{"id":48576,"date":"2016-08-23T08:50:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T15:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/?p=48576"},"modified":"2019-03-05T18:13:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T02:13:35","slug":"move-over-iron-man-say-hello-to-ironheart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/move-over-iron-man-say-hello-to-ironheart\/","title":{"rendered":"Move over Iron Man – Say Hello to Ironheart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just weeks ago, news broke<\/a> that Tony Stark will be stepping down as Iron Man in the current run of Marvel comics. His replacement? Riri Williams, a teenage MIT prodigy who builds her own suit inspired by Stark’s designs.<\/p>\n

The immediate question on everyone’s lips was: will this new female hero still call herself Iron Man<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Series writer Brian Michael Bendis has given us the answer. Riri will be known as Ironheart<\/strong>. Not Iron Woman, which “seemed too old fashioned,” and not Iron Maiden, which would have been “a legal nightmare.”<\/p>\n

The new name was coined by Marvel CCO Joe Quesada, and Bendis whole-heartedly (yuk yuk) embraced the suggestion. It “speaks not only to the soul of the character but to the Iron Man franchise as a whole. Tony first put on the armor to save his heart. Riri puts it on for different reasons altogether but still heart-related.”<\/p>\n

So does this passing of the baton mean everyone’s favorite billionaire playboy philanthropist’s time on this earth is short? Unclear. Whatever goes down to take Iron Man<\/a> out of the spotlight will most likely play out in the current Civil War II<\/em> comic.<\/em><\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean the snarky Stark will be gone for good, though. Riri will be ensuring that her superhero inspiration\/mentor carries on as the A.I. in her own suit, which means Tony will basically become Riri’s J.A.R.V.I.S. An interesting reversal of roles for the self-assured (and often self-absorbed) Stark. Says editor Tom Breevort, “Regardless of where he might be physically, he’ll be soaring along with her spiritually.”<\/p>\n

Ironheart’s origin will appear this November in Invincible Iron Man #1<\/em>, so it’s time to get excited. The Marvel Universe is about to get a new infusion of blood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"