Engineer and YouTube star Jake Laser scaled a 400-foot-tall building in his homemade Spider-Man suit. On top of that, he also managed to beat a real Spider-Man to the top. David Elson, the stunt double for Tom Holland, also completed the feat of strength and engineering in the end, but was a few minutes behind Laser. A Marvel stunt team including Martin De Boer, Benedict Cumberbatch’s stunt double and the stunt coordinator for Avengers: Endgame, oversaw the race. It’s a real-life action sequence.
Laser’s video of the Spider-Man suit build includes more details about the suction cups and air pumps involved in his Spidey suit. He did scale a smaller building back then, but he wasn’t racing the clock or anyone else. This time around, the stunt left him exhausted and slightly burned. The suit needs some repairs before it can leap back into action.
The JLaservideo YouTube channel also shows off his other Spider-Man suit that shrinks to fit the user. He’s even constructed functional Doc Ock arms. There’s other wild builds inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well, like Shuri’s silent sneakers from Black Panther and a version of Thor’s hammer that shoots lightning. Most recently, he built an Iron Man suit that flies to him on command.
Laser doesn’t necessarily make the whole endeavor look easy, but the stunt was undoubtedly even more taxing than it looked. And based on the video above, it looks like he will have to do the climb at least one more time. MrBeast, one of the most popular YouTubers, originally challenged him to complete the race but then things fell through. Members of his team didn’t make it more than a few stories up the building before tapping out. Now it’s back on in a rematch.
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.
