Tony Stark’s iconic steely gaze (pun intended) is set to be passed on to younger blood, as Marvel recently revealed their plans to unveil their newest superhero.
With his age getting the better of him, the billionaire/playboy/philanthropist has been looking for a worthy protegee to step into Iron Man’s shiny boots. And it seems he’s found an unlikely candidate in someone who’s not even old enough to drink yet.
Enter Riri Williams, a genius 15-year-old MIT student who reverse-engineered the original Iron Man suit in her dorm room — using knick-knacks “borrowed” from campus, no less.
Tony Stark not only sees potential in the girl, but suspects that she might even surpass him in the brains category. “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,” says writer Brian Michael Bendis.
“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,” he added.
Riri casually sauntered into the Marvel universe as a sub-plot. But eagle-eyed readers would notice that even from the get-go, it seemed apt for her to eventually inherit the iron throne.
The inspiration for Riri came about as Bendis was watching a TV show that did not end up airing. “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,” he mused. “I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or superheroine story I had ever heard.”
Wearing the 225-pound suit will be a heavy weight on her teen shoulders — but with her mental prowess and spunky attitude, it seems that Riri is built to carry it.
