- “Every dream has a cost.”
- ―Tagline
Ironheart is an American streaming television series for Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics of the same name, set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a sequel to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It is the fifteenth Disney+ MCU series, and the final series of Phase Five. It premiered on June 24, 2025 and concluded on July 1.
Synopsis[]
Set after the events of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", Marvel Television's "Ironheart" pits technology 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, while also being haunted by her tragic and painful past of the loss of her best friend.
Plot[]
After getting expelled from MIT, Riri Williams returns home to Chicago, Illinois so that she can further work on her own personal iron suit. She reunites with her mother Ronnie and friend Xavier, while also attempting to repress the memory of the death of her step-father Gary and best friend Natalie. While attempting to recreate the A.I. Griot that the Wakandans use, Riri accidentally creates a fully functioning A.I. of Natalie that contains some of her memories. Riri is spotted by Parker Robbins, the Hood, who recruits her into his gang consisting of his cousin John, pyromaniac Clown, techie Slug, muscle Jerri and Roz Blood, and hacker Stuart Clarke, who prefers to be called Rampage. Stuart is later fired with Riri replacing him. Despite some reluctance, Riri joins so that she can at least earn some money to put into her suit.
With Natalie's help, Riri goes to look for upgrades and finds tech hoarder Joe McGillicuddy, who is later revealed to be Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane, the son of Obadiah Stane. He has become reclusive due to his fear of becoming his father. With Riri's help, he regains his confidence and love of technology to aid her. Riri performs heists for Parker, but starts to become suspicious of his hood. She later learns that Stuart was found dead and realizes that Parker has her locked in. Riri decides to snag a piece of Parker's hood to analyze it during a heist, but John finds her and they fight. The heist ends with the gang fleeing and John being left for dead. Parker is enraged and learns, through a mysterious entity, that Riri is responsible for his death, just as she realizes that she accidentally left Zeke's tech behind.
Zeke ends up taking the fall for the recent botched heist, angering him and terminating his friendship with Riri. She continues to push everyone away, including her mother, Ronnie, and friend Xavier, after he discovers the AI of his deceased sister. Riri meets with Zelma Stanton, a student of Kamar-Taj, who confirms that Parker's hood is connected to demonic forces, later revealed to be Mephisto. Parker breaks Zeke out of prison and fills him with tech, though he places him under his control. The rest of Parker's gang go after Riri, who tells them that Parker is responsible for Stuart's death. Shortly afterward, Zeke destroys Riri's suit, but leaves her alive. The gang learn the truth and turn on Parker who becomes consumed by his hood.
Finally coming to terms with her reluctance to accept Natalie and Gary's passing, Riri gets to work on building a new suit, with Xavier returning to help and Zelma supplying her brand of magic to empower the suit. Unfortunately, this causes the Natalie A.I. to be deleted. Riri faces off against Zeke and manages to remove Parker's control over him, before going after Parker himself. She succeeds in removing the hood from him, leaving him in pain. Before Riri leaves, she is approached by Mephisto who offers to help her get Natalie back. Despite some reluctance, she apparently accepts his deal. Later, Parker finds Zelma's shop and asks for her help, knowing about her ties to magic.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart
- Lyric Ross as Natalie Washington/N.A.T.A.L.I.E.
- Manny Montana as John King
- Matthew James Elam as Xavier Washington
- Anji White as Ronnie Williams
- Jim Rash as Professor Wilkes
- Eric André as Stuart Clarke/Rampage
- Cree Summer as Madeline Stanton
- Regan Aliyah as Zelma Stanton
- Sonia Denis as Clown
- Shea Couleé as Ulysses Lugman/Slug
- Zoe Terakes as Jeri Blood
- Shakira Barrera as Roz Blood
- Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins/The Hood
- Alden Ehrenreich as Ezekiel Stane
Recurring[]
- Sacha Baron Cohen as Mephisto
- Harper Anthony as Landon
- LaRoyce Hawkins as Gary Williams
- Paul Calderón as Arthur Robbins
Episodes[]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Take Me Home" | Sam Bailey | Chinaka Hodge | June 24, 2025 |
| Riri Williams' request for MIT to extend her grant for another year is denied, and she is expelled from the school after the school's deans note her helping other students and schools plagiarize their work in exchange for money. Riri takes off in her new suit of armor to her hometown of Chicago, where she is still grieving the deaths of her best friend Natalie and stepfather Gary from a drive-by shooting. Riri shares with Natalie's brother Xavier on how she wants her talents to be taken seriously. She is recruited by "H.R." John to join the gang of his cousin Parker Robbins, also known as The Hood. When she visits the Hood's hideout, Parker tests Riri by trapping her in a gas-filled elevator, which she narrowly escapes. Initially denying his offer to join their next three heists, she relents when he offers financial compensation. At home, Riri lashes out at her mother Ronnie over the loss of their loved ones, and Ronnie tells her that she has unprocessed grief she has to deal with. Riri's grieving during her brain-mapping of her AI leads to it being a digital recreation of Natalie. | ||||
