Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ironheart’ On Disney+, A Marvel Series About A Teen And Her Stark-esque Iron Suit

Of late, Kevin Feige and his charges at Marvel have done a good job of making television series that don’t require the viewer get a Masters degree in MCU History in order to follow the story and action. They are certainly connected into the studio’s cinematic universe, but the stories they tell work as standalones. The latest, Ironheart, is supposed to close out Phase Five of the MCU (experts can let us know what that actually means), but for those of us who haven’t watched all of the 12 kajillion films and TV series to this point, it has one of the best standalone stories of any MCU TV series not named WandaVision.

IRONHEART: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see a selfie video of Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) and her best friend, Natalie Washington (Lyric Ross). Riri says she wants to be wealthier and more important than billionaires like Bill Gates and Tony Stark. When she asks Natalie what she wants, she says, “Thor and his hammer.”

The Gist: Riri is still doing her research at MIT, working under a Stark Fellowship to perfect her iron suit. Her big idea is that first responders and others devoted to public safety can use the suit to respond to emergencies faster. But the research isn’t going well, and after yet another lab accident, which injures her faculty advisor, Professor Wilkes (Jim Rash), she’s expelled by Dean Choi (Tanya Freeman).

It’s not just the accident, though; knowing she needs capital to really make a difference, Riri has also been selling lab results and finished designs. She also has skipped most of her classes.

Ticked about being kicked out but still aiming to be something big in her life, she takes the suit and flies in it back home to Chicago, only to crash hard when her access to the AI is denied by the university mid-flight. Her mom Ronnie (Anji White), knew about the expulsion but wishes that Riri, who never calls her, would have broken the news to her first.

Natalie’s brother Xavier (Matthew Elam) comes by and drives by the auto shop run by her stepfather to show her the mural of her stepdad and Natalie. Riri misses both, but definitely feels adrift without her best friend by her side.

We see a team of thieves try to rob a huge mansion, but have to abort the mission due to some technical screwups by one of the team members, Stuart Clarke (Eric Andre), who wants people to call him “Rampage”. Clown (Sonia Denis), Slug (Shea Couleé), Ros (Shakira Barrera), Jeri (Zoe Terakes), “H.R.” John (Manny Montana) and Stuart all work for Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who wears a cape and is known as “The Hood.”

When they see Riri flying through the South Side, Parker sends his cousin John to recruit her. Given that she still needs money to complete her suit, she agrees to meet Parker for his “interview,” which consists of her needing to defuse a smoking device or get out of the elevator she’s in. She’s not sure if she’s willing to join Parker’s gang, given that what they do isn’t all that legal, but Parker’s money does the talking for him. Now all she has to do is get the suit operational again.

Photo: Marvel

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Chinaka Hodge (Ryan Coogler is an executive producer), Ironheart continues Riri’s adventure from her appearance in the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. There are shades of another Marvel series, Ms. Marvel.

Our Take: Dominque Thorne absolutely makes Ironheart go. She’s so strong as Riri that when she says she wants to be wealthier than Tony Stark and that she wants to be big and important, you can tell that she means it. But Hodge and her writers have created a world around Riri that will both assist and hinder her pursuit of her high-tech goals. It helps that the South Side is a character all by itself.

One of the things that has yet to be defined is just what Parker Robbins’ mission is with his gang. It seems like he may be a modern-day Robin Hood, redistributing the wealth his gang steals. And there definitely seems to be a mystical and magical element to his story. But is he a bad guy or a good guy? Riri certainly doesn’t know, and that’s going to be what drives this miniseries.

We’re also happy to see Lyric Ross, so good as Deja on This Is Us, back in front of a camera. It’ll be interesting to see how Natalie factors into Riri’s quest to get her suit online. We can’t spoil what role that is, but just when we thought Natalie was going to be relegated to flashbacks, we got a very pleasant surprise. That’s fine with us; the more we see Ross, the better.

Photo: Marvel

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As Riri brings the AI for her suit back online, she wakes up with it fully uploaded, and is shocked to see the form the AI has taken.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite being part of the MCU, Ironheart stands on its own as the story of a teen genius, tech vs. magic, and how that genius navigates all of it in her hometown of Chicago.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.