Ironheart

Hey everyone, and welcome. Today, we will be talking about the show Ironheart. Spoilers ahead, in case you were wondering. Fun Fact: In the episode where we meet Zelma, she stops Riri’s mom, Ronnie, from opening a jar of brain maggots. In the comics, Zelma is sick and needs magical help, which leads her to Dr. Strange’s doorstep, and he finds out that she has mind maggots, so this was a cool nod to her comic book intro. This show was released in 2025 and stars Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, and Lyric Ross, and was created by Chinaka Hodge. So without further ado, let's get right into it.

Ironheart follows Riri Williams, who gets kicked out of school and needs a way to make money so she can build a suit like Iron Man. She goes back home to Chicago and joins the crew of a man named Parker who wears this mysterious hood, but she realizes she may be involved with the wrong people.

Ironheart is an action superhero show. It has similar vibes to Iron Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming, or Echo.

I was excited once it was announced that Ironheart was getting her own show because I enjoyed the characters in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and I was intrigued to know about the mysterious villain, the Hood. I think Disney truly dropped the ball with marketing, though, because it was like radio silence for so long up until maybe less than a month before the show was coming out, and there was a lot of chatter online about the lack of marketing, and then, after all the backlash, I saw a trailer drop. I was still excited to watch, but it truly felt like they didn't care. Then the show drops 3 episodes one week and 3 the next, which was interesting because why not all at once, or what I think is better, weekly. I enjoyed the show, but it really felt like Disney didn't care about it at all and just wanted to release it and be done with it.

Riri Williams is played by Dominique Thorne, who does a fantastic job of portraying the very ambitious Riri who really wants to make a name for herself but is struggling. She's a bit selfish because she doesn't see how many people she's hurting in order to get money or parts for her suit, and a bit cocky, but hey, you know who was very similar, Iron Man, who she is influenced by. She's inspired by Tony Stark, obviously, but the thing she lacks is money, so building her suit forces her to use her brain to figure out how to make money to continue this project. It's interesting for me to see the struggle because Tony had so many suits and access to so many materials because of his family's past, and with Riri, she doesn't have that and must start from scratch, especially since she couldn't take anything from Wakanda. She puts her dreams ahead of everything else, which not only causes tensions in her relationships but also leads her to not address her trauma. By the end, she starts addressing this trauma more and letting her mom and friends help her move forward. I love how she has a pretty solid group of friends behind her to help her succeed.

The show gives a brief rundown of what happened between Wakanda Forever and this show to show how she has been dealing with not having resources from Wakanda and how her time there doesn't seem like common knowledge. I love following that and showing how she will have to deal without them. It kind of reminds me of Spider-Man: Homecoming because Tony gets mad at Peter and takes away the suit, and Peter is like I need it and Tony is basically like, " That's the problem, you forgot who you are without the suit. I think for Riri its more about the money and resources because in this show she has to deal with the realization that the corrupt money isn’t what she needs and she really has to figure out where her morals lie and how she wants to go about being a hero because their are plenty of ways to complete the mission and be a benefit to society.

Lyric Ross plays N.A.T.A.L.I.E., who becomes Riri’s AI in her suit but is also her best friend who died. We meet Natalie in a flashback video at the beginning of the series, and I must point out how funny I thought her line was about how she wants a night with Thor and his hammer. Riri uses a neurolink to connect to her suit, which ends up making her, which is why she not only looks like Natalie but also has similar mannerisms. It takes time for Riri to get used to her, and while it's nice that she has her friend, it does feel like something that may be stopping Riri from actually addressing the fact that Natalie isn't actually there. When Natalie pops up infront of Xavier, he naturally freaks out considering thats his dead sister which made me think about how in the world of Generative AI, seeing someone using the likeness of yourself is scary but seeing it use the likeness of someone who you loved that died truly feels invasive and crossing so many boundaries and he had every right to be mad. Throughout the season, Natalie does come in clutch, and I love how Riri not only built the suit but also an AI that can help her a lot and maximize the usefulness of the suit.

Ezekiel Stane was a character that I wasn't expecting, who is played by Alden Ehrenreich. He is walking on eggshells when we meet him, and we come to find out his dad is the reason why. His introduction also made me realize that I didn't know that Obadiah Stane was touted as a good person after he died, and no one knows the real him. I loved this character and how he and Riri had good banter, and how he had so much random equipment that helped her make the suit better. When she accidentally leaves his property at a crime scene, he gets arrested and later joins Parker. I kind of get why he joined but it all seemed to happen so fast and by the end he still seems mad at her and i’m like that needed more time to convince me that he actually hates her because I get being irritated but then going to work for someone that wanted to kill her is a bit extreme. In the end, she does help him stand up for himself and sets him free from Parker, and I hope they become friends again.

