Ironheart Just Joined An Elite Group of MCU Heroes (& You Totally Missed It)

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In the Marvel’s Ironheart series on Disney+, Riri Williams became part of an exclusive and intriguing team of superheroes within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, setting the stage for future recognition. The return of Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, following her introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, has been well-received. The Ironheart series marked the end of Phase 5 in the MCU by having Riri Williams face off against Parker Robbins’ Hood (Anthony Ramos) and his sinister mentor Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), but it also revealed a hidden and unanticipated talent in Riri Williams.

In the fifth episode of Riri Williams’ initial solo series, we find her under assault by the Hood’s group at a White Castle, with Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) among them, damaging Riri’s Ironheart suit. Following consultation with her mother (Anji White) and the NATALIE artificial intelligence (Lyric Ross), Riri constructs a replacement suit using the car she had collaborated on with her step-father. A sequence of images highlights her and her companions creating the suit, while Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) readies her magic, concluding with Riri gazing directly into the camera, disrupting the traditional screen barrier.

In the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), only a select few characters have demonstrated the ability to cross the boundary between fictional world and real-world audience, and Riri Williams has recently become part of this unique club, which includes Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds) and She-Hulk (portrayed by Tatiana Maslany). The reason why these two characters can breach the fourth wall isn’t explicitly explained, but it could be connected to their superpowers since neither character addressed the audience before they received their powers. This might suggest that Ironheart is alluding to Riri Williams acquiring some superpowers of her own in the future, possibly as a result of her agreement with Mephisto.

Characters like Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Pizza Poppa (Bruce Campbell), Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) from ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, ‘Loki’ season 1, and ‘Agatha All Along’ respectively, as well as Riri Williams, have all shown an awareness of the audience by directly looking at us during their performances. In ‘Doctor Strange’, Wanda and Pizza Poppa, in ‘Loki’, Sylvie, and in ‘Agatha All Along’, Agatha Harkness, have all seemed to look deep into our souls. We are eager to see more of this intriguing character trait developed further in the upcoming chapters of the MCU.

Dominique Thorne’s return as Riri Williams for further Ironheart stories hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but the series finale hinted at potential future plots involving the armored hero. With her new contract with Mephisto, there’s a possibility she may turn into a villain and clash against the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Young Avengers team. Additionally, characters like Zelma Stanton, Parker Robbins, Natalie Washington, Ezekiel Stane, and even Mephisto himself deserve more screen time. As for whether Riri Williams might break the fourth wall in future appearances, that remains to be seen. A potential second season of Ironheart could explore this enigma.

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2025-07-19 23:42