Iron Man - Now Available As a 15 Year Old Black Teenager

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**d-usa**

Via NPR:

COMICS

A Starkly Different Iron Man: Black, Female, And 15 Years Old
July 6, 201612:21 PM ET

Her name is Riri Williams. She reverse-engineered her own version of the Iron Man battlesuit in her MIT dorm room, got kicked out, and struck out on her own to do the superhero thing. Clumsily at first, but she's learning fast. So fast she's impressing Tony Stark, who's questioning his status as the Marvel Universe's go-to, super-powered Campbell's soup can. Readers first met her in the March issue of Invincible Iron Man.

And according to an interview in TIME with Brian Michael Bendis, who's writing both that Iron Man title and this summer's comics crossover event, Civil War II, she's about to take over for Tony Stark when Invincible Iron Man relaunches in the fall.

It's the latest in a series of moves that's slowly but steadily transforming the Avengers' roster from a team with more white dudes than a Harold Bloom syllabus into a super-group that more accurately reflects the world off of the comics page.

First came Miles Morales, a black Latino kid who stepped into the role of Spider-Man. Next came Kamala Khan, a teenage Muslim from New Jersey who assumed the title of Ms. Marvel, and America Chavez, a Latina lesbian who adopted the name of Golden Age hero Miss America. Recently Sam Wilson, the former Marvel hero The Falcon, took over as Captain America (not for the first time). Two years ago, Jane Foster, the girlfriend of Marvel's resident God of Thunder, replaced him, becoming the female Thor.

It's worth noting that in every one of these cases, the new character has simply assumed an existing hero's shtick. That's because it takes years for brand-new characters to establish themselves, if they ever do; there's certainly no guarantee readers will accept an original hero in a genre as steeped (read: wallowing) in history as mainstream superhero comics.

Having a new character take on the name and powers of a long-established hero offers an effective shortcut, and one that assures three different but coequal outcomes:

1. The sheer name-recognition of the superhero in question will generate coverage, like this blog post;

2. A subset of hardcore fans who believe superhero comics should be fixed in a permanent, "iconic" stasis (read: should always remain exactly the way they were when these fans were thirteen years old) will rise up in protest; and

3. Readers who have rarely seen themselves represented in superhero comics in such a high-profile way — people of color, LGBT people, people of different faiths — will at least investigate a new take on a character. Whether or not they stick with it depends, of course, entirely on the execution; representation does not guarantee readership, nor should it. But comics, like any medium, grow more interesting, more relevant, and more revelatory as they grow less monolithic. And that's what moves like this set out to do.

In that interview in TIME, Bendis was asked why it's taken so long for changes like this to occur in comics. He said:

Talking to any of the older creators, it's the thing they said they wish they'd done more of — reflecting the world around them. It just wasn't where the world was at at that time. Now, when you have a young woman come up to you at a signing and say how happy she is to be represented in his universe, you know you're moving in the right direction.

And the Time article:

There’s a new Iron Man. Well, Iron Man for now. She’s still working on the name. The events at the end of the comic book event series Civil War II will result in Tony Stark stepping out of the Iron Man suit and a new character, Riri Williams, taking over, Marvel tells TIME. (Note: Tony’s departure doesn’t mean you know the end to Civil War II yet.)

Riri is a science genius who enrolls in MIT at the age of 15. She comes to the attention of Tony when she builds her own Iron Man suit in her dorm. Creator and Iron Man writer Brian Michael Bendis spoke exclusively to TIME about the creation of Riri Williams with book artist Stefano Caselli and Marvel’s increasingly diverse cast of characters.

TIME: How did you come up with the character of Riri Williams?

Bendis: 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 the right place.

As we’ve been slowly and hopefully very organically adding all these new characters to the Marvel Universe, it just seemed that sort of violence inspiring a young hero to rise up and act, and using her science acumen, her natural born abilities that are still raw but so ahead of where even Tony Stark was at that age, was very exciting to me.

What have we seen of her so far in the Iron Man comics?

In the latest issue of Iron Man, Tony is in a lab talking to himself, and he’s already aware that there’s some student at M.I.T. that’s reverse-engineered one of his old armors all by herself in her dorm room. He’s aware of her immediately.

What’s been the reception of the character so far (before this announcement)?

Thankfully because of my involvement in the creation of Miles Morales and Jessica Jones and some other characters, it’s getting the benefit of the doubt from even the most surly fans. There are fans who say, “Show us the new stuff,” and then there are fans who say, “Don’t do anything different from when I was a kid.” So when you’re introducing new characters, you’re always going to have people getting paranoid about us ruining their childhood.

