Mary Jane Watson To Join The Cast Of Invincible Iron Man

Mary Jane Watson is leaving the web-head behind, and joining Tony Stark's supporting cast as of December's Invincible Iron Man #4.

Marvel made the announcement today. Mary Jane is said to play "an unexpected new role" in Tony Stark's life.

"We were at one of our glorious Marvel publishing retreats and certain characters got brought up, sometimes almost accidentally, and I found out that nobody had anything going on with Mary Jane," writer Brian Michael Bendis tells Marvel.com. "I sat with that for a while and I always go to this place in my head where I [wonder] what the most interesting thing I would like to see that character do now and it fell right into the ideas I was already cooking for Tony Stark."

Bendis says Mary Jane and Tony have a history, from her time living at Avengers Tower, but their dynamic as of All-New All-Different Marvel may take readers by surprise.

"They know each other," Bendis continues. "She used to live in Avengers Tower. But that's all I'm going to say for now because what kind of relationship they end up having is a big part of what I would like people to buy the book for. But what I can tell you is that it is new territory for both Tony and Mary Jane. And that is pretty exciting to write.

"I [have] spent most of my time at Marvel writing the teenage version of Mary Jane [in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN]. This is a grown-up woman who has been through a lot. She seems like one of those characters that went down certain paths that may not have panned out the way she hope; and she's ready for a kick ass second act."

Invincible Iron Man launches in October. Invincible Iron Man #4 goes on sale in December. Check out the covers for the issue in the gallery below.