Lots of people want a real-life Iron Man suit, but one YouTuber made his dream a reality. After years of work and more than $50,000 in parts, Jake Laser pulled a Tony Stark and made himself a flying suit. The video below, posted to the JLaservideo YouTube channel, tracks the build from start to finish. From the first idea, through moments of doubt, all the way to testing it out in Malibu, Laser and his team share it all.
There are some scary moments, like random popping noises, sparks, fires, and falls. It’s never a good sign when the camera man chimes in with, “I thought we were going to die.” But they’re triumphant in the end. The backpack and arm pieces covered in small red and gold jet engines even come when called. And Laser also dons a bodysuit and functional Iron Man helmet to complete the look.
JLaservideo is certainly not the only YouTube maker account working on building usable Iron Man components. The Hacksmith offered congratulations in the comments section of this video. Fellow builders of wildly imaginative and potentially dangerous things, it sounds like the Hacksmith team gave up on a real-life version of the suit years ago.
JLaservideo has a whole playlist of Working Iron Man Suit videos from his earlier attempts. There’s also many more recent builds, including an Iron Man suit that transforms into a suitcase. And this isn’t the first time Laser has put his body on the line to recreate moments from the MCU. He’s scaled a building as Spider-Man and wielded a version of Mjölnir that really shoots lightning.
As with all of JLaservideo’s posts, I wonder what his neighbors think of everything he does in what looks to be a suburban backyard. At least the team’s mantra is comforting: “When things explode, that’s when we call it a day.”
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.
