Sickest Gadgets From Your Favorite Movies
All heroes need a little help now then, and that's where their gadgets come in. Their weapons, vehicles, or costumes become inseparable from the hero, and sometimes become iconic in popular culture. Who is Batman without his utility belt? A billionaire, obsessive man-child running around a city beset by wacky crimes and even wackier criminals? Okay, so he's actually quite a bit without the belt. But on the hips of the Caped Crusader, the humble utility belt rises above its origins as a functional wardrobe choice that tries (and so often fails) to cover the average plumber's hirsute backside. The gadgets become part of the character. And even though they don't get the good lines, or the girl, or the boy, they often have us leaving the theater with a burning question..."where does he get those wonderful toys?"
Aston Martin DB5 - James Bond Film Series
In 1964, the Aston Martin DB5 made its first appearance as Bond's ride in the iconic series' third film, Goldfinger. Since then, the car has appeared in eleven Bond films and has been outfitted with an array super-spy goodies including: machine guns, ejector seat, bulletproof glass, missiles, lasers, rocket propulsion, spike-producing tires, and even a self-administering defibrillator kit. For when you absolutely, positively need to save the world and look good doing it, there simply is no other choice.
Sticky Gloves - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
With this little gadget, we jump across the pond from England's Bond to the pre-eminent American super-spy, Ethan Hunt. In Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Hunt is required to ascend the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. That's cool, you say, so where's the elevator? Sorry, dude. It's out of order. You need to scale this 163-story, more than half-a-mile tall spire from the outside. The sticky gloves contributed to some awesome scenes and helped Tom Cruise pull off his Spider-Man impression.
The One Ring - Lord of the Rings Film Series
Check it, this thing can do it all. It can make you immortal, bind undying creatures to your every whim, make you super-strong and practically invulnerable in battle, give you invisibility, and pretty much whatever else you want it to do. And, one size fits all! We could rename these movies The Brotherhood of the Traveling Ring. As a gadget, the One Ring is looked upon pretty negatively as the physical embodiment of addiction and the corrupting influence of absolute power. To that we say...fair point. But that doesn't stop it from being one of the sickest gadgets on (Middle) Earth.
Yondu's Whistle Arrow - Guardians of the Galaxy
This nasty little gadget doesn't look like much until you see it in action. One of the most amazing scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy was watching the Peter Quill's alien father figure, Yondu Udonta, take out an entire platoon of undesirables just by whistling. Yondu's arrow is a made of a special material known as yaka and found only on his home planet of Centauri IV. The arrow obeys Yondu's whistling as it is able to change direction in mid-air. It is swift, brutal, and really, really cool.
Batmobile (Tumbler Version) - Batman Begins
It would be fair to say that when you're a billionaire vigilante, you probably look at the world like it's a crime fighting candy store. There are all of these things you want to use to help wage a one-man war on crime and you have all the money to buy them. And when Morgan Freeman gives you a wry smile and says that the hulking tank-like machine under that tarp is something, "you wouldn't be interested in," you just know it has to be just about the coolest thing ever made. And while the Batmobile has gone through so many design iterations over the eight decades since it made its first appearance, the Tumbler stands as the sickest version of the Dark Knight's ride. Some kind of jet-propelled humvee, this version of the Batmobile also came fully loaded with cannons, a rocket launcher, and an entirely separate vehicle, the Batpod, which could warrant its own place on this list. Perhaps the best feature is that it has seating only for one, meaning no Robin to get in the way when you are trying to do some sweet donuts in the Gotham City Mall's parking lot.
Iron Man Suitcase Suit (Mark V) - Iron Man 2
From one billionaire playboy-vigilante to the other, Tony Stark definitely seems to have more fun fighting his bad guys than Batman does. Maybe it's the suits? Stark has produced so many different variations on his basic theme in the Iron Man and Avengers films that it's so hard to pick just one. However, for contribution to a cool action scene as well as ease of transport, we're going to go with the Mark V, which Robert Downey Jr. used to fight Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko/Whiplash in Iron Man 2. When Stark is attacked on a race course in Monaco, Tony's true blue friends Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts speed there to get him a briefcase, which just so happens to carry an extremely portable version of the Iron Man armor. Even though it might not be as high-powered as a number of the other suits, it's still enough to defeat Whiplash. And it didn't even need to be dry-cleaned.
Lightsaber - Star Wars Film Series
"A more elegant weapon for a more civilized age." Boy howdy, Obi-Wan Kenobi may have been the original "most interesting man in the world" with a pitch like that. Granted, that world was filled with womp rats, sand, and whiny children, but still. The lightsaber is the iconic gadget in the history movies. Taken right from George Lucas' love of stories and myth, the lightsaber is the Excalibur to Luke's King Arthur and Obi-Wan's Merlin. It can cut through just about anything, though evidence suggests it works exceptionally well on hands. The lightsaber also can be used defensively to ward off blaster bolts or be used as a light source. It can even be used underwater for those times when you want to fillet and fry your dinner at the same time.