Marvel’s new Iron Man is a 15-year-old M.I.T black girl Riri Williams aka Iron Man(African American)

[loyola llothta]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe won early allegiance from skeptical fans by demonstrating a strong adherence to the widely-known depictions of Marvel comic book superheroes in terms of their characterization, costuming and aesthetic. That approach is one that the filmmaking side of the Marvel machinery has largely been reluctant to deviate from, since the first Iron Man was released in 2008.

Meanwhile, in the pages of Marvel Comics, the status quo has been in the midst of abroad upheaval for several years – one focused on telling fresh stories and bringing greater diversity to the Marvel Comics Universe and set to be driven even harder than ever by the fallout from Civil War II. This upheaval will reach into the Iron Man comics too, as Tony Stark will soon hand over the Iron Man identity to an entirely new (and very different) character.

Time Magazine broke the news that the immediate post-Civil War II storyline of theInvincible Iron Man series (currently written by Brian Michael Bendis) will involve Tony Stark stepping away from his role as the titular hero and passing the mantle to Riri Williams, a young Black woman said to be enrolled at MIT since the age of 15 thanks her remarkable scientific ability. The full circumstances of this change have not yet been revealed, but Bendis is quick to point out that knowing Tony Stark will soon cease to be Iron Man is not necessarily a spoiler regarding who “wins” Civil War II


“More people are going to be upset that they think they know the ending to Civil War II now than anything we just talked about. But I can tell you just because we’re hearing what we’re saying doesn’t know you mean how Civil War II ends. We’re not telling you the end, at all.

“Tony is also a master at not paying attention to the thing that’s most important and distracting himself with Avengers stuff. How that all shakes out such that Tony is no longer in the armor? You’ll have to wait to find out for the end of Civil War II. But it does create a path or Riri Williams, who Tony will know and will be interacting with very shortly in the comics.”


Understandably, much of the storyline is being held back to avoid unnecessary spoilers, but it has been confirmed that Riri Williams will first come to Stark’s attention when he learns of an MIT student who is believed to have reverse-engineered her own suit of armor out of an old Iron Man unit in her dorm room. A cover and teaser-image for the storyline (see below) features Williams wearing a T-shirt with an arc-reactor glow emanating from underneath and holding a redesigned Iron Man helmet.

The news comes one day after Marvel made similar news by announcing the formation of a new Champions team comprised largely of diverse Millennial-aged fan-favorite characters like Miles Morales, Kamala Khan and Amaeus “Totally Awesome Hulk” Cho. Asked by Time whether he still worries about the reactions from a contingent of fans who are not enthused about the publisher’s continued push toward remaking its character roster to reflect rising demographics and a changing world, Bendis reaffirmed his own commitment:

“Some of the comments online, I don’t think people even realize how racist they sound. I’m not saying if you criticize you’re a racist, but if someone writes, “Why do we need Riri Williams we already have Miles?” that’s a weird thing to say. They’re individuals just like Captain America and Cyclops are individuals. All I can do is state my case for the character, and maybe they’ll realize over time that that’s not the most progressive thinking.”


While persons other than Tony Stark have adopted the Iron Man mantle (most notably James Rhodes, subsequently becoming War Machine), most of those stories were told before the character was one of Marvel’s most popular figures thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s performance in the MCU films. It’s possible (though in no way confirmed) that this bold change in character’s comic scenario could be a test case for how to handle the eventual (inevitable) need to recast the role in the MCU.

Marvel Comics’ New Iron Man is a Black Woman

 

[steadyrighteous]

Not that I'm complaining, but at what point does it go from genuine and organic diversity to pandering?

I'm not a heavy comic book reader but all of their changes feel rather pander-y to me.

EDIT: Meh, I take that back.

It's cool

 

[AquaCityBoy]

I'm all for more diversity in comics, but it feels like it's starting to get a little inaccessible.

If you're an MCU fan wanting to get into the comics, or and old comic fan trying to get back into it, the entire Marvel universe is completely unrecognisable now.

You also run the risk of what happened to DC a few years back. Eventually the old guys are gonna come back, and you either have too cluttered a universe, or several unfortunate implications when all the female and minority heroes get sidelined for the old white guys.

