Five-year-old Anthony Smith is deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other — but he doesn’t want to wear his blue hearing aid.

Why??

Because superheroes don’t wear hearing aids, he says.

Desperate, Anthony’s mom sent a letter to the general email address on the Marvel Comics website, inquiring as to if there were any superheroes that wore hearing aids.

She was not expecting a response, but a few weeks later, she received in the mail 2 comic book covers from artists Manny Mederos and Nelson Ribeiro, who had created comic book covers featuring…”The Blue Ear”!

“The Blue Ear” is a new honorary Avenger, inspired by Anthony, “whose blue earpiece gives him the power to hear a pin drop from the other side of a state.”

“Oh my God, it’s me!” Anthony said, when he saw the covers.

On March 5, little Anthony will also be the special guest at an event at the Center for Hearing and Communication clinic in New York City…where he will get to meet Iron Man!

[Via KDVR]