Follow the rough DIY instructions, match it up with the DIY arc reactor, and you'd have the start of your own iron suit...with just the rockets, weapons and other flim-flam to put together in your garage. [Carlito's Contraptions via Hacked Gadgets]

If the little Iron Man of art couldn't crush us in his itty bitty fingers, we'd go Cute Overload on his ass and scratch behind those teenie weenie wittle Iron Man cheeks. [Brian Chan via Geekologie]

[Slashfilm]

Video here.

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One of my workmates thought it was Generic VoiceoverMan™, while most were pretty sure it was Beardface. It wouldn't be surprising though, as Cupertino has used Richard Dreyfuss and Kermit on VO duty, as well as Jeff Goldblum (runs the Death Star?) and Will Ferrell.

Richard Dreyfuss spouts some unwholly guff about how utter, utter bastards who are more focused than a Sidewinder missile go on to change the world.

Kermit said it wasn't easy being green, sentiments that Apple shared, as it changed its multi-hued colorscheme to white PDQ. Shall I mention the damning accusations from the eco lobby as well? [Apple]

Unfortunately, it's just papier-mâché with a great finish. What this guy fails to realize is that being Tony Stark is not a matter of arc reactors and metal suits. Tony Stark is a state of mind. One that requires cocktails—and yes, at last it's Friday. [Instructables and Instructables via Hack'n Mod]

Iron Man : Yeah, He Can Fly

Iron Man may already be out, but that doesn't mean we should just forget about it. With the great flight scenes, cutting edge tech and the fact that it is just an excellent film, I plan to use any and all excuses to keep talking about the best superhero movie ever made (as well as the sequel).

Wall-E : Don't (or Do) Watch While Dropping Acid

Wall-E is probably the movie I'm most excited for this summer. From the gadget/robot factor, to the CG eye candy, I get hyped just thinking about it (especially with the righteous toys and promo gear). And did I mention Jonathan Ive helped design one of the robots? In any case, with films such as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille under their belt, I find it hard to believe Pixar would miss the mark with Wall-E (Cars never happened).

The Dark Knight : Ambien's New Corporate Slogan
For all its positive transformation in Batman Begins, the Batman franchise just hasn't really held up too well on the gadget front. While you shouldn't expect to see any sonic batarangs or batnet guns in The Dark Knight, fans and other, less intentionally strange people have been picking up the slack. If I want to (and I do) I could go out right now and get myself, for example, a Batman MP3 player. I could use it to listen to the old Batman theme while I'm driving the original Tim Burton Batmobile. I might pull up at a stoplight next to nice young lady driving a much flatter, much more street legal Batmobile. I could even ask her out to see the premiere of The Dark Knight. Most importantly, If all goes well (or if she tries to escape) I could finally try out a pair of Batcuffs. Theoretically speaking.

The Incredible Hulk : Suck On That Eric Bana. And Everything Else, Too
The Hulk doesn't give a shit about gadgets. He's not all like "HULK FINGER TOO BIG FOR UMPC, HULK DEMAND EXTERNAL KEYBOARD," mainly because that'd be stupid. If that stupid green Luddite could calm down for five minutes he might realize that just because he's apparently given up electronics, they haven't given up on him. Any of those items would provide Mr. Hulk with a sizable increase in daily productivity.

For a little fun he could always play Hulk Operation, but there's always the risk that if he buzzed he'd flip out, get huge and ruin everyone's family night with another of his obnoxious tantrums. He could do with a pair of carthartic Hulk Gloves, so he could punch some of that energy out every now and then. But I wouldn't watch that movie half as hard as I was going to watch The Incredible Hulk.

Well, that's the summer lineup, and I personally plan on seeing all these films. Also, if you're interested in my two cents, Iron Man kicks way more ass than Batman.

(The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk roundups by John Herrman)

• Can he make his own gadgets without having to go run for help to daddy's company?
• Can he let girls do their make-up while they look at his shiny armor? (of course not, Mr Wayne has a fake rubber suit with fake nipples)
• Can he make perfect Margaritas, Martinis and Manhattans on his own, without needing Alfred?
• Can he fly? (No, not fall, I mean fly)
• Can he actually have a bit of fun or is this all about looking miserable, fighting with your demons in three-word sentences with almost no verbs? (Of course he can't. It's "Back in the hole. The beast. The beast comes to me. Old. Old and dark. I feel his breath. Evil. Evil and dark. Evil and dark and eternal. Like them. Like me" all the damn time. Damnit Bruce, get a vacation in a tropical island with a hot buxom blonde and a fully-stocked bar.)

