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Ironheart (character)

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This article is about the Marvel Comics character. For the martial arts film, see Ironheart (1992 film). For other uses, see Iron Heart (disambiguation).
Ironheart
Riri Williams on the cover of
2020 Ironheart #1 by S Skan
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceCameo appearance:
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #7 (May 2016)
Full appearance:
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #9 (July 2016)
Full appearance as Ironheart:
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #6 (April 2017)
Created by
In-story information
Alter egoRiri Williams
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliationsYoung Avengers
Champions
Stark Industries
Notable aliasesIron Man
Lady Ironheart
Queen of Latveria
AbilitiesSkilled inventor and engineer
Super genius-level intellect

Ironheart (Riri Williams) is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created in 2016 by writer Brian Michael Bendis, and artist Mike Deodato.

Dominique Thorne portrays Williams in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), first appearing in the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and will star in the Disney+ series Ironheart (2023).

Publication history

Riri Williams, created by Brian Michael Bendis and designed by Mike Deodato, first appeared in Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #7,[1] written by Bendis and drawn by Deodato.[2][3] She then made her first significant appearance two issues later.[4]

Williams later starred in the third volume of Invincible Iron Man, starting in late 2016,[3] under the codename Ironheart,[5] using armor designed by Stefano Caselli, the artist of the new volume.[6]

Fictional character biography

Origins

Riri Williams is a 15-year-old engineering student and the daughter of the late Riri Williams Sr. Following her father's death, Riri lives with her mother Ronnie and her paternal Aunt Sharon in Chicago. A certified super-genius, she attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on scholarship.[7][8] Working alone, Riri designs a suit of armor similar to the Iron Man Armor using material stolen from campus. When campus security knocks at her door, she flees while wearing the suit.[9]

When Williams prevents two inmates from escaping the New Mexico State Penitentiary, her suit is damaged.[10] Upon returning to her mother's house, Riri continues to work on improving the suit, much to the dismay of her aunt. Tony Stark hears of Riri's accomplishment and goes to meet her. During their meeting, Stark decides that he will endorse her decision to become a superhero.[8]

Post-"Civil War II"

Appearing in her Rescue armor following the 2016 "Civil War II" storyline, Pepper Potts confronts Riri Williams and Tony Stark, who has transferred his consciousness into a device becoming an A.I., in an attempt to explain the problems of being a superhero. They are then attacked by Techno Golem and her Biohack Ninjas.[11] As Riri flees and Pepper fights them, Techno Golem tries to find out how Pepper knows Riri.[12] When Techno Golem's armor breaks and Tomoe tries to instead attack Riri, Pepper uses her Rescue armored gauntlets and knocks Tomoe out. When Sharon Carter formally meets Riri after the arrest of Tomoe and the Biohack Ninjas, Pepper tells Riri that they will talk again.[13] Pepper Potts, Mary Jane Watson, Friday, the Tony Stark A.I., and Stark's biological mother Amanda Armstrong are in the Hall of Armor with Riri when she demonstrates her knowledge of each of the Iron Man armors. When Amanda Armstrong offers to allow Riri to use Tony Stark's labs as her base of operations, Riri is hesitant but Pepper encourages her. The next day at her home, Riri's family is visited by the head of M.I.T. She wants Riri to continue working there, as it has gotten sloppy since she left. Riri would also be allowed to use the laboratories at the school. After working in one of the labs, Riri asks the Tony Stark A.I. to find her something to blow off some steam. The Tony Stark A.I. locates Armadillo during a crime spree and Riri uses the Ironheart armor to defeat Armadillo. She is then approached by the Champions, who offer her membership into their group.[14]

"Secret Empire"

During the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, Ironheart is seen fighting the Army of Evil during Hydra's takeover of the United States. Baron Helmut Zemo has Blackout surround Manhattan with Darkforce after enhancing him with the powers of the Darkhold. Riri sends a distress signal to all available heroes to meet her in Washington, D.C. Ironheart and Falcon II join up with the Champions to assist in the underground's fight against Hydra's takeover of the country. They later follow Black Widow when she makes her own plans for Captain America. During training, the young heroes disagree about Black Widow's brutality and mercilessness. The heroes later infiltrate a Hydra base to find someone crucial to Black Widow's plan. Black Widow later tells them that they are going to have to kill Steve Rogers, after Hydra destroys the Underground hideout. In Washington DC as their assault begins, Spider-Man fights Captain America, but Black Widow intervenes and is killed. Just as Spider-Man is about to kill Steve Rogers, the others convince him to not do it and they all get arrested.[15] She also helped the Champions search for survivors in Las Vegas, Nevada after its destruction by Hydra.[16]

Champions

In a 2019 storyline, Riri is startled to learn that her android teammate Viv Vision has developed a crush on her, which initially revolts her due to internalized homophobia.[17] Later, her mind – and that of several other Champions – is corrupted by Mephisto's son Blackheart, turning her against her teammates.[18] However, when Riri is about to destroy Viv, it is the latter's honest apology for not considering her feelings which snaps her out of Blackheart's control and finally makes her acknowledge Viv's affection.[19]

