Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 9 - “Lagrange Point”
Summary
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5 broughtIron Man-style technology into the 32nd century. Directed by Jonathan Frakes and written by Sean Cochran and Ari Friedman,Star Trek: Discoveryseason 5, episode 9, “Lagrange Point”, was an action and humor-packed heist adventure. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio), and Lt. Commander Gen Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) go incognito as Breen to steal the portal to the Progenitors' treasure from the Breen Dreadnought. It turns outwearing a Breen helmet is just like when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is Iron Man.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide
As Burnham seeks the universe’s greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she’ll need help from a host of new and returning characters.
Directed by Jon Favreau, 2008’sIron Manlaunched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, centering it around the erratic but brilliant billionaire weapons manufacturer Tony Stark. Whenever Stark donned Iron Man’s helmet,Favreau ingeniously innovated close-ups so that audiences could see Robert Downey Jr.’s face and reactions via a distinctive heads-up display. Anyone who wore anIron Man suitin Marvel Studios’Iron ManandAvengersmovies also had their faces memorably appear this way.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Breen Helmet Is Just Like Iron Man
Director Jonathan Frakes explains how they filmed it
When Captain Burnham and her away team wore Breen helmets inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 5, episode 9, “Lagrange Point”, their faces appeared incloseups exactly like Tony Stark inIron Man. DirectorJonathan Frakes toldScreen Rantthis was by design, andDiscovery’s director of photography Maya Bankovic innovated a means to replicateIron Man’s heads-up display:
Jonathan Frakes: Exactly. That’s where it was stolen from. But we didn’t have the money for those shots, the Iron Man shots. So we found a lens, and then, we found a lighting setup that we could use so that not all of those would be visual effects shots. So then, the side of the frame, the anamorphic, Maya created a digital lighting gag that would suggest that we were, in fact, inside the helmet. Because as cool it is to go in there incognito, as you said, it’s very confusing to keep track of where where our characters are in the show, unless we go in [the helmets].
Just as it worked inIron Man, Star Trek: Discovery’s heads-up displays allowed audiences to see Captain Burnham, Book, Adira, and Rhys' reactions as their infiltration mission went sideways. Among the fun moments wasMichael’s surprise when Book tried to flirt with a Breenas a distraction tactic. Being able to cut toDiscovery’s heroes' close-ups also helped differentiate each character from the faceless uniformity of the Breen. It also doesn’t hurt to weave some ofIron Man’s big screen cool factor intoStar Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek Just Got Another Big Link To Marvel
Picard’s showrunner says, “Make Mine Marvel”
Over 20 years beforeStar Trek: Discovery’s homage toIron Man,Star Trekbecame forever linked to Marvelthanks to Patrick Stewart.Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard became known to a new audience when Stewart played Professor X AKA Professor Charles Xavier in 2000’sX-Men, a role he would reprise multiple times throughout theX-Menmovies, most recently in 2022’sDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Also inX-Menwas Rebecca Romijn as Mystique before she became Number One inStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. Also inX-Menwas Famke Janssen, who guest-starred opposite Stewart inStar Trek: TNG.
Other crossoverMarvelandStar Trekactors include Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Alice Eve.
Star Trek’s newest Marvel crossover is Terry Matalas, the acclaimed showrunner ofStar Trek: Picardseason 3. Matalas was tapped as the newshowrunner of Marvel’s untitledVisionDisney+ series, targeted for a 2026 release.Visionbrings back Paul Bettany as the heroic synthezoid, who debuted in 2015’sAvengers: Age of Ultron after Bettany voiced JARVIS, Tony Stark’s A.I., in the three Iron Manmovies.Star Trek: Discoveryweaving inIron Man-style tech furtherstrengthens the bond betweenStar Trekand Marvel.
