The big news these days for fans of the comic book character and movie hero is that they will finally have a chance to immerse themselves in the world of genius billionaire Tony Stark at the recently opened Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland. Located at the Stark Expo, visitors get to experience a simulated attack on the city while walking through the history of Stark Industries and their high-tech creations. Even though Iron Man now comes equipped with technology so advanced it has made him one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Universe, his beginnings were much more austere – just a suit of armor cobbled together from metal scraps.
Iron Man in Hong Kong (Photo Courtesy of roy so)
From Iron Scraps to Superhero
Since the character’s debut in 1963, the one constant in the Iron Man series is Tony Stark’s ability to innovate and adapt. The first model was “bulky, battleship gray, and most definitely, low-tech,” at least compared to the more recent suits. Trapped in a prison cell with limited resources, Tony only had heavy scrap iron at his disposal to piece together the very first Iron Man suit, giving it a very crude and unrefined appearance. Tony drastically improves upon these flaws in the Mark II by stripping down the bulky and rudimentary design to a lighter, stronger, and more flexible armor, which in turn took his flight capabilities to another level.
Over time, further adjustments and improvements were made in material, color, and function – allowing him to fly further, dive into the oceans, and enter deep space. He even began to use a technology that could store the suit in his bone marrow, making portability a much simpler affair. Through each series, each battle, and each villain, Tony customized the suit to make it stronger, more advanced, and more resilient.
Since the 1960s, Iron Man has transformed from a comic book character breaking free from prison to a Hollywood superhero grabbing missiles in mid-air. His ability to adapt and innovate his suit has made him one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Universe.
The Iron Man Hall of Armor at Innoventions, Disneyland (Photo courtesy of HarshLight)
Similarities between Iron Man & POSCO
If there is one thing Tony Stark and POSCO have in common, it’s their obsession with innovation. POSCO was founded in March 1968, almost 5 years after Tony Stark emerged from a Vietnamese prison wearing his first Iron Man suit in Marvel’s Tales of Suspense (#39). Both began with some basic iron and steel, and both continued to advance with hard work, innovation, and some high-tech metal alloys. It is that continuous innovation that also drives POSCO forward.
Also, like Iron Man, POSCO’s world premium products are already used to fly the skies, cross the seas, and withstand crushing pressure. POSCO’s PosMAC is built to improve upon galvanized steel and strengthen specific areas by adding materials such as magnesium and aluminum – making the steel lighter, stronger, non-corrosive, and, like Iron Man, self-healing.
Other innovations include the award winning, and vibration resistant, PosCozy, which combines manganese Z-clips with continuous galvanized steel plates. PosCozy has higher resistance to vibrations than general steel, “making the sound of children running on a floor sound like noise heard in a library.”
With its eyes on the auto industry, POSCO has made advances in automotive steel with PosM Steel, a “dream material” five times stronger than conventional automotive steel and which has excellent impact absorption qualities – a quality that (SPOILER ALERT) Howard Stark would have appreciated.
Even though POSCO has yet to develop its own freeze-beam or arc reactor that can power an entire building and give people superpowers, here at POSCO, our researchers, engineers, and specialists continue to take steel technology to the next level. POSCO is already one of the top steel producers in the world and consistently recognized for its advanced tech steel products & sustainability programs. Used in buildings, cars, planes, and even the day-to-day objects lying around the house, POSCO’s steel might not be able to protect mere humans from supervillains but it sure makes the world a stronger place.
Don’t miss any of the exciting stories from The Steel Wire – subscribe via email today.