Unlike Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, and other characters who have all been the subjects of small-screen Marvel fare, Riri Williams is a crime-fighting fledgling when it comes to the comic books.
While those heroes were introduced on the page in the '40s and '60s, respectively, Ironheart didn't make her debut until 2016. For Sev Ohanian and Zoie Nagelhout, who executive produced the tech genius's new standalone Disney Plus show, that newness was a huge part of why they wanted to make the series – and a welcome springboard to imagining all the fresh places they could go to in the MCU through her.
"She doesn't have decades of stories to pull from, and while she has some great runs in the comics, there's just not that many," Ohanian tells GamesRadar+. "So when developing the show, when working with [head writer] Chinaka Hodge, there was absolutely a sense of freedom to explore not only what Riri hasn't been through, but rather [what] the MCU hasn't been through. That's kind of where the tech versus magic evolved from, as an idea of something to see Riri combat and wrestle with, and maybe even engage with that in a way we just haven't seen before."
Also starring Lyric Ross, Shea Couleé, Alden Ehrenreich, and Anthony Ramos, Ironheart sees gifted MIT student Riri return home to Chicago, in the hopes of perfecting her Iron Man-style super suit and rolling it out to first responders across the city. Short for cash and parts, though, she reluctantly joins a criminal heist crew led by Parker Robbins, AKA Hood – and soon finds herself in over her metal-encased head.
"Whenever we create a new show at Marvel, or movie, we always ask ourselves, 'What is something only this show can do? What is something that only this character can offer us?'" says Nagelhout, whose previous MCU credits include Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, and Hawkeye.
"Obviously, when it comes to Riri, the technology side is a no-brainer. You know, she is a brilliant engineer, so we're going to see amazing suits and amazing feats of building. But then the other question is, how do you put her out of her comfort zone? How do you put her up against a villain that will actually put her on her back foot and put her in danger?
"Pairing her with a magic-based villain was really exciting to us, because it allowed us to not only explore new corners of the MCU – we've seen Doctor Strange, we've entered that world – but I think, as you may know from the comics, we've barely scratched the surface. So allowing this show to be the place where we start to kind of unpack other corners of the supernatural not only felt fitting for our protagonist, but also allowed us to explore different visuals and different kinds of action set pieces. Because we wanted the show to be so grounded in Chicago and with these characters, that was our way of giving it some heightened grandeur."
Ironheart premieres on Disney Plus on June 24 in the US, and the following morning in the UK. Three episodes will drop then, with the final three landing on the platform next week.
For more, check out our breakdown of Marvel Phase 6, which is set to be ushered in by The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July, or our guides to watching the Marvel movies in order and all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows.
