Piling On The Marvel Shake-Up News and Rumors

A couple of days ago, Marvel revealed on the daytime talk show The View that the power and name of Thor will for the first time be wielded by a woman. Thor gets stripped of his powers and responsibilities and they are given to someone else worthy, in this case a blonde warrior that has yet to be named.

Last night it was revealed that in a new upcoming title called All-New Captain America, Captain America will be Sam Wilson, currently The Falcon. The new lineup for the Avengers in a new book called Avengers NOW includes the new Cap, and a version of Iron Man who will also get his own new title called Superior Iron Man, which Marvel has said will be influenced by the Superior Spider-Man comic book, in that someone “that’s hard to root for” will be the new Iron Man. Note that they did not say “wear the armor.”

The website Entertainment Weekly sums up the rest of the Avenger Now lineup very succinctly:

All the characters in the exclusive image above will play a more prominent role in the Marvel Universe going into 2015. That makes sense for Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, and Ant-Man, who will be in the public eye as their film debuts move closer to release. But Marvel will also be focusing more on Inhuman characters like Medusa and Inferno, alongside the new Marvel arrival Angela, who originated as an Image character but who is being worked into Thor’s mythology.

With Ant-Man and Dr. Strange movies in the next round of Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, it makes sense for them to be in the new book, as it does for the Inhumans, the group that Marvel is trying to raise to mutant-level importance in case they never get the rights back from Fox.

So here are my theories about all of the mystery characters:

• Thor is Jane Foster, with a blonde wig because of her cancer. Marvel has said it will be someone close to Thor, and she recently moved to Asgardia as a sort of “diplomat for humanity” now that it has left Oklahoma for deep space.
• Superior Iron Man is Ultron still Tony Stark, apparently. It ties into the MCU, the armor is all white (or silver) and Marvel never said it is someone new “wearing the armor,” just a new Iron Man. (Editor’s note: A closer read by our Facebook friend Roberto indicates the new Superior Iron Man is just Tony with a more dickish attitude — EW calls the new armor the “Genius Bar” armor.)
• The rumored new book for Marvel that superstar writer Gail Simone will be working on will be a solo series for Angela. Kicking her up in importance from Guardians of the Galaxy member to an Avenger, and making her some form of a sister to Thor and Loki shows just how important she is in Marvel’s plans (and how much they want to get a return on the investment they made buying the character from Image).

What do you think of the new books, the new takes on old-school characters, and my theories?