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The issue of Invincible Iron Man that Mary Jane fans have been waiting for has arrived. The seventh issue on Bendis’ run features MJ’s first day at work for Tony Stark, and before it’s over she needs to reach Peter Parker at his emergency number. It may be the character who is introduced on the final page of the book, however, who Stark fans should be talking about.
One of the things Bendis understands, which certain other high-profile writers at Marvel do not, is that sometimes it is absolutely necessary to slow things down and just focus on character development, character development, character development. (Should I say it a fourth time?)
IIM #7 dedicates almost the entire issue to Tony’s first professional interactions with his new hire. They talk…and talk…and talk, but in this case it’s okay because standards are set, boundaries are established, and chemistry needs to form.
Readers simply need to imagine what a similar introduction between Peter Parker and Pepper Potts would look like in The Amazing Spider-Man. Instead of devoting 95 percent of the issue to authentic human interactions, Pepper would get a cursory introduction and then a calamity would strike. The audience would weirdly be expected to care for the new relationship simply because it’s Pepper and Peter working together — and then Comic Book Resources would give it the obligatory glowing review.
Perhaps one of the few awkward things about Stark’s decision to hire MJ is his cluelessness about her past. He invites a woman into his inner circle but does not really vet her. Only issues before he was telling his girlfriend about telepathic espionage, etc., and now he impulsively hires a former club owner. Regardless, Bendis’ scenario as it is written passes the smell test (barely).
Aside from MJ’s meeting with her new boss, the rest of the issue is dedicated to Rhodey, who was sent to Japan to investigate a group of bio-hacker ninjas until Stark can get around to it. Rhodey goes missing, and through a strange twist of fate it turns out that technology titan Peter Parker is in country.
“You know your bodyguard, Spider-Man? Is he doing anything right now? Listen, I need a favor. It’s kind of a big one,” Stark says after getting Parker on the phone, which nicely sets up IIM #8.
One would think the issue would end with Iron Man racing to save his friend, right? Wrong. Bendis cuts to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a young woman appears to be making her own “Iron Man” suit in one of its labs. She is scolded by some older staffers who call her a “kid” in the final panel.
Who is this kid genius? Why is she making “Iron Man”-type armor? (And yes, I realize I am asking these questions when “to be continued…” obviously means that we will get answers in due time.)
The previous questions need to be asked because Marvel has made no secret of its desire to social justice the heck out of its own universe. It seems entirely plausible that Bendis could be setting the stage for Tony to be “killed” or temporarily replaced, just like Captain America, Thor or even Spider-Man (e.g., Bendis’ Miles Morales wants to be seen as “the” Spider-Man”).
If you have thoughts on IIM #7, feel free to share them below. I’d love to hear what you thought of MJ’s first day on the job, Bendis’ mystery character, or predictions for the next issue.
Douglas Ernst Blog 
Loved the review Doug but to be fair Pepper Potts it’s an estableshed charactor in which fans would care much more if she was working with Peter Parker so it would be easier for us to care more about their relashionship than someone we never saw or even heard about, not saying it is good just a litlle bit easier for us to care for sure.
About Mary Jane.
This comes from Tumbrl, in which i would like to hear what you have to say about it if you don’t mind :
For me, Mary Jane still comes off as a hypocite for going to work for Tony and not even caring about how Peter is doing.
If or when Peter finds out that Mary Jane is working for Tony, Peter should be rightifully angry with her for leaving him at the end of Superior to try getting away from superheroes and their “crasy world” but in the end he not only finds out that she is working for Iron-Man himself but to his rival company.
PS: I doubt it’s gonna happen because in Slott point of view it’s all Peter’s fault that Superior happened.
“Loved the review Doug but to be fair Pepper Potts it’s an established character in which fans would care much more if she was working with Peter Parker so it would be easier for us to care more about their relationship than someone we never saw or even heard about.”
Did you just say that MJ isn’t an established character? You may want to jump into a bunker because some of the regular ASM fans around here may soon be shelling your position with heavy artillery. 😉
“This comes from Tumbrl, in which i would like to hear what you have to say about it if you don’t mind.”
Sure thing. I think this, rightfully, sums it up:
“I feel if you are in the desert desperate for a drink of MJ then okay this issue will quench your thirst. But it isn’t the MJ we should have it’s merely better/less bad than the one we’ve had up until now but still has massive debilitating problems. But what are you gonna do…at the end of the day we all need to drink something right?”
