<![CDATA[io9: hawk]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: hawk]]> http://io9.com/tag/hawk http://io9.com/tag/hawk <![CDATA[Power-Armor Vs. Nano-Tech Super Soldiers, In G.I. Joe]]> Starship Troopers 3 may finally show us a glimpse of the powered armor Heinlein talks about in the novel — but we'll get our real power armor fix from the G.I. Joe movie, coming in 2009. I haven't been sure whether Joe really counted as science fiction, but a new script review gives plenty of reasons to accept it as belonging to the genre, including armor with invisibility powers, miraculous nano-technology, and super-soldiers created by a mad scientist. The costumes may look a bit Batman And Robin-esque (power-armor-breasts!) but the storyline sounds awesomely pulpy enough for ten sawmills. Spoilers, and a gallery, below.

Here's the movie's premise: the G.I. Joe team, led by Duke (Channing Tatum), fights for freedom wherever there is trouble. And their arch nemesis is Cobra Commander and his Cobra Force. The movie is based on a Hasbro line of toys, but also on a comic-book series from the 1980s, which had the Joe squad working out of "The Pit."

CC2K has an early review of the movie's script, and apparently it includes:

  • "Accelerator suits," which allow the G.I. Joe squad to run faster, jump super-high, smash through walls, and shrug off bullets.
  • A "nano-bomb" that the Cobra Commander wants to launch — which launches a swarm of nanites that eat all of the buildings and machinery, without harming any of the people. (And how do the nanites know when to stop eating all the non-organic matter? Will this be explained at all?)
  • The Neo-Vipers, super-soldiers enhanced by nanotech, so they can't feel pain or remorse. (And maybe they can actually regenerate from injuries? It's not clear.) A mad scientist, known only as the Doctor, creates these soldiers for Destro, who's horribly disfigured after a fight with Duke. Destro wears a mask made out of nanotechnology, which allows the Doctor, aka Commander, to control his mind.
  • hawt babe Scarlett (Rachel Nichols, see pic above) who is a virgin, despite wearing breast-exaggerating armor (which can turn invisible.) Marlon Wayans' wacky sidekick character Ripcord has the hots for Scarlett, who says she'll date him if he can shoot her on an obstacle course. He fails to hit her, and later realizes he was actually shooting real arrows instead of "training arrows." Also, Dennis Quaid plays "Hawk," their leader, and The Rock is rumored to play Shipwreck, another one of the good guys.
  • a weird backstory involving a romance between Channing Tatum's Duke and Sienna Miller's evil Baroness. They almost got married, and now she's a Nazi or something. The Baroness says things like, "Deep down, you're still the man I fell in love with." And "Do it, Duke. You've already killed me once."
  • futuristic killer ninjas, as we already mentioned a while back. [CinCity2000]
]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=382289&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Science Fiction Loves "The Man"]]> Science fiction offers writers a blank palette of creation when it comes to creating new worlds, technologies, and possibilities. However, when it comes to naming those characters, sometimes those writers fall spectacularly short. Case in point: all of the characters with the surname "man." Check out our list of memorable "men," including of course Hawk Man and Tiger Man.



  • Tiger Man from Buck Rogers: Princess Ardala may have been bitchy and vampy, but she didn't have a lot of muscle. So, she had this sword-wielding, shield-bearing muscly bald dude do her bidding for her. Buck couldn't hit a girl (although Wilma sure could), so he frequently went toe to toe with this guy.

  • Omega Man from... Omega Man: This Charlton Heston starrer was the second adaptation of the I Am Legend novel, leaving him as the last person on Earth. No idea why they didn't just call this thing I Am Legend, but maybe Omega sounded a lot more sci fi high tech to good old chuck.

  • Hawk from Buck Rogers: Okay, I've been referring to this guy as Hawk Man for years now. Turns out I was wrong, and he's just called Hawk. Which still seems a bit too simple. Doesn't he look more like an Owl?

  • Mega Man from the countless Mega Man video games: This little guy might be tiny in size, but his heroic actions were "mega," and he's become one of the most recognizable characters in the video game universe. After all, you fight Dr. Wily and his robot minions all day, and you you're going to end up with some recognition.

  • David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth: Bowie became "the man" in this 1976 film who came to Earth looking for water. Although he may have been Thomas Jerome Newton, he'll always be "The Man" to us.

  • Demolition Man: Sylvester Stallone plays a retardo cop from the past who destroys everything in his path in order to get the job done. The proof? Right here:
    T.V. Reporter: [to John Spartan] "How can you justify destroying a $7 million dollar mini mall to rescue a girl whose ransom was only $25,000 dollars?"
    Little Girl: "FUCK YOU, LADY!"
    John Spartan: "Ha! Good answer"

  • The Invisible Man: Claude Rains sucks down a secret formula that turns both him, and his name, invisible. He's forever known by his invisible moniker afterwards, and the name Claude Rains just doesn't have that spark anymore. Sadly, this also gave birth to Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man. Egads.

  • Ultraman: This Japanese supercop was part of the Science Patrol, and activated when the normal Hayata uses the Beta Capsule, and becomes the giant, ass-kicking monster fighting Ultraman. I guess they wanted to be sure you still knew he was a man.

  • The entire slew of comic book "mans": For decades there have been a slew of "man" (and "woman) characters spewing forth from the pages of comic books. They gave us Superman, Batman, Ant-Man, Wonder Man, Giant Man, Spider-Man, and pretty much everything-you-can-think-of man.
]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=342835&view=rss&microfeed=true