There's a good chance even Tony Stark's long lost brother. And there's an even greater chance they won't know about the future version of Marvel's Universe where that brother, Arno, became Iron Man 2020. But that's all about to change, now that Arno will officially be claiming the role.
Marvel Comics has been openly teasing Tony Stark is dead for good?
Dan Slott and Christos Gage's story has been slowly building towards delivering on the Machine Man setup, making playful references to 2020, and the story that Marvel history had revealed was coming with it. With Tony now accepting his true self may be long dead (and most recently the signature Iron Man 2020 armor a few months ago, and readers were shown Arno taking note. Executive editor Tom Brevoort finally puts aside the hints and foreshadowing to confirm the twist, putting Tony Stark's brother into his armor come 2020:
Like the inexorable turning of pages on a calendar, we’ve been building up to the arrival of 2020 and the advent of Arno Stark as Iron Man ever since this latest run began. Here, all of the larger themes we’ve been playing with will come to the fore in a big, sweeping, epic action movie that anyone can enjoy!
This 6-issue series will continue to explore the differences between flesh and tech, between humans and artificial intelligence, and as a result call on robotic Marvel characters like Vision, Jocasta, and Elsie-Dee. With the tease of a robot revolution, could Tony's digital nature begin a new, flesh-free era of his Marvel story? Fans will need to wait for the event to begin for that answer, but in the meantime, check out the first cover by Pete Woods and the plot synopsis for Iron Man 2020 below:
- IRON MAN 2020 #1
- Written by: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
- Art by: Pete Woods
- Cover by: Pete Woods
- IT’S A NEW IRON MAN FOR A NEW YEAR! The future is now! Artificial Intelligences present a clear and present danger to humanity and must be brought to heel! The Robot Rebellion battles for the establishment of robot rights! And Arno Stark IS Iron Man!
Iron Man 2020 #1 will be available at your local comic book shop (along with who knows how many tie-ins) starting in January of 2020.
