Rescue

After a month of anticipation, "Treehouse of Horror" binges, and spooky Twitter names, Halloween is finally upon us. This special day means so much to so many people, and one of the greatest joys it gives us is licensed costumes based on comic book properties. Some of them are incredibly detailed and accurate to the source material, some of them are hilariously bad, and some, somehow, manage to be both. We've rounded up some of the best comics-themed Halloween costumes from this year to provide you with some last minute inspiration for the big night.

Since the dawn of the Silver Age, legacy characters have been a staple of superhero fiction, and having a new character step into a well loved roll can open up new opportunities for writers and artists to tell different kinds of stories. In this new regular feature, I’ll be looking back at some of the notable and not-so-notable heroes and villains to assume some of the most iconic mantles in the superhero genre. This week we’re going behind the armor to take a look at the various Iron Men of the Marvel Universe, including some of Tony Stark’s very best friends, some of his very worst enemies, and the family member he never knew he had.

Pepper Potts is finally getting hers, and it only took seven years and four dozen other Iron Man figures for Hot Toys to finally make its way to one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most powerful women. I was never a huge fan of Pepper Potts until a few years ago. Prior to Matt Fraction's and Salvador Larocca's run on Invincible Iron Man, I didn't much have a feeling about her one way or another, save for her appearances in the Iron Man films. I didn't even read Iron Man regularly enough before Invincible to have a firm grasp of her history. None of that mattered though once she became Rescue. Though Rescue's time in the comics was relatively short, the impact on fandom was long-lasting. We never got the Rescue figure from Hasbro the company teased as part of its Iron Man 3 line a few years ago, and I've been steadily complaining and questioning why, after so many Tony Starks, Hot Toys hadn't delivered so much as an alternate head sculpt for Pepper Potts and the MK XLII. Today, I couldn't be happier. We're finally getting the Pepper figure we've so desperately needed.

The Avengers movie opens tomorrow, May 4 and we have yet another awesome piece of original art by Chris Haley (Let's Be Friends Again, Captain American Idol) and colorist Daniel Butler imagining the film starring alternate versions of Earth's Mightiest Heroes...

Tony Stark's most trusted partner in life, business and (under Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. rule) crime has made her share of sacrifices to sustain the futurist's mental and physical health over the years. Now with Iron Man on the mend, Pepper Potts is set to strike out on her own, resuming her new role as the armored Rescue in a new one-shot from Marvel...