Marvel Names Its Most Important Character, And It Isn’t Spider-Man
Marvel is currently in the midst of a massive crossover event, and when it emerges from the other side, the company’s densely populated comics universe will be aligned with their film franchise, centering around Iron Man as the most important character.
The current event is called Secret Wars, as the Motley Fool reports, and it harkens back to a classic period in Marvel‘s history. In October, the conclusion of this story arc will reset the Marvel comics universe, setting up Iron Man as the central character, and while that may come as a surprise to some fans, they can lay all the blame at the feet of Robert Downey Jr.
How Marvel has set up Iron Man brilliantly in Age of Ultron and Civil War for the Infinity… http://t.co/UPhrIbeuTC pic.twitter.com/99V1qxsjfy
— Stone Marshall (@GoStoneMarshall) June 25, 2015
The success of Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is lost on no one, and now that film role will help to remake Marvel comics. According to writer Brian Michael Bendis, Marvel is responding to Iron Man’s movie-driven fame by reorienting their comics, placing him at the forefront of the universe.
“He’s probably the most well-known super hero in the world alongside Batman. That is an interesting thing,” Bendis observed.
I can’t believe I live in a world where flippin’ Iron Man is Marvel’s flagship character and Spider-Man isn’t. pic.twitter.com/H48i7qSvnY
— Scott McElroy (@Doctor_Spidey) June 24, 2015
As part of the new alignment, Marvel will launch Invincible Iron Man this fall, helmed by Bendis and David Marquez. The title will be the first Iron Man solo excursion for either of the two, who have previously collaborated on other titles for Marvel, as ComicBook.com reports. The series promises to be a major development of Marvel’s premiere character, and appears set to answer some long-standing questions regarding Tony Stark.
“We’re tasked with taking the crown jewel of the Disney/Marvel empire. We’re doing a new armor, a new girlfriend, and we will find out who Tony Stark’s birth parents are,” Bendis said. “His new armor will turn into any of his 30 armors on the fly, so he can alter it to do whatever he needs at the moment.”
Upcoming “Invincible Iron Man” artist @DaveMarquez goes in-depth on his new gig: http://t.co/V5OVoqkSUB pic.twitter.com/FVzkE2Gnxz
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) June 15, 2015
Marvel recently courted controversy when they announced that Tom Holland will play Spider-Man in the character’s next film, as the Inquisitr previously reported. With their decision to re-orient their comics universe around Iron Man, Marvel appears poised to give its fans more of what they want, though only time will tell whether readers agree.
[Image: Marvel via Twitter]
