Iron Man 3 *SPOILERS*

[Batman]

My impression of the scene where Tony hit the suit when it came after Pepper in bed is that Tony knew a particular spot where there was an emergency "break the suit apart" button or something. Hitting the emergency catch and breaking the suit apart wouldn't damage the parts- that's a common sense design feature.

As Havok said, it's much more likely that with the suit being powered down, whatever keeps the components together just shut down. I DO admit that's a bad example on hindsight.

The other two times- after the crash the armor is significantly less functional, Jarvis is damaged or seems to be. And when he finally tries to use the Mk. 42 armor in the breakout from Killian's stronghold, he finds that it isn't nearly as functional as he wanted or expected. He has to stop and recalibrate or repair or something before it can work properly.

The crash happens with Tony in it so the suit would, under my theory, absorb the damage that would otherwise happen to the wearer.

After it gets hit by the truck and reassembles, it's a mess- we see it coming in with the suit jets firing erratically, and it clips a pylon and breaks into pieces again.

It was a mess before the truck ever hit it. As you said, the suit was heavily damaged in the crash, Tony sort of repaired it with materials even less sophisticated than what he had to build the Mk I with (where he at least had access to Stark Industries weapons). The suit not being up to specs (which it never was throughout the entire movie, if memory serves, that's prototypes for you) is hardly surprising under the circumstances.
And yet, despite the crash, despite being run over by a truck, despite JARVIS crashing it again (if considerably less violently) the suit is still functional enough for Tony to trap Killian in it and trigger the self-destruct.

This is consistent with the suit being designed to break apart. But when it breaks apart because of impacts, it is noticeably and progressively damaged: mechanical and electrical linkages don't work as well afterward.

We don't know that. Both of those happen after the crash and we know Tony's jury-rigged repairs were less than perfect (as was the suit from the word go)-'Aw crap', 'Have you got yours'?-'Kinda' and still visible damage to the Mk42 once all the pieces finally deigned to arrive at the fake Mandarin's mansion. Maybe the damage isn't from the impacts but residual damage from the crash to a suit that never worked as expected to begin with.

[Simon_Jester]

Tony gave the suit a voice command to shut down. It's more likely that once that happened the seals for the individual components deactivated than there being a special button right on the chest that causes the suit to fall apart.

That is very possible. The only thing that makes me wonder about that is that, well, it would not be the best of engineering to make the Mark 42 hold together only with actively powered systems. You'd think there would be mechanical linkages of some kind that would hold up without suit power running into the armor. I mean, Stark would hardly want a suit that would blow apart on its own if he lost power like he did going through the portal in New York.

But since those mechanical linkages might just be a backup, maybe they have an emergency release on the outside of the suit, but one that can only be activated if the suit is deliberately powered down by Stark. In that case, Stark would want the ability to stop the armor in its tracks by shutting it down and breaking it up in case of malfunction. But it wouldn't be a risk of that happening in combat, since normally he'd have both suit power and the backup mechanical connections holding the suit together.

My impression of the scene where Tony hit the suit when it came after Pepper in bed is that Tony knew a particular spot where there was an emergency "break the suit apart" button or something. Hitting the emergency catch and breaking the suit apart wouldn't damage the parts- that's a common sense design feature.

As Havok said, it's much more likely that with the suit being powered down, whatever keeps the components together just shut down. I DO admit that's a bad example on hindsight.

The other two times- after the crash the armor is significantly less functional, Jarvis is damaged or seems to be. And when he finally tries to use the Mk. 42 armor in the breakout from Killian's stronghold, he finds that it isn't nearly as functional as he wanted or expected. He has to stop and recalibrate or repair or something before it can work properly.

The crash happens with Tony in it so the suit would, under my theory, absorb the damage that would otherwise happen to the wearer.

A fair point. I kind of wonder, though- if there's really nothing much holding the suit together except active powered systems, how much damage could the suit avoid by letting itself fall apart? Not sure how to approach the question; I'm not that much of an engineer.

This is consistent with the suit being designed to break apart. But when it breaks apart because of impacts, it is noticeably and progressively damaged: mechanical and electrical linkages don't work as well afterward.

