Spotlight
The new ‘Iron Man’ is a woman
There’s a new Iron Man coming to comic books — and it’s not a man.
A black female character is taking over the suit from Tony Stark, Time reported. Riri Williams “is a science genius who enrols in MIT at the age of 15” and “comes to the attention of Tony when she builds her own Iron Man suit in her dorm,” according to the magazine.
Iron Man writer Brian Michael Bendis told Time the inspiration for Williams came from his time spent working a few years ago on a television show in Chicago. The show did not end up airing, he said, because of the amount of violent content.
“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,” Bendis said. “I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or super heroine story I had ever heard.”
Bendis acknowledged that some fans have been less than receptive to the new character. In just the past few years, the comic company has, in addition to Williams and Morales, introduced a female Thor, an African-American Captain America and a Muslim Ms Marvel.