IRONHEART Review: A Promising Start for a New MCU Series
Just in time for summer, Marvel and Disney have dropped a new Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series with Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos. Loneliness, grief and power balances are all explored in Marvel’s Ironheart. Read on for a spoiler-free review of Ironheart.
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Following the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), MIT student and teen tech genius Riri Williams returns home to Chicago. But her homecoming is anything but quiet. She’s soon entangled with Parker Robbins, aka The Hood. The Hood is a mysterious figure who blends ancient mysticism with street-level ambition and grit. Ironheart pits technology against magic, but also grief against purpose, and it’s this emotional depth that boosts what could have been a standard origin series.
The first episode of Ironheart feels somewhat disjointed. If you haven’t seen Wakanda Forever or if you’re only vaguely familiar with Riri’s character from the comics, you’re thrown into her world without much setup. We’re told she’s brilliant, but we don’t see that brilliance in action before she’s suddenly expelled from MIT. That feels like a missed opportunity to introduce the audience to her intellect and creativity, two core traits that sets her apart in the MCU.
However, what we do get is a glimpse into Riri’s emotional world. Her panic attacks are raw and unfiltered, a result of unresolved trauma from witnessing the deaths of both her stepfather and best friend. This emotional realism feels aligned with Marvel’s growing interest in exploring how grief and mental health shape superheroes. Like Yelena Belova in Thunderbolts, Riri carries a deep sense of isolation and loneliness. But unlike Yelena, Riri hasn’t yet confronted the full weight of her trauma and that avoidance is central to her arc so far.
Anthony Ramos is magnetic as The Hood. He is a charismatic, complex villain who uses dark magic as a means of gaining power and control. Like Riri, he’s a young mind shaped by trauma. But where she questions her place in the world, he carves out space through a power grab which feels like he could be a modern version of Robin Hood.
DID YOU KNOW?
This is the first television series produced by Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther and Sinners.
Parker and Riri’s initial dynamic feels like the beginning of a mentorship before quickly descending into something more dangerous. And without consistent access to her suit, Riri often feels outmatched, a narrative choice that keeps the stakes high, but occasionally frustrates. For example when Riri and John battle it out, you can quickly see how she can be overwhelmed without her suit.
The first three episodes don’t give us a clear answer about how Ironheart fits into the broader MCU, but with persistent Young Avengers rumors, it feels safe to assume Riri’s story is far from being contained to just this show. For now, Ironheart is more character study than MCU puzzle piece and that’s not a bad thing at all.
It’s not perfect, but Ironheart explores complex emotions and interesting conflicts to make me want to stick around. Riri Williams is a welcome addition to the MCU’s next generation and if the series continues to balance her brilliance with her vulnerability and traumatic past, it might just become one of the more meaningful Marvel stories we’ve seen in a while.
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