We don't know that. Both of those happen after the crash and we know Tony's jury-rigged repairs were less than perfect (as was the suit from the word go)-'Aw crap', 'Have you got yours'?-'Kinda' and still visible damage to the Mk42 once all the pieces finally deigned to arrive at the fake Mandarin's mansion. Maybe the damage isn't from the impacts but residual damage from the crash to a suit that never worked as expected to begin with.

[/quote]This is possible.

Personally, I like the idea that the Mk. 42, already shaky before any of the fights it got into, was increasingly damaged until it was (literally) barely holding itself together. And that its progressive loss of function corresponds to Tony Stark's progressive gain of ability to function outside his own armor. Tony's technology gets weaker every time it encounters a reverse or a crisis; Tony himself keeps getting stronger. Something like that.

But it's not the only way to interpret the situation.

[Batman]

The Mk 42 still carries some of the battle scars from the crash when it arrives onboard Air Force One and I don't think it looks any worse after the truck incident and the pylon crash towards the end so I don't think we can just assume it was the impacts that did the damage.

That is very possible. The only thing that makes me wonder about that is that, well, it would not be the best of engineering to make the Mark 42 hold together only with actively powered systems. You'd think there would be mechanical linkages of some kind that would hold up without suit power running into the armor. I mean, Stark would hardly want a suit that would blow apart on its own if he lost power like he did going through the portal in New York.

I dunno. Given that without power the suit isn't of much use (yeah, still bulletproof-also pretty damned heavy and no weapons) and the fact that the thing is at least partially powered by the Arc reactor in Tony's chest the thing having no power essentially means Tony's dead already anyway.

But since those mechanical linkages might just be a backup, maybe they have an emergency release on the outside of the suit, but one that can only be activated if the suit is deliberately powered down by Stark. In that case, Stark would want the ability to stop the armor in its tracks by shutting it down and breaking it up in case of malfunction. But it wouldn't be a risk of that happening in combat, since normally he'd have both suit power and the backup mechanical connections holding the suit together.

Why the hell would he need to do that if the suit already powered down anyway? Either suit powered down, in which case there's no need for the button, or it didn't, in which case have fun trying to get into a position to push it.

The other two times- after the crash the armor is significantly less functional, Jarvis is damaged or seems to be. And when he finally tries to use the Mk. 42 armor in the breakout from Killian's stronghold, he finds that it isn't nearly as functional as he wanted or expected. He has to stop and recalibrate or repair or something before it can work properly.

The crash happens with Tony in it so the suit would, under my theory, absorb the damage that would otherwise happen to the wearer.

A fair point. I kind of wonder, though- if there's really nothing much holding the suit together except active powered systems, how much damage could the suit avoid by letting itself fall apart? Not sure how to approach the question; I'm not that much of an engineer. [/quote]
Neither am I. I'm just presenting this as a theory to maybe make sense of the fact that in the crash sequences, the Mk 42 seems a lot less resiliant than the former armours.

Personally, I like the idea that the Mk. 42, already shaky before any of the fights it got into, was increasingly damaged until it was (literally) barely holding itself together. And that its progressive loss of function corresponds to Tony Stark's progressive gain of ability to function outside his own armor. Tony's technology gets weaker every time it encounters a reverse or a crisis; Tony himself keeps getting stronger. Something like that.
But it's not the only way to interpret the situation.

I'm afraid I'm only looking at the technology, not the storytelling aspects.

[JME2]

Finally saw it today.

I liked it. Definitely a step up from 2 and the best of the series after the first one.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think that this film might even be better than the first one.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I recall after the three choppers blew up his house that the Iron Man suit was sufficiently damaged that JARVIS himself wasn't functioning cranberries. Given we don't know exactly where his program is run it's hard to say, whether there's a copy of him in each suit Tony wears or whether he's instead based in Stark Tower (or Stark's home given the above-ground portion was levelled). Jarvis was somehow able to shut down the arc reactor in the tower but he must have had a redundant power source to keep functioning.

Most of Stark's interaction with Jarvis (if memory serves) was during the battle in Manhattan where he spent most of his time in relative close proximity to the tower. Of course, if there was a copy of Jarvis in every suit (as opposed to one AI controlling all of them), then they didn't do a great job of piloting them. That said, a few did take out some mooks via kamikaze runs, so perhaps it was in part intentional.