| 2 | "Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?" | Sam Bailey | Malarie Howard | June 24, 2025 |
| Riri meets the Hood's gang as they target TNNL, which aims to turn Chicago's freight tunnels into a private highway at the expense of local communities. They aim to sabotage TNNL's demonstration with a virus and lead to a negotiation. However, Riri's suit is not ready, and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (Neuro Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence Entity) provides the closest black market arms dealer in the area, being Joe McGillicuddy. Startled at N.A.T.A.L.I.E. recalling a memory of the real Natalie, Riri tethers N.A.T.A.L.I.E. to her laptop before she brings her suit to Joe in Evanston. Riri forces Joe to bring her to his collection, which is well-stocked in an off-site. Joe shares how it makes him close to his father, who believed in weapons manufacturing, while Joe believes technology can benefit humanity. While Joe helps complete Riri's suit, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. manages to escape into different gadgets in Riri's home, meeting Ronnie in the process. The heist on TNNL goes on smoothly until N.A.T.A.L.I.E. breaks in Riri's suit, making her drop the hard drive containing the virus. Riri and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. manage to devise a backup plan to initiate the shutdown, where Parker successfully blackmails TNNL's CEO Shiela Zarate into signing a contract put the crew under TNNL's payroll. Riri is confronted by a guard during her escape, and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. glitches out before Parker shoots the guard. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. shares that she panicked, as it was reminded of the real Natalie's death, but also expresses her suspicions of Parker's power. After going with Xavier to a concert, Riri talks with Ronnie about N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Riri refuses her mother's request to make an AI Gary, as she doesn't know where N.A.T.A.L.I.E. came from. | ||||
| 3 | "We in Danger, Girl" | Sam Bailey | Francesca Gailes & Jacqueline J. Gailes | June 24, 2025 |
| The gang's celebration of their successful heist goes sour when Riri and gang member Clown touch Parker's hood in his room, which causes them to be chastised by John. Parker arrives and shares their second heist, targeting biotech firm Heirlum whose farming technology forces farmers out of business. Riri shares to Parker her struggles that partaking in the heists makes her a bad person, but Parker shares that anyone who achieves greatness has done questionable things to get it done, attributing his magical hood to his becoming unstoppable. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. forces Riri to upgrade the suit so she wouldn't be tethered to the suit. Riri is informed of the death of Rampage, one of the gang members, and she decides to find a way to cut off part of the hood to find out the truth, using Joe's designs of biomesh skin to conceal bionic enhancements. Riri goes to Joe's place where she finds him injured from an experiment on himself, and while finding medical supplies, discovers the ashes of Obadiah Stane. Joe reveals his real name is Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane, the son of Obadiah, who had betrayed and was killed by Tony Stark. Zeke does not want to be like his father and shares his concerns over what Riri has planned. Zeke asks her why she built an iron suit, and Riri explains that Gary was a fan of Tony Stark, and fixed things because he could, and she hopes to do the same. Riri comforts Zeke, who gives her the biomesh skin. At the heist, Riri lets N.A.T.A.L.I.E. use the suit while she sneaks up on Parker to cut out part of his robe while he negotiates with CEO Hunter Mason, who refuses to sign his contracts. However, Riri's cutter activates the detection system, causing a lockdown that emits carbon dioxide. Parker kills Mason before he and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. rescue the crew. Riri runs into John, who mistakenly thinks she killed Parker after seeing the piece of the hood she cut off, and he admits to killing Rampage. The two fight before N.A.T.A.L.I.E. saves Riri, leaving John to die. Riri panics as she arrives home and realizes she left the biomesh skin where John died, and a grieving Parker attempts to quit being the Hood before he is given a vision showing that Riri was responsible for John's death. | ||||
| 4 | "Bad Magic" | Angela Barnes | Amir Sulaiman | July 1, 2025 |
| Knowing that Robbins is on her trail, Riri analyzes the hood piece she recovered, which she discovers is an energy source for him. Zeke has been arrested for the crew's heist after being implicated by the biomesh left behind, and he is resentful of Riri over it. Worried about her daughter and wanting to help, Ronnie brings Riri to her friend Madeleine Stanton, a former Kamar-Taj trainee, and her daughter Zelma. The Stantons help examine the fragment of the hood and detect that it is from a dark dimension that is likely influencing Robbins, before abruptly ushering Riri and Ronnie out of the shop. Ronnie shares her frustrations about Riri never opening up to her, and Riri departs after pushing back. Frustrated in her lack of findings with the suit, Riri meets up with Xavier, who is horrified by N.A.T.A.L.I.E. emulating his late sister's image. Robbins breaks Zeke out of jail to recruit him as Riri's replacement, and the crew assists his efforts to implant bionic enhancements in his body, albeit Clown secretly gives Robbins control. Robbins sends the crew to kill Riri, whom he blames for John's death. | ||||
