It’s finally time for the wedding between Emma Frost and Tony Stark, and Gerry Duggan and Juan Frigeri deliver in Invincible Iron Man #10. At this point, we know it’s a bit of a sham–even if Tony is a little bit interested–but with mutants being hunted and Tony under a watchful eye, what better way to enact a plan than under the guise of a wedding?
Invincible Iron Man #10 is an issue that surprised me. Duggan is good at pace and plotting, slowing down and speeding things up as needed. The issue opens with Rhodey getting a call from Tony Stark while in prison. He’s there to help Tony, but not mad about it. As we hear him say, they’re at war, and it’s all about winning at this point. We soon learn it’s a setup, and Rhodey is in grave danger.
Meanwhile, Tony is living it up, pretending to be the Black King. Emma is pretending to be his assistant, and as we saw in X-Men #26, a proposal was made. If you missed it, fear not, as Duggan and Frigeri also redo it in this issue. I was annoyed we had to relive that scene again, but the creative team delivered an exciting issue from there with twists, turns, and thoughtful monologuing via captions for Tony Stark.
The first half of this issue shows that Tony has to be careful and his friends are in danger. That danger is lessened due to deals being made, which will likely come back to bite Tony. The second half opens up with action in Las Vegas and the wedding. The wedding turns out to be a heist, which is a pleasant surprise and written well.
Touch his mind? How about a knee to the groin?
Credit: Marvel
Tony and Emma Frost team up for this heist and much information is imparted to the reader. This helps establish where the story goes while reducing Feilong to a heavy-hitter villain. It’s also nice to put Tony in his original armor and Emma in her White Queen garb. That may be the weakest thing to come out of this issue, though, as Feilong was a huge threat, but by the end, it seems more like a speed bump for our heroes. It’s nice to see him take some lumps, and he’s still super powerful.
For fans who came to see the wedding, curb your expectations. The Avengers and X-Men aren’t attending. That said, I think Duggan does a fabulous job capturing Tony’s attraction to Emma and Emma’s disgust of Tony. At the same time, though, Frigeri makes you wonder if Emma is at least a little interested in Tony as a partner, even if it’ll never work. There’s a flirtation between them that’s fun. They’ll likely be friends going forward only, but there’s a push and pull between them that’s fun to unpack.
If you like surprises, you’ll probably love Invincible Iron Man #10. It plays out the wedding in a way you won’t see coming. Sure, the teasers and cover are misleading, but that’s comics, so sit back and enjoy a team-up that somehow works even when the characters are like oil and water.
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