The famed “Daredevil” and “Scarlet” team of writer Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev will collaborate on “Infamous Iron Man,” a fall-debuting series starring Victor Von Doom — best known as iconic supervillain Doctor Doom — as the new Iron Man, for Marvel. “Iron Man” will take the place of current series “International Iron Man” in Marvel’s publishing schedule, also from Bendis and Maleev.
This move is an extension of storylines in the current Bendis-written “Invincible Iron Man” series, which has seen Von Doom seek rehabilitation, following his physical transformation at the end of the 2015 “Secret Wars” event series. It also raises plenty of questions — like how will “Infamous Iron Man” interact with Bendis and artist Stefano Caselil’s new “Invincible Iron Man” series, announced earlier this week and starring Riri Williams, a new character recently introduced by Bendis and Mike Deodato. “Infamous Iron Man” also pays off part of the Deodato-illustrated “Divided We Stand” teaser, which included Von Doom holding an Iron Man helmet.
This is the latest example of Marvel to have multiple versions of major heroes starring in separate series, a trend that started with “Amazing Spider-Man” (Peter Parker) and “Spider-Man” (Miles Morales), and continued with “Captain America: Sam Wilson” and “Captain America: Steve Rogers.” On Thursday, Marvel announced “Unworthy Thor,” starring the classic Thor (Odinson), while confirming that the current Thor, Jane Foster, will continue starring in her own series.
For Marvel fans, the biggest question persists: The post-“Civil War II” status of Tony Stark, the original Iron Man. He’s nowhere to be found in any of the new Marvel NOW! teasers released thus far, and now two different characters are confirmed as attempting to fulfill his Iron Man legacy. Given that only two issues of the seven-installment “Civil War II” main series, also written by Bendis, have been released — #3, featuring a much-hyped character death, is out this coming Wednesday, July 13 — answers likely won’t come for a while longer. The “Infamous Iron Man” #1 solicitation text does note that ‘Tony Stark failed,” though that could be just the perspective of his longtime rival, Doom.
