In a CBR exclusive reveal of the solicitation information and the two main covers for Iron Man #2, Marvel reveals that a classic Iron Man foe, the Iron Monger, will be returning in the second issue of the latest Iron Man series, but the mystery will be who, exactly, is behind the mask of the Iron Monger in the comic (surely not Obadiah Stane, who died by suicide almost forty years ago, but who then?).

The upcoming Iron Man series (which launches in October) from writer Spencer Ackerman (who, amusingly, back in his political pundit days, actually specifically came out in favor of Iron Man’s position in the superhero Civil War over the Superhero Registration Act) and artist Julius Ohta (who did not have any public position on the Superhero Registration Act back in the day) is built around the concept of Tony Stark losing access to his entire collection of Iron Man armors, and thus he is forced to put together Iron Man armor on the fly, giving his armors an almost steampunk feel to them.

IRON MAN #2

SPENCER ACKERMAN (W) • JULIUS OHTA (A) • Cover by YASMINE PUTRI

VARIANT COVER BY TAURIN CLARKE

MAN VS. MONGER!

The return of the Iron Monger! Roxxon’s revealed their latest C-suite recruit. Who’s in the suit? And does the appearance of the new armor have anything to do with the absolute destruction of every. Single. One. Of Tony’s own suits? Forced back to basics in an offline clunker, Iron Man’s reduced to raw firepower and sheer force of will. And now…A.I.M. is going to strip that away too. Another familiar face wields the knife that’ll take Tony down. Iron Man is no longer invincible. Part Two of “The Stark-Roxxon War” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman and extraordinary artist Julius Ohta!

Who was the Iron Monger?

In both the comic books and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Iron Monger was Obidiah Stane. In the comic books, Stane took over control of Stark International during a period where Tony Stark’s alcoholism clouded his ability to stave off Stane’s takeover attempts (which were aided by S.H.I.E.L.D., who wanted access to Stark technology that had been withheld by Stark when he was in control of the company).

In the MCU, Obdisiah Stane was Tony’s mentor who turned on him by the end of the film. In both cases, Stane ended up wearing a massive suit of armor referred to as the Iron Monger. Both versions of Stane died in combat with Tony Stark.

In the comic book universe, a number of other characters have adopted either the armor and/or the name, Iron Monger, and now, there will be another character taking on the name, and from the solicitation information, it sounds like the character behind the armor might be an established Iron Man character.

We’ll learn the answers in November when Iron Man #2 comes out!

Source: Marvel