Marvel Comics has been building up to a proposal between Tony Stark and his fellow hero Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat for several months now, and in Iron Man #20, we finally get to see the actual proposal between the two Avengers (well, technically former Avenger in Hellcat's case).
What's more, the publisher has released a preview of interior pages from Iron Man #20, which is written by Christopher Cantwell, with art from Angel Uzueta and Frank D'Armata, and letters from Joe Caramagna, showing the actual moment Tony pops the question to Patsy.
In typical Tony Stark fashion, the proposal is hardly ordinary. But whereas one might expect a billionaire super-scientist with an ego like Tony's to make a big show of proposing, the moment is particularly low key, happening in a sports bar over a plate of wings.
Here's the gallery of pages:
The preview opens with Patsy picking Tony up from rehab, where he's been recuperating for three months after a fight with the villain known as Korvac in which Tony was imbued with tremendous cosmic power only to then have it ripped away left Tony suffering addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
Not your typical rehab experience, though it may be easier to find people who have been addicted to cosmic power in the Marvel Universe than in the real world.
You probably also noticed that Tony's proposal doesn't come with the traditional ring. That seems like an oddly Tony-ish thing to do, but it does make the art included with the original announcement of Tony Stark and Patsy Walker's engagement in Iron Man #20, which shows Tony holding out a gleaming ring box to Hellcat, a little ironic. Channeling a little bit of the Silver Age tradition of a cover that hooks the reader with the broad idea of the story inside before changing direction once the story actually starts.
Following Tony's proposal in Iron Man #20 (which goes unanswered in the preview, but which Patsy presumably accepts in the full issue), the pair will star in Iron Man/Hellcat Annual #1, which deals with Tony and Patsy setting their pasts in order to prepare for their future.
Iron Man #20 goes on sale June 15.
Will Tony Stark and Patsy Walker go the distance to become one of the best superhero romances of all time?
