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Contains Spoilers for Iron Man (2024) #4!Iron Man’s latest adventure includes the return of one of Marvel’s best modern supervillains, one that many fans – and writers for Screen Rant’s Comics section – have been clamoring for. It is a welcome return for a villain who straddles the line between supervillainy and political villainy in a fascinating way, as Lucia Von Bardas returns to Marvel continuity.
Iron Man (2024) #4 – written by Spencer Ackerman, with art by Javier Piña and Rod Reis – features the return of the villainous Von Bardas, one of the most underrated Marvel villains of the last twenty years, and something which this author had asked for only two months back.
The issue follows Tony Stark and Riri Williams as they investigate who’s been stealing Tony’s tech via S.H.I.E.L.D. backdoor access. The trail first leads them to former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 33, now running a Private Military Company, then to her boss, Von Bardas.
Lucia Von Bardas, Former Latverian Ruler, Returns To Marvel Comics As An Adversary Of Iron Man
Iron Man (2024) #4 – Written By Spencer Ackerman; Art By Javier Piña & Rod Reis; Color By Reis & Alex Sinclair; Lettering By Joe Caramagna
Lucia Von Bardas first appeared as the villain of the mid-2000s event Secret War, written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art by Gabrielle Del’Otto. Introduced as the democratic new ruler of Latveria, after Doctor Doom’s then-recent ousting, Nick Fury quickly discovered that Von Bardas was funding super-terrorism in the US, via the Tinkerer. However, the US Government backed Von Bardas’ rise, so they refused to do anything about her. Fury’s subsequent unauthorized Black Ops mission to Latervia almost killed Von Bardas, but she rebuilt herself as a cyborg hellbent on revenge, which she almost accomplished before her defeat.
Von Bardas also now has a mutant-hunting Stark Sentinel on her side, so any legitimacy she has is flimsy at best, even if she weren’t already a known super-terrorist.
Since her original story arc, Von Bardas has only appeared a few more times, recently becoming a nemesis to both Tony and Ironheart in Iron Man books. Therefore, it is no wonder then that she has picked Riri’s home city of Chicago as her new base of operations. Agent 33 claims that because Tony never took away her SHIELD access to his storage, this is all being done legally, but Von Bardas also now has a mutant-hunting Stark Sentinel on her side, so any legitimacy she has is flimsy at best, even if she weren’t already a known super-terrorist.
Lucia Von Bardas Is The Perfect Villain For Spencer Ackerman’s “Iron Man” Series
Ackerman Knows About Political Villains
Iron Man writer Spencer Ackerman is also a National Security Reporter, and there’s no villain that fits his intersection of interests better than Von Bardas. Ackerman has reported on US-backed authoritarians for years, so writing a character who is also a supervillain makes perfect sense for him. The idea of Von Bardas moving from public life to the private military sector is also such a logical character beat. Often, in reality, justice is elusive when it comes to characters like this. Hopefully art doesn’t imitate life this time, and Von Bardas gets some comeuppance at Iron Man’s hands.
Iron Man (2024) #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Iron Man
Anthony “Tony” Edward Stark, AKA Iron Man, is a Marvel Comics superhero who has enjoyed several years of the spotlight and has become a mainstay in several Marvel media franchises. After suffering a critical injury, Tony creates a specialized armored suit powered by an arc reactor, which keeps him alive. Egotistical but good-hearted, Tony utilizes his super intellect and inventions to fight to protect humanity from various threats, eventually becoming a founding member of the Avengers. In 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was kicked off with the film Iron Man, which starred Robert Downey Jr. as the superhero.
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