Ironheart Review

Regardless of any type of optimism that fans have for the future of the MCU, it’s safe to say that Marvel is not in the good books for many viewers at the moment. Despite the recent hype surrounding the universe’s resurgence with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel has far from shed its reputation of failing to deliver when it comes to it’s Disney+ original streaming series, a business move that has led to nothing but headaches for the MCU. With the exception of WandaVision, it feels like the MCU streaming shows have done little for the MCU aside from overly complicate its lore, and taint the production value that Marvel had become synonymous with. Unfortunately, Ironheart hasn’t exactly broken any trends in this sense.

Today, we’re reviewing the recently released Ironheart series, the latest attempt by Marvel to invigorate fandom behind some of its newer, less developed characters. However, as has become the pattern with Marvel, this attempt was far from the success fans were hoping for. We will be discussing spoilers ahead, so be warned! If you want to check out Ironheart for yourself but haven’t yet, you’ll want to bow out now. Still with us? Great, let’s get talking about Ironheart.

---

Ironheart Review

Image by Marvel Studios

I’m not going to lie and say Ironheart was a series I was looking forward to. Don’t get me wrong, I was far more excited for it than the likes of Marvel Zombies and Wonder Man, the latter of which I still question will actually be released, but it wasn’t on the top of my list when it came to 2025 in the superhero world. Unfortunately, my excitement, or lack thereof, for the series seems to have been matched by Marvel themselves. Ironheart is a 6-episode mini-series that dropped across the span of two weeks in two batches of 3 episodes. This rushed release honestly feels like Marvel wanting to get this show out into the world, and then put away in their back pocket – if the studio itself has no faith in its own series, how can the fans?

So, there’s an air of caution with Ironheart from the jump, before even pushing play on the first episode. Then, we’re introduced to Riri Williams, the star of Ironheart, played by the very talented Dominique Thorne. Riri is a complex character for me, to say the least. I wanted to love her, and in some ways I do. Thorne portrays the character in a charming way, and there’s definitely moments where I see Riri fitting really well into an Avengers team dynamic, so there’s hope for the future there. However, in this series, her characterisation was completely off for me. Not only does Riri make terrible decisions, some of which can be attributed to her youth, but others of which can only be attributed to bad judgment, but she also finds herself consistently on the wrong side of debates with those around her. Conflicts with her mother over her safety? Riri was in the wrong. Arguments with Xavier about the A.I. resurrection of his deceased sister? Riri was in the wrong. Her involvement with the criminal underground aside, Riri just seems to have some genuine moral faults when compared to her family and friends, which makes it difficult to root for her.

I’m jumping ahead a little here, but her character flaws are made all the worse by the show’s ending, where she makes a deal with Mephisto to revive Natalie. Not only does this whole ending undercut Riri’s intelligence – she should know not to trust Mephisto, especially after seeing what happened to The Hood – but her decision to revive Natalie also betrays the lessons she learned throughout the show. Learning to trust those around her, accept the love of the family and friends she has left, and believe in herself and her intelligence to find her way in life? All of those lessons are unlearnt by Riri in the show’s closing moments, leaving a sort of void when it comes to the character’s legacy. Again, Dominique Thorne gives it her all here, but great acting pales when compared to the impact of terrible character writing.

Image by Marvel Studios

Then, we come to the consistent issue that the modern-day MCU seems to have, which is an evident enjoyment in enraging long-time fans. Now listen, I’m not talking about inclusivity as an issue. Ironheart has many flaws, but focusing on a black female character, and including characters from the LGBTQ+ community are not flaws, so I’m not referring to the constant vitriol that spews from that side of the Marvel fanbase that claims that ‘wokeness’ is a weakness. I’m talking about Marvel’s insistence on disrespecting, and borderline mocking, the characters that fans have come to know and love, and that built the MCU from the ground-up. The way that Tony Stark is discussed in this show is honestly baffling, as characters refer to one of the most beloved MCU characters of all time as ‘that Tony guy’, and imply that he would be nothing without his money. There’s a very interesting conversation that could be explored when it comes to Iron Man and his access to finance, and how Riri doesn’t have that same access. Marvel, however, is too lazy to explore something this complex, and instead just has Riri be resentful of Tony having money.