| 5 | "Karma's a Glitch" | Angela Barnes | Cristian Martinez | July 1, 2025 |
| Slug captures N.A.T.A.L.I.E. and Riri's suit. Riri meets up with Zelma, who believes that the hood came from Dormammu. The crew arrives to kill Riri, and she fends them off after sending Zelma away. While battling Clown, Riri tells her that Robbins had Rampage killed before N.A.T.A.L.I.E. helps Riri escape with the suit. Still bitter, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. turns itself off. Riri is attacked by Zeke, now enhanced with bionic implants that emit electricity. He dismantles Riri's suit and is about to kill her, but he changes his mind and spares her, advising her to leave the city instead. Riri asks her mother for help, but Ronnie confronts her for her obsession with her suit. Riri admits she made the suit that could have helped save Natalie and Gary when they were killed. Ronnie and a returning N.A.T.A.L.I.E. decide to help Riri build a new suit in Gary's garage using the old car he and Riri were working on before he died. Zeke and Clown lie to Robbins about Riri's death; Zeke rejects Robbins' proposal to join the crew full-time. Clown helps the crew discover the fabricated autopsy of Rampage, and they accuse Robbins of having him killed. Robbins fires all of them in anger, which causes the hood's corruption to increase through his body through blackened veins. Robbins forces Zeke to help him break into the home of his father Arthur, who is the CEO of Artworks and has a controlling interest in all the companies he and the crew had robbed. Arthur refuses to sign his contracts at first, and Robbins confronts him for abandoning him as a child before forcing him to sign the contracts. Riri, Ronnie, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., and Xavier help make the new suit while Zelma helps empower it with magic to resist Robbins' powers, but it comes at the cost of N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s permanent deletion. | ||||
| 6 | "The Past is the Past" | Angela Barnes | Chinaka Hodge | July 1, 2025 |
| Years before, Robbins attempted to rob his father's mansion with John before escaping and splitting up, where he meets a hooded figure. The man assures Robbins that he can help him achieve his desire for power, respect, and wealth for himself, and Robbins accepts the deal and becomes the Hood. In the present, Robbins stands as the head of his family's business and mansion, although he only has a controlled Zeke as a companion. Unable to recreate N.A.T.A.L.I.E., Riri resists her family and friends' advice and goes to Robbins to find answers through his hood. Feeling empty, Robbins meets up with the stranger and accuses him of not fulfilling his end of the deal, which the man replies that he had given what he needed. Riri arrives at the headquarters and battles a reluctant Zeke, who allows her to hit him in his crotch, where he can reset and be free of Robbins' control. Riri confronts Robbins and demands his hood, but he warns her that what would cost her is not worth it. The two battle, with Riri managing to take off Robbins' hood, leaving him wallowing in a pained state. As she is about to leave, Riri meets the stranger. The man introduces himself as Mephisto. Having observed her, Mephisto manipulates Riri by exploiting her grief towards Natalie, and she agrees to his deal as long as he doesn't go after her loved ones. At her garage, Riri sees a revived Natalie and hugs her, albeit with the marks of Mephisto crawling through her skin. | ||||
Production[]
Development[]
On December 10, 2020, Kevin Feige officially announced the series at the Disney Investors Day.[1]
On April 27, 2021, Variety reported that Chinaka Hodge had been hired as the showrunner, head writer and executive producer of the series.[2]
During an interview with Comic Book, Dominique Thorne revealed that Riri Williams was set to debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, before her series.[3]
On Disney+ Day, held on November 12, 2021, a new logo was unveiled for the series, along with a short synopsis.
Filming[]
On June 2, 2021, it was reported that the series was scheduled to start filming on April 2022.[4] The Hollywood Reporter later reported production was scheduled to begin in June.
On June 15, 2022, Deadline reported that the series had begun filming.
On November 3, 2022, it was reported that filming had officially wrapped.[5]
Directing[]
On April 11, 2022, Deadline reported that the studio has set Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes to direct the series.[6]
Casting[]
Kevin Feige announced Dominique Thorne would be portraying the titular character, during a Disney investor's presentation, in which he laid out Marvel's upcoming streaming and theatrical plans. In an issue to Empire Dominique Thorne revealed she was approached for role as the titular protagonist, without the need for any type of audition.[7]
Release[]
On July 16, 2022, it was reported that the series would premiere in Fall 2023.[8] It was later moved to sometime in 2024 due to the writers' strike, though it was delayed once more to its current release date of June 24, 2025.[9]
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This series takes place 6 months after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, placing the timeline in 2025.[10]
- Various reports stated that Rashida "Sheedz" Olayiwola was cast in a role, but she doesn't appear in the series.
References[]
External links[]
Ironheart on Wikipedia- Ironheart on Marvel.com
- Ironheart (TV series) on Disney+ Originals
- Ironheart (TV series) on Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
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