I think the point was to show that Tony could not do it alone. That there are some problems that even the boy genius can't think his way out of, and that for those times, it's important to have friends.

The Dark Knight.

I saw it with that title on a late night local channel back in the 1970's. Watching it with absoluelty no knowledge of what it was about, I was blown away by the intelligence of the script. The unfolding of what the ship actually was at Hob's End was a fore runner of the best fo the X-Files, where something that…

That epside, with Superman "dying" may be the single best two-parter in the Animated JL series - which is THE best redition to television of any superhero comic, in my professional opinion. The reactions of the JL to life without Superman, and Kal-El showing that he is a hero and inspiration even without his powers -…

Just so. I noticed this as a new prof. when reading student evaluations of my teaching at the end of the semester. Some students thought I walked on water, others thought I could barely pass it. I was the same for both sets of students, so I quickly realized not let my ego get caught up in the reviews. Of course,…

The Amazing Spider-Man

Well, The World Set Free did indeed directly inspire Szilard to propose the development of an Atomic Bomb (not an H-Bomb, which came much later). Szilard wrote the letter that was signed by Einstein, urging FDR to set in motion the Manhattan Project.

That goes Ditto for me!

Apparently we now have proof that Batman is indeed a Democrat.

Perhaps I was not clear. I certainly was not denigrating Tony Stark (a cool exec with a heart of steel). My point was that nearly all superheroes involve some suspension of disbelief - a miracle exception from the laws of nature. In Iron Man's case, this exception is the power supply for the suit. Everything else,…

Quite right. I was going to say that one also has to somehow make all the cells in your body have the same index of refraction as the surrounding air, to remove the effects of refraction, but I thought I was going on too long as it was.

Well, it depends on how you acheive invisibility. If you do it by bending light around you, as in the metamaterials proposal (and I never meta material I didn't like!) then yes, you would indeed be blind while invisible. But there are other ways turn turn transparent.

@gorehound: If you are referring to the black and white silent film, I completely agree. Unfortunately their budget precluded decent special effects for the final confrontation with Cthulhu, but everything else was spot on. Doing it as a silent was a brilliant choise. The extreme acting called for in the silents is…

As the science consultant for a few superhero movies, I would amend Ms. Ratliff's comment slightly. It is certainly true that the story comes first. However, when there is egregiously bad science, such that the audience notices, it takes them out of the movie, and defeats the goal of the film maker.

Great article, Jennifer, and a wonderful coda with the SMBC cartoon.

I'm not sure Strange Tales works so well if you've never read a Marvel comic before. I would suggest Darwyn Cooke's adaptations of the Richard Stark "Parker" novels. For a superhero factor, throw in "Incognito."

One of the things I found interesting when reading the original

@Ben Babcock: Thanks for the shout out Ben! I'm reading this at 37,000 on my way home from the USA Science and Engineering Festival where I gave a couple of talks on Superhero Physics. You may be interested in my new book - THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS. Using the old sci fi pulps and comic books, I…

So, it's a remake?

@Brett Ryans: D'oh! I just wrote this in reply to an earlier comment - and then scrolled down the comments and saw that you made the same point before me. Yes, indeed.