Ironheart Series Review: Some Flaws, But Also a Lot of Heat for Ironheart
Ironheart Series Review: After Daredevil: Born Again, it’s now time for Ironheart, the new branded series from Marvel starring Riri Williams, the young student prodigy introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Based on the comic book character of the same name – and developed from a screenplay by Chinaka Hodge – Ironheart finds a young star cast consisting of Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Eric Andre, and Alden Ehrenreich. Net of (few) highs and (many) lows, the landfall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the small screen of Disney+ will renew the television imagination linked to the world of superheroes, thanks to TV series closely linked to each other and with important links to the greatest films of the franchise. “Ironheart,” when it was announced, was received with quite a bit of skepticism, given the very complicated moment that Marvel experiences on the big and small screen, which no longer seems to be able to touch the right chords in the public.
Instead, this series, based on the paper character created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato, is fun, well-structured, has a slightly vintage flavor, and above all, it is not afraid to dare. In short, a surprise that we didn’t expect. There’s no point beating around the bush: this is not the golden moment of the MCU. After the miraculous production path that led to Endgame, viewers have gradually lost interest in the Marvel Universe, moving progressively away, disappointed by titles that are not always entirely successful and, perhaps above all, by their abundance. Is following the Marvel Cinematic Universe perceived as too challenging or unsatisfactory? Perhaps the first, more than the second, because if it is true that there have been quality drops, it is equally true that successful films, like the recent one, Thunderbolts*, they suffered equally.
Ironheart Series Review: The Story Plot
“Ironheart” is set immediately after the events described in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, when we met her, the young Riri Williams (Dominque Thorne). Riri is not just any girl but a true marvel, a genius who has long been trying to make the most of his potential at MIT. Search precisely, because for now, it has only been highlighted for indiscipline, individualism, brazenness, and disorganization. When his trafficking in counterfeit exams and checks is discovered, expulsion and withdrawal of his scholarship are inevitable. However, he leaves the structure literally speeding aboard his armored suit, creating ideas from Tony Stark, and which in his mind is the first of many inventions with which he wants to go down in history, leave a trace, in short, make a difference. She can’t imagine that returning to her native Chicago, where she has her mother, Ronnie (Anji White), and where she only has tragic memories of her past waiting for her, will instead be the beginning of a dangerous adventure between technology and magic.
“Ironheart” has had some production problems, yet all of this is noticeable in the 6 episodes that make up the series created by Chinaka Hodge, which flow with great fluidity, pleasantly mixing adventure, sci-fi, and coming-of-age films, without becoming an excessively teen product, at least in the modern sense. Riri is haunted by the memory of her stepfather, Gary (LaRoyce Hawkins), and her best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross), tragically killed by mistake in a gang shootout. But above all, she will find a gang of sophisticated underground thieves on her path, led by the mysterious and ambiguous Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who promises to enhance her skills and help her on her path to independent growth. Of course, things won’t go that easily, but there is no doubt that this aspect is handled in the right way by the series, which also makes use of a great actor of the caliber of Sasha Baron Cohen in the role of none other than the evil Mephisto.
Ironheart Series Review and Analysis
The most interesting aspect of “Ironheart” is the coherence with which it guides us into a world made up of envy, not groups. It does so, as has also happened with other MCU products, in full agreement with a society, a civilization, where only individualism reigns and of which superheroes have ultimately become an increasingly prevalent symbol. Just think of the new Spider-Man by Tom Holland, a young, rampant yuppie, but even this Riri is not joking, and it is no coincidence that both refer to the legendary Tony Stark. However, American exceptionalism here is filtered by the solitude, true, real, heavy, that Riri is forced to face. Misanthropic, solitary, chased by feelings of guilt and pain, she finds in Robbins’ picturesque gang a new family, a group of weirdos, outlaws, pariahs, brilliant minds with whom to share a stretch of road. Alongside, but not too much, is Joe McGillicuddy (Alden Ehrenreich), another brilliant mind besieged by insecurities and fears, who, however, will have a process opposite to his own.