Because if Batman actually enjoyed life in-between saving the World city, he would be the greatest international playboy gadget hero ever. You know, like Tony Stark. And kick his own ass any day.

What do you think? Batman or Iron Man?

Or better yet: who would you like to be? A tortured soul who lives a miserable life having flashbacks about pearls falling on a dirty street, lives with another man, and fights crime in rubber pants and a cape, or a brilliant inventor who builds his own gadgets, dates—for real, not as a façade, you know, with actual sex—the hottest girls on the planet, and can fly in a hot rod red and gold armor? Hello?

For those not just interested in the tech-based superheroes, Marvel also announced dates for Thor, The Avengers and a Captain America standalone. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Feature Film Slate Update:

Marvel today updated its feature film slate strategy and plans for the next three years, locking in key release windows for its character franchises. In order to focus its attention on maximizing the success of an Iron Man sequel and the launch of Thor in the summer of 2010 and because Marvel believes that the summer is the optimal time to launch a new property, the Company will not release a self produced film in 2009. Marvel plans to launch its 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010, followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer - a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011.

Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, commented, "Adjusting for the strong year-ago contribution from the Spider-Man JV, Marvel's Q1 2008 operating results continued to demonstrate strong global demand for consumer products based on the Company's portfolio of characters. Marvel's self-produced feature film slate launched this past weekend with a performance that firmly establishes Iron Man as a major new film franchise, and the Company eagerly awaits the June premiere of The Incredible Hulk, Marvel's second self-produced film. In addition, Marvel has been investing in other important areas of growth such as the Internet where, to lead the Company's newly formed Global Digital Media Group, Marvel recently announced the hiring of Ira Rubenstein. Marvel has a strong foundation to build from, and the Company is adding infrastructure to maximize these opportunities."

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The story, well, it's there. Stark, a wealthy playboy CEO and genius of his weapons company finds himself held hostage by terrorists using weapons he designed. The unbearable guilt and irony of the situation leads him to a change of heart and he wants to do the right thing. He builds an advanced exoskeleton suit, but it's not for the military. Oh no, he's done being a merchant of death. He's going to blow up evildoers using his weapons. It's believable to a nerd, like most comic books. (Because we want to believe.) But the tech, the tech is set up in a way that makes it unnecessary to suspend your disbelief. Just sit back and enjoy the techno porn. More or less.

There are blatant displays of advanced technology and engineering scattered in almost every moment of the movie. And not the cheesy kinds you'd find in shit like The Net or Hackers or Lawn Mower Man. It all looks so good and feels so good that know-it-all part of your geek brain won't trigger alarms at the fictional gadgets. Let me try to step through a few of 'em.

The heart of the film is the suit, whose beauty is only outweighed by its laundry list of abilities. Just know there's plenty of suit, and to good effect. When he first puts it on, the dialog between Stark and Jarvis reaches its nerdiest, with talk of suit compression leaks at altitude, Titanium gold alloys, air control surface test runs, and a lot more stuff I can't remember and shouldn't spoil.

The source of Iron Man's power is that little glowy ring in his chest, which creates massive power for its size (3.6 Kilajoules per second or something in its beta form). That too would be suspect since Tony micronized the company's room-sized Cold War arc reactor technology to fit in a watch box while being held captive in a cave. But hey, you're dealing with a genius here; the best engineers in Stark Enterprises attempt to re-create it in the labs, and call it impossible without Stark's spark.

Those are all very satisfying aspects of the suit, but you can find that in any superhero blockbuster. It was all the underlying geek subtext in between all the fights that made it worthwhile. There's a fun moment when Jarvis is giving Stark constant alerts of impending battery run-down and Stark yells back, "Shut up, just put it on my screen!" for an instant UI tweak. Watching the suit develop through trial and error helps to explain the power the exoskeleton has, and all the times he screws up while doing test runs make everything just a little more digestible of a fantasy.

The tech of Stark's house also hits us full in the face. The Malibu mansion's bedroom window doubles as an overwrought alarm clock with translucent touch interface spitting out dozens of metrics for the day including temperatures, news and other must-knows. As the camera pans away from the visuals, you see a unnecessary QWERTY on the side of the wall. Stark's one night stand, who awakes to this display of tech, looks half astounded. Rightfully so.

