Last year in December, it was confirmed that Dominique Thorne will star in the titular role of Ironheart / Riri Williams in MCU Phase 4’s Disney+ series titled ‘Ironheart’. And now, in a recent development, it has been revealed that the actress will make her MCU debut sooner than expected as the successor to the legendary Ironman.
Marvel president Kevin Fiege has confirmed that Dominique Thorne has been cast in the upcoming Marvel film ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. Fiege had recently told Comicbook.com that “We’re shooting Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, right now, and the character of Riri Williams, you will meet in Black Panther 2 first. She started shooting, I think, this week before her Ironheart series.”
It was eight years after the immense popularity of MCU Phase 1’s first film ‘Ironman’ (2008) that the character of Riri Williams was created for the ‘Invincible Iron Man’ comic book. The character was shown to be a fifteen-year-old MIT whiz kid who is able to reverse engineer Ironman’s armored suit to create her own version of the suit. She later assumes the name of ‘Ironheart’ and to become a superhero.
Dominique Thorne has starred in two films namely ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ and ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ before entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Besides Thorne, the cast members of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ include Martin Freeman, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, amongst others.
The upcoming post infinity saga MCU phase 4 films and series slated for 2021 release include titles such as ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, ‘Eternals’, ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’, ‘Hawkeye’, and the currently streaming series ‘What…If?’.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is currently being filmed by the original film’s director Ryan Coogler in Atlanta. The production had commenced in June 2021. The film is slated for a theatrical release on 8th July 2022.