<p>Yes, but I'm pretty sure that they were referring to the armor itself when they talked about strengthening his suit. The prototype was the replica shield in Tony's lab. I believe that Tony stripped it down of any vibranium it had and used it in the construction of the Mark 2 armor. Besides that, that comic was set during Iron Man 1. Tony doesn't rediscover the mystery element until Iron Man 2, where Tony says that he's tried every known element and Fury tells him that what he needs for a new power source isn't a known element. If it was Vibranium, I'm sure S.H.I.E.L.D. could have gone to Wakanda to recieve a small amount to power Tony's suit. In fact, in The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week, Fury says that by having Tony finish his father's work he invented a <i>new</i> element on that could "<i>be extremely useful in reigniting the Tesseract.</i>" This points to a link between the Tesseract and the new element. Vibranium might be a rare element, but it is known. The Tesseract and whatever it's made of is not. We know that Howard Stark found the Tesseract after World War 2, but you're going to tell me that we would never study it and try to recreate it? </p>

<p>Actually they way Nick Fury said it implied that he KNOWS one more element tony could try since when Tony said that he tried every known element to man, Nick Fury told him "you havent tried them all" which means that new element tony created was already known to Nick fury. </p><p>Lets not forget that palladium is METAL that was powering arc reactor at first, if one metel can power arc reactor then why another can't ? </p>

but didnt Furyalso know about tje Tesseract at that point? Could he have been referring to that?

<p>I do not believe that the Tesseract is an element, especially one that is "known" about other than in existence which is why SHIELD and NASA were doing all the research on it. So when Fury says that he knows of an element Tony hasn't tried I would think its Vibranium. As far as the idea it is what powers the new reactors I am somewhat unsure for opposing reasons. </p><p>First he replied to Rhodey in IM2 that the smoking Palladium was caused by the reactors wall. Vibranium could in theory repel the Neutrons in the reactors wall leaving it undamaged and causing a greater power increase so it really could be the element he created. Also in the Avengers when Loki tries to use his staff on Tony the energy seems to get channeled then dissipate (the same look as when Thor hits Caps Shield) meaning the energy was repelled.  </p><p>However though by the end of IM3 you have 44+ (42 Armors, 1 War Machine and atleast his chest reactor if not more spare) new "vibranium" reactors.  Even though you only need this small triangle of it to power the reactor he still would have created quite a bit of the material and still be able to create a lot more.  This would pretty much eliminate any need for mining in Wakanda which could however be intentional by the movie producers as a way to shortcut around a Black Panther movie. </p>

<p>I also think that Vibranium is harder to come by for diplomatic reasons not to mention of how expensive it is ( Eventhough Stark is filthy rich and SHIELD might have government funds ). In the comics version of Project Rebirth ( I guess Earth 6:16 ) Captain America's shield is made from an alloy of steel,vibranium, and an "unknown catalyst."  ??? </p>

<p>I'm pretty sure that the element Tony discovered is NOT vibranium, and that it's related to the tesseract. </p>

<p>i dont get why some people say that the metal itself is the power source... I figure the metal is just a conductor or stable housing. It could be the energy source is similar to or based on the Tesseract (if not actually part of the tesseract) as it's all based on Howards research on it, and the palladium / vibranium are conductive alloys that are capable of housing/honing the energy (i.e the palladium eroding causing the poison reaction and the "new element" potential vibranium being more stable).  </p>

<p>Don't worry about it, some of these people have zero physics sense. E.g. quoting from above, "Lets not forget that palladium is METAL that was powering arc reactor at first, if one metel can power arc reactor then why another can't ?". The poor grammar aside, only someone who knows absolutely nothing about physics, chemistry, and/or engineering could seriously say something like that. Gee, why does plutonium (a metal) power a nuclear reactor, while iron (also a metal) does not? Maybe they're <i>not the same thing</i>? </p><p>You can hardly have Tesseract energy in something that never came into any sort of contact with the thing. Nobody ever understood the Tesseract enough to replicate its effects; all the weapons were, AFAIK, just charged from the Tesseract as if they were batteries charged from the wall. At least that's the way I understood it. In any case, Tony built the original mini reactor with nothing more than some conventional weapon parts, and a very shoddy workshop. I can't see any Tesseract magic in there. </p><p>As for the reactor's mechanism, I found this: </p><p>http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-theory-concept-behind-the-Miniature-Arc-Reactor-built-by-Tony-Stark </p><p>written by a real-world engineer based on an actual process, with only a bit of sci-fi license. </p><p>According to that, the palladium acts as a source of free electrons which are circulated around the reactor's ring, then collide again with the palladium, catalyzing its beta-decay into silver and rhodium. The reactor does not radiate because the radiation essentially loops between the core and the ring inside it, but it does convert the palladium core into rhodium and silver, which fits both the need to swap cores and the apparently incurable poisoning that gave Tony varicose veins on the chest: too much silver in the bloodstream shades skin blue, and rhodium is both toxic and so rare that the effects of its toxicity are practically unknown, which would explain why Tony says doctors don't know how to help him. The question remains why the metals from the spent core cannot be isolated from Tony's system, but maybe it has to do with the reactor being right in his damn chest. </p><p>About any metal powering the reactor: not really, you need pretty special properties. Whatever the new element is, it must have similar properties to allow for an equivalent reaction, only without the production of toxic by-products. Apparently, the new metal also has higher potential power output. </p><p>As for the reactor's bluish glow, in the case of this mechanism it would be <i>Cherenkov radiation</i>,<i> </i>which occurs when energetic photons pass into a medium with a relatively lower speed of light (such as heavy water used for reaction containment around nuclear reactors vs. the vacuum inside the reactor itself). </p>

<p>It's most definitely NOT Vibranium. As that was a known material. </p><p>Nick Fury didn't know what the element was or how to make it. He did know that Howard Stark was well aware that there was a new element that he needed that would perfect the Arc Reactor but that he didn't have the tech yet to make it. </p><p>@ Misacek01 I actually remember that story of the blue man, the guy who drank silver every day for years and his skin turned blue. </p><p>As for how the toxins got into his system I wonder if it's possible he used blood as a form of coolant? Or perhaps it penetrated it not unlike Neutron Radiation. There's no way you could get 100% radiation protection in such a small package. </p>

<p>The element vas not vibranuim it was badassium: </p><p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The New Element that was originally theorized by Howard Stark after his research of Tesseract. He believed it could be source of limitless energy, but wasn't capable to create the element. Tony Stark's chest-build Arc Reactor required heavy element, such as Palladium, in order to work. However, Palladium released toxins in Arc Reactor, slowly poisoning Tony. With need to gain better energy source, Stark found his father's blueprints, built small particle accelerator and eventually created New Element. This element appeared only shortly, being solid and constantly glowing material.</span> </p><p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">The New Element was incorrectly called "vibranium" in a novelization. Vibranium was later introduced in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.</span> </p><p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;"> </span> </p><p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">Later in comic book was revealed that Tony wanted to patent his new element as "Badassium", but ran into several legal issues.</span> </p>