You can expect to hear a lot of speculation on precisely what comic book characters the MCU will be bringing to the big, or small screen, post “Avengers: Endgame.” Between actors’ contracts expiring and characters being written out, how Marvel Studios chooses to pass the torch to the next generation of heroes is going to be key to the franchise moving forward. And, according to “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey, Jr, Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, would be a great addition to the epic franchise.
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Eve Ewing, writer of the comic book series, “Ironheart,” introduced the MCU star at the Gene Siskel Film Center, this past weekend, where Tony Stark reportedly took to the stage to champion Riri – who is a fairly new character, created about 3 years ago, by Brian Michael Bendis (who also co-created Jessica Jones and Miles Morales) and Mike Deodato. For those not versed in Marvel lore, Williams was introduced as an engineering student who is quite adept, herself, at constructing shiny suits of armor. After Tony Stark’s apparent death (long story), she takes on the mantle of Iron Man. After the return of Stark (it’s comic books, people), Williams continued to be a hero, adopting the moniker Ironheart.
A script for an “Ironheart” solo film has, allegedly, been circling around. However, rumor has it, that version apparently featured Tony mentoring Riri’s character (sounds a bit like what they’ve done with his relationship to Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: Homecoming“), so, we doubt that version will ever see the light of day. But, the MCU needs legacy characters to take over the mantle of the franchise – think about how Tessa Thompson‘s Valkyrie is being positioned to take the reins from her best bud, Chris Hemsworth, in the ‘Thor‘ films, or Cap handing his shield over to Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson.
Sadly, of course, given the nature of comicsgate culture, or whatever you want to call the -let’s be frank- bitter white supremacists that complain about diversity and inclusivity, this will be a controversial decision in some circles (these are the guys who got quite mad when Marvel dared to make Jane Foster worthy of holding Mjolnir, creating a female Thor in the comics). But, butthurt fanboys better brace themselves, because Marvel has a whole backlog of amazing characters, from a variety of diverse backgrounds, that they plan on using, and we are very excited to see what comes of it.
The real story here is that @RobertDowneyJr said publicly in a room full of people that #Ironheart should be in the MCU. I went straight back to the press area afterward and was like YOU ALL HEARD IT, WRITE THAT DOWN https://t.co/WoursjnRdW
— wikipedia brown, consistent hand-washer (@eveewing) June 16, 2019