Marvel Just Brought Back One of Spider-Man's Weirdest Villains

The current run of Iron Man has been exceeding fans' expectations, weaving in a surprising group of characters into Tony Stark's canon. Over the course of the series' fifteen existing issues, a number of heroes, antiheroes, and antagonists have crossed the iron avenger's path, including a few who can best be described as obscure. The sixteenth issue of the series, which was recently released this week, continued that trend to an epic degree, reintroducing one of the most bizarre villains from Spider-Man's canon. Spoilers for Iron Man #16, from Christopher Cantwell, Julius Ohta, Frank D'Armata, and Joe Caramagna below! Only look if you want to know!

The issue saw Tony continuing to use his grasp on the Power Cosmic, which he gained during a climactic battle with Korvac. After returning to Earth and coming face-to-face with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, Tony explained his hopes for how he could use his new abilities — and how he couldn't quite articulate the lofty ideas he has. Instead, Tony decided to bestow everyone in New York City with his level of intellect, as a trial run to see how his ideas could be better realized.

Among those impacted by the change in intellect was none other than Jackson Weele, also known as the Spider-Man villain Big Wheel. As nurses in the hospital explained, Weele had been put in a coma for five years after the events of Deadpool & The Mercs For Money #4, but he had suddenly woken up. Not only did he wake up from the coma, but he did so with an "incredible idea", one that he immediately ran to enact.

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(Photo: Marvel Entertainment)

This involved piloting a more powerful version of his big wheel, which he used to shoot lasers at the traffic underneath him. Iron Man and Hellcat fight Big Wheel, before Iron Man uses the Power Cosmic to destroy the titular big wheel.

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(Photo: Marvel Entertainment)

Hellcat asked Big Wheel about what he was doing — and determined that he was trying to use his technology to make traffic better.

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(Photo: Marvel Entertainment)

As mentioned above, this marks Big Wheel's first comic appearance since the 2016 Deadpool book, and it's safe to say that he returned with great fanfare. The character is often regarded as one of the most gimmicky members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery, even provoking jokes from the current Spider-Man movie director Jon Watts years ago. But with this Iron Man return, Big Wheel is back in the Marvel universe — and there's no telling where he'll roll to yet.

Iron Man #16 is now available wherever comics are sold.

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