In his basement, Stark prototypes the primary Iron Man suit as a matter of obsession, and we're brought through the process. He's got multiple monitors, and a pen type stylus he uses the stylus to drag it all over, in real air, to another desk. The square is a holographic projector, but not some lame-ass one-way projector. He dips his hands into the well of light and the models in the air move with his touch. Bad designs get manually tossed into a digital bin on the side, one piece at a time. For the coup de grace, Stark reaches into the repulsor gauntlet design hologram, and wears it. Wears a hologram!

Tony's taste in real estate, women and weapon tech is high end, but the product placement of everyday brands didn't live up to the man's lifestyle. But I nitpick. Don't mind the wonderful Audi R8 in a dull silver (or those fake burnout noises), the S5, and a Q7 which plays as projectile in one urban battle. I mean, I like Audi, but this was overkill. The same complaint goes for the LG/Verizon handsets, which do video chat in the Afghani desert, and the Dell gear all over the place. At least I think I saw some Linux action going on in there. But I'd peg Stark for a guy who'd use a Nokia or Sony Ericsson, if not a hacked A-Phone.

Even the solution to the movie's final problem is a technical one, having to do with the suit's flight surfaces at altitude. The explosions and destruction are great, but it is the brains, via the fantasy gear's engineering that triumphs. And that's why Iron Man could be the perfect Gizmodo blockbuster.

[Ironmods Thanks Tom!]

Gizmodo:How did you come up with the name Sillof?
Sillof:I am a high school history teacher and Sillof was a fake name a few students and I came up with years ago. I used it as a running gag for giving generic examples; such as in the ancient kingdom Sillof, the loyal Sillofites, the might god Sillof, etc. When I began to look for an online alias I chose it.

I primarily use it to keep my personal and professional lives separated.

Gizmodo:When did you start customizing figures?
Sillof: Well, I did it a little when I was a kid, by cutting off Luke's hand or 3PO's arm, or putting Luke's head on the x-wing pilot's body. I later got more into it in the early 90's and then really started to make it a long term hobby. I met guys like Alex Newborn who inspired me and then the internet was just taking off and it really opened my imagination to the possibilities.

Gizmodo:What made you decide to take on this hobby?
Sillof: Initially I just wanted figures that they never made. The driving force was I had always loved The Cantina scene and Jabba's Palace scene in the Star Wars films and I wanted to recreate those scenes. I had built these miniature sets called dioramas, which are on my site, and wanted to fill them with all the movie aliens.

Gizmodo:Where do you get your ideas for themes and figures?
Sillof: Initially I just made the figures that I wanted but had not been made. I eventually got tired of just recreating existing designs and wanted to do something more creative. I am currently planning a line that is all original designs of my own original characters right now.

As for my process I just visualize a general idea in my head. I am always going for a figure that is very unique, yet recognizable as the intended character. Then I concentrate on the key elements that make the character recognizable - these are the elements I will try to represent in the new figure. I do a few sketches, one just straight ideas, and others that are a little more practical with regard to parts I could find and things I could make.

I then go about collecting pieces to use as parts and begin to combine them all. There is a fair amount of sanding, and dremeling, and cutting. Then use the parts like a skeleton sculpting my own designs using apoxie sculpting compound and then gluing any number of odds and ends to the figure. Then I paint the figure and give it a wash of diluted dark paint to antique it.

Gizmodo: Where do you source your materials - do you buy action figures as is or get them second hand?
Sillof: I have a large collection of toy "parts" and other miscellaneous found items that are not toy related. I buy some figures new and cut them up, I buy figures on eBay in large lots of played with toys, and there are some toy dealers in my area that pull things aside for me as they buy them.

Gizmodo:Has any company ever contacted you to work for them, doing this full time?
Sillof:I was approached to build replica props for a major company, but the idea of machining metal for a living, which was my father's job, did not seem that appealing to me. I was also approached for my diorama building by a new company in England, but moving was not an option as my wife was 7 months pregnant at the time.

Gizmodo:Would you want to do this full time if you could?
Sillof:I would love to try to make figures for a toy company full time. My dream job would be designing original props, costumes, or sets for movies. I do this on the side as another hobby for local films. My career actually gives me a sabbatical where they hold my job for a year and would allow me to explore the career. So I am always open to the idea to attempt this on a full time basis.

Gizmodo:If there was one piece of advice for aspiring custom action figure hobbyists that you wish someone had told you when you first started out, what would it be?

For a new customizer, I would just tell them to just keep making figures, practicing, and trying new techniques until they find what works for them, and never stop on a figure until you are 100% happy with it.