[Kojiro]

There's a JARVIS in each suit. IM one confirms that he is indeed uploaded to the suit and in IM 3 when the house party suits start the battle they each reply individually 'Yes sir!' to Tony's attack order. They do not do this in sync but all a little out of time, as would a group of humans responding, strongly implying they're not all slaved to the same control. We also see the JARVIS onboard the MK42 is having issues directly related to the suit damage. There is also clearly a copy of JARVIS in the house and one Stark Tower.

It also seems unlikely Tony would slave them when they can be uploaded. Individual onboard systems instead of wireless control means they can't be jammed (or hacked) and there's no reason to believe he'd abandon the idea.

What's curious though is that JARVIS is an extremely intelligent AI. He can predict Tony's actions and intent and even has the presence of mind to suggest calling Pepper when Tony is possibly about to die. That is pretty damn smart. But if there is a copy of JARVIS in the MK 42 the idea it would get up and storm around the house is rather odd.

[Batman]

What we don't know however is when JARVIS was uploaded into the Mk 42 as it never actually happens onscreen that I can recall, all we know is it happened sometime before the mansion attack. Could be given the first system test went...less than perfect, Tony might have planned postponing that until the bugs were worked out until the nightmare event (and might possibly have accelerated his plans of doing so because of the suit attacking Pepper so JARVIS could prevent it from happening again afterwards).
Alternatively, while JARVIS was already uploaded into the suit, with the suit being a)designed to be remote-controlled by Tony and b) being a buggy as hell prototype, it's possible Tony's remote control commands even while unconscious overrode JARVIS' control of the suit. Stark explicitly said this shouldn't happen and he was going to recalibrate which makes it not improbable the plan WAS for JARVIS to be in control of the suit when Tony was asleep and it didn't work as planned.

[Alkaloid]

I think that this film might even be better than the first one.

I agree with that. Not as well paced, perhaps, but it was broader and deeper thematically and had snappier dialogue.

[Kojiro]

What we don't know however is when JARVIS was uploaded into the Mk 42 as it never actually happens onscreen that I can recall, all we know is it happened sometime before the mansion attack. Could be given the first system test went...less than perfect, Tony might have planned postponing that until the bugs were worked out until the nightmare event (and might possibly have accelerated his plans of doing so because of the suit attacking Pepper so JARVIS could prevent it from happening again afterwards).

I'm pretty sure JARVIS is a standard upload to each suit. During the first test of the MK 42 Tony does say, after attaching a few pieces, 'Alright I think we got this, send them all.' and follows up with something like 'A little fast, slow it down a bit.' while ducking and deflecting speeding pieces of armour. He even says 'Cool it will you JARVIS!' when he's nearly knocked off his feet. It seems clear that JARVIS is in the suit from the moment we see it.

Alternatively, while JARVIS was already uploaded into the suit, with the suit being a)designed to be remote-controlled by Tony and b) being a buggy as hell prototype, it's possible Tony's remote control commands even while unconscious overrode JARVIS' control of the suit. Stark explicitly said this shouldn't happen and he was going to recalibrate which makes it not improbable the plan WAS for JARVIS to be in control of the suit when Tony was asleep and it didn't work as planned.

Given that JARVIS actually takes control of at least part of the suit (the glove) and detaches from Tony while Stark is completely awake and aware the idea he would control it while unconscious is almost certain. There should be no way for a suit to power up, get out of the vault, go upstairs through the house and assault Pepper without JARVIS being aware of it, and presumably stopping it.

Also for what it's worth, when Stark 'breaks' the mk 42 apart he does seem to do so with a very specific strike. I'm not even sure he touched it really, almost more like it was a physical gesture command to make the suit fall apart.

[Batman]

What we don't know however is when JARVIS was uploaded into the Mk 42 as it never actually happens onscreen that I can recall, all we know is it happened sometime before the mansion attack. Could be given the first system test went...less than perfect, Tony might have planned postponing that until the bugs were worked out until the nightmare event (and might possibly have accelerated his plans of doing so because of the suit attacking Pepper so JARVIS could prevent it from happening again afterwards).

