It seems that Tony Stark will be hanging up his iron boots and be stepping down as Iron Man as he makes way for a new successor in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1, a 15-year old Chicago-born black teen called Riri Williams.
Riri is a tech-genius that enrolled at MIT when she was 15. She is however kicked out of MIT when it is discovered that she is building her own Iron Man suit from scratch in her dorm room. This, of course, brings her to the attention of Tony Stark.
Iron Man and Invincible Iron Man writer Brian Micheal Bendis elaborated on where he got the inspiration for Riri Williams from.
“One of the things that stuck with me when I was working in Chicago a couple of years ago on a TV show that didn’t end up airing was the amount of chaos and violence, and this story of this brilliant young woman whose life was marred by tragedy that could have easily ended her life—just random street violence—and went off to college was very inspiring to me. I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or superheroine story I had ever heard. And I sat with it for awhile until I had the right character and place.”
Bendis also revealed that Riri donning the Iron Man suit will force Tony to come to grips with the fallout from his recent turbulent storyline. Tony is currently under huge amounts of stress thanks to the financial instability of his company, having lost his best friend in Civil War II, and the discovery of his true biological parents. Would these factors force Tony to no longer wear the Iron Man suit? Well according to Bendis we would have to wait and see.
I am really excited to see Marvel bringing in some new and interesting characters. Seeing how Tony Deals with Riri taking over as Iron Man and the potential for an interesting story line is something that we are looking forward to.
I hope that Wonder Woman is replaced by a 17 y/o transsexual Asian boy who sexually identifies as a Russian T90 Tank.