Personally, I would like go back and tell myself not to waste my time making figures of existing designs and just start doing my own original works.

[Sillof's Workshop]

Action Figure

The first toy is the action figure. Yes, it's plastic, but it stands about a foot tall and the glossy paint'll have you fooled for a second. Powered by a triad of AAA batteries, the Iron Man has a LED repulsor in one hand that triggers when you articulate the shoulder joint upward, or fire the plastic missile blaster in the right palm. Either act is accompanied by noise. There is a heel switch which when lifted off of, triggers flying noises that do not stop until you put the suit's foot down. Can head's eyes do not glow, but his chest plate does when you press it, and a synthesized voice (not even Downy Junior's in disguise) repeats a few haughty phrases more like a Decepticon and less like the charming drunk billionaire inside: "I am IRon MAan!", "REpulSOR Blasts ", "Target Enga-ged!" Unfortunate. I would have liked for him to quip about needing to refill the suit's martini maker.

Kid sized Mask and Repulsor Gauntlet

The mask fits adults. I tried it. But unlike the incredible Optimus Prime voice changing helmet, this one is dead. No lights, no speakers, no mics. Just an elastic band and a disclaimer reading "CAUTION This is not a protective device." There isn't even any plastic over the eye slits. And that's probably best because this thing gets steamy.

Accompanying the mask is a gauntlet that fires six plastic discs (think casino chips), sequentially, using a spring loaded mechanism. It is totally fucking lame. Because each disc flies in a four-foot arc that can best be described as limp. Even more stupid, they engineered a safety that stops the gun from being fired when off wrist. It's a weak gesture at safety because it's so easy to overstep, and goddamn it, if kids want to shoot their eyes out with this thing, it's their American right. Plus, again, there is no way this underpowered toy will ever hurt anyone. Nor will it entertain.

Stark Industries N.R.F 425 Blaster: Nerf Repulsor Machine Gun
Here's a good one. This nerf-designed gun has a magazine for 10 darts, which it can dispense up to 30 feet at an alarming pace. It's all air powered, with the clip being driven up by spring in between shots. It fires one at a time, but to empty the clip in one rapid evacuation, you fill the air chamber with 20 pumps and hold down your itchy finger. The entire thing blows its load in less than five seconds. Very satisfying, and included is a easy wall mountable set of targets that feel a bit like shrinky dinks.

There's a certain truth to that, as evidenced by this clip from the Iron Man movie where Tony takes his first flight in a medieval knight-inspired suit. However, if you look at the HUD that the suit throws in his face, you can tell that flying around isn't quite as simple as pointing your hands and feet in the same direction and praying you don't poop your pants this time. You'll have to have at least played Microsoft Flight Simulator or Ace Combat 6. [Apple Trailers]

Steampunkish? You bet. Still, I bet he can kick Hulk's ass. At least for two minutes. Iron Monger, un cappuccino, prego? [io9 and Toysrevil]

Tony Stark (to army driver): "Good God, you are a woman."

Tony Stark: "Yeah. I can fly."

Computer: "Sir, the upgrade is complete" (talking about the new armor) Tony Stark: "Tell you what. Put a little hot rod red in there."

Tony Stark (to Virginia Potts, while fitting his armor): "Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you caught me doing."

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JasonPoll concept courtesy of Jason Chen (who is a Batman fan; nobody is perfect.) [IGN]

• Same amazing armors as before, check.
• Random circuitry fiddling, check.
• Playboy sport supercars, check.
• One of said playboy sport supercars, a Cobra of all things, destroyed in goofy accident, check.
• $5,000 Armani suit, check.
• $7,000 Zegna leather jacket, check.
• Obligatory just-out-of-bed hot girl, naked in man's shirt, check.
• Obligatory hot-but-untouchable secretary for underlying sexual tension, check.
• Random casino gaming, check.
• Dell servers...

Dell servers?

Tony, Tony, Tony... really, you, me and the devil in the bottle go a long way back, but come on, off-the-shelf Dell servers? Where are the elegant supercomputers that any playboy should use? Where are the stunning mirrored-surfaced classified computers that only Stark Industries and Nick Fury would use? Even those punks from the X-Men have mind-blowing hardware. You can't have a friggin' flying armor and run it on commodity server racks, mate. Damn marketing.

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[Worst Previews]

dude looks like he needs to take a dump and the suits' auto-refuse-suction-function is broken and they've run out of T.P

[ToysREvil]