Funnily enough, despite one of Riri’s greatest achievements being building her own iron suit, the suit gets remarkably little time to shine throughout Ironheart. Usually, where the writing in an MCU series falters, the action swoops in to pick up the slack, but Ironheart seems to put action on the back burner, with even the final episode not bringing much to the table. In fact, many of the action sequences see Riri trying to survive whilst outside of her suit, which is an interesting concept, but brings to mind the question of what type of show this really is. The suit is almost an afterthought in the grand scheme of things, which is disappointing considering when it is on screen, it’s always a fun time to watch. Again, if Riri shows up in a future Avengers movie, I’m sure the suit will shine more then, but as of the end of this series, I’m left wanting more.

One element of the suit, or rather Riri’s technology, that I did find myself enjoying was the entire storyline involving the N.A.T.A.L.I.E. A.I., a storyline that sort of underscored the entire series, but never got to take the spotlight fully at any point. By far the most heartfelt moments of the show, it was genuinely interesting to see how Riri interacted with an A.I. of her deceased friend, how she eventually came to rely on the A.I. as though it were Natalie herself, and how its eventual corruption felt like experiencing Natalie’s death all over again. I was hoping we would see how the A.I.’s corruption affected Riri more, but unfortunately it was glossed over. Even more glossed over was the potential of this plotline. There was so much more to talk about when it came to the morality behind the existence of N.A.T.A.L.I.E., and when Xavier, Natalie’s brother, disagreed with its use, this morality looked like it was going to be brought into question. Disappointingly though, he eventually just accepts that Riri likes having it, so I guess he’ll have to put up with it. There’s a lot of potential on display in Ironheart, but it seems like the writing is never willing to go to the next level with any of it.

Image by Marvel Studios

However, at least the N.A.T.A.L.I.E. storyline in Ironheart had potential. The whole storyline involving The Hood, on the other hand, was an absolute trainwreck. Fans have been clamouring for Mephisto to appear in the MCU for years – fans will remember how insistent a portion of the fandom was that he would be central to the events of WandaVision. However, making Mephisto debut in Ironheart, one of the MCU’s most hated shows, is not only a terrible business move, but on top of that, he doesn’t even feel like he belongs here. Mixing magic into Riri’s otherwise technology-based story is like trying to fit a square into a circular hole. Not to mention, the MCU currently has more than enough on its plate with all of the timeline-jumping and the imminent arrival of Doctor Doom – there’s not much room for Mephisto to shine right now, but if we’ve learned anything from the past few years of MCU content, Marvel does not care much for making sure its characters get a chance to shine.

I think that Mephisto’s appearance in the final episode sums up the main issue of Ironheart. Is it a well-made show, with great special effects, solid acting, and a fairly cohesive storyline? Sure. However, tonally, this series is all over the place, as we squeeze Riri’s experience with the criminal underworld, her grief over losing Natalie, her complicated family dynamic, and the magical involvement of Mephisto into 6 short episodes of television. I think Ironheart could have thrived had they stuck to just one of these storylines, and given it breathing room to develop, but instead, Ironheart was rushed and shoved out into the world, destined to be a series that Marvel has made clear that they want to forget.

Ultimately, Ironheart is little more than another average entry in the MCU, with some of its writing flaws actually taking it below the average grade. It was far from the worst television I’ve ever seen, as many prejudiced fans online would have you believe, but I wanted much better from it. With these past few shows, the new generation of Avengers are not looking like they’re going to be able to carry their own films, and based on the Doomsday cast, it seems Marvel is no more confident in their new generation’s abilities than we are. It’s safe to say I was disappointed by Ironheart, but what did you think? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Spider-Verse Vs. Venomverse #1 Review

---

Where to Watch Ironheart?

Image by Marvel Studios

You can stream all episodes of Ironheart, along with all of the other MCU streaming shows, on Disney+. The MCU is set to return to Disney+ in August with the release of Eyes of Wakanda, so we’ll be seeing you back here then! There’s no information regarding a second season of Ironheart, but I wouldn’t count on any project of that sort to ever materialise.

• ShareCopied to clipboard
• X
• Facebook