This week, Disney dropped the new trailer for the Ironheart series, coming exclusively to Disney+. While Riri Williams might be a familiar figure to Black Panther fans, what makes her so worthy of the late Iron Man's power armor?
From what fans have been presented with thus far, Riri is a technical genius with a knack for building her own superhero tech. That's a trope we've seen before with a certain wall-crawling kid in red and blue tights, but fans of the original Marvel Comics character know she packs quite a powerful punch.
Behind the mask of Ironheart
The official description of the new series reads as follows,
"Set after the events of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Marvel Television’s “Ironheart” pits technology against magic when Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne)—a young, genius inventor determined to make her mark on the world—returns to her hometown of Chicago. Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins aka “The Hood” (Anthony Ramos)."
At first glance, this feels more like a spiritual successor to Black Panther than a female Iron Man alternative, but both the comic book lore and the series by Ryan Coogler have the best of both worlds at play. But first, we need to unpack who our leading lady really is.
Riri Williams is a scientific wunderkind from Chicago who essentially dissected Tony Stark's work to create her own suit of power armor before donning the moniker Ironheart. In the comics, she actually gets the attention of Tony Stark himself during her Avengers-styled story arc.
In the comics, Riri could be a fusion of the MCU's Spider-Man and Tony Stark, a young, ambitious, and inventive genius who cobbles together a supersuit to combat the forces of evil. There's a notable and delightful rough-spun feeling to her character as she takes on both street-level criminals and even intergalactic threats like Thanos on occasion.
In the new Marvel TV series, it seems that Wakanda's technology has replaced the familiar Stark tech, but it's still clear that she is pulling from Iron Man as a massive inspiration as she fights injustice with her own personal twist. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it could certainly trigger a massive longing for the original Iron Man.
Is Ironheart the next Iron Man? Not exactly, but that doesn't mean she won't have a fan base. Truthfully, it's going to be hard to top anything Robert Downey Jr. does, but it's certainly epic to see someone putting on the armor once more.
Ironheart premieres on Disney+ June 24, 2025.