SpaceX's Falcon 9R test rocket just blew up.

[peadar1987]

Nope. Tony Stark was a drunk before Elon Musk was old enough to drive. Elon gets compared to Tony for doing cool stuff, but in no way was Tony "inspired by".

I'm guessing he means that the modern RDJ portrayals of Tony Stark were inspired by Elon Musk, not the character himself.

[sojourner]

Still doesn't work. Elon isn't exactly known as a wise-cracking lady's man who spends his time partying between inventing cool stuff in his basement lab.

About the only thing they really have in common is a "to hell with it, it's my company. I'll do what I want attitude" and an association for liking hi-tech fields of endeavor.

Edited August 29, 2014 by sojourner

[How2FoldSoup]

I'm guessing he means that the modern RDJ portrayals of Tony Stark were inspired by Elon Musk, not the character himself.

This is exactly what I meant, thank you peadar.

Still doesn't work. Elon isn't exactly known as a wise-cracking lady's man who spends his time partying between inventing cool stuff in his basement lab.

About the only thing they really have in common is a "to hell with it, it's my company. I'll do what I want attitude" and an association for liking hi-tech fields of endeavor.

Obviously Elon Musk isn't the exact same person as Tony Stark. All I was saying was that the technology used in the movie, like the 3d manipulation of designs, the arc reactor, etc, was inspired by Musk. I suppose inspired by is a better term to use than "based on". There is no need to take my words and twist them to search for an alternative meaning that is indeed incorrect.

I apologize for any confusion this has caused.

[sojourner]

It's still wrong though, since all of those things you just listed predate the movie and Elon's use of them. (or non-use in the case of the arc reactor) At most, Elon gets compared to Tony. But in no way is Tony "inspired by" or "based on" Elon because Tony predates him.

It's like trying to say Lex Luthor is based on Jeff Bezos.

[How2FoldSoup]

Sure. You are right on arguing the semantic point that strictly speaking, the concepts predated both them. The only point I was trying to get across was that Musk was consulted on how to portray a modern Tony Stark and got what we have. Consulted, Based on, influenced by, inspired by, whatever. Let's just stop derailing the thread with a pointless argument of semantics.

[SargeRho]

Actually, they DID go to Elon Musk's villa and talked to him when they were filming the movies. The "new" Ironman movie trillogy's Tony Stark is at least partially based on Musk.