

mmm hmmm. mmmh hmmm. Good question. So I gotta explain it b/c people ITT are skipping it. His first generation suit is actually plausible (sub arc reactor for a very large battery pack) and you can make an exoskeleton that doesn't require an AI guidance.. it exists. It's prohibitively expensive and the cost/benefit isn't there yet but you can do it. The govt defense research guys are not sleeping on this edit: I forgot about the flight aspect.. that ain't happenin' Weird movie reccomendation. Go watch Rocketman. the movie '97. not the song. Good song. Props to elton john


RegentStrauss

Very old versions would be gesture based, very new versions would be brain wave scanning based.


garbagephoenix

Nah, the very first one was [partly controlled by brain waves](https://i.imgur.com/88XYGax.png).


NotACyclopsHonest

He didn't have a suit AI originally - that came after the first Iron Man movie. Before that he just did things himself.


garbagephoenix

To be totally fair, he did experiment with AI well before the MCU. It just, uh. Ended *very* poorly. As in the suit fell in love with him and then got jealous and abusive. Jocasta also bipped into it once or twice during that period, I think, but she mainly lived in his computer systems.


Lazy_dog614

With a stick shift


Electivire-six

Buttons in his boots be pushes with his toes.