(Web Desk) - It's not just the fantastic powers that keep comic book characters from being real.
Many superheroes also have access to impossible technology. Iron Man's suit may still be out of reach, but one engineer has come incredibly close to recreating Spider-Man's web shooters.
JT, the talented engineer behind the YouTube channel Built IRL, has spent a few years trying to recreate the gadgets that help give many superheroes their super abilities, including the grappling gun that Batman uses to escape sticky situations.
After coming satisfyingly close to recreating Batman's toys, JT turned their attention to another superhero. Two years after creating a handheld device that allowed them to swing through the air like Spider-Man, they've revisited and refined the design so it now looks like a prop straight out of a Marvel movie.
Unlike Peter Parker, JT is still limited by real world physics, chemistry, and the materials available in our universe.
Without access to Pym particles, the web shooter they engineered isn't small enough to disappear on the wrist, nor does it allow for blast after blast of 'webbing.' It needs to be manually re-loaded and re-pressurized with air each time it's fired.
The ingredients used to create Spider-Man's strong and pliable webbing are also still a mystery to chemists, so JT instead miniaturized the hookchain they created years ago for their Batman build.
The chain combines a strong but thin rope material with small metal hooks along its length, allowing it to wrap around and secure itself to objects.
In testing, the hookchain is more than strong enough to support JT's weight, and the webshooter is capable of blasting it a fair distance, but the engineer hasn't yet tried to swing from a towering skyscraper.
Without Peter Parker's strength or ability to stick to walls, that's probably a smart idea.