I’ve been down this road with Miles Morales, Jessica Jones, Maria Hill. I knew I was in good hands with Mike Deodato and other artists who are helping visualize Riri.

Marvel Comics’ diverse new cast has stirred some controversy among a subset of fans.

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.

But increasingly we see less and less of that. Once Miles hit, and Kamala Khan hit and female Thor hit—there was a part of an audience crawling through the desert looking for an oasis when it came to representation, and now that it’s here, you’ll go online and be greeted with this wave of love.

I think what’s most important is that the character is created in an organic setting. We never had a meeting saying, “we need to create this character.” It’s inspired by the world around me and not seeing that represented enough in popular culture.

Why did it take so long to turn the Avengers from a team of mostly white dudes into a more diverse array of characters?

Talking to any of the older creators, it’s the thing they said they wish they’d done more of—reflecting the world around them. It just wasn’t where the world was at at that time. Now, when you have a young woman come up to you at a signing and say how happy she is to be represented in his universe, you know you’re moving in the right direction.

I don’t want to spoil anything for fans—

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.

What led Tony Stark to a place where he’s stepping out of the suit?

We’re in the middle of a very big Tony Stark storyline—actually three storylines converging. His best friend died, his company is collapsing and he’s finding out who his biological parents were all at the same time. That’s stressful for a character who is wired the way Tony is wired and has dependency issues the way Tony does.

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.

How do they meet?

One of the things Tony does to distract himself from all the things going on in his life is he goes to find this young woman who is flying around the middle of America in an armor that’s not completely made to try to find out what her deal is.

It’s hard to subtly fly around in Iron Man armor.

You imagine that Tony has Iron Man armor on his Google Alerts.

He’s also aware that this young woman is flying by him in terms of how quickly she’s doing it. Her brain is maybe a little better than his. She looks at things from a different perspective that makes the armor unique. He can’t help but go maybe I should buy her out.

**Grimskul**

Eh. While diversity is not a bad thing, I don't like how they trumpet it every time in such a forced fashion of effectively telling naysayers "if you don't like it you're racist" or at the very least you're almost immediately dismissed for having no good basis for disliking them. If you want a character to stand on its own, it has to be more than just "I'm more Iron-Man than Iron Man, plus I'm a minority". Most of the strongest characters in fiction has less to do with their ethnicity/race and more to do with their personality or abilities, like Sherlock's wit and intellect or Frodo's bravery.The way the article seems to describe her also puts her into some kind of Mary-Sue light from how she's supposedly on par or above Tony. If you're going to pass the torch, make them work for it more IMO.

**djones520**

The diversity thing is certainly feeling a little forced to me, but I'm ok with this.

A number of years ago I played in a Marvel RPG group, and one of my characters was an Iron Man knock off. Basically a rich guy to smart for his own good decided to do exactly this, follow in Tony Starks foot steps. So this resounds well with me. I just wish it didn't feel like every time I was hearing about the comics now a days it was in some way we were getting "more diversity" shoehorned in.

**timetowaste85**

They left Amadeus Cho out, who replaced Banner as the Hulk. And X-23 replaced Logan as Wolverine.

Honestly, the Heroes we grew up with are being replaced. We didn't fall in love with them because they were WHITE, we fell in love with them because of the people inside. Bruce Banner transformed from his inner pain and rage, Cho transforms cuz he thinks it's cool. Tony Stark built the costume because it saved his life, Riri did it cuz she thinks it's cool. Thor had to be taught humility and didn't truly find himself until his power was taken away. Jane Foster is just a perfect human being who happened to become ill with cancer. The fact is, the heroes were heroes because they were human and overcame their failures to still protect others.
I don't give a damn about the color of the skin of any of them. I give a damn when the heroes who have proven themselves get replaced by uppity punks who think it's a cool thing. Khan, Cho and this new Riri are all examples of "oh, that looks cool; I should do that cuz I can!!"
Stan Lee had a PERFECT explanation of the heroes in the movie Mallrats. It seems Bendis should really go back and listen to Stan's words. Because he is undoing all the work Stan did before.

**Grimskul**

timetowaste85 wrote:
They left Amadeus Cho out, who replaced Banner as the Hulk. And X-23 replaced Logan as Wolverine.