In episode 4, we meet Zelma and Madeline, who are magicians, which I was happily surprised to see. I also just love how large Cree Summer's hats are in her projects, really makes her stand out to me. They don't tell Riri what the cape is or where it's from, but from the reaction they give, you know it's really bad. Later on, Zelma helps mix magic into Riri’s suit so that it can power the suit, and I love how they incorporated tech with magic and showed how it can be tricky, as seen by the disappearance of Natalie. They joke that Madeline got kicked out or left Kamar-Taj, but Zelma is tryna get in, so I hope we can see her get in and become a powerful sorceress down the line.

Parker is played by Anthony Ramos, who made a deal with the devil and gets a red hood that gives him some cool abilities. He is the gang leader and comes up with the missions and keeps his team only to essential people who all have a role. He is forcing himself into these companies but threatening the CEO’s to sign over shares to him, and we later find out it's to eventually take over his dad's company as payback for his dad being mean to him. It's crazy how he would dispose of people if they weren't up to his standard, and only his cousin John was really in on it. John was scary, and I feel like many people wouldn't question Parker with him there, but once John dies after Riri leaves him and he suffocates, Clown questions Parker about the disappearance of an old crew member. It may have taken some extra pushing, but eventually the crew realizes that he is very dangerous and will kill them the moment he doesn't feel they are useful. In the end, they all leave him, which is great because he was going to get them arrested or worse, killed. I hope they make an appearance again, maybe helping Riri and turning their lives around.

When we meet Parker, his cousin John is tattooing him to make sure the curse on his skin looks normal. I knew it came from the hood, and when I saw the hood speaking to him, I knew some magic was involved, but I didn't want to believe who I thought it was. During the Wandavision days, many thought Mephisto was the big bad, but it turned out to be Agatha, and after that show, I decided to wait before casting judgment, but this show tried to mislead us, saying it was Dormammu. When they said it was Dormammu, that's when I thought it was Mephisto because Dormammu is like black and purple, and when kaecilius pulled from his dimension, the area around his eyes were purple, but Parker's stuff was red, and I know the one being from a different dimension who is red is Mephisto, and I was right. After years of speculation, he pops up in the last episode, played by Sasha Baron Cohen, who I thought was perfectly cast. He's clearly very powerful, but the show did a great job showing how manipulative he can be and how, if you think you can best him, you will probably lose. He offers Riri a deal in the end, and I'm interested to see if she actually took it, cause it ends on a cliff hanger, but I also wonder in cases like Parker, does he still try to help them or kill them, or let them live a miserable life?

Also small side note. I love how in the scene where Mephisto is showing Riri how she can have Natalie back, we see her with a natural fro. This pays homage to one of the more iconic images of Riri, which made me happy because I love the look, but also to all the black girls out there. It further shows how your hair is beautiful, no matter how you wear it, and it's something to be proud of. I think this is important to show as well because of stuff like the crown act which was presented after a study showing that women face discrimination based on their hair style in the workplace which is disgraceful and your hair has nothing to do with the quality of most jobs, obviously theres exceptions like food and maybe automotive for safety reasons but generally its tied to racism and should not be a thing. You should never be discriminated against for your hair, skin color, who you love, or gender, and while it's not something that is explicitly stated in the show, it's nice to show how versatile hair is.

The music throughout the show was fantastic. I noticed a lot of new and older black artists throughout the show, and I loved to hear some familiar songs, and I thought they fit perfectly.

I love a cool title card placement, and this show had some pretty good ones. They are thoughtful and feel like they fit perfectly in the show and would come up at different places in the episodes.

My favorite part of this show is Riri. I love seeing how smart and resourceful she is, and even though she makes some mistakes, she overcomes them and tries to do better the next time. She's inspirational because she seems more grounded and not rich, and shows how in this country, money can be an obstacle, but it doesn't mean that it needs to stop you from excelling. I loved seeing her journey, and Dominique did a great job bringing her to life, and I can't wait to see more of her on screen.

Ironheart was a fun show and a great addition to the MCU. It feels very grounded, and while the character had been introduced to us, this show invites us to learn more about the character. The acting was great, and the story and music had me invested, and hopefully, in the future, Marvel and Disney will not just forget about these projects but push them as well.