During the 2020 "Outlawed" storyline, Ironheart is among the teenage superheroes affected by the Underage Superhuman Warfare Act that was drafted by Senator Geoffrey Patrick ever since Ms. Marvel was put in a coma during a fight with an Asgardian dragon. The established group C.R.A.D.L.E. raided her lab.[20]

"Iron Man 2020"

In the "Iron Man 2020" arc, Riri is among the characters that Tony Stark in his form of Mark One has not returned the calls of.[21] While abiding by the Underage Superhuman Warfare Act, Riri, her A.I. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (who is based on Riri's late best friend Natalie) and Xavier King see people fleeing because the Intellicars have gone haywire. As Riri interfaces with the Intellicar, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. finds that its A.I. is corrupted with a bad code. As the Intellicar starts acting up again, Riri was able to find the reset code as the three Intellicars crash. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. informs Riri that the signal came from the cell phone of André Sims who is currently working as an intern at Stark Unlimited's Chicago branch. Three days later at Stark Unlimited's Chicago branch, Riri confronts André about the incident with the Intellicars. André denies all knowledge of the incident and states that Stark Unlimited is doing the people a favor.[22]

Back at her lab, Riri states to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. that she has sent her complaints to Stark Unlimited and nobody has responded yet. While debating on the next plan of action with N.A.T.A.L.I.E., Riri notices that she might be glitching out. Later that night, Riri informs Xavier that N.A.T.A.L.I.E might be suffering a glitch ever since the Intellicar incident. She then gets an alert that the Ironheart armor has been hijacked. It is shown that N.A.T.A.L.I.E. has hijacked the Ironheart armor and starts glitching when she confronts André.[22] Using the tracker in the Ironheart armor, Riri and Xavier enter Stark Unlimited where they avoid the Stark drones. They catch up to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. as Riri works to talk N.A.T.A.L.I.E. out of harming André as N.A.T.A.L.I.E. states that they can't be able to help people from being harmed by people like André. Riri states that she can't have N.A.T.A.L.I.E. doing away with André or else Riri would get arrested as she doesn't want to put her mom through that and lose N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Riri has no choice but to armor up as André recovers and blasts Xavier out the window. Ironheart manages to rescue Xavier and expose André's experiments. After watching the news revolving around the incident, Riri, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., and Xavier noticed that the Ironheart armor was listed as one of Stark Unlimited's prototypes as they suspect that Stark Unlimited covered up the fact that it was the real Ironheart. N.A.T.A.L.I.E's glitch was also taken care of. [23]

Sales

Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #9 sold 49,334, making it the 9th best-selling issue out of the total 14 issues.[24]

Controversy

In October 2016, Marvel Comics and New York-based retailer Midtown Comics jointly decided to pull from circulation J. Scott Campbell's variant cover of the first issue of The Invincible Iron Man, produced exclusively for that store, after previews of the cover were criticized for sexualizing the depicted character, 15-year-old Riri Williams.[25][26][27] The cover depicted the character, a teenaged MIT engineering student who reverse engineered one of Iron Man's armored suits to wear herself, in a midriff-baring crop top, in contrast to the more modest way in which artist Stefano Caselli depicted the character in the book's interior art. Campbell called the decision "unfortunate," explained that his rendition of the character was intended to depict "a sassy, coming-of-age young woman". He regarded the reaction to the cover as a "faux controversy", saying, "I gave her a sassy 'attitude'...'sexualizing' was not intended. This reaction is odd." Brian Michael Bendis, the writer on the series, was pleased with the decision to pull the cover, saying that while he liked the face Campbell had drawn on Riri when he viewed the art as a work in progress, he disliked the completed art, saying, "Specialty covers are not in my purview and it was being produced separately from the work of the people involved in making the comic. Not to pass the buck but that’s the fact. If I had seen a sketch or something I would have voiced similar concerns. I am certain the next version will be amazing."[28]

Reception

  • In 2021, CBR.com ranked Ironheart 4th in their "Marvel: 10 Smartest Female Characters" list.[29]
  • In 2022, Screen Rant included Ironheart in their "MCU: 10 Most Desired Fan Favorite Debuts Expected In The Multiverse Saga" list.[30]

Alternate versions

In the 2017 comic Spider-Men II, an alternate universe version of Riri Williams is a member of the Ultimates.[31]

In other media

Television

  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears in Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron, voiced by Sofia Wylie.[32] In flashbacks, Riri coped with the loss of a family member while working on her version of the prototype Iron Man armor, which strained her friendship with a girl named Natalie. In the present, she creates an A.I. named A.M.I. (voiced by Melanie Minichino), which is stolen by Hala the Accuser to be used for a doomsday device. Riri works with the Secret Warriors to disarm it, which the former succeeds in at the cost of A.M.I.'s arc reactor. Following this, Riri builds a new suit of armor and joins the Secret Warriors as Ironheart.
  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears in Spider-Man, voiced again by Sofia Wylie.[33] This version is an Avengers intern who lost her stepfather and has an A.I. based on Tony Stark that she calls "Not Tony" (voiced by Mick Wingert[34]).

