Ironheart swaps Iron Man's AC/DC for Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, Alanis Morisette, and more – and the iconic needle drops are "super important" to the show, says producer

For a select group of people, the opening bars of 'Back in Black' don't make them think of the time they saw AC/DC live at Madison Square Garden in the early '90s; it makes them think of the time they first saw Iron Man. The iconic track, of course, kicks in towards the start of the 2008 movie and a similar thing can be said about Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man'. Now, new Marvel series Ironheart is, quite literally, following (super) suit...

From Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody' (which is set over an elaborate, multi-location fight sequence no less) and Nina Simone's 'Sinnerman' to Alanis Morissette's 'You Oughta Know', the Disney Plus show features a whole bunch of toe-tappers. And it's not just concerned with the classics, either... you've got some Anthony Ramos (who plays baddie Hood), Leon Bridges, and Swedish singer COBRAH in there, too.

"It was super important to the show to have music that really felt authentic to these characters, but also to Chicago," executive producer Zoie Nagelhout explains to GamesRadar+. "So there was definitely a fair number of needle drops that were scripted, and many of which are still in the show. Chaka Khan's needle drop being one of them. Sampha makes an actual appearance in the show, as you probably saw.

"A lot did come up in post-production as well. You know, you end up experimenting sort of trial and error style, putting different needle drops on things and seeing what feels best," she continues. "So our amazing music team over at Format, as well as our editors, had a lot to do with offering up ideas and giving us, you know, great unexpected ways to approach these scenes through the tone of music, which was very exciting," Nagelhout continues. "It's so funny. Changing the song completely changes the tone of any scene, you know? You can turn something from a really scary and dark scene into a really funny scene just by changing the needle drop. So that was really fun for us to turn the dials on."

Starring Lyric Ross, Alden Ehrenreich, Anthony Ramos, and Dominique Thorne in the titular role, Ironheart sees gifted MIT student Riri return home to Chicago, with two goals: perfecting her Iron Man-style super suit and rolling it out to first responders across the city and never facing up to her traumatic past, no matter how much her mom pries. Strapped for cash and unable to scavenge the right parts, she reluctantly joins a criminal heist crew led by Parker Robbins, AKA Hood – and soon finds herself in over her metal-encased head.

The first three episodes premiere on Disney Plus on the evening of June 24 in the US, and the following morning in the UK. Next week, the final three episodes will drop.

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.