Invincible Iron Man #599

[history79]

Comments

[philippos42]

Well, this is over the top. Remember the guy with the transistors and roller skates? Did this book really need to pile on the retcons?

[thanekos]

When the character's gonna be around in perpetuity and you're doing work for hire that anyone succeeding's as likely to acknowledge as ignore, why not?

[katefan]

The bad stuff generally gets ignored, the good stuff sticks around. Rhodey was retconned into Tony's history and writers since have built him into a bonafide hero.

This? This is trash. In five years I'll be surprised if anybody is writing Riri Williams in any meaningful way. And this retconned has a 50/50 chance of being retconned out of existence.

By the way, what happened to Tony's brother?

[akodo_rokku]

He actually showed up in this story.

[wizardru]

I guess that depends on what you define as 'any meaningful way'. The same accusation was made about Rhodey more than 30 years ago, but he stuck around, got his own identity and series. You could argue that he's never been an 'A' lister and I'd agree, but he's more well known than many characters in the Marvel Universe who are older and in some cases more storied. One good run can transform a character into a mainstay. She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers version) were also-rans in the 70s. Now they're major characters. It's very likely that Jen will show up in the MCU sooner or later (especially as the Gen 1 heroes tap out) and that also will probably raise their visibility.

I mean, this all strikes me as trash, like you say, but I don't think Riri is a part of that hot mess. I do think constantly retconning Tony's history is just lazy 'nothing will ever be the same again' writing that will reset within two writers efforts, if not less.

[mesmiranda]

This? This is trash. In five years I'll be surprised if anybody is writing Riri Williams in any meaningful way.

Can we seriously not do round #8410239 of "Riri Williams / Ironheart is an awful character who's just there to appeal to the ess-jay-double-yous"?

[katefan]

Well, it's gonna be hard but I guess this once I'll take a pass at the low hanging fruit set before me. ;)

[deh_tommy]

...you have my attention.

[coldfury]

Did... Bendis just retcon his own retcon, on his way out the door?

[aperturedreams]

To be pedantic, all the Tony being adopted business was Kieron Gillen's, not Bendis'. But if you mean just the dad being not dead, then sure.

[deh_tommy]

Leonardo da Vinci is both somehow still alive and responsible for creating S.H.I.E.L.D., so I’m not sure if his biological father being alive is too clear cut just yet.

[aperturedreams]

He's been responsible for creating S.H.I.E.L.D. and still alive for years, thanks to Hickman's series, which also starts to finally finish this week.

[deh_tommy]

Mever mind, then.

[coldfury]

True, but Bendis was the one who laid out the fate of Tony's biological parents in his run.

So I guess he's retconning the scaffolding he just setup in support of someone else's retcon?

This is exhausting. That's not necessarily a critique, but it feels needlessly complicated for a retcon on a 55 yearold character.

[katefan]

Agreed. Complicated doesn't necessarily mean deep.

[shadowpsykie]

so many mustachioed men...

[donnblake]

By Nature or Nurture, Tony would be be'stached.

[mastermahan]

I'm frankly surprised his mom doesn't have a sweet handlebar.

[deepspaceartist]

I like that the bad selfish decision Tony's considering is seemingly (spoilers for anyone who read this post and still cares about spoilers I guess) resurrecting Rhodey. It's nice to see someone go 'fuck it' and actively attempt resurrection instead or waiting for it to happen on it's own.

[jlbarnett]

Hate the Tony isn't a Stark stuff, hate the DaVinci stuff, hate the Hydra stuff it connects to it.

[long_silence]

I didn't mind the initial retcon in Gillen's run because it gave us Arno.

But Bendis making Tony's biological parents SHIELD agents and spending so much time on his singer mother has just been really dull and contrived.

[garth2the2ndpower]

And Pepper Potts was the Mandarin all along!!

[katefan]

Oh great, you just gave Dan Slott ideas for next year. Pepper Potts was a secret Mandarin plant in his looooooooooooong term plans for world conquest.

[deh_tommy]

The Crossing Part II: Who will rescue Rescue?

[captainbellman]

...annnd we're down to a boring cliche. Slow clap.