Spoilers for Marvel’s Ironheart lie ahead, so you’ve been warned.
Ironheart’s six-episode run has come to an end amid the 2025 TV schedule, and Riri Williams and those in her orbit will surely never be the same. The show (which is now available to stream in its entirety with a Disney+ subscription) offers up fun characters and comic book-like thrills. However, that’s not all that executive producer Chanika Hodge and her team convey through this miniseries. There are also themes that relate to grief and mental health, and, after watching the show for myself, I’d like to discuss that a bit.
Ironheart Features Scenes That Beautifully Capture Struggles With Grief
Thunderbolts*, serves as a meditation on depression, for example, and the recent Spider-Man movies take a cerebral approach to the topic as well. Most notably, Iron Man 3 showed Tony Stark battling panic attacks due to post-traumatic stress in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Mental health isn’t a novelty in the MCU, and Ironheart’s writers do a superb job of showing how visceral Riri’s anxiety is.
I always appreciate when the creatives behind the MCU insert deeper themes in their productions. While Riri Williams’ solo series isn’t perfect in my eyes, I have to give the show credit for covering grief and mental health head-on. Wherever Riri Williams shows up next in this expansive fictional universe, I hope these concepts are expanded upon. In the meantime, stream Ironheart now on Disney+ and keep an eye on information about upcoming Marvel shows.