I'm pretty sure JARVIS is a standard upload to each suit. During the first test of the MK 42 Tony does say, after attaching a few pieces, 'Alright I think we got this, send them all.' and follows up with something like 'A little fast, slow it down a bit.' while ducking and deflecting speeding pieces of armour. He even says 'Cool it will you JARVIS!' when he's nearly knocked off his feet. It seems clear that JARVIS is in the suit from the moment we see it.

Not to me it doesn't. It's entirely possible (and at least to me, more likely) that the Mansion iteration of JARVIS was remote-controlling the suit components given they were still in the 'lets see if this works to begin with' stage.

Alternatively, while JARVIS was already uploaded into the suit, with the suit being a)designed to be remote-controlled by Tony and b) being a buggy as hell prototype, it's possible Tony's remote control commands even while unconscious overrode JARVIS' control of the suit. Stark explicitly said this shouldn't happen and he was going to recalibrate which makes it not improbable the plan WAS for JARVIS to be in control of the suit when Tony was asleep and it didn't work as planned.

Given that JARVIS actually takes control of at least part of the suit (the glove) and detaches from Tony while Stark is completely awake and aware the idea he would control it while unconscious is almost certain.

Happened after Tony presumably recalibrated and with Tony awake, which would allow him to intentionally and deliberately relinquish control of the glove to JARVIS. That's something pretty hard to do when you're fast asleep.

There should be no way for a suit to power up, get out of the vault, go upstairs through the house and assault Pepper without JARVIS being aware of it, and presumably stopping it.

Ironically enough, this should be true regardless of whether or not JARVIS has already been uploaded into the suit-that damned AI controls pretty much everything in the Mansion but it can't be arsed to wake up Tony when his latest creation starts sleepwalking?

[Kojiro]

Not to me it doesn't. It's entirely possible (and at least to me, more likely) that the Mansion iteration of JARVIS was remote-controlling the suit components given they were still in the 'lets see if this works to begin with' stage.

While that is possible it seems unlikely. Remember Tony is announcing the completion of the suit, and his staggering arrogance. A completed version of the suit undoubtedly includes its own JARVIS- I can't see why he would test it as anything other than complete. This suit requires special co-ordination of multiple, high speed parts being sent at Tony. And while his testing method is insane- he could easily have been killed had he not deflected some of those pieces- the only way to actually test the suit is to let the suit do the work. Mansion JARVIS presumably has much greater capabilities than any suit based version simply by being a larger computer.

Happened after Tony presumably recalibrated and with Tony awake, which would allow him to intentionally and deliberately relinquish control of the glove to JARVIS. That's something pretty hard to do when you're fast asleep.

I'm not sure what the presumed recalibration should do other than stop the unintended power up from unconscious Tony. Even so when JARVIS detaches the glove there is no deliberate or otherwise relinquishing of control. Tony is struggling to free himself and JARVIS, in another display of amazing intelligence, seems to come up with the idea himself. Tony gives absolutely zero instruction.

Ironically enough, this should be true regardless of whether or not JARVIS has already been uploaded into the suit-that damned AI controls pretty much everything in the Mansion but it can't be arsed to wake up Tony when his latest creation starts sleepwalking?

This is one of the things that irks me so damned much about the film. JARVIS is aware that Tony is on high alert, that he is anticipating or fearful of an attack. Tony has him trawling SHIELD files for info on the Mandarin. When someone rings the doorbell, Tony even says "Are we still at ding dong? We're supposed to be on total security lockdown! Come on, I threatened a terrorist!" JARVIS should have been looking after the house he is charged with running. It's so odd that an AI that prepares safety briefings (and knows they'll be ignored) fails utterly to utilise it's resources.

[Batman]

Mind you, this is the same Tony that did exactly nothing to fortify his lodgings or install I dunno defensive weapons perhaps? As in could effortlessly deal with those not actually attack helicopters? When a TV feed is your first clue there's a missile heading your way, yeah, your defenses need some serious reevaluation, as does the guy designing them.l

[Simon_Jester]

Jarvis probably has protocols in place to do a safety overview of the armor suits. Stark may at least occasionally flip through them, or want them to exist on general principles even if he doesn't normally give a shit.

Jarvis probably does NOT have protocols in place for what happens when Drunk!Stark threatens a terrorist.