iron man

Former Iron Man and occasional Iron Patriot James "Rhodey" Rhodes returns as War Machine in Invincible Iron Man #6. Artist Mike Deodato joins series writer Brian Michael Bendis for this second Invincible Iron Man storyline, The War Machines, which finds Tony Stark investigating corruption within his own company, with the always loyal War Machine by his side. Marvel promises that this story will also reveal "the first big clues" that will lead to Civil War II later this year.

Remember when Tom would just be your friend on MySpace? He'd just sit there in that little box, letting you know you had a friend out there on the internet. He didn't make a big deal out of his life story. He didn't buy out big virtual reality firms in the hopes of commercializing the technology. Tom was always just there for you when you needed a reminder that someone out there in the big, wide world wanted you to be able to connect to friends you may never have met, or to stay in touch with buddies from high school when they traveled far away. Nowadays you got this Zuckerberg fella making all kinds of claims on his newfangled social media empire, the Facebook. This guy sees one movie about himself, and he thinks he can just do whatever he wants. Donate millions to charity, buy into Oculus VR because he's got the money to do so, give your racist uncle a place to vomit up all his garbage ideas, and now, now he wants to go ahead and make an AI for his house based on the concept of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's JARVIS. Well you know what, Mark? You can just take that idea, and please make it marketable and affordable to me and the billions of people around the world who desperately want to be stuck inside Minority Report's ad-serviced future.

This past weekend Hot Toys displayed a number of new products at the annual Toy Soul convention. While new Star Wars figures are nice and all, the real meat and potatoes was in the unveiling of the first Captain America: Civil War figures. These are the first new collectibles for the upcoming sequel that anyone has shown to this point, though only returning characters have been given the public spotlight so far. At least as far as the sixth-scale line is concerned. There were a few vinyl figures for some of the newcomers, but it would appear anyone holding out hope for the sixth-scale Black Panther or Agent 13 will have to wait until 2016 for a glimpse. Still, that we've been given a look into the future of Hot Toys' Marvel Cinematic Universe plans this early is exciting. Typically these sorts of tie-in figures are kept under wraps until the last possible moment. That nine have been revealed already certainly doesn't bode well for anyone hoping to grab a complete set, especially considering the characters that aren't included so far, and that Iron Man likely changes armor at least seven times in this film. So that's another dozen figures right there. Probably.

The 2016 Lego catalog is out, and with it come some surprise reveals for upcoming sets based in the Marvel universe. Just like the 2015 catalog revealing a bit about Avengers: Age of Ultron, Lego's latest teasers show a great deal of what to expect from the upcoming cinematic adventure, Captain America: Civil War. These sets are not to be confused with the other recently announced Marvel Super Hero sets, which included the first ever Captain Marvel and Thanos mini figures, though those are also due out in early 2016 and do make an appearance in the catalog. While there have been countless Lego sets based on the Marvel movies (and countless others) that haven't panned out with an exact 1:1 representation to the movie, the Avengers: Age of Ultron sets were fairly spot on. That's what makes these new Civil War sets so interesting. Each shares at least a little bit in common with some of the teasers and trailers we've seen so far, though there are still some surprises that should make Marvel fans excited if they do work out.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. Nobody’s perfect, and just because the House of Ideas has been responsible for some of the greatest spectacles in comic history doesn’t mean they haven’t had their fair share of awful moments as well. This week, we point our all seeing eye of judgment at five of the worst offenders.

“Do you really wanna punch your way out of this?” That’s what Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow asks Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers as a civil disagreement between Cap and Iron Man develops into all out war in the new international trailer for Captain America: Civil War. It’s a little shorter and more streamlined than the first official domestic trailer, but that doesn’t make it any less effective — in fact, this one might be better than the first.

You mean to tell me there was still an Iron Man armor Hot Toys hadn't released? I'm shocked. Shocked, I say. At this point, the only thing surprising about this release is how late in the game it was announced. There were a bajillion armors in Iron Man 3, and Hot Toys had been putting them out with some regularity up until all the Star Wars reveals. That's when the Stormtroopers became the new Iron Men, with all the slight variations on almost identical sculpts. For all the completionists out there though, the arrival of one of the few remaining armors from Shane Black's masterpiece (yeah, I said it) should be good news. I know I like to give Hot Toys a lot of guff over the number of Iron Man armors, but reusing molds like they have with the Iron Man MK XXVI (a repaint of the MK XXV) is smart business. Molds are expensive, and anytime companies can reuse them for similar figures just makes it that much easier on them to give us long-running lines and more variation in other departments. It's a tactic every toy company uses, though when it's for $15-20 figures it's not that big a deal. When a figure costs nearly $300 and it's just a reskin of one that came out before (with a much nicer paint job, in my opinion) it's a little harder to swallow. Especially in the wallet.

Though Lego's Marvel Super Hero sets aren't always focused directly on the films, the frequency with which Marvel movies have released has at least in some ways influenced a great majority of sets over the past few years. There have been some smaller ventures as of late, with Miles Morales getting his own Spider-Man set for example, but for the most part, if you're not an Avenger or part of the MCU, you've been out of luck. Today, that luck changes for one of Marvel's brightest stars. Announced as part of a new vehicle set (via ToyArk), Captain Marvel will finally join the Lego Marvel army, and she didn't have to wait for a movie to get the opportunity. The Avenjet Space Mission is one of two new sets Lego revealed as part of the Marvel Super Heroes line, with Star Wars also getting some love with another two sets. That's all fine and good, but we all know it's Captain Marvel that's the most surprising and welcome reveal of the day. Who even likes a star war anyway?

The holiday season is upon us, and with that comes gifts! It's always lovely to receive something special from someone you love, but there's also a particular pleasure that comes in giving a really well chosen gift and knowing that it's truly appreciated. Sometimes it really is better to give than to receive! So in that spirit, ComicsAlliance is here to inspire you with some great ideas for gifts to buy for your friends and family. Each gift guide is taiored to a particular personality type or special interests, starting with gifts for the Marvel movie fan in your life!

Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week to debut the first Captain America: Civil War trailer. And, if the internet rumormongers are to be believed, they also did something else: revealed they would be making appearances in Marvel and Sony’s new Spider-Man movie.