“Ironheart” has excellent special effects, the dialogues are never excessively long but not even banal, and it reveals its cards at the right pace and without overdoing it. Its soul, however, is linked to the concept of Blaxploitation; it is a product that winks above all at the new black community, in terms of rhythm, narration, and world-building. The action scenes are beautiful, worthy of the big screen, but above all, the characters are beautiful, all protagonists of a process of evolution which, however, is far from being simple or harmless. The contrast between magic and technology holds sway very well, as does that between Riri, who will discover that he has many more scruples than he thinks, and Robbins, who is much more cynical. Put some nice AI reasoning in there too, about the limits that technology should or shouldn’t have and that we struggle to keep up with, and here we needed a perfect series to make peace with Marvel. Of course, let’s hope it’s not the last with these characteristics.
One of the biggest problems of Marvel TV series in recent years has been that of never being able to find a valid antagonist. A good villain should represent a real threat to the protagonist, but above all, steal the hearts of the spectators. We saw it with Thanos, with Loki, and also with the recent Sentry. After the Kingpin by Born Again, talking about the small screen, The Hood by Anthony Ramos, he could be – more demerit than everyone else – the best villain on the small screen. Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, is an interesting and mysterious character, a man victim of his nihilism, which makes him almost an antihero… but with a bit of repressed anger! The new Tony Stark lives in the body of Dominique Thorne. Taking the legacy of a character like Iron Man isn’t easy, but that never seems to have been the goal of Ironheart. Despite the differences in the character of Robert Downey Jr being different, Riri distances himself from the billionaire philanthropist. Riri is a genius who does not have the means to demonstrate her abilities, a girl still looking for answers, but above all, a victim of shadows from her past. Love, loss, revenge, and hope are the protagonists of a version where many younger people can identify and create empathy with the new character.
After his Wakandan adventure, Riri Williams returns to America, to MIT. A child prodigy at the university, he continues to work on his relief armor projects, regardless of school rules or his performance. Her obsession drives her; her goal is preventing other people from being forced to see their loved ones die, as happened to her, a survivor of a shooting in which her stepfather and her best friend, Natalie, died. Despite its brilliance, despite the funds MIT takes advantage of with funding from Stark Industries (as seen at the beginning of Captain America: Civil War), Riri is, however, considered an uncontrollable element, to the point of being expelled from university. Forced to return to Boston, the brilliant inventor steals her latest armor prototype but has a nasty surprise: part of the software is managed by MIT, which obviously ousts her. No money and no equipment, Riri is forced to improvise. Her return to Chicago is not the happiest, and economic constraints push her to collaborate with Hood’s gang, which aims to carve out a slice of power in the metropolis.
Reticent at first, but forced out of necessity, Riri takes part in some strikes – and to do so, she resorts to the new AI of her armor: her friend Natalie. Born from a scan of her brain, Natalie goes from initially destabilizing presence to becoming essential to Riri. And when the truth about Hood emerges and the sense of hero is revealed in Riri, only her armor will make a difference. There is no point in going back to the fact that the MCU has detached itself from the paper dimension of the House of Ideas. A necessary choice to get closer to a new audience, to its language, and to make up for obligatory passages from the past, which forced Marvel Studios to make inevitable decisions. This new Earth in which the MCU is set has its own rules and heroes, as it should be in that multiverse of which we still know frighteningly little. Riri Williams is part of this game and, honestly, benefits from it, while maintaining those characteristic features of Bendis’ creation that make her an important piece of the franchise.
The legacy we perceive Iron Man, but it is not oppressive: we do not have the constant obsession of imagining a digital Stark as a guiding spirit (as happened in comics), but we do have a young woman who has to face her difficulties alone. Ironheart has a grammar grounded, links its protagonist and her world to the street, to the reality of a city, Chicago, proletarian and characterized by weak social enclaves. Riri’s return home coincides with the recovery of her origins, with the loss of the slut with which we know her in the first episode, a shock therapy that takes away her heroic ambitions and reminds her that life is dirty, hard and unfair. And the transition from hero to villain is an easy temptation – on the other hand, as some well said, one bad day is enough. The temptations offered by Hood, criminal as they are, are too flattering, taking root in a teenage girl who feels betrayed and deprived of what she believes is hers by a brilliance that she cannot direct.
