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Should Tony Stark Hand His Suit Over To The US Government?

Should Tony Stark Hand Over The Iron Man Suit?


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TeleKat

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I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)
 
I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)

Tony Stark wasn't more careful with it. If you recall he was a crippling alcoholic and did in fact get smashed at one party, got into Iron Man and started firing at all his completely defenseless guests with his three billion dollar murder suit.

If you want to make a libertarian argument, Tony Stark isn't going to be your best poster boy.

While Iron Man (and all its sequels) were really just multi-hour commercials for Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's captains of industry weren't irresponsible alcoholic ten year olds in mens' bodies.
 
Tony Stark wasn't more careful with it. If you recall he was a crippling alcoholic and did in fact get smashed at one party, got into Iron Man and started firing at all his completely defenseless guests with his three billion dollar murder suit.

If you want to make a libertarian argument, Tony Stark isn't going to be your best poster boy.

While Iron Man (and all its sequels) were really just multi-hour commercials for Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's captains of industry weren't irresponsible alcoholic ten year olds in mens' bodies.

I don't recall giving my opinion one way or the other.
 
Yes, he should hand it over. I don't think advanced technology that's decades beyond what the military has is covered by the 2nd amendment. Especially since the government funded its development.
 
I was using "you" in the universal sense.

Ah, I see. My bad. Looked like you were kind of assuming what my position was.

One thing I would like to correct you on though: What you described would be a likely right-libertarian approach to this issue, however not all libertarians would approach it the same way. Ayn Rand and unfiltered Capitalism is stuff of the Libertarian Right. There are those with less of an extreme economic position and even some that are rather leftist on economics. Just a friendly correction...it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when libertarians are associated with Ayn Rand. :2razz: Not many people are aware that libertarianism is actually a civil/social philosophy that can lean either way on economics. The political compass is pretty good at showing this if you're not sure what I mean. :)
 
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The suit was originally powered by his heart power source or whatever it is called and could not be worn by anyone else. I would rather return to that than continue to abandon a rule they made in the first movie.
 
The suit was originally powered by his heart power source or whatever it is called and could not be worn by anyone else. I would rather return to that than continue to abandon a rule they made in the first movie.

It was simply one power source. Ultimately it did not depend on him exclusively.
 
It was simply one power source. Ultimately it did not depend on him exclusively.

If I recall there was no other power source that was powerful enough. They also didn't replace it with anything else if I recall, but just put someone else in the suit and ignored the power question all together.
 
If I recall there was no other power source that was powerful enough. They also didn't replace it with anything else if I recall, but just put someone else in the suit and ignored the power question all together.

He mainstreamed the technology, meaning he was able to repeat it.
 
I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)



Heya TK.
hat.gif
You might find this interesting. ;)


Meet TALOS, the U.S. Military’s Soon-To-Be Real Life ‘Iron Man’

SCT0320-v144-1114-R-jpg_203521.jpg


http://www.debatepolitics.com/military/175641-talos-us-army-rdecom.html
 
Hey MMC :2wave:

It's by no means an Iron Man suit(it can't even fly), but it still looks pretty cool! :)


Yeah its an exoskeleton encased. Might not be able to fly.....but it will be armored and armed. No doubt about that. ;)
 
Yes, he should hand it over. I don't think advanced technology that's decades beyond what the military has is covered by the 2nd amendment. Especially since the government funded its development.

Not in the films, it didn't.
 
The suit is his. If he does something illegal with it they can try and convict him, and if successful, impound his suit (for public safety). But they may not use it themselves, nor may they copy the tech without his permission. The tech is fully his as well.

That would be my call.
 
The suit was originally powered by his heart power source or whatever it is called and could not be worn by anyone else. I would rather return to that than continue to abandon a rule they made in the first movie.

But that original power source was killing him and only in place to keep the metal fragments away from his heart. The power source was addressed and made much more effective and safe in IM2. IM3 they took care of the metal fragments, freeing Tony from needing the chest power source.
 
Tony Stark wasn't more careful with it. If you recall he was a crippling alcoholic and did in fact get smashed at one party, got into Iron Man and started firing at all his completely defenseless guests with his three billion dollar murder suit.

If you want to make a libertarian argument, Tony Stark isn't going to be your best poster boy.

While Iron Man (and all its sequels) were really just multi-hour commercials for Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's captains of industry weren't irresponsible alcoholic ten year olds in mens' bodies.
For crying out loud, get a grip.
 
I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)

I'd hand it over on general patriotic principle... so long as they paid me for it. ;)

I'd also look into trying to stabilize that "fire body" ('extremis,' I think?) stuff from Iron Man 3.

Can you imagine what we'd be able do with the two in combination? It'd be insane!

At the very least, we wouldn't need to rely on a couple of dudes in spandex to fight our battles for us anymore. :lol:
 
Yes, he should hand it over. I don't think advanced technology that's decades beyond what the military has is covered by the 2nd amendment. Especially since the government funded its development.

No they didn't, they bought Stark weapon systems and he used that money for the development of the Iron Man suit. They didn't fund anything directly.
 
I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)

I think it helps that Tony Stark has God Tier levels of competence. He invents hard AI, Fusion, and nano-technology and seems more capable than the US Government by a wide margin. Tony Stark gets to keep his suit, but would I let anyone else in the US today? Hell no.
 
