Marvel champions education by pairing superheroes and science on variant covers

By Tracy Brown

Aug. 22, 2016 1:30 PM PT

It’s back-to-school season, and Marvel comics marked the occasion by revealing five variant covers promoting science, technology, engineering, art and math. Even superheroes are excited for education, because knowledge is power.

Marvel has turned to some of its youngest and brightest — including Kamala Khan, Miles Morales and Lunella Lafayette — for these STEAM variant covers. The covers for “Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur” No. 13, “Spider-Man” No. 10, “Invincible Iron Man” No. 1, “Champions” No. 2 and “Gwenpool” No. 8 each correspond with a specific STEAM field.

“With our new STEAM variants, we plan to continue to motivate our fans to explore their passions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math and present these disciplines through some of our favorite young heroes who are doing just that – following their dreams and preparing for the challenges that await them ahead,” said David Gabriel, Marvel Comics' senior vice president of sales and marketing via press release.

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Among the heroes featured in the STEAM variants is Riri Williams, the MIT-enrolled teenage science prodigy who is set to take over as Iron Man in the “Invincible Iron Man” relaunch.

“Invincible Iron Man” writer Brian Michael Bendis has revealed that when Williams steps into her new role, she will be known as Ironheart.

“Ironheart, coined by Joe Quesada, after I told him my planned story for Riri, speaks not only to the soul of the character but to the Iron Man franchise as a whole,” Bendis told Wired. “Tony first put on the armor to save his heart. Riri puts it on for different reasons altogether but still heart-related.”

See all of the revealed STEAM variant covers below.