Honestly, the Heroes we grew up with are being replaced. We didn't fall in love with them because they were WHITE, we fell in love with them because of the people inside. Bruce Banner transformed from his inner pain and rage, Cho transforms cuz he thinks it's cool. Tony Stark built the costume because it saved his life, Riri did it cuz she thinks it's cool. Thor had to be taught humility and didn't truly find himself until his power was taken away. Jane Foster is just a perfect human being who happened to become ill with cancer. The fact is, the heroes were heroes because they were human and overcame their failures to still protect others.
I don't give a damn about the color of the skin of any of them. I give a damn when the heroes who have proven themselves get replaced by uppity punks who think it's a cool thing. Khan, Cho and this new Riri are all examples of "oh, that looks cool; I should do that cuz I can!!"
Stan Lee had a PERFECT explanation of the heroes in the movie Mallrats. It seems Bendis should really go back and listen to Stan's words. Because he is undoing all the work Stan did before.

Exalted! Took the words straight out of my mouth!

**The Grumpy Eldar**

I thought they were returning the status quo... Not altering it further. I just hope that this is a few issues thing. If not I'll be dissapointed. This whole thing feels so forced with the Hulk, Thor, Spidey and now Iron-Man.

Same thing is happening with tv show adaptations and movie adaptations to... Ghost in the Shell, Attack on Titan (movie) and the upcoming Deathnote Netflix show.

It became way more noticeable with lots of SJW stuff going on lately to. So it's even harder not to notice or give a hoot.

**Kojiro**

timetowaste85 wrote:

Honestly, the Heroes we grew up with are being replaced.

Perhaps the worst part of all this is the fact they are replacements, not additions, in many cases.

**Grimskul**

Kojiro wrote:
timetowaste85 wrote:

Honestly, the Heroes we grew up with are being replaced.

Perhaps the worst part of all this is the fact they are replacements, not additions, in many cases.

Indeed, it's not like the different Robins they have where each is distinct from the other while still being part of the Bat Family.

**AduroT**

I like Miles, I like Kamala, She-Thor was stupid. Not seen enough of this new girl to have an opinion but I'll be sad if Tony is gone because I really like his snark and dialogue.

**Paradigm**

I think ttw85 hit the nail on the head; Marvel seem to be working on the basis they can take unknown/new characters and instantly fill the shoes of iconic characters that are defined by in some cases up to 70-odd years of history. It works with things like BuckyCap and FalCap as those two characters have a history of their own, and it's there's a direct 'lineage' from the orignial Cap; they take on the job basically because they're the people he trusts to do it. Similarly, Morales as Spidey works, he's continuing the legacy of the hero that inspired him...

But with things like X-23 being Wolverine because.. well, she has claws, or Jane Foster being Thor because she's been in some Thor comics, there's much less significance to the change, there's no 'reason' for them to inherit these titles. Then with AmaHulkus Cho and now the new Iron (Wo)Man, they're just passing on the legacy to characters we have no real reason to care about or invest in.

That's not to say I'm against new characters, but I'd much rather they actually invent some new characters, rather than just putting new names to old suits. Seems like there's a lack of originality, or perhaps they just don't think new titles/characters will sell. Either way, the current MO seems counterproductive to me.

Come to think of it, the Young Avengers run from a while (well, about 10 years now) handled this kind of thing much better. New characters with ties to old mainstream ones, but not direct copies and all with something more to them than just 'I'm now Hero X because I want to be' ('Iron Lad' was a time travelling future villain, 'Asgardian' was more related to Scarlet Witch than Thor, 'Hulking' was in fact a Skrull, Patriot was no supersoldier, just using Mutant Growth Hormone ect)... That's much better than just 'here's a new Iron Man/Hulk/Whoever, same suit, different name...'

**Manchu**

djones520 wrote:
I just wish it didn't feel like every time I was hearing about the comics now a days it was in some way we were getting "more diversity" shoehorned in.

Me too! But telling a story that earns critical acclaim from a circle beyond your peers is a lot harder than cooking up an angle sure to generate soundbytes/clickbait.

Kojiro wrote:
Perhaps the worst part of all this is the fact they are replacements, not additions, in many cases.

They are replacements only in the short term - they will just be additions in the long term. In order to become "permanent" (as much as anything can be in comics), a change has to earn a lot of money or else somehow become the wider public's default brand experience. After the novelty of this "news" wears off, only the tiny and shrinking demographic that reads comics will remember that Iron Man is anyone but Tony Stark (a.k.a., Robert Downey Jr).

