Strictly speaking, exoskeleton armor isn't a new concept in Marvel. As early as World War II, the HYDRA army used the Tesseract as an energy source to create exoskeleton armor. Of course, those didn't have power assistance and looked like sealed suits of armor. In fact, many exoskeletons lack power assistance, like the ODST armor in Halo, which comes with a life support system, allowing them to conduct short-term operations in space.
As for Tony Stark's Iron Man suit, he himself claims it's high-tech prosthetics, not a weapon, and therefore not exoskeleton armor.
Capitalists have sharp noses. Less than a week after the appearance of the unidentified Iron Man, almost all arms companies announced they would develop similar equipment, with the unspoken message being for governments to provide funding.
The fastest among them was Gigas.
Just one week after Fisher returned to the company, Gigas's Instagram account posted a video.
"Sometimes, we are always powerless in the face of danger." The video began with a weak man being brutally beaten by several men wearing balaclavas, much like Captain America decades ago. As the beating continued, time suddenly froze, and a soldier, resembling the beaten man, appeared in the frame. He was wearing a tight combat suit and a FAST combat helmet, but what was most striking was the equipment on the soldier's body: metal strips were fixed to the outside of all his limbs, extending to his back, where they connected to a device similar in appearance to a posture corrector.
"But that's no reason to back down!" After these words appeared on the screen, time in the video flowed again. The soldier then grabbed the thug standing at the very back, and with a single flick, the thug flew several meters away.
The startled thugs immediately let go of the beaten man and turned to attack the soldier. Blades and short sticks whistled towards the soldier, but stopped before reaching him. The camera then zoomed in on the thugs' hands. The soldier was slowly lifting the thugs' arms. From the bulging veins on their exposed skin and their clenched jaws, it was clear these thugs were using all their strength, but they were still no match.
"Now, it's time to fight back!" After disarming the thugs, the soldier retaliated with punches. As he punched, a series of numbers appeared near his fist, indicating the force and speed of his punches, as well as his attacks per second.
In the narrow alley, the soldier moved like a nimble monkey, dodging and weaving, delivering powerful blows, while the thugs' counterattacks couldn't even graze him.
Finally, the thugs were knocked to the ground, leaving only the soldier and the beaten man looking at each other.
Although this video was only two minutes long, it garnered hundreds of thousands of views in less than a day, with tens of thousands of comments.
For a time, Gigas's popularity even overshadowed the previously much-discussed Iron Man. Numerous investment institutions, hearing the news, contacted Gigas, hoping to achieve further cooperation, including cross-shareholding, joint establishment of R&D centers, and even mergers.
Even Capitol Hill, usually hesitant to commit without tangible results, was considering increasing funding. After all, so many companies claimed they would develop this, but only Gigas had produced a sample video in such a short time. Although only two minutes long, the information it revealed was enough to leave other arms groups collectively stunned.
Of course, the most reclusive among them was a certain middle-aged man who believed Stark Industries was fifty years ahead of the world. At first, he was smug about his Mark III armor, which was equipped with 12 shoulder-launched missiles and two wrist-mounted missile launchers, plus palm repulsor rays, making short work of terrorists. The joy of repeated victories was like drinking a cold soda in summer. He was in his basement, thinking about how to improve his Mark armor, when Gigas's promotional video played on the small TV.
"I..." Stark was instantly puzzled. Was he watching this the wrong way? Previously, when Stark Industries sold arms, other arms companies followed suit. Now, Stark had closed his weapon development department and cobbled together an Iron Man suit, and other arms companies were doing the same. It was as if they were addicted to copying Stark Industries.
However, Stark only grumbled. After all, he had previously said he wanted to change himself and no longer be an arms dealer; this was his choice.
And from a professional perspective, Stark could tell that the exoskeleton armor developed by Gigas should only have the initial framework. However, Gigas CEO Fisher Adams had been emphasizing modular weapons for years, so Stark concluded that Fisher must have completed development and experimentation long ago, but had kept it under wraps. Now, seeing an armored guy flying around, he got anxious.
If Fisher knew Stark was thinking this, he would definitely say he was overthinking it. The reason he released this, besides making a quick buck, also involved political considerations. Some of the various technologies currently stored with Fisher had already been thoroughly understood by Gigas. The rail accelerator Fisher had previously considered was one of them. He had wanted to build the accelerator in Iraq, as it was currently Gigas's largest operational base outside its home country. However, because of confidentiality concerns from Washington, he was given a hint, so he could only settle for building one domestically. His current push of the exoskeleton to the market was also an attempt to curry favor with the military and the Department of Defense, as the DoD would also be responsible for evaluating the rail accelerator, confirming that it was controllable and would not endanger the US homeland before it could be built.
Meanwhile, on Fisher's end, after he politely declined investment requests from numerous groups, a lobbyist from France came calling, expressing their desire for deeper cooperation with Gigas, including cross-shareholding, joint establishment of R&D centers, and even group mergers.
When Fisher realized who they were, he was also startled. There was no denying it, the name of the opposing party was simply too prestigious—McCallan Group. This was the EU's sole designated military supplier, and also the largest defense contractor in Europe, handling almost 70% of all European countries' arms orders, and even occasionally snatching business from American arms dealers. Their newest executive was named James McCallan, who extended a warm invitation for Fisher to visit the McCallan Group in Europe, and even sent a gilded invitation.
I don't quite understand why it's always the girls who cause trouble before graduation, especially since we've already graduated once before. For our second university graduation, they still can't settle down and keep things calm, making a fuss all night.