Iron Man

Factual error: When Iron Man catches the Audi SUV, the front wings/fenders don't bend when he catches it, the car weighs close to 2 tons, some damage should occur to them as they are made of such thin metal.

Factual error: When the "Jericho" rocket explodes in the distance, an explosion is heard simultaneously, this is not possible due to the speed of sound being much slower than the speed of light.

jesus32567

Factual error: After Tony demonstrates the Jericho for the first time, the aftershock hits the soldiers in the face and blows at least three people's hats off. From the side shot of the event, happening simultaneously, you can only see one hat being blown into the air. The aftershock also makes a dead stop, weakening too quickly and appearing anti-climactic. The aftershock should have blown at least ten yards more before dying out.

Factual error: A tank's main gun could not blast Iron Man out of the sky, as depicted in this film, and the "lucky shot" theory holds no water. In military history, there are only a couple of instances of tanks using their main guns to shoot down aircraft by chance, and those involved tanks repeatedly firing their main guns on known flight paths until an aircraft literally ran into a tank round. However, in this movie, Iron Man comes out of nowhere on no known flight path, he's not recognizable as an aircraft, he's traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, and he's only airborne for about 4 seconds before he's hit with a tank round. The tank gunner could not possibly identify Iron Man as a new target, elevate the main gun, track him and fire in 4 seconds. Modern tanks do not have the ability to acquire and track fast-moving targets with the main gun, nevermind fast-moving aerial targets.

Charles Austin Miller

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: All that might be true in the real world but in this movie we know that the forces of the Ten Rings have been supplied with advanced weapons from Stark Industries. A retrofitted tank weapon that can engage a superhero in a flying suit is no more fanciful than a hand held paralyzing noise device or an arc reactor.

Yes, it's a fantasy film. You could even fairly say that no fantasy film can be in error by virtue of its fantastical premise. That does not negate a factual error.

Charles Austin Miller

Tony Stark is an extremely intelligent inventor that makes advanced weapons for the military. A targeting system for made for tanks lies entirely within the realm of possibility presented within the world of this franchise.

Phaneron

And, yet, it is established in this first movie that the Ten Rings terrorists only possess as much Stark technology as Obediah Stane allows them (which isn't much). Obviously, the tank is not very advanced technology, as Tony merely sidesteps the second tank round and he utterly destroys the tank with a wrist-rocket. There is no indication in the film that the Tank is advanced Stark technology.

Charles Austin Miller

No one is saying that the tank itself is Stark technology, only that it's weapon can be retrofitted with a targeting system. It wouldn't be much different than retrofitting an older model car with a GPS system. The reason Iron Man is able to sidestep the second shot is because he's expecting it, and even then, he barely dodges it.

Phaneron

No way the single-shot main gun of ANY style tank would be "retrofitted" to track and fire on high-speed aerial targets. Any refit would require rebuilding and automating the tank and turret and replacing the main gun (which fires only single rounds) with an automatic repeating cannon, essentially turning it into an advanced mobile anti-aircraft platform. The tank in the movie is recognizable as a standard, slow, single-shot British Chieftain MK10, so it's not Stark industries.

Charles Austin Miller

Well you definitely know a hell of a lot more about tanks than I do, so I concede my previous points.

Phaneron

It takes a man to admit he's wrong. I doff my cap to your courage.

Charles Austin Miller

Iron Man mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Pepper is watching the television program about Stark Industries' stock troubles, after Tony's press conference, notice she has a wireless headset in her left ear. When Tony calls her down to the lab, the camera flashes back to Pepper and the ear piece is gone. (00:48:50)

More mistakes in Iron Man

Tony Stark: My old man had a philosophy: Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.
Christine Everheart: That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.

More quotes from Iron Man

Trivia: Notice they don't play the lyrics with the "Iron Man" song in the closing credits. That's because the Black Sabbath song was not about the comic book Iron Man. There are many theories about what the song means, but the most popular is that it is about a man who travels to the future and sees the apocalypse. They couldn't use the lyrics to describe the Iron Man in the movie: He was turned to steel - In the great magnetic field - Where he traveled time - For the future of mankind. Now the time is here - For Iron Man to spread fear - Vengeance from the grave - Kills the people he once saved.

More trivia for Iron Man

Question: How come Tony doesn't die when Pepper hits the button that blows up the roof? He never cleared the roof as intended and it must have been really powerful if it killed Obediah. Tony's chest piece flickers on and off and then the scene fades. They never give an explanation for this.

Answer: Tony, even wearing the Iron Man armour, is light enough that the shockwave of the blast throws him out of the way, so he escapes the majority of the explosion's effects. Stane, in his much heavier suit, isn't so lucky and so gets the full impact, which kills him. The flickering of the chest piece is merely a device to show that Tony is still in one piece, even if injured.

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from Iron Man

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.