Overall, I don’t really have any issues with the commentary over at Hellz Yeah, Mr and Mrs. Spider-Man. He brings up many, many valid points.
We can either not having MJ doing anything meaningful in the 616 universe, or we can have Bendis giving her serious attention. Dan Slott used to have her show up once in awhile to call Peter an idiot, which is why I’m in a forgiving mood with a lot of this stuff. Do I think MJ would randomly decide to be Tony’s personal assistant? No. But…it’s not as stupid as “Arachno-Rockets” that show up out of nowhere. The one thing I will say, given that I once had a job very much like MJ’s for about six months, is that it takes a very specific personality to a.) excel at the job, and b.) enjoy it. It was a nightmare because being a grown man’s babysitter is ridiculous, but at least I parlayed it into a job where I get paid to write. Perhaps MJ can use this experience with Tony to get the job she was “meant” to attain.
“For me, Mary Jane still comes off as a hypocite for going to work for Tony and not even caring about how Peter is doing.”
Sure. On many levels, I agree with you. The problem is that Marvel is the one pulling her strings. As I was saying before, we can either forgive her of the hypocrisy (since we’re all hypocrites at times), or just tear into Bendis when he’s the one writer who is trying to give her some respect.
I was actually refearring to Lian-Mey (If that is even her real name.) in the aspect that we knew jack about her. Just that she fed Peter whith dumplings.
“I was actually refearring to Lian-Mey (If that is even her real name.) in the aspect that we knew jack about her. Just that she fed Peter whith dumplings.”
Gotcha. But even if Pepper were introduced, fans would have to be given a good reason to a.) believe she and Peter were meant to work together, and b.) care for the new relationship between the two.
I believe Slott would handle that relationship in the same way he has most of the others that have formed since his ran began, which is to say that character development is an afterthought.
I can forgive MJ very easily because it really isn’t her making the decisions she’s made over the years, this is the Mephistoverse we’re talking about, a reality created out of a deal with a chaos being, you don’t know how much of this is down to the characters or their warped perspectives and memories acting up, bringing out their worst aspects that they overcame in the years prior.
That said, Bendis does a lot to make her assertive, having her take the initiative and contact Pepper to pinpoint Tony’s “Icarus Factor” is smart thinking on her part, as is keeping Peter’s number close to her chest, showing when push comes to shove she would reach out to him if needs must as it does here. It’s the little things that make your head turn with how Bendis operates here.
Here’s my review of Invincible Iron Man #7 – The War Machines Part 2
Spider Man Crawlspace » Invincible Iron Man #7 “Mary Jane/Spider-Man” Centric Review
http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/2016/03/06/invincible-iron-man-7-mary-janespider-man-centric-review/
Nice review, Animehunter.
“I can with great pride say this is another moment where Mary Jane has shown what she is truly capable of … which just shows that even without the action of issue #5, that once again under the right writer her character can flourish.”
How sad will it be if Bendis does more for MJ in, say, eight issues than Slott has done in eight years?
It will be interesting to see how these strong personalities clash. I think in real life they would probably hate each other or end up in a relationship. Heh. I don’t want to see MJ with Tony, although if that ever happens then I would blame Slott for letting her languish in ASM for years.
Hey Doug I’m making a bit more progress on the animated MC2 project is there some other way or place I could share the details I know Slott reads your blog constantly and I don’t want to risk his interference.
I can email you at the address you provided WordPress if that works for you. Just let me know. I’m also on Twitter.
Email would be perfect it’s been a while since I last used twitter.
I’m not surprised they might be planning on replacing Tony. Heaven forbid they create new characters instead of replacing old ones to appease Tumblr SJWs.
I’m not seeing the enjoyment here. From previous experience with his “works”, Bendis is someone who can’t write natural-flowing dialogue to save his life and seems to work best with crime fiction (and even then its iffy) rather than straight-up superheroics. As for his Ultimate Spider-Man series, the only good thing going for it is the artwork, which was wasted and should have been used on another series.
This comment is classic, coming from the guy who said the following to me last September:
“To be honest, I had forgotten all about you and this site after all this time, you’re not an easy personality to remember. You don’t really stand out among the crowd, if you get my drift.”
You’re back once again to troll the blog of that guy you can’t really remember. Interesting. We’ve established that you don’t like Bendis or Frank Miller. Tell me, do you have an example of your own work we can peruse? I’m sure you’re a master at writing dialogue. Feel free to share a link to your beautiful prose at any time.