“Discover the Marvel Character Handpicked by ‘Squid Game’ Creator for Ultimate Victory”

“Squid Game,” a popular Netflix series, follows 456 people facing financial struggles as they are invited to compete for a huge cash prize of ₩45.6 billion (around $38 million). The twist? The games they play are life-threatening childhood games where losing equals death.

With the anticipation for the show’s second season building up, director Hwang Dong-hyuk has weighed in on which iconic Marvel character he believes could thrive in the intense competition.

Hwang Dong-hyuk has placed his bet: Tony Stark would be his pick to win a “Squid Game” competition.

Speaking at Netflix’s Season 2 premiere event in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 12, the director of the hit series shared with PEOPLE Magazine which iconic figure he believes could thrive in the show’s high-stakes, deadly games.

“Iron Man — without the suit,” Hwang explained, referring to Tony Stark, the iconic hero portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in Marvel’s Infinity Saga.

The first season of “Squid Game” centered on Seong Gi-hun, portrayed by Lee Jung-jae, as he fought to survive and win a brutal competition featuring deadly twists on childhood games. The challenges in Season 1 included tug of war, marbles, hopscotch, honeycomb carving, and the infamous red light, green light.

According to creator Hwang, Season 2 will introduce a new set of games, offering fresh twists to keep viewers on edge. “There were some [games] left over from the list of games that I had thought of for season 1,” he told PEOPLE. “So at least for season 2, it wasn’t as hard to come up with the new games.”

“Three years after winning ‘Squid Game,’ Player 456 gave up going to the States and comes back with a new resolution in his mind,” Netflix said of the second season. “Gi-hun once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants gathered to win the prize of 45.6 billion won.”

Lee Jung-jae also spoke with PEOPLE Magazine about the excitement surrounding the highly anticipated second season of Squid Game. Reflecting on his experience, Lee shared that “the new games” were his favorite part of filming and hinted that fans have plenty to look forward to.

“So I can tell you for sure that you’re in for even more surprises, because there are games within games, and I call them psychological warfare,” he told the outlet. “We have so much of them in season 1. So at one time, you’ll be enemies, the two will be enemies, and then the other time, they will be friends. So you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

He added, “There’s so many twists and turns, so you’re in for a big surprise.

“Because I created Season 1 without much thought about doing the second season, when it was decided that we would do Season 2, the pressure was indeed immense,” director Hwang told IndieWire. “I was thinking to myself: will I really be able to pull this off? Will I be able to create or write something that would exceed Season 1?”

“But once I got to writing, and once I got into the story of Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae) returning to the games with his own motives, it actually went a lot better than I thought it would,” he continued. “I was able to create a story that I felt was more intriguing, come up with more interesting characters, and come up with more original and intriguing games as well.”

Released in September 2021, “Squid Game” became a global sensation after being recorded in Korean and translated into 31 languages.

The series won six Emmy Awards, including honors for lead actor, directing, production design, guest actress, special visual effects, and stunt performance. Within weeks of its debut, it became Netflix’s most-watched series and made history as the first Korean and foreign-language show to receive a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nomination.

Building on its unprecedented success, Netflix launched a reality competition series inspired by the drama, which premiered in November 2023.