It's been a massive week for Marvel, who unveiled Avengers NOW! as the third phase of their Marvel NOW! initiative. Revealing that Thor is now a woman, Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, is the new Captain America, and Tony Stark will take a darker route towards Superior Iron Man, Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso is keen to stress that these are not a ploy by editorial. "All of these plans have been underway for months, and each of them came about independently," he explains. "All-New Captain America came out of events in the core series, Captain America. Thor was birthed by an event in Original Sin. Superior Iron Man came about because of an event in AXIS. None of this happened because of some sort of editorial edict; it all came about because writers had stories they wanted to tell, the sum total of these developments represented a seismic change for the core three Avengers, and we decided to wrap a red ribbon around all of it."
He goes on to explain our new female Thor. "In Original Sin, something's going to happen that will mean Thor won't be able pick up the hammer again. But someone's got to, and someone will. Someone close to Thor. I will say that it's one of the many women in Thor's life that will become the new Thor. Who they are, why they're worthy, what they do when they become Thor, that's what you're going to learn." Alonso is aware of the backlash but ready to stand his ground on the movement. "We're aware the 'all-new' Thor is powerful statement. It's a completely different statement than bringing a tough new Asgardian female hero onto the stage because, at this point, everyone knows who Thor is. We're challenging readers to embrace a female character that is replacing one of the strongest heroes in the Marvel Universe, the masculine epitome. And it's not a gimmick; it's a great story."
Alonso said that, as a child, he connected more with Falcon that Captain America himself because he "completed Cap. To see Sam wield the shield is welcome and maybe a little bit overdue. An African-American man dressed in red, white and blue is, I think, both a very powerful and potent symbol about our country, and where we are at this moment in history, and a vehicle to tell very different types of stories. But it all starts with Sam Wilson. This isn't about just finding an African-American guy and putting him in the red, white and blue tights. It's about Sam Wilson." The editor says that the first clue to decoding the Superior Iron Man is in his new costume. "He's a complicated genius," he says. "So what happens when that genius is completely let loose? When he taps into it in ways that he hasn't before? The 'superior' Iron Man is Tony Stark like you've never seen him before, succumbing to his id and his enormous ego -- with great ramifications for the world." Of Marvel's big announcements on Avengers NOW!, which one stands out to you?
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