Marvel Studios recently dropped the official trailer of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Tenoch Huerta’s Namor or the new Black Panther might have stolen all the limelight in that trailer. But we did get a brief glimpse of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams aka Ironheart. You all must have seen people comparing her character with Iron Man (Tony Stark) on social media. A lot of fans believe that Ironheart is just another Iron Man. Is that the case? Let’s dive deep into this mess.
Ironheart was created by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, Eve Ewing, and Kevin Libranda back in 2016. The character received a highly polarised response upon its debut with fans calling her character nothing more than a publicity stunt to attract more readers. However, others praised Marvel Comics for giving more attention to the characters based on coloured people. This situation was very much similar to what happened with Miles Morales when he stepped into the Marvel universe as the new Spider-Man.
During his latest interview with Entertainment Weekly, the sequel’s helmer, Ryan Coogler, explained how ‘Wakanda Forever’ will introduce Ironheart into the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“She brings a different type of energy, but she also has some similarities to characters that we’ve seen in this universe before. The film deals with a lot of things, but one of them is foils — people who exist in contrast, but there’s a thread of similarity. In this film, we get to see Shuri meet someone who has some things in common with her but is also very, very different,” the director said.
It seems like the fans will get to witness a close relationship between Shuri and Riri in the upcoming Black Panther sequel. The latter shares a lot of similarities with the Wakandan genius but is also different from her in many aspects. The helmer hailed her character as “definitely not the typical or traditional superhero”. He also affirmed that she will be a “19-year-old girl first” in the film. Her “Ironheart business” will remain secondary.
Ironheart’s addition gives a new spin to the iconic Iron Man story that planted the seeds of MCU in 2008. Also, we will see her getting her own adventures and cool metal suits in the future. How cool is that? A series based on the superhero character is currently under development. It will arrive on the Disney+ streaming platform in 2023.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will release globally on November 11 in theatres. Stay tuned for more updates.