Iron Man Should Move to Cleveland, Not San Francisco

In the run-up to San Diego Comic-Con this week, Marvel made a couple of thrilling announcements for its marquee characters. In brand new comic-book lines launching this fall, a black hero will assume the mantle of Captain America, while a woman will take up Thor's hammer. These transformations were matched with a third announcement, one that's more of an eyebrow-raising development than a jaw-dropping surprise. Iron Man is going to be a West Coast Avenger.

When Superior Iron Man #1 drops in November, it will see Tony Stark packing up his repulsors and moving from New York to San Francisco. (Continuity note: While the Iron Man film franchise places Stark's home on a cliff in Malibu, in the comics, Stark is generally more associated with Manhattan, home of Stark Tower and the Avengers Mansion). In addition to the move, Iron Man will be donning the latest successor to his Extremis armor, a new mark that suggests Tin Man by Tim Cook. The controversial Extremis armor isn't absent altogether, apparently: In Superior Iron Man, Stark is bringing "dark tech" to San Francisco in the form of an Extremis mobile app. Just what the Bay Area needs: One more gadget-obsessed narcissist moving to Silicon Valley.