Marvel Cinematic Universe

See also: Riri Williams (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Dominique Thorne portrays Riri Williams / Ironheart in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Internet video

In March 2017, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's admissions department released a short live-action video where Riri Williams / Ironheart, played by student Ayomide F., walks around campus, attends class, and builds an Ironheart suit in her dormitory.[38]

Video games

Collected editions

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN
Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart Vol. 1 - Riri Williams Invincible Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-5 February 2018 978-1302906726
Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart Vol. 2 - Choices Invincible Iron Man (vol. 4) #6-11 June 2018 978-1302906740
Ironheart: Riri Williams Invincible Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-11 October 2019 978-1302919795
Ironheart Vol. 1: Those With Courage Ironheart #1-6 July 2019 978-1302915087
Ironheart Vol. 2: Ten Rings Ironheart #7-12 January 2020 978-1302915094
Ironheart: Meant To Fly Ironheart #1-12 October 2020 978-1302923525
Iron Man 2020: Robot Revolution - iWOLVERINE 2020 Ironheart #1-2, and 2020 Rescue #1-2, 2020 iWOLVERINE #1-2 November 2020 978-1302925543

References

  1. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. ^ Johnston, Rich (2016-07-10). "Invincible Iron Man #7 Hits $49 For First Riri Williams". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  3. ^ a b Dockterman, Eliana (July 6, 2016). "Exclusive: Marvel's New Iron Man Is a Black Woman". Time. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Mike Deodato Jr. [@mikedeodato] (2016-07-11). "Riri Williams was based on the beautiful young actress @skaijackson" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2017-10-23 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Bien-Khan, Joseph (August 22, 2016). "Exclusive: Marvel's New Iron Man Will Be Known as ... Ironheart!". Wired. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  6. ^ Lovett, Jamie (2016-07-07). "Marvel Reveals Riri Williams' Iron Man Armor Design". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  7. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #1. Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ a b Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #12. Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #7. Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #11. Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #3. Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #4. Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #5. Marvel Comics.
  14. ^ Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #6. Marvel Comics.
  15. ^ Secret Empire #0-7. Marvel Comics.
  16. ^ Champions Vol. 2 #11. Marvel Comics.
  17. ^ Champions Vol. 2 #27. Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ Champions Vol. 3 #9 (November 2019). Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ Champions Vol. 3 #10 (December 2019). Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ Outlawed #1. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ Iron Man 2020 Vol. 2 #2. Marvel Comics.
  22. ^ a b 2020 Ironheart #1. Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ 2020 Ironheart #2. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ "Syndicated Comics". 13 February 2017.
  25. ^ Couto, Anthony (2016-10-20). "Marvel Pulls J. Scott Campbell's Riri Williams Iron Man Cover". CBR. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  26. ^ Jusino, Teresa (2016-10-19). "Dear Marvel: Stop Sexualizing Teenage Characters Like Riri". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  27. ^ Busch, Caitlin (2016-10-19). "Marvel's New Riri Williams Cover Has a Lot of Fans Pissed Off". Inverse. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  28. ^ Flood, Alison (October 21, 2016). "Marvel pulls Iron Man cover after accusations of 'sexualising' teenage girl". The Guardian. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  29. ^ O'Brien, Megan Nicole (2021-05-09). "Marvel: 10 Smartest Female Characters". CBR. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  30. ^ Capriati, Alex (2022-10-24). "MCU: 10 Most Desired Fan Favorite Debuts Expected In The Multiverse Saga". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
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  32. ^ Sorrentino, Mike (October 2, 2018). "Iron Man Riri Williams is making her animated debut in Marvel Rising". CNET. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  33. ^ "'Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom' To Debut April 19 on Disney XD and DisneyNOW". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  34. ^ "Amazing Friends". Spider-Man. Season 3. Episode 2. May 17, 2020. Disney XD.
  35. ^ Davis, Brandon (August 19, 2021). "Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams to Debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Exclusive)". Comicbook.com.
  36. ^ Gelman, Vlada (December 10, 2020). "Secret Invasion, Marvel Series Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Coming to Disney+". TV Line. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
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  38. ^ Annear, Steve (March 8, 2017). "MIT's admissions teaser features the new Iron Man — a black female superhero". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
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  40. ^ Shiach, Kieran (January 11, 2017). "Ironheart Makes Her Video Game Debut In Latest 'Marvel: Future Fight' Update". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  41. ^ Glass, Joe (July 28, 2017). "Avengers Academy Brings Armor Wars To iOS And Android". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  42. ^ "Dani Chambers Resume". Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  43. ^ Arrant, Chris (January 4, 2018). "KATE BISHOP, NADIA PYM, RIRI WILLIAMS, More Added To LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES 2". Newsarama. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  44. ^ "Blob, Toad, Ironheart, and Red Skill are the Latest New Characters in Marvel Strike Force". February 24, 2020.
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