Steel
19 years ago - Natasha Irons is born in Metropolis.
9 years ago - 10-year-old Natasha meets her uncle John Henry Irons when he returns home.
5 years ago - 14-year-old Natasha helps her uncle John Henry Irons design and build his Steel armor.
2 years ago - 17-year-old Natasha hacks her way onto the Watchtower.
1 year ago - 18-year-old Natasha begins MIT. Her uncle John Henry Irons retires from superheroics to take a position with the United Nations, and passes ownership of his labs & ironworks to her. She builds her own updated Steel armor, and unveils it when she, Miss Martian & Traci Thirteen save Superman from Metallo.
now - 19-year-old Natasha is invited to join the Justice Society by 32-year-old Karen Starr. She introduces her new teammate Jaime Reyes to her friend Traci Thirteen.
Natasha Irons becoming Steel feels, when you go back and read her original appearances, absolutely inevitable. To a modern reader reading those 90's era comics, the idea that she was being primed to one day become a superhero in her own right seems so completely obvious, even baked into the premise.
Clearly, however. this wasn't the case. While writer Joe Kelly, who has time and again proved his own penchant for innovation, clearly saw this character's obvious potential, a better part of a decade passed while DC seemed to hem and haw about how to use Natasha, trying over and over to fix what clearly wasn't broken. For us, in our timeline, all we really need to do is let Natasha's potential speak for itself.
Clearly, however. this wasn't the case. While writer Joe Kelly, who has time and again proved his own penchant for innovation, clearly saw this character's obvious potential, a better part of a decade passed while DC seemed to hem and haw about how to use Natasha, trying over and over to fix what clearly wasn't broken. For us, in our timeline, all we really need to do is let Natasha's potential speak for itself.
Steel's Comic HistoryNatasha appeared for the first time in issue #1 of Steel's solo series,which started in 1994, right after his debut during the Reign of the Supermen arc in the pages of the various Superman books. Step one of creating a new solo series is to give the hero their own supporting cast, and while we met John's entire family, Natasha, his 13-year-old niece, was clearly the one we were meant to focus on. She continued to appear through the series as his main confidant, and was soon working with him as he developed his armor.
Personally, I think the most predictive moment that Natasha would one day go on to become a superhero herself happens in a pretty obscure comic: JLA Secret Files #2 in 1998, a companion to the JLA arc that expanded the lineup to include her uncle. In it, Natasha actually manages to hack her way onto the Watchtower, and exhibits a wisdom beyond her years as she basically talked him into accepting their invitation. The first time Natasha actually appeared as Steel was 2003's Action Comics #806 by writer Joe Kelly, where she worked with Traci 13 and current Supergirl Cir-El to fight Metallo in a really great showcase for these new characters. |
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Natasha's Steel would go on to make appearances here and there for the next few years, one of the extended 'family' of heroes all associated with Superman, although for some reason she never really seemed to evolve past being just one more face in a crowd.
In 2009, the weekly series 52 attempted to tell the story of the one year time skip that followed in all DC series after the Infinite Crisis crossover. In it, John and Natasha have a falling out, with John taking her armor and Natasha going to join Lex Luthor's Everyman program to get her own superpowers and several different superhero names. It was a fun series to collect, but it was clearly being written without a specific plan, and lots of the characterization found in the story was pretty off. This was Natasha's deal for the next couple years, until 2011's New 52 continuity reset, when she pretty much completely disappeared. Natasha started to show up again in the Rebirth era in 2016, popping up in a few books before she debuted as part of a new Titans team, finally FINALLY getting to show us how cool she is, fully stepping into the role her uncle one filled as the biggest tech expert in the superhero community. |
Our Steel StoryThe decision to have Natasha be the current Steel in our timeline came pretty organically; it's derived from our collective love of legacy characters in general, but more importantly legacy characters who feel like they advance the idea of the original character in a fun and interesting way.
We wanted to include that one brief story for Natasha where she proves how capable she is by finding her way onto the Watchtower all on her own, and to have her first adventure be alongside her fellow new heroes. We obviously want to remove the whole idea of her abandoning the Steel armor to attempt other superhero identities, and perhaps more importantly, not have her linger in the background forever before finally bringing her to the forefront. she should be a major character tight away. To that end, we decided to make her part of the modern lineup of the Justice Society. She fits so well into that team as a young new legacy hero that it almost feels strange that no one thought of this before now. |
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