'Iron Age 2020' #1 Preview: Three tales of the Robot Revolution told from both sides of the Human-AI war
Launching in the pages of 'Iron Man 2020', the Robot Revolution has swept across the Marvel Comics universe (while still being contained to the '2020' issues), leaving death and destruction in its wake.
We've seen the war escalate through 'Iron Man 2020', '2020 Rescue', 'Machine Man 2020' and 'Force Works 2020' but now Marvel is preparing to give readers a look at the actual ground situation of the Revolution with 'Iron Age 2020'.
The upcoming anthology brings together a star-studded list of creators to tell stories from both sides of the Human-AI war. The stories included in the book will focus on Machine Man, the intelligent cat Doctor Shapiro and Alkhema, the former bride of Ultron.
Marvel legend Tom DeFalco, award-winning sci-fi author Fonda Lee and 'Doctor Doom' writer Christopher Cantwell are the writers who will be scripting the stories going into 'Iron Age 2020' #1 with art from Nick Roche ('The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows'), Matt Horak ('The Punisher') and Damian Couceiro ('Old Man Logan').
The entire series of '2020' books have undertaken a serious exploration of Artificial Intelligence and the ethical problems it raises in a way we've never seen before.
In that sense, we can hope that 'Iron Age 2020', being an anthology, might be able to provide some interesting perspectives on the whole issue, how it has reshaped the Marvel Universe, and how it might end up reshaping our own world in the next few years.
Preview pages released for the upcoming issue reveal that Machine Man is about to reunite with Gears Garvin and Dr Peter Spalding, who recently appeared in 'Machine Man 2020' #1 but didn't actually meet the robot superhero in the issue.
The previews also tease that despite having his intelligence-boosting collar removed, Dr Shapiro may still have some of his intellect, at least enough to rip up Sunset Bain's couch.
The cover art does show Dr Shapiro in a mech-suit so perhaps we might just see the genius feline return to his old ways. We don't know what Alkhema is up to in the issue but we do see a military facility in Russia being attacked by an unidentified machine so maybe that's what she's doing.
Here's the official solicitation for the issue: "The Robot Revolution rages on! But as the fighting escalates and convictions are put to the test - is everyone committed to their cause or is there more going on than meets the eye? Don't miss out on this collection of epic adventures from both sides of the conflict featuring Machine Man, Doctor Shapiro and Alkhema. From industry legend Tom DeFalco and Nick Roche, Christopher Cantwell and Matt Horak, Fonda Lee and Damian Couceiro!"
'Iron Age 2020' #1 will arrive in stores on March 18.