Body Armor in one form or another is a common theme in flicks. The good guys are normally mere mortals after all. To keep them in play so they can save the world, sometimes they have to kit out in protective wear. Obviously, Bulletproof vests and the like are a legit thing. But is the body armor portrayed on the big screen possible now or in the near future? Or is it all make-believe? 

Take your seats, turn off your cell phones, and grab your popcorn – – because courtesy of the production crew at Bulletproof Zone, we’re about to find out! 

Bulletproof Clothing

Goldfinger (1964) 

Setting The Scene

James Bond’s first visit to Q Branch sees a lab hand being peppered with rounds from an MP40 submachine gun. Opening his overcoat, without so much as a scratch, he shows off his concealed Bulletproof Vest.

Fact Or Fiction? 

Nearly 60 years on and today’s bullet-resistant vests still can’t stand up to that sort of treatment. The Kevlar/polyethylene soft armor will stop several hits from anything up to a .44 caliber Magnum, but that’s it. Something like a plate carrier loaded with hard armor could though. 

Also unlike in the movie, the wearer would do more than flinch being blasted with an SMG at point blank range. The force of the bullets would knock them clean off their feet and, for sure, they’d feel it! 

So yes, in the words of Q himself, “It’s not perfected yet”. With advances in material science and the latest tech, we’d give it another good few years. 

Still, while 007 may have seemed unimpressed, a bulletproof vest was groundbreaking stuff for the 60s. From the time Goldfinger was released, it’d be another decade before law enforcement officers would be issued them.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) 

Setting The Scene

In the first John Wick (2014), the crack hitman sports a regular bulletproof vest under his dress shirt. For the second outing, John Wick is rigged out at the Continental in Rome with a swanky 3-piece custom Bullet Proof Suit. 

Mind you, only the jacket’s bullet-resistant; the Kevlar and ceramic armor lining providing “zero penetration”. Even so, John Wick is warned a bullet to the Suit will still be “quite painful”.

Fact Or Fiction?

If you’re wondering if bulletproof suits really exist, you betcha! Made of carbon nanotubes and other ballistic materials, a few places craft bulletproof suits – – Aspetto in the United States, Garrison Bespoke in Canada, Miguel Caballero of Colombia, and Sam Surin in Thailand. 

And yes, these bulletproof suits can protect from a handful or so of rounds from the average handgun. But not, alas, the kind of firepower punishment as that inflicted on the impeccably tailored duds from John Wick. Though true to the movie, getting shot whilst wearing one is going to hurt. 

Plus, you’ll need some serious coin to snag a custom-made bulletproof suit – – at between $4,000 and $20,000 a pop, the price tag is infinitely stiffer than the protective material!

Bulletproof Accessories

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) 

Setting The Scene

Gentleman spy Harry Hart (AKA Galahad) goes head-to-head with a gang of thugs using just his trusty Bulletproof Umbrella. Opened up in defense, a flurry of handgun rounds simply bounces off the ballistic bumbershoot.

Fact Or Fiction?

Believe it or not, a protective parasol made of chain mail was knocked up for Queen Victoria. But despite the several assassination attempts on her life, so it goes, she was too dignified to use it! 

Unlike a ballistic shield used by military or law enforcement, modern-day ‘deployable protective devices’ aren’t exactly all the rage with civilians. 

There’s the French-made Kevlar-canopied ParaPactum umbrella – – tested to fend off dog attacks and knife stabs, but not so good at protecting from bullets. Not to mention, a price of $20K and hardly lightweight at almost 5lbs!

And that’s one of the main snags with ballistic umbrellas. The more protective fabric that’s layered on, the heavier (and less foldable) the thing gets. No, best stick with what umbrellas do best: protection from the elements! 

Captain America: Civil War (2016) 

Setting The Scene

Staying on the subject of bulletproof weather protectors…Amid a close-quarter tangle, the conditioned Bucky Barnes (AKA the Winter Soldier) shoots at Tony Stark’s upper face. He narrowly escapes being blinded or worse thanks to his customarily cool Bulletproof Sunglasses.

Fact Or Fiction?

It might have been a later innovation for Mr Stark, but ballistic sunnies first surfaced in the 1950s. These days, they’re most in demand among military personnel, police officers, as well as motorbikers and recreational hunters. 

