Published Jan 28, 2026, 12:49 PM EST
Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.
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Steve Rogers has a dark new role in the Marvel Universe, as Marvel reveals that Captain America is assembling a new Illuminati with a jaw-dropping target.
Captain America Assembles a New Illuminati to Bring Down Iron Man
In today's Iron Man #1 - from Joshua Williamson, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard and Joe Caramagna - Tony is targeted by AIM, who kidnap a number of geniuses that he had previously supported. Tony reaches out to Steve Rogers for help, admitting he made a mistake that put a target on innocent people's backs.
Tony asks to meet Steve Rogers at their old Illuminati base, only for the camera to pull out and show that Steve Rogers already assembled what appears to be a new version of the secret group, who manipulate events in the Marvel Universe from behind the scenes.
Members include Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, Avengers Captain Marvel and War Machine, and wild card Norman Osborn (who has been purged of his madness as the Green Goblin and has been operating as a hero for a number of years.) There's also an unidentified member with short black hair, who may be SHIELD leader Maria Hill.
The group are either genius technologists or closely associated with Tony on a personal level - Captain Marvel personally killed Tony back in Civil War II. That's a dark detail, since Steve turns to the group and asks, "How do we take down Tony Stark?"
Our Take on Marvel's New Illuminati
The Illuminati are an awesome part of Marvel lore, taking some of the publisher's most influential heroes and turning them into quasi-villains who believe they're acting for the greater good. That morality is especially blurry here, with Iron Man #1 referencing Civil War in its opening scene, reminding fans that Tony has history of creating genuine disasters.
There's also the possibility that this moment is a mislead. The comic reveals that Madame Masque's AIM are attempting to find the next Tony Stark by forcing genius inventors into deathtraps, hoping to awaken the creative survival instinct that brought Iron Man into being. It may be that Steve has assembled a team to take down the next Tony Stark that AIM is hoping to create.
Future issues will reveal exactly what's going on with Steve Rogers' new team, but the assembly of an anti-Iron Man Illuminati is the perfect way to begin Tony Stark's new era. It's also a major comment on Iron Man's deeply flawed characterization that fans can't be sure whether or not his closest allies - including his closest ally Captain America - have decided to actively work against him.
Iron Man #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
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