**Kojiro**

Paradigm wrote:

That's not to say I'm against new characters, but I'd much rather they actually invent some new characters, rather than just putting new names to old suits. Seems like there's a lack of originality, or perhaps they just don't think new titles/characters will sell. Either way, the current MO seems counterproductive to me.

I think they know, deep down, that if you publish Wolverine alongside X-23, people who want the feral, claw wielder comic are already invested in Wolverine and will continue to do so. X-23 is redundant on those qualities. If people are going to pick up her book, she needs something more, or you need to take Wolverine off the shelf. Same for Thor, Iron Man etc.Make the new character the only option to force people into giving them a shot.

**TheCustomLime**

I think the biggest travesty is the CGI crap they are trying to pass off as art.

**cuda1179**

Does anyone else feel like things would be significantly less tolerated if they got RID of a minority character. Personally I'd like to see a Hasidic Jew take over as the new Blade.

Please don't attach non wargaming images to dakka.
Reds8n

**Manchu**

cuda1179 wrote:
Does anyone else feel like things would be significantly less tolerated if they got RID of a minority character.

Eh, it's all a storm in a teacup. When the New 52 rolled out, there were complaints about Barbara Gordon finally being allowed out of her wheelchair. The complainers felt that this was tantamount to getting rid of a handicapable character. You'd be hard pressed to find an "article" floating around about that "controversy" written lately.

**DutchWinsAll**

TheCustomLime wrote:
I think the biggest travesty is the CGI crap they are trying to pass off as art.

Agreed. I haven't really enjoyed a Marvel series since the early issues of Exiles. I find myself reading more comics now than ever, but pretty much no Marvel. Can't say I ever bought an Iron-Man comic, so this changeup does nothing for me really.

Movies have gotten to the point for me where I don't need to shell out more money to read the same tight-suited fistfights on paper slathered with a thin veneer of do-goodery reasons.

I'll stick with Vertigo and Image to consistently push the boundaries of comics and entertain me immensely whilst doing it.

**Spinner**

It's a major comic book universe. Status quo is pretty much king. Even if he gets replaced, Tony's going to be Iron Man again sooner or later. Otto Octavius didn't get to stay as Spider-Man. Dick Grayson sure as hell wasn't going to be Batman forever. Hal Jordan can murder his bosses and sooner or later, he's going to be Green Lantern again. Has a big-name superhero ever actually passed on the mantle for a solid length of time and not taken it up again later?

I can't think of one, but, y'know. Comics.

**SirDonlad**

My word, marvel will completely lose me if they go down this road.

**cuda1179**

Spinner wrote:
It's a major comic book universe. Status quo is pretty much king. Even if he gets replaced, Tony's going to be Iron Man again sooner or later. Otto Octavius didn't get to stay as Spider-Man. Dick Grayson sure as hell wasn't going to be Batman forever. Hal Jordan can murder his bosses and sooner or later, he's going to be Green Lantern again. Has a big-name superhero ever actually passed on the mantle for a solid length of time and not taken it up again later?

I can't think of one, but, y'know. Comics.

Blue Beetle comes to mind...... or Ant Man. Other than that, no one I can recall.

**timetowaste85**

I dislike Miles because I didn't enjoy his shoehorned origin story. Had he shown up in earlier issues (Bendis has done the whole run and knew his goal; he could have easily done this) to either be following and watching Spidey, making us wonder who this kid was, or how he was able to trail Spidey so easily, it would have made the kid FIT. Instead, I can't get over "oh, I got bit by the same spider and have powers, but I was too scared to use them til my hero fell." I get that people like Miles. Had he been the original Spidey in Ultimates, and Peter never got bit, I'd probably love the character. But we got a new guy to replace Peter when he died before the first shovels of dirt hit his grave.

And X-23 is actually a clone of Wolverine, so I can kinda get her replacing him...but Wolverine was a tragic figure who knew nothing except loss and pain and he had to figure it all out himself, until he finally found the strength to let guys like Xavier and Nightcrawler in. As soon as he found Laura, and they sniffed out the clone-relationship, he began fixing her. She didn't have memory loss, no question who she was (granted, she was created to be a weapon which SUCKED for her), and she didn't go through quite the mental anguishes that Logan did.

I actually liked when Bucky and Falcon took up the mantle of Cap, as they were established characters who followed in his footsteps and helped the hero stand when he was laid low. And Rhodey taking over as Iron Man when Stark's demons needed him to take a hiatus. But that's not what we're getting. No established characters, we're getting the heroes who have established themselves being tossed out for a group of people who give us nothing to attach to. I know I sound bitter. I am. I'm very disappointed in Marvel here.

