The reign of Iron Man may be over, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of the iconic mech suits from the Marvel franchise.
Disney is producing a series after the comic book arc ‘Ironheart’, following the young genius, Riri Williams. She was first introduced to the MCU in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Ironheart will join the ever-growing list of Marvel Disney originals, which includes Loki, Secret Invasion and Ms. Marvel. Keep on reading to find out more.
Ironheart release date
Ironheart was originally announced to be landing in Fall 2023, making it part or Marvel’s Phase 5 line-up. It is currently scheduled to air after season 2 of Loki, and before Agatha: Coven of Chaos – two other live-action Marvel projects.
That release date is now uncertain following a report from THR which claims that Secret Invasion and Loki season 2 are the only two projects that are certain to come in 2023. This is allegedly due to Disney looking to cut costs by scaling back its content output.
Disney has not yet confirmed these claims. The series is estimated to have six episodes in total.
Cast and crew of Ironheart
We have our Riri Williams – Dominique Thorne. Before Black Panther 2, Thorne had two acclaimed acting credits to her name: If Beale Street Could Talk and Judas And The Black Messiah.
In the Heights and Hamilton star Anthony Ramos is joining the series in an unnamed major role. He’s currently suspected to be the villain of the series. We don’t know who, but audiences are speculating that he could be either Ezekiel “Zeke” Stane, the son of Obadiah Stane (the villain from Iron Man), or Victor Mancha, the cyborg son of Ultron.
This Is Us star Lyric Ross is joining Ironheart. Whilst her role hasn’t been confirmed, it is speculated that she’ll be playing the best friend of Riri Williams.
Deadline has reported that Sacha Baron Cohen has been tapped for the show, playing none other than Mephisto – a character that was highly suspected to originally make his debut in WandaVision.
Marvel has not confirmed anything, but Cohen has allegedly been spotted in Pinewood Studios for filming.
If you’re not familiar, Mephisto is Marvel’s version of the devil, who has numerous abilities such as projecting illusions, super strength, altering time and manipulating people’s thoughts.
Alden Ehrenreich has also joined the cast in an unnamed role. He is best known for playing Han in Solo: A Star Wars Story. He confirmed this in a TikTok interview with Discussing Film.
Chinaka Hodge has been tapped to serve as the head writer (Variety). Hodge has previously worked on Amazing Stories and Snowpiercer.
What will Ironheart be about?
Ironheart will introduce a newer figure in the Marvel comics, Riri Williams. Riri is a young genius who makes her own suit of amour that is reminiscent of what is seen on Tony Stark.
In the comics, she becomes a sort of mentee to him after her suit grabs his attention. Obviously, after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the MCU’s version of Riri Williams is a little different.
Riri was introduced to the world of superheroes through Shuri and Okoye in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever… if slightly reluctantly at first.
She was brought onto Wakanda’s side to fight against Naymor and the Talokan, and built a suit made from vibranium in Shuri’s lab. However, she was not allowed to keep the suit as Wakanda was worried about it falling into government or enemy hands.
Therefore, going into Ironheart, Riri will have the knowledge and connections from her time in Wakanda, but will still have to work on building a brand new suit.
In an interview with the The Direct, Thorne stated that Wakanda Forever showed more of a stressed side of Riri, so we can expect to see her personality in full bloom: “I really hope that folks remember, when they consider who they met and what they saw, that this was a girl under duress first and foremost.
When you think about anything that you enjoyed, anything that you liked, or even didn’t like, remember that this was all a person who was stressed, she was fighting for her life. She’d never seen blue people before.”
Whilst we don’t have confirmation on the storyline of Ironheart, we assume it will be an origin story for Riri. It’s likely that she is a strong candidate for the Young Avengers, alongside the likes of Ms. Marvel.
Simply because it is dealing with superhero suits, we could see the upcoming Armor Wars show somehow tying into Ironheart – which could mean a cameo from Don Cheadle.
How to watch Ironheart
Ironheart will be a Disney+ exclusive, so you’ll only be able to watch it via this streaming platform. Disney+ includes a whole host of Marvel content, Star Wars shows and films, The Simpsons and Hulu shows via Star.
You can sign up for an account on the Disney+ website. Subscriptions start from $7.99/£7.99 per month or $109.99/£79.90 per year.
Author: Hannah Cowton, Senior Staff Writer
Hannah Cowton is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor and Macworld, working across entertainment, consumer technology and lifestyle. Her interests and specialities lie in streaming services, film and television reviews and rumours, gaming, wearables and smart home products. She's also the creator of The London Geek, a geek culture and lifestyle blog.