 

[BXKingPin82]

oh theyre really gonna do something with this huh?!

thought it was cool

i just wish theyd put more thought into creating NEW black, spanish, etc etc characters instead of this lazy ass "Black/Spanish Spider-Man, Black Iron Man female" shyt
but i can dig it

and im actually liking the ladies gettin more shine
Jane Foster Thor
A-Force
CPT.Marvel
my current favorite Ms.Marvel

shyts is dope

im surprised how much i like that CPT Marvel shyt tho

 

[ORDER_66]

I'm feeling her...

 

[KRiLL (+)]

man fukk equality in comics, i like my Iron Man as a middle aged, alcoholic, narcissist caucasian male...

 

[BlackMajik]

Piggybacking off of white characters instead of making new original characters

No thanks. It's lazy as shyt and it is pathetic pandering

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Piggybacking off of white characters instead of making new original characters

No thanks. It's lazy as shyt and it is pathetic pandering

Agreed 100%!

 

[BlackMajik]

If ur black and celebrating this u look pretty pathetic

 

[MenacingMonk]

What happened to Stark?

 

[MartyMcFly]

Piggybacking off of white characters instead of making new original characters

No thanks. It's lazy as shyt and it is pathetic pandering

You sometimes have to Trojan horse characters breh. Let's be real: if they put this same character in a book with a completely new character how many copies would it sell? There's a good chance she'd die off simply because comic book fans today tend to fear what they don't understand and despise change. There's nothing wrong with the Trojan horse way of doing it as long as it's done well. It's not "pandering" if it's looking to serve a group of people who don't feel served by the current options.

 

[Days of Future Piff]

That's great that they want to have some black women representing (Monica Rambeau ), but I think they're better off putting more focus on already established black characters like T'Challa, Storm, and Luke Cage, as well as coming up with new characters and letting them shine instead of piggybacking off of the old white dudes. Especially when you know those new characters are status when they inevitably end up coming back. I'm in agreement that it makes things way too inaccessible for fans of the movies and longtime readers, and it clutters up the universe like crazy, and it feels a bit lazy just to ride the coattails of more established characters.

Then again, I only really follow the OG Marvel eras of the 60's, 70's and 80's, so Imma just let my opinion be taken with a grain of salt and let these new jacks eat

 

[BlackMajik]

You sometimes have to Trojan horse characters breh. Let's be real: if they put this same character in a book with a completely new character how many copies would it sell? There's a good chance she'd die off simply because comic book fans today tend to fear what they don't understand and despise change. There's nothing wrong with the Trojan horse way of doing it as long as it's done well. It's not "pandering" if it's looking to serve a group of people who don't feel served by the current options.

Nope fukk this shyt

I'll keep supporting things like this tho

Take that other bullshyt somewhere else to appease the low self esteem having muthafukkas out there becuz I have something called dignity

 

[MartyMcFly]

Nope fukk this shyt

I'll keep supporting things like this tho

Tak ethat other bullshyt somewhere else

YOU keep supporting stuff like that breh but you aren't the masses. You aren't the general public. It's great that you do that so props are in order but the masses don't move that way anymore. And when they do it's rare as fukk. Rather than being upset at marvel for the move you should probably turn that ire toward fans who aren't supporting new characters so marvel wouldn't have to make the move to begin with

 

[NobodyReally]

Piggybacking off of white characters instead of making new original characters

No thanks. It's lazy as shyt and it is pathetic pandering

Agreed 100%!

You sometimes have to Trojan horse characters breh. Let's be real: if they put this same character in a book with a completely new character how many copies would it sell? There's a good chance she'd die off simply because comic book fans today tend to fear what they don't understand and despise change. There's nothing wrong with the Trojan horse way of doing it as long as it's done well. It's not "pandering" if it's looking to serve a group of people who don't feel served by the current options.

@MartyMcFly is right. New black and female characters get introduced all the time, and nobody buys. That's how racism works. There's a dope new comic coming out now called 'Black'. All new characters and powers- let's see how much shine it gets from these people complaining about pandering and piggybacking.