SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 by Dan Slott, Valerio Schiti, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna, on sale now.


Today is a milestone day, as Dan Slott leaves Amazing Spider-Man after over a decade and launches his new run on Iron Man. While the writer has worked on other projects alongside his record breaking tenure on Spidey — Avengers: The Initiative, Mighty Avengers, Silver Surfer — his career at Marvel has been defined by Peter Parker.

One of the best things about Peter is that Slott kept him moving at all times; at no point in that run did he revert to anything resembling a status quo. He was a photographer, a scientist, a supervillain, an industrialist. Dan Slott understands forward momentum in superhero comics better than most.

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Now, Dan Slott has swapped the webs for repulsor rays and is starting with an Iron Man who is somewhat of a blank slate. Following his rebirth at the end of Brian Michael Bendis’ years long run on the franchise, Slott has taken Stark back-to-basics, or at least as back-to-basics as you can get with a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist. To do that, he has Tony thinking bigger than he’s ever thought before, and to help him achieve that he’s established a brand new company in the heart of New York City: Welcome to Stark Unlimited.

Corporate Maneuvers

Over the years, Tony has had a number of companies to his name, starting with Stark Industries, which he inherited from his father. Tony then later changed the name to Stark International following his return from captivity and decision to no longer produce munitions. After being driven back into alcoholism by Obadiah Stane, Tony lost control of his company to his ruthless executive officer who renamed the company as Stane International, and after Stane’s death Tony used his newly reacquired wealth to start Stark Enterprises and acquired Stane International, folded it into the company and purged it of its unethical and dangerous practices.

After sacrificing himself to stop Onslaught, Tony Stark was thought dead, and his company was acquired by Japanese industrialist Kenjiro Fujikawa, who renamed the company Stark/Fujikawa. Upon his return, Tony chose to proceed with another new company which he named Stark Solutions, but was forced to dismantle it following a smear campaign by one-time friend Tiberius Stone. When another of Stone’s targets passed away, he left Tony his company and fortune in his will, allowing Tony to form Stark Enterprises. He later reacquired the assets owned by Fujikawa, allowing him to consolidate the two companies into a new Stark Enterprises.

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During his showdown with Obadiah Stane’s son Ezekiel, Tony was forced to unleash an EMP which wiped out not just his and Stane’s suits, but crippled Stark Enterprises. Pepper Potts was tasked with overseeing the liquidation of the company while Tony was on the run from Norman Osborn who wanted the list of superhero secret identities compiled through the superhuman registration act. After Osborn was ousted, Stark established a totally new company named Stark Resilient, which dedicated itself to using repulsor tech as a new green form of energy and Tony eventually stepped down, with the company’s name changing to simply Resilient.

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Unlimited Means No Limits

Since leaving Resilient, Tony’s companies haven’t really been the focus of storytelling. He was once again head of Stark Industries during Bendis’ run, but he was a very hands off boss, leaving the day-to-day affairs to Mary Jane Watson and sentient A.I. Friday, which caused the board to attempt a coup following his defeat and subsequent coma after his clash with Carol Danvers.

The first big thing Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti are doing on the book is to reposition the company around Tony as the heart of everything, and we get a first-hand look at the new company through the eyes of its newest employee, Andy Bhang.

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A robotics genius working out of his garage, Tony appears in Andy’s life and whisks him away, telling him his company has been folded into Stark Unlimited and he’s to join the robotics division, incorporating his revolutionary “idea-based structuring” with Tony’s own work. At the Stark Unlimited headquarters, we see a very modern tech company, not too dissimilar to popular portrayals of Google or Apple. Tony’s idea behind Stark Unlimited is that he isn’t Iron Man, the company itself is and together, they’re going to change the world. It’s a big step for a superhero known for his ego and unwillingness see others as his equal, and represents genuine growth for Tony, giving us a small glimpse of that trademark Dan Slott character work.

However, there are some notable absences in the Stark Unlimited line-up, such as Riri Williams, Arno Stark, Madison Jeffries and Toni Ho. Brian Michael Bendis established the heroes as a team of Armor Warriors towards the end of his run on Invincible Iron Man, and it was hinted that they’d be joining Leonardo da Vinci — yes, that Leonardo da Vinci’s SHIELD replacement, alongside Tony who immediately signed up for it.

It makes sense that Slott would want to establish his own voice with his debut issue, but Bendis left so many exciting loose ends — including the reappearance of Tony’s biological father — that it’d be a shame if they were swept under the rug in favor of a brand new approach.

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Stark Unlimited represents a bold new direction not just for Iron Man, but for Tony Stark as well. It represents Tony saying, “I tried doing it alone, it never worked out. Please help me.” which is about as close to vulnerable as Iron Man gets.

Tony’s new team-first focus is a massive shift for the character that feels completely natural, as if it’s the next logical step of his story, which is something Slott repeatedly did so well with Spider-Man. With a history of working in similar corporate playgrounds such as Horizon Labs and Parker Industries, Slott’s new approach to how Iron Man and Tony Stark do business is sure to be full of memorable supporting characters, mad science and daring superheroics.