YouTuber Alex Burkan is living out the dream of many a Marvel superhero fan by building his own working real-life Iron Man suit.
This isn’t just some kind of uber-cosplay, oh no. Burkan’s Iron Man suit has working repulsors (among other things) and has the footage to prove it. In a recent post, he cold-thrust tested a repulsor, unleashing a blast of hydrogen and oxygen so strong that sent him stumbling backwards.
The suit is still very much a work in progress – and Burkan is being careful with how he tests new parts, noting that his body doesn’t have spare parts – but he is regularly posting his experiments on the video sharing site, as well as other social media platforms.
Currently, the suit looks rather like one of Tony Stark’s early prototypes – think back to how it looked when he initially developed the suit the first Iron Man movie and you’re about there – but it is undeniably an Iron Man suit.
Burkan has also posted about his endeavours to 3D print various parts for his suit, as he gradually builds it up and gets it increasingly like the version seen in the popular series of films.
Burkan, who hails from Russia, has form with this sort of thing. He is already in the Guiness Book of World Records for creating the world’s first working retractable lightsaber – as seen in the Star Wars franchise – which could really cut things.
So while he may be living the dream for comic book fans – and many shed-based engineers too – it does show that the comics and films aren’t that removed from what is possible in real life, at least sometimes. So while it will be some time before we see him jetting through the skies, we can nonetheless marvel at his technical expertise.
