Ironheart
Ironheart
After the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, technology is pitted against magic when Riri Williams, a young, genius inventor determined to make her mark on the world, returns to her hometown of Chicago. Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins aka "The Hood."
jackmeat reviewedJuly 6, 2025
My quick rating - 3.6/10. Ironheart is the kind of Marvel show that made me wish Tony Stark had never bothered to invent a damn suit in the first place. It follows Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a supposed genius teenage inventor who’s crafted the most advanced armor since Iron Man himself, at least that’s what the characters keep saying. Over and over. Because heaven forbid the show actually demonstrate some of Riri’s brilliance instead of hammering it into our skulls with constant, breathless praise.
There are so many things wrong with this series that it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s go with the most glaring: Riri is completely unlikable. And not in that interesting anti-hero way where you’re supposed to be conflicted. No, she’s just rude, dismissive, and downright unpleasant to her friends and family, to the point where you start rooting for the villain to put her in her place. This isn’t a knock on Dominique Thorne, who tries her best with the script. It’s purely a writing problem; the series doesn’t give her a single redeeming quality to latch onto. Her genius? Only evident because the show won’t shut up about it.
Then there’s the baffling usage of Natalie (Lyric Ross), Riri’s deceased friend, who gets accidentally resurrected as a holographic A.I. You’d think they’d take the logical approach and have her serve as Riri’s “Jarvis,” tied directly to the suit. But no, Natalie just pops up wherever is most convenient for the scene— wandering around like an actual ghost until the show remembers she’s digital and poof, she evaporates into pixel dust. It’s all clumsy emotion with zero coherent tech logic.
And what happened to Wakanda’s interest in Riri? They brought her into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, treated her like the next world-changing figure, then… promptly forgot she existed. Apparently the most technologically advanced nation on Earth couldn’t be bothered to keep tabs on the super prodigy they once risked everything to protect.
Anthony Ramos gives a perfectly serviceable turn as Parker, the villain, but it’s hard to care whether he succeeds or fails when neither outcome seems to matter much. Honestly, if he’d managed to blast Riri into scrap metal halfway through, I’d have simply shrugged.
Visually, the series looks sharp. The suits, the effects, the slick tech overlays, they’re all top-tier Marvel fare. But that’s where the compliments end. The show’s one intriguing thread shows up in its final moments: the introduction of Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), a character comic fans like me know from countless devilish storylines. Too bad he crawled out of hell to make his live-action debut in what’s easily Marvel’s most forgettable series to date.
Here’s hoping they quietly let this misfire rust into obscurity. As for me, I’ll just pretend Ironheart never happened until Mephisto pops back up somewhere that’s actually worth watching.