Robert Downey Jr. surprises a young fan with a bionic arm


A 7-year-old boy who was born with a partially developed right arm received a huge surprise: His very own bionic arm, courtesy of Iron Man.
The arm was created by Albert Manero, a college student who builds and donates 3D-printed limbs for children. In the video, Robert Downey Jr. stayed in character as Tony Stark, telling Alex: "Half the time, I design one of these, and it keeps breaking on me. What I do is I keep working on it, like you're working on it with Albert." On his Facebook page, Downey called Alex "the most dapper 7-year-old I've ever met," and thanked Manero for making "artificial limbs like this more affordable for families with kids who want to show the playground how badass they are." —Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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