Mostly made out of polycarbonate material, there’s a whole pick of bulletproof shades out there – – among the bigger names being ESS Eye Pro, Revision Military, and Wiley X. Some are even army-approved and meet or exceed minimum ballistic standards.

The lenses in bulletproof specs, though, are engineered more to protect against flying debris and small bullet fragments. Even low-velocity rounds, such as a .22 short, will easily shatter them. So a handgun round shot from inches away, like in the movie, and we wouldn’t rate your chances of living to see another day. 

Armored Suits

BATMAN (1966-2022) 

Setting The Scene

Quite possibly, the Batsuit is the longest running and most iconic body armor in movie history. As well as being re-imagined plenty over the years, the bat-suit’s armor has been updated just as much.

The fittingly titled Nomex Survival Suit in Batman Begins (2005), for example, was super protective but limited movement. The masked vigilante’s suit was tweaked by Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight (2008) to make it more flexible and lightweight. But left Batman more at risk of injury from explosions, small arms fire, knives, and electroshocks. 

In any case, the caped crusader’s suit often takes a serious pounding courtesy of Gotham’s criminal underworld.

Fact Or Fiction?

No different to real life when it comes to armor, there’s always a trade-off between protection and mobility. On the flip side, body armor gear generally can’t defeat a discharge from a taser or stun gun like the batsuit can. 

Admittedly not in looks, but the nearest thing we’ve got at present to the Batsuit is Russia’s Sotnik (AKA Centurion). So we’re told, the next-gen battle suit can shrug off a direct hit from a .50 caliber armor-piercing round! 

But get this, the tech ninjas at M.I.T. reckon that a real-life version of the bat-suit isn’t just doable, they can actually take it to the next level!

Iron Man (2008-2019)

Setting The Scene

Being a tech genius an’ all, we shouldn’t be surprised that Mr Stark pops up again here. This time with his signature creation, the Iron Man suit. From the primitive Mark I to the ultra futuristic Mark LXXXV, the suit’s gone through dozens of evolutions. 

What didn’t change, no matter which M.C.U. the movie, was the suit taking a phenomenal amount of damage. Yet the Iron Man armor proved impregnable to earthly weapons. 

Fact Or Fiction?

So is it possible to build a real Iron Man suit, we hear you ask? And if so, when? 

As it happens, an American special effects designer has already 3D printed an Iron Man suit out of bulletproof titanium! Sans a virtual A.I. assistant and not weaponized, of course, but capable of hovering. 

Forgetting SOCOM’s TALOS project, powered exoskeletons have been in development across the globe for ages. The Raytheon XOS 2 is perhaps the closest thing right now to the Mark I. The robotics suit is being prototyped to boost the speed, stamina, and strength of soldiers.

Not so far-fetched then to think about slapping on armor plating and adding internal cushioning. We could probably nail that in, oh, the next half-century. But it’d still be a far cry from the end-game of an Iron Man suit with all the bells and whistles. 

The later versions of which are mind-blowingly advanced. We just don’t have anything remotely close to the fusion energy supplying arc reactor for one; or gold-titanium alloy/nanotech armor for another.

Then there’s the not-so-small matter that some aspects of the hardware defy the very laws of physics. Sadly, mankind will likely never be able to produce an Iron Man exosuit as Marvel does – – well, not outside of the imagination anyway! 

Body Armor Made Better

Self-healing Armor

Of all the Iron Man suits, honorable mention must go to the Mark XLII (AKA the Autonomous Prehensile Propulsion Suit) – – it was the first of its kind to feature a built-in repair system. 

Okay, so there’s nothing quite like self-healing armor at the moment. But the big brains over at the U.S. Army Research Lab are hoping to change that – – they’ve already invented a thermoplastic that can automatically patch microscopic holes in itself. Now, they’re delving into materials that can regenerate after taking damage from something like a bullet. 

As for when self-repairing body armor will be with us, we wouldn’t count on it happening any time soon! 

CREDITS 

We hope you enjoyed the feature. The Bulletproof Zone cast will return. The End.

Also read: Why Do We Need Bulletproof Vests?

The post Reel vs. Real: Are Body Armor in Movies Possible in Real Life?  appeared first on Gud Story.