The Marvel Universe is home to a number of heroic super geniuses capable of crafting fantastic devices to aid them in their endeavors. One of the most prolific and inventive of these heroes is billionaire playboy industrialist (and Marvel Cinematic Universe superstar) Tony Stark, who literally built a suit that transforms him into his superheroic alter ego Iron Man. Of course, his engineering genius is coupled with a whole host of personal flaws, which has led to Stark becoming an expert at getting both into and out of trouble

This June, a new era of high tech adventures begins for the Armored Avengers as writer Dan Slott and artist Valerio Schiti kick off the new Marvel Fresh Start series: Tony Stark: Iron Man. CBR spoke with Slott about moving to Iron Man after penning the adventure of another genius Marvel hero for a decade, Spider-Man; his love for the Marvel Universe's “big brains”, and the unique and varied tone of Tony Stark: Iron Man.

RELATED: Slott & Schiti’s First Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 Interior Art Revealed

CBR: You're moving from Amazing Spider-Man to Tony Stark: Iron Man and it doesn't seem like it's going to be that big of a transition for a number of reasons. One is that you clearly love both characters. Another is we've already seen some of the classic elements of Iron Man given a Peter Parker spin during your run on Amazing Spider-Man. Did you know you would eventually be writing Iron Man when you kicked off that era of Spider-Man?

EXCLUSIVE: Valerio Schiti concept art for Tony Stark: Iron Man

Dan Slott: I didn't have a clue in the world that I was going to go from Spider-Man to Iron Man. [Laughs] Once editorial told me that Brian was leaving for DC Comics, the first thing I said was, “That's a shame were losing him. I wish him well at DC.” Then the next thing I said was, “I WANT IRON MAN!” I was the first vulture to pick at that carcass. [Laughs]

They asked, “What would your take be on Iron Man?” I was like, “Cutting edge technology, Robert Downey Jr. in the armor. Except we're telling stories out of Black Mirror.” They went, “DONE! It's yours.”

Axel Alonso approved that. I was said to see him go, but I was happy to see C.B. Cebulski come in. C.B. hadn't heard about the Black Mirror-style pitch. So that gave me the freedom to go, “Okay, it's Robert Downey Jr. starring sometimes in Black Mirror and sometimes in Rick and Morty.” So anything in the zone between Black Mirror and Rick and Morty is fair game. High concept sci-fi, but that pendulum can swing many ways: fun, broad, dark, disturbing -- and sometimes all four.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Why%20%27Tony%20Stark%27%20Replaced%20%27Invincible%27%20in%20the%20Series%27%20Title']



Peter and Tony Stark also share some similar personality traits in that they're both geniuses. Given your work on Spider-Man, Mighty Avengers which featured Hank Pym, and your love of Reed Richards, it's clear that you have an affinity for Marvel's biggest brains. Why is that? What makes these characters so appealing to you?

When you think of the DC characters, they're very iconic, and you think of the hero. And when you think of the Marvel characters, a lot of the time you think about the person behind the mask first -- the person. And in any good superhero story it's always the person who wins out despite the powers and all the trappings. It's always the character and their strengths and weaknesses that guide the story, and having a character that's clever and uses their head is always way more attractive to a storyteller.

There's an added bonus with character like Iron Man who's clever and comes with a whole lot of flaws. It's always way more fun to write about flawed characters and smart characters. Tony has got so many more flaws than Peter. Oh, that ego! That swagger! This is going to be so much fun!

Another trait that both Tony Stark and Peter Parker share is that they're both characters that can go anywhere.

They can go anywhere, but very much like Silver Surfer, the character sets the tone and story. More than where we're going. So, yes, they can go anywhere. But where we're going is so Tony Starkish, and these will be very Tony Stark-y stories.

When I was growing up, everyone knew that Clark Kent was Superman, Batman was Bruce Wayne, and Peter Parker was Spider-Man. That was kind of it as far as the man on the street. That's drastically changed after ten years of Marvel Studios! Around the world, everyone knows that Iron Man is Tony Stark. He is such a fully fleshed out character to everyone. People like him just as much as they like the Iron Man/superhero elements.

So when they asked me what I wanted the book to be called, I said I wanted it to be called Tony Stark: Iron Man. That's our title. It's not Invincible, Irredeemable, or any other adjective. It's Tony Stark: Iron Man.

How does it feel to have a whole new stable of supporting characters and a new rogues gallery to play with in Tony Stark: Iron Man?

It feels awesome! After ten years of dedicating my life to one character and his supporting cast, it's so much fun to come in and have all the new toys. And the other part of that is that it’s gonna be a blast to create all-new characters and concepts for Iron Man’s world! And wait till you see what Valerio Schiti is cooking up for all of them!

EXCLUSIVE: Valerio Schiti concept art for Tony Stark: Iron Man

Right! Valerio is probably best known by Marvel fans for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy, and he’s going to bring to life all of these new creations of Tony Stark: Iron Man as well as the established characters. How does it feel to be working with him?

The designs and character work he's doing is really beautiful -- this is stunning work! The way he draws the characters and the tech -- I can’t imagine anyone else doing this. He's really bringing his A-Game. I can't wait for people to see this all in action!

One of the things we're doing in the book is that for the most part there is no one set Iron Man armor. If you're Tony Stark, you can build whatever you want. So why not have a different suit for the different problems you're facing? Are we going to have a base suit? Yes, because he has to appear over in Avengers and have a consistent look. But when you're in Tony Stark: Iron Man, Valerio is going to have complete freedom to go crazy with all kinds of new armors! We’re taking this toy chest -- and we’ve decided it’s not big enough! We’re building extensions!


Tony Stark: Iron Man is expected to arrive in June 2018 from the creative team of Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti, with covers by Alexander Lozano.

EXCLUSIVE: Valerio Schiti concept art for Tony Stark: Iron Man
EXCLUSIVE: Valerio Schiti concept art for Tony Stark: Iron Man
EXCLUSIVE: Valerio Schiti concept art for Tony Stark: Iron Man