Iron Man: Spencer Ackerman Teases an Angrier Tony Stark, Improvised Armor and New Iron Monger (Exclusive)

A new era of Iron Man comics will bring about some unique changes to the Armored Avenger. This fall will see the launch of a new volume of Iron Man by Pulitzer prize winner Spencer Ackerman. It follows the conclusion of Gerry Duggan’s run which tied into the X-Men’s Fall of X and their battle against the anti-mutant organization Orchis. After regaining control of his company Stark Unlimited, Tony Stark must face new challengers in the boardroom and when he’s suited up as Iron Man. We talked to Ackerman to find out what fans can expect in his Iron Man run.

ComicBook spoke with Iron Man writer Spencer Ackerman about the new series ahead of its launch on October 23rd. We asked him about the “angrier” Tony Stark that he’s writing, what causes this change in attitude, the story behind the “Improvised Iron Man” and the different types of armors Tony creates, “The Stark-Roxxon War” that sees Roxxon and A.I.M working together in a corporate takeover of Stark Unlimited, the mystery behind the new Iron Monger, and more. We can also exclusively reveal the cover and solicitation for December’s Iron Man #3, which you can find at the very end of the interview.

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You won’t like him when he’s angry

ComicBook: Your Iron Man run has been marketed as having an angrier, meaner Tony Stark. How will readers see that come across on the page? Is Tony crossing some lines that he normally wouldn’t cross?

Spencer Ackerman: Down to the armor Iron Man is wearing, Tony is in pure survival mode from jump. The stakes start out very high and escalate from there. A big theme of this run is going to be scale — the pursuit of it, the maintenance of it, the cost of it. We’ve seen Tony cross some very serious moral lines in the past. Now we’re going to scale them up.

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Improvised Iron Man

Every Iron Man series seems to introduce new armor. What makes the “Improvised Iron Man” unique and different from what we’ve seen in the past?

It so happens that right before this interview, I was rereading Hickman & Epting’s New Avengers #5. There’s a panel showing Iron Man down on the ground, gauntlet repulsor sparking from malfunction, and preparing to defend himself from the terrifying scythe of Terrax the Tamer from an alternate universe. He’s wearing a great armor, one that looks sturdy and futuristic, part of the visual lineage established by Adi Granov in Extremis that has been deservedly hegemonic for something like 20 years.

I wanted to break from that tradition. If Terrax brought that scythe down on the Improvised Iron Man, our hero wouldn’t be in New Avengers #6.

Julius Ohta’s masterful armor design also addresses your last question. The Improvised Iron Man showcases vulnerability and desperation. This is something a very smart person makes when all else has failed and what comes next can’t. He’s not in a cave, but he is building it out of scraps. It’s “Improvised” in the sense of “Improvised Explosive Device.” And it’s going to include a key visual and tactical element that we rarely, if ever, see with Iron Man armor. That’s debuting in issue 2.

And because he’s Iron Man, he’s going to iterate on the Improvised armor. A lot. And as circumstances are going to very rapidly require.

Finally, I don’t think there’s ever been this much leather on Tony Stark.

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Roxxon and A.I.M vs. Iron Man

Why have Roxxon and A.I.M. decided to team up against Iron Man and Stark Unlimited? I imagine it can’t merely be corporate politics, can it?

Tony is in a vulnerable situation coming out of the Fall of X. He just got Stark Unlimited back from the genocidal tech bro Feilong. That wouldn’t have left time to replace Feilong’s Board of Directors, let alone get Stark Unlimited out of the weapons business that Feilong re-entered. If I was a corporate giant observing this moment of instability in one of the world’s most important companies, I would put together a consortium to acquire it, and go to ruthless extremes to make sure I end up with it. I pitched this first arc, “The Stark-Roxxon War,” as “How To Blow Up A Pipeline” meets “Succession.”

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Who is the new Iron Monger?

What, if anything, can you tell us about the new Iron Monger and their mysterious armor?

Here we have a legacy character, so this needed to be someone with an extensive history with Iron Man who’s granted a new and irresistible opportunity to ruin his life. The Iron Monger armor exploits a traditional vulnerability of Tony’s to devastating effect. It’s also huge and terrifying, an imposing hydraulic behemoth, and yet another example of how Julius Ohta is going to be a massive star in comics. You might want to bet the under on Shellhead this time.

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The future of Iron Man

To wrap up, what other threats and obstacles can fans look forward to in Iron Man?

In the World Outside Our Window, economics creates violence at scale. Now it’s going to create ultraviolence at superhero scale. There are also going to be muscle monsters, dungeons, dimensional dangers, inner demons, demon-demons, AI slop, blowback from the best laid plans, jobber villains, familiar Iron Man villains, unfamiliar Iron Man villains, villainous Iron Man allies, and the greatest villain in the history of the Marvel Universe.

Iron Man #3

Spencer Ackerman (W) • Julius Ohta (A) • Cover by Yasmine Putri

IRON MAN GOES MEDIEVAL!

It’s the Iron Swordsman vs. the Iron Monger! Desperate to keep Stark Unlimited out of the hands of Roxxon and A.I.M., Tony’s stopped pulling punches. But sabotage attacks are getting him nowhere while the board vote proceeds full speed. And when he finds out who’s REALLY behind the acquisition efforts, all hell’s gonna break loose. The Iron Monger’s dark secret will be revealed in the final chapter of “the Stark-Roxxon War”!