Among the many Marvel Disney+ series announced at this year's San Diego Comic-Con was Ironheart, a character that will first appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as seen in the trailer released at the event. Starring actress Dominique Thorne as Ironheart and her alter-ego Riri Williams, the series is set to premiere in late 2023 as part of the MCU's Phase Five. The series recently made headlines by casting RuPaul's Drag Race alum Shea Coulée in an undisclosed role. There's just one question — who is Ironheart?
Ironheart's Comics History
The character first appears in the pages of Marvel's Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 2 #7 in May 2016 as Riri Williams, an introverted 15-year-old engineering student and a certified super-genius. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on scholarship, Riri reverse-engineers technology from the Iron Man Armor Model 41, creating a similar suit for herself with material stolen from campus. Flying away from MIT, she encounters two inmates escaping from the New Mexico State Penitentiary and stops them, damaging her suit in the meantime. Riri returns home to repair the suit and is soon visited by Tony Stark who, having heard of Riri's accomplishment, validates her desire to become a superhero. Later, Riri assists Iron Man in the second superhero Civil War, using a repaired version of her armor.
At the end of the war, Tony Stark falls into a coma while fighting Captain Marvel, spurring Riri into continuing his legacy as a hero. With the help of an AI duplicate of Stark, Riri designs an improved suit of armor and takes on the name of Ironheart. After an altercation with the Techno Golem and her Biohack Ninja, in which she and Rescue come out victorious, SHIELD starts keeping eyes on Riri. With her star on the rise, Riri is offered Tony Stark's old lab by his mother Amanda, MIT's resources by the head of MIT, and membership in the teenaged superhero group known as The Champions. SHIELD would soon convince Ironheart to invade Latveria to apprehend war criminal Lucia von Bardas. After doing so, Riri negotiates a truce between SHIELD and Latveria's armed forces.
When a fascist doppelganger of Captain America leads Hydra in a massive attack on the American government, Ironheart and Tony Stark AI join the Underground, a rebel force composed of heroes and civilians. When the Champions leave the Underground to formulate a plan to take down Captain America with Black Widow, Ironheart joins them. The plan does not succeed, resulting in the death of Black Widow at the hands of evil Captain America and the arrest of the group. When the Underground assaults Washington, D.C., they defeat Hydra, free the young heroes and hail the return of the real Captain America. With Ironheart now an official member of the Champions, the group goes into outer space to assist Nova in saving the Chitauri from genocide. A misguided attempt at attacking Thanos results in the loss of Ironheart's suit, forcing her to design a new model.
Riri's Relationships
An admission by android teammate Viv Vision to Riri that she has a crush on her startles Riri, who awkwardly avoids the subject. Later, Riri's mind is corrupted by Mephisto's son Blackheart, turning her against her Champion teammates. She is snapped out of Blackheart's control by Viv, who apologizes for not considering Riri's feelings when she boldly told her of her crush, which turns into a heartfelt resolution of their feelings for one another as friends.
Now back on her own, Riri accepts MIT's offer of her own lab and continues to develop her own proper AI from scanning and compositing her brainwaves and memories. When the AI is complete, Riri is shocked, but pleased, that the AI has taken the form of an aged-up Natalie, the best friend she lost to gunfire when she was 13. In tribute, she names the AI Neuro-Autonomous Technical Assistant & Laboratory Intelligence Entity, or NATALIE.
A Connection to Wakanda
When Chicago is overrun by zombies, Ironheart determines a villain named Eclipse is responsible, stopping the zombie outbreak by capturing the criminal. Associating Eclipse with the Ten Rings, a secret society of terrorists guided by the Wellspring of Power, Riri seeks out Dr. Strange to find the location of the Wellspring. He shows her that it is in Wakanda, so Riri is granted passage to Wakanda and meets Shuri. Despite a rocky introduction, Shuri and Ironheart work together to stop an invasion of Shadow creatures. Now joined by Silhouette and Okoye, they arrive at the Wellspring, where Ironheart obtains the key to the Wellspring, giving her augmented power she uses to overpower the Ten Rings, forcing them to flee. Thanks to their efforts, Ironheart and Silhouette are recognized by Wakanda with its highest honor: the Circlet of Bast. Before parting, Riri is told by Shuri that there would always be a place for her in Wakanda if she ever wanted it.
In the storyline "Outlawed," the enactment of the Underage Superhuman Welfare Act outlaws teenager vigilantism, forcing Riri to retire her Ironheart armor out of concern for the legal consequences for her mother. Riri does, however, send NATALIE to New York to provide security for clandestine meetings of the teen Champions. When their meeting place is discovered by authorities, NATALIE helps a few of the heroes escape, bringing them to Riri's house in Chicago. Unknowingly, the refugee heroes bring the authorities to her home, forcing Riri to suit up as Ironheart and repel the forces of CRADLE. Now on the run, they are continually evading CRADLE, but soon decide to confront the forces head-on, which eventually leads to the dissolution of CRADLE and the repeal of the USWA.
Which now catches us up on Ironheart's brief but impactful comic book history. Apart from knowing that her MCU debut is coming in the Black Panther sequel and the late 2023 airing date of the series, there isn't much more that has been disclosed about the series. The Wakanda association in the comics may explain Riri's presence in Wakanda Forever, but how much of the storyline is kept, or if it is kept at all, is unknown. The casting offers little, with only Thorne as Riri and Lyric Ross as "Riri's best friend" the only two confirmed roles (and no news on if "best friend" is childhood friend Natalie, NATALIE the AI, or someone else). Nevertheless, we look forward to Ironheart's debut and what is sure to be an interesting interaction between the two teen geniuses: Thorne's Riri and Letitia Wright's Shuri.