As The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) finds itself undergoing a reset, 2025 has seen a lot of new heroes step into the spotlight. We’ve got a new Captain America, a New Avengers team in Thunderbolts* and now a pretender to Tony Stark’s techy throne in miniseries Ironheart.
Dominique Thorne plays Riri Williams, the young engineering prodigy last seen helping out in 2022’s Wakanda Forever. Her leftfield ideas saw her thrown out of the prestigious MIT, forcing her to return home to Chicago with an Iron-Man-inspired suit she designed in her luggage.
Desperate to emulate Tony Stark but missing his billionaire upbringing, Riri falls in with a criminal gang led by The Hood (Anthony Ramos), a mysterious figure with a cloak powered by magic. Initially thinking she was taking part in victimless crimes, Riri slowly realises what she’s got herself into, and must use her genius to prevent more people dying.
The problem with any new Marvel release is wondering whether you need to have done the homework in order to understand what’s going on. Happily, Ironheart is a largely self-contained show that doesn’t require a degree in superheroes to understand. The story is Marvel’s take on Breaking Bad – a highly driven person with good intentions turns to crime, and soon finds themselves in too deep.
This means Riri avoids the po-faced morality of many heroes and becomes something more complex, with echoes of Tony Stark in Iron Man 3. Rather than valour, her quest to build her suit is born from the grief of losing her stepfather and best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross). She suffers from panic attacks, paranoia and flashbacks; all delivered through a powerful performance by Thorne.
This is where the series overcomes some of the more predictable parts of the plot. Yes, you can probably guess things will blow up in Riri’s face, but there’s a beating heart underneath the steel armour that makes those consequences much more compelling. Series creator Chinaka Hodge (Snowpiercer) gives every character a story, usually set to a terrific soundtrack. You might have seen tech-building montages in the past (“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave with a box of scraps”) but setting one to Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ gives it a different feeling.
We still get the expected dose of Marvel-style action though, as the audience is treated to a couple of thrilling heists early on. The Hood’s gang is an enjoyable band of misfits, particularly former Ru Paul’s Drag Race winner Shea Couleé as hacker Slug and Sonia Denis’ explosives expert Clown.
Elsewhere, former Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich is fun as a weapons supplier with a link to the MCU’s beginnings. Then there’s Ramos’ The Hood. Yes, his cloak is more than a little dramatic but beneath it, he’s a man possessed by the allure of power with the source of his magic explained in a jaw-dropping final episode reveal.
Overall, Ironheart is a refreshing new antihero, with enough passion and swagger to overcome the more predictable elements of the plot. Some excellent cliffhangers mean there’s certainly more to come from this flawed genius, and that’s no bad thing.
The first three episodes of ‘Ironheart’ are available on Disney+ from today with the second three arriving on July 1