Through the meeting with those who have faced the same difficulties as him and the shocking confrontation with one of his creations, Riri manages to find a balance, to find his way. In that respect, Ironheart‘s writing room captured the right emotional key, albeit with some small naivety, giving life to dialogues which, especially in the original language, are particularly centered on the characters and their social environment. Accompanied by a perfectly attuned soundtrack, Riri Williams’ solo adventure takes on a particular charisma. An inner strength that is created slowly, through lost battles and pain, is finally accepted and overcome. There is not only cold technology in the heart of Riri, but also all the fragility of a teenage girl, her ephemeral certainties and overwhelming frailties. And then the need to find fixed points, a sense of belonging that seems to escape those who choose to wear a mask.
Within the MCU, does Ironheart work? There was an expectation of Riri’s return, also about the troubled work of Armor Wars, and the presence of the magical element helps to give greater definition to a component that, apart from Doctor Strange, struggles to show a reason for being. The Ironheart miniseries may displease those seeking total adherence to the comic book original, but it has the merit of trying to give a different tone to a franchise that is looking for new life. Ironheart solves questions that have remained suspended for a long time, creates potential for the future, and sediments continuity in an intelligent way, without forcing. It doesn’t have the solidity of the best moments in the MCU, but it has on its side the genuineness of a series that points to the characters, with a heart that unites organic and digital, showing how a hero can be born in a lost cave or an old garage.
Despite a few slips and some somewhat scholastic passages (but it also has something to do with it here, the Origin Story of the Paper Character written by Bendis), Ironheart takes her home in a bit of every way. Looks and production values are from a TV series that takes itself seriously, each episode has its theme worth exploring, and the plot also has some surprises. In all of this, the armor interludes in which they fly robotic punches and choreographic explosions they are also well integrated into the narrative frame, even taking it upon themselves now and then to carry forward the plot, but they still represent a further narrative tone that does not benefit the overall harmony of the series. However, it is not for everyone to relegate the final blows to the pre-final, avoiding the classic conclusion in which the resolution of the conflict passes through a physical confrontation, closing instead table (Literally!) with a diabolical Sasha Baron Cohen in the role of the long-awaited Mephisto, complete with a wink at the many rumors circulated for years around each MCU series, starting obviously from the very first, WandaVision.
The perfect conclusion for a series that tells how bad you are willing to do to get what you want, even when your desire is good. And like all MCU products, Ironheart he is winking at his audience, even openly flirting with other TV series (we’ve already told Community some winks, but you can also get a bit of a feel for it The Bear), yet in its way it is committed to don’t just be an empty product and to demonstrate that he also has something to say: Riri’s story is perfect for telling how the best mind on the planet is not enough on its own making its way into the merciless daily competition that airs daily in our lives out there without a lot of money. The tag line of the series asks what price you are willing to pay to get what you want and to make a lot of money, the series says it openly in the last episode, the only conceivable way is to screw everyone, even and above all those who were closest. In short, Ironheart could be surprising, the Tail of the Thread “Kill the Rich”, which he crossed Hollywood, before quickly deflating at the same time as the new Stars and Stripes administration took office.
We were talking about a work felt by the authors, and this is what makes us overlook some defects: on the one hand, the antagonist is not always incisive, on the other a certain slowness in the introductory phases, however justified by having to present a new segment of something broader and already defined. We enunciate them immediately for clarity, but we believe that the merits are superior to them, because they are supported, emphasized by the warmth that the authors manage to instill in the story and characters, the affection with which traumas and dramas are conveyed, increasing the emotion, the intuition to draw on already present ideas to convey into something new and integrate with an important and long-awaited novelty that can confidently place itself on the new path that the Marvel Universe is building, between New Avengers and Fantastic 4, towards that event that should be Doomsday. An event that Riri Williams is a candidate to be part of with her original freshness and defined personality.
Ironheart Series Review: The Story Plot
Ironheart solves questions that have remained suspended for a long time, creates potential for the future, and sediments continuity in an intelligent way, without forcing. It doesn’t have the solidity of the best moments in the MCU, but it has on its side the genuineness of a series that points to the characters. We understood the return of the Marvel Television logo as a declaration of intent, a renewed desire to produce quality shows that can be enjoyed as stand-alone products and not just as pieces of the great MCU puzzle. Ironheart can be considered a good starting point in this sense, even if the superhero parts almost clash with the more urban component. This will probably be the main limit that “television” Marvel will have to commit to overcoming, but based on Ironheart, you can be optimistic: from the comparison with the old Falcon & Winter Soldier (very close thematically and in intention) it marks a crushing and unappealing victory for the young Riri Williams.
