>But is there an in-universe reason why he can't pilot it remotely?
Ego.
I get that Tony has to be in the suit so that fight scenes can have some tension but is there an in-universe reason why...
Robert Bailey
Mason Nelson
None now really. It used to be that he needed the suit to keep him alive. Another arc made it so that remote controlled suits were inferior to direct control. Nowadays, he is able to control multiple suits remotely with no noticeable decline in capabilities.
Isaiah Green
He did that in the mid 90s
Christopher Gray
>but is there an in-universe reason why he can't pilot it remotely?
You really can't trust an AI.
Also he used to do it when he was in space and he piloted even more at once, but he simply isn't as effective as when he is inside. He probably would have been able to do it more easier if he had the extremis
David Long
It's not the smartest idea around when half of the villains in Marvel are genius scientists looking to steal or adapt some new piece of technology.
Every hero has at least 2-3 evil genius villains, most X-villains are evil geniuses, most Iron Man and Ant Man villains are evil geniuses, and AIM is a big collection of costumed evil geniuses.
Someone between Wizard, Leader, Thinker, Tinkerer, Mandarin, MODOK, Osborn, Zola, Zemo, Dark Beast, Arcade, or Doc Ock would eventually hack into the signal and control it.
Gavin Perry
I remember a big part of the Extremis arc was Tony fussing over the reaction time of the suit. I figure that's the reason he never relies on remote control.
Cooper Morales
I think he has done that before in the comics, piloting one of his suits from afar like using some kind of Gigantor type system.
Easton Campbell
The suit was remote controlled during the 90s when Stark was paralyzed. It had serious issues with lag.
The reason he doesn't use AI is because he's scared of creating something like Ultron, dunno if that's retconned.
Adrian Cook
Ego.
There’s a billion “No U” bullshit tactics that have been pulled over the years to justify bullshit after comic book science bullshit- but ultimately nothing could ever trump his will to prove himself.
Oliver Gonzalez
One of the most interesting concepts that barely gets touched on is what happens when the suit reaches a point where Tony can't keep up with it anymore.
The coolest Iron Man story is Hypervelocity, where an incomplete AI copy of Tony is uploaded into an suit. Once you take the human pilot out of the equation Iron Man is suddenly speedster level.