I saw this question in another debate forum I'm on and thought it'd be interesting to ask it here. It's a fun one, good for a friendly late-night debate. This question is based off of a scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark is asked to hand his Iron Man suit over to the US Government.

Where should be done here? Should Tony be able to keep his suit? Can he be trusted to be responsible with it? Will the US Government be any more responsible with it than Mr. Stark would be? Should there be limits to what he can do with the suit?

Discuss. :)

He was under U.S. government contract at the time of its design and the original suit was actually made with U.S. military hardware that he likewise designed, he can't be responsible with it as is seen when he gets drunk and fights war machine then goes drunk flying to a giant donut, plus he supported the Superhero Registration Act and murdered Captain America so he's kind of a dick.

This was actually a topic of an article over on cracked.com:

#5. Every Decision Tony Stark Makes Is Terrible (and Illegal)


Let's start with the fact that the man could and should be thrown in jail at any moment.

See, a good portion of the Iron Man movie franchise focuses on Tony Stark's legal battle with the U.S. government -- they really want him to hand over the Iron Man suit (something about it being a highly effective superweapon capable of neutralizing an entire platoon in seconds and how it probably shouldn't be in the hands of an emotionally unstable alcoholic). But as a legal matter, the government absolutely has a right to demand it for another reason: This technology was created with taxpayer money. It totally belongs to the government.

Remember, Stark Industries is a defense contractor, and thus subject to the same regulations as a company like Lockheed Martin. Any technology built while on a government contract can be used only on that contract, whether it be a tank engine or a piece of software. Because, you know, the government paid for it. The developers can't sell the technology to anyone else or use it to destabilize foreign terrorist cells on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

And as we know from the first Iron Man movie ...

... Tony built the original Arc Reactor -- the one thing that makes the suit work -- as part of a government contract. Hell, the original armor prototype he threw together in the cave was built out of parts from missiles he created under another defense department contract. All of that research and development was done on the taxpayer's dime, and then Tony uses it to turn himself into a superhero and claims that nobody else has a right to put their filthy paws on it. In reality, it would be illegal for Tony to use an Arc Reactor to power his goddamn TiVo, let alone use it to fly halfway around the world and punch tanks in half (which incidentally is also illegal, because crossing national borders with that suit constitutes the trafficking of defense technology).

But knowing that he's in violation of federal law every minute he spends zipping around in his futuristic explosion suit only makes his other decisions that much more baffling.

First of all, Tony openly admits to being Iron Man on national television. As far as the law is concerned, he might as well have announced that he had been smuggling weapons to Chinese pirates for the past seven years, because both are violations of the same set of regulations. Remember, there's a reason Bruce Wayne keeps his Batman hobby a secret: He knows that what he's doing is illegal as ****, billionaire or not. But Tony proudly confesses his criminal activities several times in the middle of a congressional hearing, then hacks into a few government computers (also a crime) and walks out of the courtroom flashing deuces. It's like he's daring the government to throw him in federal prison for a decade.

After insisting that the Iron Man suit isn't a threat to national security as long as it remains in his carefully guarded hands, Tony proceeds to torpedo his own argument in Iron Man 2 by using the armor to drunkenly endanger people's lives at his birthday party and then fly, hungover, to eat doughnuts on top of another, larger doughnut.

His friend Rhodes, an Air Force colonel, shows up at the party to keep Tony from hurting anyone, and Tony goes out of his way to prove to a man who is both a close friend and a high-ranking government official just how little he can be trusted with the armor (the use of which, we can't stress enough, can land Tony in prison).

Then, Rhodes steals one of the Iron Man suits while Tony is too drunk to object, because apparently all you need to do to put on an Iron Man suit is stick one foot in each metal boot hole and strap it the **** on. Tony could've at least put a bike lock on the damn thing. As it stands, his superweapon seems to have about as much security as a dusty old pickup truck. Any of the alcohol-soaked dumbasses who came to his party could have flown home with an Iron Man suit of their very own -- both Tony and the entire world are lucky it was Rhodes who wound up taking one instead of some 24-year-old trust fund douchebag from Malibu.

Then, in The Avengers, Tony builds a giant tower in the middle of New York City with his name on the side and zooms in and out of there in his unsanctioned murder costume on a regular basis. He even invites Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, an earthquake with fists who's currently sitting at the top of the international watch list, to come stay in the tower and help him build even more secret illegal technology.

It's like Tony is deliberately acting out every possible bullet point on a list of reasons why the government needs to confiscate his superhero suit and toss him in a jail cell, presumably one without smelting tools and a helpful fellow scientist.


5 Marvel Characters Who Totally Dropped the Ball | Cracked.com
 
Didn't the government end up being infiltrated by an occult nazi group? There's terrible choices all around.
 
Not in the films, it didn't.

Yes it did, the original Arc Reactor upon which the suits power source is designed was funded under government contract, everything developed under Stark Enterprises at that time prior to Tony cancelling all of his government contracts was government property including the suit because Stark Enterprises was a government defense contractor prior to his return from the kidnapping and press conference, hell the parts used to build the original suit in the cave came from weapons specifically designed for the military.
 
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Didn't the government end up being infiltrated by an occult nazi group? There's terrible choices all around.

True, but it ultimately turned out all of S.H.I.E.L.D. was being run by an occult Nazi group.

He's basically damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. :shrug:
 
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