It’s an open secret that the Tony Stark of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was initially inspired by Elon Musk, the technological wunderkind at the helm of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. And it appears that things may have now come full circle.
This week, Musk met with officials at the Pentagon, including the US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. In response to a CNN article asking what he was doing there, he sent out a tweet that referenced the Iron Man suit itself, perhaps suggesting the two were going to team up and – finally – build the famed flying combat armor.
Something about a flying metal suit...https://t.co/6Z1D9iZ1fV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2016
Of course, this was probably a joke, and is about as realistic as Donald Trump becoming the new Captain America. He would be a perfect Hydra candidate, though, come to think of it.
The focus of the closed-door meeting was likely to discuss Musk’s ambitions to win more government-funded business for SpaceX, which regularly launches satellites, both civilian and military, into orbit. Just recently, the private space company received $82.7 million from the US Air Force; in May 2018, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch an advanced GPS satellite into space.
It’s worth noting that the theme of the meeting, according to defense spokespeople, was “innovation”, so perhaps a real-life version of the Avengers has genuinely begun to take shape. Anything’s possible, after all, if we’re living in a computer simulation, as Musk himself has claimed.
Elon Musk slipping into Hollywood pop culture. Every Elon Musk Video via YouTube
