Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Who Is Ironheart?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has a whole lot going on--not only does it have to deal with the real-life passing of star Chadwick Boseman, establish a new Black Panther, and introduce both Namor and his own kingdom to the MCU, it has to establish a new hero in the mix as well. Riri Williams, played by Dominique Throne, will be getting her own TV show on Disney+ as Ironeart–but that doesn't tell us much about who she is and what we should expect from her as Phase 5 pushes forward.

So, let's get into it.

Riri is a relatively recent addition to the Marvel Comics universe, first introduced in 2016 in Invincible Iron Man. She's a genius-level engineer, despite being just a teenager, who began developing her very own Iron Man style armor by reverse engineering one of Tony's earlier models. Riri's first suit actually looked a whole lot like the first suit Tony ever made--which makes sense, considering she was working with a very limited budget and far fewer resources than a billionaire would be. She may not have been in a cave working with scraps, but you get the idea.

Of course, you can't just build a full on functioning Iron Man armor without Iron Man himself taking notice. That's exactly what Tony did, and shortly after Riri's first few outings in her suit, Tony paid her a visit and decided to become a sort of benefactor for her projects. This allowed Riri to overhaul her suit design and actually create what would become recognizable as the Ironheart armor--but not before tragedy struck.

During the big crossover event Civil War II, Tony was put into a coma, leaving behind an AI recreation of his brain. That AI Tony helped mentor Riri into designing and finalizing her Ironheart armor and identity, functionally stepping up to take the place of Iron Man with Tony himself out of commission.

Riri continued to act as Ironheart even after Tony regained consciousness and resumed being Iron Man, of course, and has been a hero within the Marvel Comics universe since, teaming up with groups like the Champions.

But, of course none of this can happen in the MCU--Tony Stark is gone and the Champions don't exist (yet), which means we can expect to see some major overhauling coming to Riri's story very soon. Based on the Wakanda Forever trailers, we can see that Riri is going to end up in Wakanda one way or another. It's unclear how she gets there or what she's actually doing there, but obviously, the most technologically advanced nation in the world is the perfect spot to build some pretty cool stuff. Also, given Shuri's status as a teenage genius too, it's clear Riri will find some sort of connection.

Also, it's very likely that Riri has been working in some way or another on her own armor for sometime--the same way Kamala Khan has been a fan of superheroes for longer than we've actually known her in live-action, Riri could have been inspired by Tony Stark and Iron Man prior to his death, but it's unclear whether or not those influences will actually come to light in this version of her story.

As for Riri's potential team-ups, outside of Wakanda, it's very clear that the MCU is gaining teenage superheroes at an exponential rate. In all likelihood, Shuri will be picking up the Black Panther mantle in Wakanda Forever, we've already met Kamala Khan, we've seen Cassie Lang teaming up with her parents in the Quantumania trailer, America Chavez was introduced in the latest Doctor Strange, and Peter Parker may be forgotten by his friends but he is certainly still active as Spider-Man. They may not officially be the Champions as we'd know them in the comics, but it's safe to say that Riri is going to have a burgeoning community of heroes to join once she debuts.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters November 11.