In Captain America: Civil War, when Rhodes gets knocked out by Vision and falls, why did his back break?
He still was in the suit.
In Iron Man (around 1:18:37), Tony goes to Gulmira and when he tries to destroy the jericho missiles he gets hit by a tank and falls from a higher distance than Rhodes, and he was okay, even though he falls really really bad.
EDIT :ceejayoz May best answer ever smart point on joint stiffening Tanks are actually a great analogy here. A tank that has had its power knocked out cannot use its active protection systems like the Iron Curtain, which requires a functioning radar etc. An Iron Man suit might do stuff like stiffening joints in anticipation of an impact, inflating g-suite bladders to immobilize limbs, and other such things that'd improve survivability. Even modern cars do this - airbags, seatbelt retractors - and rely on power. – ceejayoz
tank you ceejayoz you actually got what i meant did not think about it like that i feel so stupid it makes sense now and my favorite movie isn't dumb