Marvel Studios is suiting up for their next batch of projects and on their roster is the Disney Plus original series,Ironheart,which was announced back in December 2020. The show is based on a series of comics released in 2016, in which writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato brought the Ironheart hero to life for the first time.
Ironheartis said to include 6 episodes, just likeLokiandHawkeye, and will serve as the origin story for Riri Williams as she ventures into the world of heroism. Fans suspect that Williams will be the next unofficial inductee into the Young Avengers team that’s slowly been formulating throughout Phase 4, putting her alongside Yelena Belova and Kate Bishop in a future team-up movie.
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The Story
Ironheartwill likely depict what happens after Riri Williams buildsher own version of the Iron Man suit, after reverse engineering some of Tony Stark’s original technology. Williams was a 15-year-old MIT student in the comics, but whether she’ll be the same age in the series has neither been confirmed nor denied. Much like Tony Stark himself, Williams is a total brainiac and certified genius, who started displaying signs of her otherworldly intelligence as a young child. She knows her way around technology and is able to create just about anything she sets her mind to.
In the comics, Stark actually worked with Williams when he got wind of what she was doing with the Iron Man tech and encouraged her to pursue a life of heroism. He served as her mentor for quite a while, and Williams eventually took up the Iron Man mantle full time, after Stark was put into a coma by Captain Marvel.
Given Stark’s death inAvengers: Endgame, the new heroine definitely won’t be meeting him in the live-action series, since he’sno longer part of the franchise. It’s much more likely that Williams will be working with new characters, instead. Marvel has been keeping most of the show’s plot points under wraps, so it’s difficult to tell which aspects of the comics will influence the series and which parts will be excluded.
The Cast and Crew
The titular character, Riri Williams, will be played byIf Beale Street Could Talkactress Dominique Thorne.This is Usstar,Lyric Ross, will also be joining the cast and is supposed to be playing the role of Riri Williams' best friend, Natalie.
In the comics, Natalie was murdered in a drive-by shooting at the park. Williams' witnessed Natalie’s death, and in an attempt to keep her friend alive, she built created an A.I. and modeled it in Natalie’s image. The parallels between Stark and J.A.R.V.I.S. and Williams and N.A.T.A.L.I.E are heartwarming, but it’s unclear if Ross will be playing the human version of Natalie, or if she will be embodying Williams' A.I. creation. Either way, Ross' talents will certainly make a great addition to the series.
Anthony Ramosis the only other confirmed cast member at this time, though Marvel Studios has yet to announce which character he will be playing in the series. The rumor mill suggests that he’ll have a large role both in the show and the Marvel franchise as a whole, indicating that perhaps he’ll be one of the new “big bads” to wreak havoc in the MCU.
Chinaka Hodge, who has previously worked on projects likeSnowpiercer,will share her skills as head writer for the series.
The Debut of Riri Williams
Kevin Feige has confirmed that Dominique Thorne will be making her debut as Riri Williams in theBlack Panthersequel,Wakanda Forever.Williams actually met Shuri in the comics, during an attempt to recruit Shuri’s brilliance and take down the Ten Rings. The two geniuses struggled to see eye to eye and their high levels of intelligence sparked a great deal of conflict and tension between them.
Marvel hasn’t given fans any hints about how big of a role Riri Williams will have inWakanda Forever,or whether she and Shuri will be butting heads. Since Tony Stark is dead, perhapsShuriwill be Williams' new mentor, giving her the chance to learn from one of the few other geniuses left in the MCU.
The Release Date
As of right now, there is no release date scheduled for the premiere ofIronheart. Filming for the series is supposed to start in June of this year, but obviously, the show won’t be on Disney Plus until afterWakanda Foreverhits theaters in November.
At the earliest, the first trailer could drop in December 2022 (afterWakanda Forever), but that seems a little far-fetched, given the current timetable the MCU is working with. A 2023 release for all thingsIronheart, including trailers and the series itself, is much more likely.
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