The selection for this Tuesday's Forgotten TV-Movie was inspired by the following fan-made video, a trailer for a fictitious movie featuring the Marvel Comics superteam The Avengers--if it were made in 1978.
The footage for the Iron Man sequences is taken from this week's selection, the TV-movie Exo Man.
Exo Man stars David Ackroyd as a university professor named Nicholas Conrad, who is the victim of an attempted hit on his life by the mafia. Conrad survives but loses the use of his legs. Conrad then utilizes his scientific genius to create a suit of special armor--an "exo" suit--to enable him to not only walk, but burst through walls and deflect bullets unharmed.
He's basically Iron Man without the flying.
The TV-movie aired on June 18, 1977 (I couldn't find the network, unfortunately) and was intended to be a pilot for a weekly series, but it never materialized. This was a time superheroes were becoming big on TV, with the debut of The Incredible Hulk later that year, The Amazing Spider-Man shortly thereafter, and Wonder Woman already airing. Exo Man is clearly inspired by the Iron Man concept, and I wonder if there was an attempt to get the rights to the actual character that wasn't successful. Regardless, an Exo Man series wasn't to be, and the film now remains a staple in the market of bootlegged DVDs available on Ebay and at comic cons.
And also, right here at the blog for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! For more overlooked video and film, enter Todd Mason's blog Sweet Freedom. Thanks!
3 comments:
There's something vaguely puppetty-looking about our here there, even w/o costume...
He's no Robert Downey Jr, that's for sure.
Gotta love the glaring typo on Exo Man's warning light: "MALFUNTION" ...
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