Ironheart’s success lies with its characters
Marvel
Although technically a follow-up to “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which introduced young tech genius and Tony Stark-inspired engineer Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), “Ironheart” wisely doesn’t require you remember a thing about that movie. The series gives “Wakanda Forever” a few seconds of brief acknowledgment before launching into the story: Riri struggles at MIT, gets expelled, and returns home to Chicago with a busted robot suit and none of the funding she needs to actually capitalize on her genius.
What’s a girl to do when she has Iron Man ambitions? In this case, it’s to join a small crime ring working high tech jobs and hope to not let her soul get tainted too much and she builds a bank account.
“Ironheart” mines genuine tension from this premise, as Riri’s initial “Ocean’s 11”-esque heists give way to nastier, more dangerous work, leading to fractures in her social circle and beyond. While the action and derring-do are generally gripping enough, the series’ real heart lies when Riri is out of her suit: reconnecting with her mom, hanging with old friends, rediscovering the many quirks and corners of her neighborhood, and even striking up an unlikely friendship with a lonely suburban dork named Joe, played with a disarming sweetness by a scene-stealing Alden Ehrenreich (to say more about his character would be crime, but Marvel fans will watch him with interest, to put it mildly).
At the center of it all is Natalie (Lyric Ross), Riri’s best friend who died tragically and whose memories haunt our hero’s every waking moment, triggering grief-stricken panic attacks. It’s sensitive stuff, handled with care by the series’ filmmakers and with grace by Thorne, who is actually able to play a full-fledged character here after being squeezed into the margins of “Wakanda Forever.” And while Natalie may be dead (and remember, death has a different meaning in a comic book story), it’s her dynamic with Riri that gives the show a sweet, sustainable energy.
Ironheart rediscovers the missing MCU secret sauce
Marvel
But “Ironheart” is still a comic book story, and one set in a world full of dazzling impossibilities. And to the show’s credit, it does something we’ve yet to see fully realized in any MCU story so far: a full-blown exploration of science versus magic. Sure, Iron Man and Doctor Strange have teamed up before, but no movie has had the chance to really slow down and explore the gloriously nerdy repercussions of what happens when a tech-based superhero faces off against a being of pure supernatural and spiritual power. And while the main villain of the series, the cursed gang leader known as the Hood, is a bit inconsistent (Anthony Ramos, a good actor, just doesn’t have the sleazy magnetism necessary here), the ramifications of their clashing should be more than enough to raise the eyebrow of even the most jaded Marvel fan, especially once it becomes clear that the Hood’s powers have to have come from somewhere. Or someone.
When “Ironheart” gets cooking, it’s impressive how much more satisfying it is than other Marvel shows that lean on earth-shattering events of cosmic importance. Nothing that happens over the course of the show’s six, dense, quickly paced episodes impacts the larger MCU, but it sure changes Riri and her friends (and enemies). However, we like Riri, and we like her rapidly expanding circle of friends, so comparatively minor events loom large because the show asks us to take them personally. It’s telling that the best action scene in the series involves a brawl in a White Castle restaurant, where Riri needs to survive with only limited gadgets on hand. It works because we’ve been asked to invest in this cast, and their predicaments, rather than ponder what’s happening elsewhere in the MCU.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a weird place. Many of the streaming shows have been flops. The movies have seen diminishing returns at the box office. Seemingly all eyes are on “Avengers: Doomsday.” But “Ironheart” remembers the secret sauce that made us all love the MCU in the first place. It’s the characters, dummy. Make us love the characters and let the universe fall into place around them. And well, after six episodes, I’m pretty sure I love Riri and her little circle of allies. And maybe some of her enemies too.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10
The first three episodes of “Ironheart” premiere on Disney+ on June 24, 2025, followed by its other three episodes on July 1.
