Warning! Spoilers for Iron Man's current ongoing series at Marvel Comics
Writer Christopher Cantwell is revealing the reason why he chose Hellcat to be Iron Man's partner and love interest in his current ongoing series, as she served as the perfect foil for the Marvel Comics hero. In a new interview, Cantwell talked about pairing up Tony Stark and Patsy Walker and how the hero's romance is here to stay, at least in the present.
Iron Man has mostly been paired romantically with Pepper Potts during his time at Marvel Comics, a relationship that has been adapted into live-action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, Tony Stark has had many romantic partners in the comics, including a romance with his fellow Avenger, Janet Van Dyne. However, in Cantwell's current arc of Iron Man alongside artists Cafu and Angel Unzueta, Stark has been paired with Hellcat. Patsy Walker has offered the hero a more grounded relationship and love interest as they've been able to bond over their trauma and dark history in the comics.
In his run on the series, Iron Man writer Christopher Cantwell spoke with Marvel.com about the future of Iron Man and Hellcat. With Marvel Comics teasing the hero's getting married, Cantwell discussed why he paired Tony Stark with Patsy Walker as love interests and what makes the street-level hero the perfect foil for him. He mentioned since Iron Man went on a cosmic adventure turning into the Iron God, it was important to pair him with someone grounded like Hellcat.
Cantwell added that Patsy Walker's grounded nature and unfamiliarity with Tony Stark's past (at least more than others) made her a great choice to have a romance with Iron Man. However, he also mentioned Patsy's own history of trauma and mental illness cut against her groundedness, making her more challenging moments that much more cutting.
"If I was going to take Tony on this cosmic odyssey, I wanted to pair him with someone as grounded as possible. Patsy has been very grounded and lucid much of the time. She’s also less familiar with Tony’s hijinks than say, Rhodey, so she has fresh eyes on Tony and forms her own opinions on why he is the way he is. But cutting against that grounded-ness is Patsy’s own history with instability, mental and otherwise. So her grounded-ness is hard won, and when it’s jeopardized I think we, and Tony, really feel the weight of that.
Cantwell told Marvel.com he made the romance officially early in Iron Man has he wanted to explore it through a real crisis. However, he said by the end of their recent trials and tribulations, Tony Stark and Patsy Walker's relationship evolved into something "deeper and more complicated."
I wanted them to get together fairly early in the story because I wanted to see them both churn through a real relationship while they went through the larger crisis. So we could explore all the ups and downs between them in context with this battle to save the universe. Even if they won, there would be a question of if their relationship would survive. It does, but it also evolves into something deeper and more complicated by the end. I wanted to give them both a truly complex relationship with each other by the conclusion of the story.
For those wondering if Iron Man and Hellcat's relationship and romance will go the distance, as Tony Stark proposes, Cantwell teases that they are in "each other’s lives for good, I would say…it just depends on the future."
Honestly, Stark and Walker might not have been the most obvious pairing, but as Cantwell mentioned, Hellcat's grounded nature and own personal trauma balance so well off Iron Man's personality and past, creating one of Marvel Comics' more complex relationships. Hopefully, Iron Man and Hellcat will continue their romance, as Patsy Walker is one of his best, most-nuanced love interests in some time. However, the hero might hit even further rock bottom if it ends in tragedy.