After the gritty superhero team-up of Thunderbolts and before we meet Marvel’s first family in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s time to re-enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe via our Disney+ menu with Ironheart. This series sets its spotlight on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), the genius MIT Inventor we met in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Ryan Coogler, director of the two Black Panthers and this year’s excellent film Sinners, executive produces this tech-savvy show that manages to be one of Marvel’s best miniseries.
It’s a great choice to focus on Riri as a character. She’s smart, and much like Tony Stark, she tinkers. But unlike Stark, she doesn’t have a lot of money to do it, so she has to write papers for her peers in exchange for cold, hard cash. This doesn’t go over too well with MIT, leading to her expulsion. But that drive to create something new and improve her suit continues, as she agrees to work for the enigmatic Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), a hooded man who enlists her to help him and his charismatic team of criminals take on major corporations.
Ironheart works mainly due to its set of very interesting characters. Everyone in this show is excellent, starting with Throne as our protagonist. She quickly hits you with her fun personality, but she’s also grieving her stepdad and best friend, who were both killed in a drive-by shooting. It’s a tragic backstory, and it works because the events loom over her, and it soon becomes clear that her urge to get enough money for her upgraded suits is driven by the loss that she’s faced.
Riri is also a bit complex because of the journey she’s on. Parker recruits her early on and puts her through an audition where she must escape from an elevator where the air becomes unbreathable. Her resourcefulness and intelligence are huge assets for her. It’s a shame she doesn’t get to share the screen with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark because she feels like a spiritual successor to the iteration we got of him in Iron Man 3. She’s smart but doesn’t always make good decisions, she’s learning to fight without always using her suit, and she’s suffering from panic attacks that plague her with the memory of her past.
The villain of Ironheart is Parker, and the show never really tries to hide that. He’s going to be the heavy, but Riri continues to work with him. It’s a risky choice that doesn’t always work because we have a protagonist who is knowingly working for people doing bad things, but she’s acting in her own self-interest. She doesn’t learn from her mistakes when she gets expelled from school, and instead continues down that path, like the flawed person that human beings often are. He’s got a hood with some magical properties, and soon enough, Riri wants to get to the bottom of it. This leads to a very compelling cliffhanger at the end of episode 3.
The rest of the show continues, and we learn more about our characters. Parker manages to be compelling, and he’s got enough of a backstory to understand him. But what’s more interesting is the source of his power, and that’s something I won’t give away just yet, but it worked quite well. Alden Ehrenreich, who many viewers will know from Solo: A Star Wars Story and Oppenheimer, is excellent as Joe McGillicuddy. He’s this sad, lonely pushover that everyone tends to walk over. An early scene where he’s crying in a car made me think fondly of a similar scene with Ehrenreich in Cocaine Bear. He’s a fantastic talent, and he’s incredibly funny. His timing is perfect, but as the series goes on, Joe takes on new, bolder characteristics, and it’s compelling to see where he goes. He has a great back-and-forth with Riri that I wish we got more of from this show.
We also have Parker and his team, and they’re a bunch of bold personalities. It can be a risk to spend so much time with characters who are all morally questionable, doing bad things, but the show manages to get you to like them. You can’t vouch for their actions, and they’re not all memorable, but you never have a bad time watching them do their thing. Another standout from the show is Natalie (Lyric Ross), Riri’s best friend, whom she accidentally recreates through AI. Ross is electric, giving a lovable performance as the ride-or-die BFF everyone wants to have.
Even smaller roles like the kid she meets, Landon (Harper Anthony), are amazing. Landon is the kid I wish I had been, and he’s got the energy I aspire to have. A moment where he responds to Riri by saying, “In THIS economy?!” made me laugh and reminded me of what I often say to my peers. This show has an excellent cast without a single weak link. It’s funny, it’s emotional, and the story takes a bold turn in the final episode. It’s got a lot going for it and is absolutely one of Marvel’s stronger attempts at tackling street-level superhero stories in streaming services.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: ComingSoon received screeners for our Ironheart review.
