A few months back, it was announced by Marvel Studios that the six-episodic television series ‘Ironheart’ was under development and ‘The Judas and The Black Messiah’ actress Dominique Thorne had been roped in the essay the fan-favorite central character of Riri Williams / Ironheart.
And now, reportedly, the studio has hired American screenwriter Chinaka Hodge as the head writer of ‘Ironheart’, which will be streamed on the Disney+ OTT platform. Hodge is also said to act as the executive producer of the project.
Marvel’s decision has given a further push to the studio’s initiative of including more characters as women and of persons of color, in order to encourage diversity across its universe.
Marvel had previously achieved a major milestone in this direction by making the 2018 superhero film ‘Black Panther’ with a predominantly black cast (headed by Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan) and which was helmed by Ryan Coogler.
Subsequently, in the 2019 film ‘Captain Marvel’, we had seen Brie Larson donning the mantle of the powerful female superhero. A critical and commercial success, the movie was the first female superhero film to gross over a whopping $1 billion at the box office.
Recently, we also had the ‘WandaVision’ television miniseries lead by Elizabeth Olsen (as Wanda Maximoff) alongside Paul Bettany (as Vision). The show was created by Jacqueline Schaeffer.
It was followed by the recently concluded ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their roles as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes respectively. After the show’s finale, Marvel fans had warmly welcomed Anthony Mackie as the new Cap.
Besides the above-mentioned projects, there are many more films/television shows that are apparently in line with Marvel’s strategy of diversity and inclusion. The list includes some highly anticipated projects such as The Eternals, Ms. Marvel, Armor Wars, and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, amongst others.
Regarding the initiative, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige in one of his earlier interviews had stated “Yes. I think we’re seeing it shift from a very purposeful initiative to just a fact of life, to just a way of doing business. Then there are people we hired that we’re not ready to announce in all different capacities, particularly behind the camera. As Panther has so loudly declared, [representation] can only help you, can only help you tell unique stories, can only help you do things in a new, and unique, and fresh, and exciting way. If you do that, audiences will notice it, and appreciate it, and support it.”
The upcoming series ‘Ironheart’ will reportedly revolve around a teenage genius inventor Riri Williams (to be played by Dominique Thorne), who makes an advanced suit of armor by reverse engineering Iron Man’s suit.
Regarding the show’s premise, the writer of the character Brian Michael Bendis had earlier said “This story of this brilliant, young woman whose life was marred by tragedy that could have easily ended her life—just random street violence—and went off to college was very inspiring to me. I thought that was the most modern version of a superhero or superheroine story I had ever heard. And I sat with it for a while until I had the right character and the right place.”
We are truly hoping that the show ‘Ironheart’ would be able to replicate the successes of its predecessors and be widely loved by the audience.
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