Think of your top five Marvel super heroes who are women.

Struggling?

Well, fear not as publishing company Marvel Comics has just announced a new character, Riri Williams, will replace Tony Stark (a.k.a Iron Man) in an upcoming comic.

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In an interview with Time, writer Brian Michael Bendis says he was inspired to create the character after hearing a news story about a young woman from Chicago whose life was 'marred by tragedy that could have easily ended her life', but decided to go to college.

'I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or superheroine story I had ever heard,'

'And I sat with it for a while until I had the right character and the right place,' he added.

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Bendis, who has been a pioneer in the development of Marvel's female superheroines like Miles Morale and Jessica Jones, said the creation of Williams was an 'organic' idea that didn't result from complaints about the under representation of strong female characters in Marvel comics.

He said: 'We never had a meeting saying, 'We need to create this character.' It's inspired by the world around me and not seeing that represented enough in popular culture.'

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According to the writer, Williams is a genius who enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the age of 15, and catches the attention of Stark after he hears she's built her own Iron Man (well, Iron Woman) suit in her dorm room.

'Her brain is maybe a little better than his. She looks at things from a different perspective that makes the armor unique,' he adds. 

However, the news of a female Iron Woman seems to have divided opinion:

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But, thankfully others see sense:

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What do you think? Are you happy to have another female comic book lead? Tell us at @ELLEUK   

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.