Warning: Spoilers for Iron Man #1!Iron Man’s first enemy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is back, but not in the way some audiences may expect. The first supervillain of the Iron Man movie trilogy - and by proxy, the first villain in the MCU overall - was Obadiah Stane, a.k.a. Iron Monger, played by Jeff Bridges. He’d die at the end of the movie, and his presence in the comics hasn’t been very prominent lately either.
However,Iron Man#1 by Spencer Ackerman, Julius Ohta, and Alex Sinclair sees the Iron Monger resurface, but this time, with someone else underneath the metal mantle.Instead of Obadiah Stane, the new Iron Monger is Justine Hammer, daughter ofIron Man 2villain, Justin Hammer(played by Sam Rockwell).
Who is Justine Hammer, The New Iron Monger of Marvel’s Universe?
Much like in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Justin Hammer in the comics is the megalomaniac head of Hammer Industries.What the MCU’sIron Man 2doesn’t cover is that he has a daughter named Justine Hammer, who makes her on-panel debut inThunderbolts#3 by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley. Living under a megalomaniac of a father wasn’t easy for Justine, who was constantly pushed to her limits by her old man, convincing her she needed to prove herself in his eyes.
She would do so by adopting the pseudonym of The Crimson Cowl, one ofthe Thunderbolts' most powerful adversaries. Under the cowl, she’d form a newversion of the Masters of Evil, existing to control all of Marvel’s most vicious mercenaries under one roof. Unlike most supervillain teams, she was savvy enough to treat her evil club like a villain, paying its members through extensive salary wages, pension plans included. With the likes of Tiger Shark and Flying Tiger in her stable, she sought to combat The Thunderbolts and, at one point, using their name to frame them for her crimes.
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At one point, Justine even attempts to recruit The Thunderbolts into the Masters of Evil. Believe it or not, the offer was legitimately tempting to the Thunderbolts. Ultimately, they’d refuse eventually, butthe fact the heroes were even momentarily tempted by the villain speaks to the art of persuasion that Justine has in her arsenal as a businesswoman. She’d eventually abandon her pursuit as the Crimson Cowl to embrace that part of herself, rebranding Hammer Industries as a billion-dollar weapons dealer in the wake of her father’s death, alongside her daughter Sasha.
She’d continue collaborating with villains like Obadiah Stane’s son, Ezekiel (who was dating Sasha), and The Mandarin. The Mandarin wound up kidnapping Ezekiel Stane while Justine stood by and did nothing in favor of stealing a spot at the Pentagon. After Stane would work with fellow prisoner Tony Stark to escape and defeat The Mandarin,Zeke and Sasha would hunt down Justine Hammer, and assassinate her in her car.Invincible Iron Man#527 was the last anyone heard of or saw Justine Hammer, until now.
The Return of Justine Hammer Sends Shockwaves Through Marvel
Fast-forward to the newIron Manrelaunch, where Iron Man is suddenly ambushed by two assailants while trying to avert a laundromat fire. His attackers in question are two former Masters of Evil, Flying Tiger and Tiger Shark. After their defeat, they allude to a mysterious"boss"waiting in the wings. The attacks from enemies keep coming, until the aforementioned boss arrives in the former ofthe presumed dead Justine Hammer. Except, Justine Hammer wasn’t presumed dead, but actually dead.
Justine explains that her affiliation withRoxxon affords the shady Marvel corporationallies in other dimensions capable of reviving the dead.They brought her back to life in hopes of closing A.I.M.’s acquisition of Stark Unlimited. It’s clear that Justine is also back for payback over her last encounter with Tony. To add insult to injury,Iron Man summons his Mysterium, only to learn that Justine beat him to the punch, using the Mysterium to complete the formulation of her Iron Monger armor. She uses it to effectively defeat Iron Man.
What Does Justine Hammer’s New Role Mean For Iron Man?
The creative team’s decision to anoint Justine Hammer as the new Iron Monger is an interesting choice, especially considering that in theory, she could have always returned to her former Crimson Cowl alias. Instead, she adopts the mantle of another Iron Man villain to whom she does not have much of a relationship. Her only affiliation to Stane is the alliance she held with Zeke Stane by way of her daughter. Perhaps that is what this is leading to,the return of Zeke Stane to stop Justine Hammer.
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that Iron Man would join forces would join forces with Ezekiel Stane, as said earlier, they were both prisoners of The Mandarin. If they could team-up to take down The Mandarin, then surely, a reunion is to fight Justine Hammer. The return of the familiar Marvel Cinematic Universe villain’s moniker could serve as a hint of foreshadowing for the return of another long-lost Iron Man villain, but time will tell as the story unfolds.
