Marvel's Infinite Destinies is coming this summer, and in a new preview, Iron Man reveals how Marvel's heroes choose their villains. Individually, each Avenger in the Marvel Universe has their own rogue's gallery, or at least a handful of foes they handle more than any other hero. Captain America has the Red Skull, the Fantastic Four have Doctor Doom, Thor has Loki, etc. Interestingly enough, when Spider-Man Miles Morales reports on a new villain known as the Assessor, Tony Stark confirms that new villains and foes are chosen by heroes who offer to take them on based on their expertise.
This reveal comes from a preview of Marvel's upcoming Infinite Destinies event, which will be taking place across Marvel's various annual titles such as Iron Man Annual #1 from writer Jed MacKay and artist Ibraim Roberson. Throughout the event, different heroes will be interacting with the various heroes and villains who were chosen to host the newly sentient Infinity Stones, who were given free will to chart their own courses thanks to Adam Warlock at the end of Marvel's Infinity Wars. For example, Spider-Man will be interacting with Star (who got her powers from the Reality Stone), while Captain America will be dealing with Overtime (Time Stone) in their respective annual issues.
Now, the preview for Iron Man Annual #1 sees Tony Stark going after the villains who captured and tortured Miles Morales' Spider-Man known as the Assessor and his enforcer Quantum. Iron Man also reveals to Miles that the Avengers typically take on new villains if they fall into their particular purview and area of expertise. For example, Thor deals with the godly and supernatural, Captain America takes care of issues threatening the country, and Iron Man himself takes on dangers related to applied technologies. As a result, he's more than willing to track down the Assessor and Quantum (whose teleporting capabilities seem to indicate the presence of the Space Stone). Here are the preview pages from Marvel Comics:
While it makes perfect sense, it's cool to get the confirmation from Iron Man that there's a shared understanding among Marvel's heroes that certain villains are the primary responsibility of heroes best-suited to handle them and/or have determined to take them on for any reason. For example, while Mysterio and Daredevil have fought in the past, he's still primarily a member of Spider-Man's rogue's gallery.
In any case, it looks as though the Assessor and Quantum just got on Iron Man's bad list, as he's not happy at all that they tortured Miles back in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #7-8. However, Iron Man may not be prepared to deal with a foe powered by an Infinity Stone, and it's going to be pretty interesting to see how he'll respond once he does learn what he's up against. That being said, it's cool that if things do get too hairy, the rest of the Avengers are usually only a call away and can be assembled if needed, which could very well be the case when Infinite Destinies releases this June from Marvel Comics.