Who is Ironheart: the history and powers of the heroine of Marvel and Black Panther
The Black Panther sequel introduced several new characters, including Ironheart, a heroine rumored to take Iron Man’s place in the MCU.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever further expands the Marvel world, introducing the kingdom of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and making connections to other stories that have come before in both movies and streaming, and the character of Ironheart is one of the that are part of future plans.
Dominique Thorne is one of the newcomers to the MCU, making her debut as Riri Williams, a teenager with a brilliant mind and a talent for inventing innovative technologies, including one that can find vibranium (which puts her on the radar of the government), which is part of a new generation of heroes that is rumored to be part of the team that will replace the Avengers in the new phases that Marvel is developing.
What we see of Riri in Wakanda Forever is just a small glimpse and her story is going to be further explored in the Ironheart series, where she is the protagonist.
Who is Ironheart?
According to reports, the Ironheart series is coming to Disney+ at some point in 2023, where we’ll be able to see more of Riri Williams’ character, likely in a timeline that takes place after the events of Wakanda Forever, where we’re going. Let’s see how she transforms into the heroine of the comics.
In the comics, Riri Williams is a normal 19-year-old, in the sense that she doesn’t have superpowers and doesn’t come from another planet, but she’s brilliant when it comes to technology and, following in Tony Stark ‘s footsteps, she manages to create a suit he wears to fight crime.
In the story, Iron Man rescues Riri’s stepfather during the Skrull invasion (she is similar to Kate Bishop in that sense. Bishop also takes an interest in Hawkeye after he sees him in action) and she grows up admiring Tony Stark, which leads her to study at MIT and use her talents to create machines that can help protect humanity.
What powers does Ironheart have?
Riri Williams is human and her greatest power is her intelligence, in the comics she is tested and it is discovered that she has the mental capacity of a genius.
Like the likes of Batman and Tony Stark, she does not have superpowers but uses all the resources at hand to make up for that, leading her to develop her own suit using a Tony Stark Mark-41 for reference.
Using the suit, Riri has much more strength, she can fly, create energy bubbles with which she can stop her enemies, and has magnetic power, in addition to later performing upgrades and making her suit shoot energy and using artificial intelligence, in addition to that it works as an armor that protects it.
The story of the series is probably going to change a bit. In the comics, Iron Man becomes an ally and sort of mentor to Riri Williams/Ironheart, but Tony Stark is dead in the MCU, so there’s no telling if he’s going to show up in any capacity in the series or if he will. use only as a reference among all that inspires Williams.
Pepper Potts is also one of her allies, plus she gets to work with some SHIELD agents and runs into Sharon Carter and Black Widow (which could be Florence Pugh’s version).
Riri Williams is played by Dominique Torbe in the Black Panther sequel and in the series. We’ve seen her before in If Beal Street Could Talk and Judas and the Black Messiah, and according to IMDb, she’ll also appear in Avengers: Secret Wars in 2026.