Iron Man's plasma cutter

I haven't seen "Iron Man," but after reading a news release today, I'm moving the movie to the top of my must-see list. It's beating all others at the box-office, but that's not my main reason for wanting to see it. In fact, I generally stay away from superhero movies.

"Iron Man" stars Robert Downey, Jr., as Tony Stark, a comic book hero who constructs a high-tech suit of armor that allows him to battle evil. What caught my attention in the press release is the machine Stark used to build his suit. Its maker is well-known in the U.S. metal fabricating industry. Can you guess who it is?

If you guessed Hypertherm®, you're correct. Stark uses a Hypertherm Powermax® to cut the metal used to make his suit. A release put out by the company quoted Russell Bobbitt, who led Marvel Studio's search for a plasma cutting machine. Bobbitt said, "In our search to find the best plasma metal cutting tool, one name kept coming up: Hypertherm. All of the experts we spoke with agreed without a doubt that Hypertherm plasma is the best designed, engineered, and manufactured plasma cutter on the market. They told us Iron Man could count on a Hypertherm Powermax to perform reliably time and time again."

Stark is a billionaire industrialist and inventor who is kidnapped and ordered to build a devastating weapon. Instead of building the weapon, he builds the high-tech suit of armor that he uses to escape the villains. When he discovers a plot with serious global implications, he puts the powerful armor to work by protecting the world as Iron Man.

If you watch the movie trailer, which can be found in the video section of the movie's official Web site, you'll see the suit in both its original and upgraded versions. Turn on the sound as you watch and enjoy the heavy metal music.

In my opinion, one of the best parts of the trailer is the words superimposed on the screen: Heroes aren't born; they're built. Helping Iron Man build his suit also built some powerful PR for Hypertherm and built up at least one movie-goer's interest in seeing the movie.

You can read more about the suit and the challenges building it here and here.