**Kojiro**

Spinner wrote:
. Has a big-name superhero ever actually passed on the mantle for a solid length of time and not taken it up again later?

What do you define as a 'solid length of time'. It's been two years since Thor lost.. everything (and then an arm!) and we still don't even know why, let alone witnessed him doing anything to rectify the situation.

**Laughing Man**

Spinner wrote:
It's a major comic book universe. Status quo is pretty much king. Even if he gets replaced, Tony's going to be Iron Man again sooner or later. Otto Octavius didn't get to stay as Spider-Man. Dick Grayson sure as hell wasn't going to be Batman forever. Hal Jordan can murder his bosses and sooner or later, he's going to be Green Lantern again. Has a big-name superhero ever actually passed on the mantle for a solid length of time and not taken it up again later?

I can't think of one, but, y'know. Comics.

Every Green Lantern ever?

EDIT: Well, they tend to come back in some form or another. Kyle Rayner is the White Lantern now, isn't he?

**BlaxicanX**

I couldn't care less- they could literally turn Tony Stark into a trans-sexual black panda bear- it doesn't really matter. Every significant thing that ever happens in comics essentially gets retconned eventually.

**Ouze**

My jimmies remain unrustled. After all, I remember when Rhodey was Iron Man in the comics (not War Machine, that came later).

Iron Man isn't inextricably entwined to Tony Stark, just as Thor (the office) is not inextricably entwined to Thor Odinson (the person). There have been other people in the office of Thor, there have been other people in the job/suit of Iron Man.

**reds8n**

The above is just 4 years away remember !

Elon Musk better get busy.

**Iron_Captain**

They should change the name of this character to "Mary Sue". It sounds like a teenager's fanfiction. I like the fact that they want to add more diversity to comics, but please do it with well-written characters. Not with something that sounds like the very definition of mary sue. Also, we desperately need more superheroes that are Russian. Why do Russians always need to be villains? I feel discriminated against.

**Frazzled**

Iron_Captain wrote:
They should change the name of this character to "Mary Sue". It sounds like a teenager's fanfiction. I like the fact that they want to add more diversity to comics, but please do it with well-written characters. Not with something that sounds like the very definition of mary sue. Also, we desperately need more superheroes that are Russian. Why do Russians always need to be villains? I feel discriminated against.

Indeed but they should do it old school style: We need Katrina, Super Tractor Factory Manager! (from tractor factory #427). She can carry a multibarreled rocket launcher and say things like "Say hello to little Kate!" while firing away.

**timetowaste85**

Iron_Captain wrote:
They should change the name of this character to "Mary Sue". It sounds like a teenager's fanfiction. I like the fact that they want to add more diversity to comics, but please do it with well-written characters. Not with something that sounds like the very definition of mary sue. Also, we desperately need more superheroes that are Russian. Why do Russians always need to be villains? I feel discriminated against.

Natasha Romanov, Piotr Nikoliavic Rasputin and Illyana Rasputin aren't Russian enough?
Black widow, Colossus and his sister Magik, for anyone who is unfamiliar.

**Iron_Captain**

timetowaste85 wrote:
Iron_Captain wrote:
They should change the name of this character to "Mary Sue". It sounds like a teenager's fanfiction. I like the fact that they want to add more diversity to comics, but please do it with well-written characters. Not with something that sounds like the very definition of mary sue. Also, we desperately need more superheroes that are Russian. Why do Russians always need to be villains? I feel discriminated against.

Natasha Romanov, Piotr Nikoliavic Rasputin and Illyana Rasputin aren't Russian enough?
Black widow, Colossus and his sister Magik, for anyone who is unfamiliar.

No. Those are overused stereotypes that don't even get played by real Russians in movies. It is like a white guy in blackface playing an overly stereotypical black character

Black Widow is an especially bad example. Apparently Russians can only be good guys if they betray their own people...

I don't need to see any Russian superheroes in American comics and movies, but it'd be really nice if they'd stop casting Russians in such a stereotpyical and negative light. Russians are already plenty good at making themselves look bad, we really don't need popular culture reinforcing and worsening that. Not to mention it is annoying as hell when people only think of Russians as being walking stereotypes.

**kronk**

Kojiro wrote:

Perhaps the worst part of all this is the fact they are replacements, not additions, in many cases.

Do you really think Tony Stark won't come back as or won't always be Iron Man?