Later this year, there’s a new Iron Man coming to the Marvel Universe, and she’s not who you expected!

Via Time, Marvel has revealed that it is relaunching Invincible Iron Man as part of the newest Marvel NOW! initiative, which will cast Tony Stark out of his familiar role as the Armored Avenger. In his place will be Riri Williams, a recently introduced black 15-year-old girl and M.I.T. student whom fans assumed would become the new War Machine, for reasons that should be apparent to anyone reading Civil War II. Instead, she’s taking the spotlight position.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis, who will remain with Invincible Iron Man, talked up Riri’s new status to Time and dropped hints that she could be even smarter than Stark. She did reverse engineer his armor in her dorm room, after all. “[Tony is] also aware that this young woman is flying by him in terms of how quickly she’s doing it,” said Bendis. “Her brain is maybe a little better than his. She looks at things from a different perspective that makes the armor unique.”

According to Bendis, Riri’s ascension doesn’t necessarily spoil the ending of Civil War II. But it really doesn’t seem like a good outcome for Tony Stark is in the cards.

Marvel has diversified its heroes in the last few years, which has led to former Falcon Sam Wilson becoming the new Captain America, Jane Foster becoming Thor, and X-23 becoming the new Wolverine. This isn’t the first time that Tony Stark has been replaced as Iron Man, as James Rhodes took the mantle before becoming War Machine. But if you’ve been reading comics long enough, you know that the status quo will eventually reassert itself. It should be interesting to see if Riri can earn enough of a following to have her own unique identity in the Marvel Universe.

Invincible Iron Man #1 will be released later this year, with Bendis as writer and Stefano Caselli as the new artist.

What do you think about Riri Williams as the new Iron Man? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Comics