Trailer: Ironheart Brings a Gritty New Energy to the MCU

Ryan Coogler is living the good life in 2024. Hot off the heels of the major box office triumph of his most recent film, Sinners, the two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker is already on the way to replicating his success with the highly anticipated Disney+ limited series Ironheart.

Ironheart is a six-episode series from Marvel Studios that is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in June of 2025. The series, which will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will tell the story of the superhero Ironheart. Played by Dominique Thorne, Ironheart, or Riri Williams, is a 15-year-old inventor and protégé of Tony Stark in the comics.

Ironheart will be the last TV series to launch as part of the MCU’s Phase Five, which also includes Moon Knight, Echo, Ironheart, Ms. Marvel Season 3, Armor Wars, and Agatha: House of Harkness. Marvel first announced Ironheart back in December 2020, and at the time, the series was originally supposed to be released in 2023. It was later revealed that Marvel had changed up its long-term plans and scaled back its slate of content to stop releasing so much every year. This delay is at least in part due to fears of saturating the market. This also led to the show’s premiere getting bumped back to this upcoming summer. Clips were first debuted during the 2024 D23 convention, which were described as “a crime show with an Iron Man twist at the center.” This suggests that the new MCU show may be a bit darker and more grounded than some of its predecessors.

The character of Riri Williams first made an appearance in the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the film, Riri is an MIT student who invents a vibranium detector, which she takes with her on a visit to Wakanda. There, she crosses paths with Namor and his army of blue-skinned Wakandans when they attempt to take the powerful metal for themselves. Riri makes a connection with Shuri throughout the film as the two of them share an interest in science. She eventually creates a version of an armored suit like Iron Man to help defend Wakanda. By the end of the movie, Riri can drive off Namor and his men, but before she can leave, the Wakandans take the suit and tell her she cannot have it. She is forced to return to MIT after the adventure.

A Fusion of High-Tech Gadgetry and Grimy Streets

Ironheart will begin taking place shortly after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The official summary for the show states, “Set after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ironheart pits technology against magic when Riri—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).”

Elsewhere in the series, Dominique Thorne will be joined by several other talented performers. Lyric Ross is set to play Riri’s best friend, Natalie Washington; Alden Ehrenreich will be Joe McGillicuddy; Manny Montana will be Cousin John; Matthew Elam will be Xavier Washington; and Anji White will be Riri’s mother, Ronnie. Other cast members include Shea Couleé as Slug, Jim Rash as the dean of MIT (the actor previously played the same role in the 2016 movie Captain America: Civil War), and Sacha Baron Cohen in a currently-unspecified role.

Marvel has also shared a brand-new trailer for the series, which is worth watching. The trailer opens with Riri attempting to break into a pizza restaurant that has been closed down. Instead, she finds herself locked inside a poison gas-filled elevator with a timer counting down to two minutes. The thing is, this entire situation was orchestrated by the man on the other end of the intercom system, who she eventually learns is The Hood. The Hood explains that this is an “interview” of sorts, and unless Riri does as he says, she will die. Riri is told that she will need to break into a box on the ground that contains a gas mask to breathe. However, Riri is having none of it, and she instead comes up with her way to get out of the situation.

It will be interesting to see where this idea of making the “iconic” could take Riri. It seems to be a setup for her to test the bounds of morality when it comes to getting what she wants. The consequences of such an ambition will be a major theme to watch as well.

Written and directed by two-time Oscar nominee Ryan Coogler, Ironheart will most likely have all the pieces in place to be another big success for Marvel and Disney+. With a proven talent behind the camera and a very promising lead performance from Thorne, it is possible that Ironheart could become the next Marvel must-watch.