So. There’s a new Captain America, who will most likely be revealed on tonight’s Colbert Report and which everyone is convinced is Sam Wilson aka the Falcon (though I remain unconvinced, even if I’ll happily be wrong). There’s also a new Thor, as revealed on #1 Comics News Program The View yesterday. These are two of Marvel’s biggest characters, two parts of their trinity if you will, with blockbuster films and massively successful character followings.
But two alone don’t make a trinity. There has to be a third player in there, and for all intents and purposes at Marvel that’s Iron Man.
However, in a strange turn of events, the ending of the previous volume of “Iron Man” written by Kieron Gillen has left the character without an ongoing. Maybe if this was 2008 and there wasn’t a film starring Robert Downey Jr. in theaters I wouldn’t see this as noteworthy, but in 2014 that’s a really big and odd gap to have in Marvel’s publishing line — a gap which still exists in October’s solicits.
Nobody knows where Iron Man is. Nobody seems to be talking about his absence, either.
That is, until today when Bleeding Cool posted the following teaser:
As of now, no one else has posted the teaser, and Bleeding Cool does not state where it came from, only that an unnamed source has noted it’s a “real thing.” Take that as you will.
The hypothesis, though, as provided by Bleeding Cool is that the “Superior” in the above teaser is for “The Superior Iron Man,” which will replace Tony Stark as Iron Man and put Arno in the suit instead this coming November.
If true, it would make sense. Thor and Cap are different, so Iron Man changing as well seems to match that. That we have Tony’s long lost brother Arno in the mix after Gillen’s run certainly leaves someone available to take the suit now that everyone hates Tony because of “New Avengers” and “Original Sin.” This would also represent a massive change to Marvel’s biggest characters, as the traditional iterations of the characters would all be gone and, in turn, appeal to potentially different demographics.
So what do you think? Is Arno about to become the Superior Iron Man? And is that him on the cover of “Avengers” #35? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.
