If you remember the insider stories in Joanna Robinson’s compelling Marvel Studios book, “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” (listen to our interview with Robinson here), the celebrated podcaster and writer reported what now feels like the very obvious: when Kevin Feige (and Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy) announced a slew of new shows for Disney+ during the infamous December 2020 Disney Investors day, they did so because Bob Iger and Disney pressured them to do so. Pandemic panic was real, and anxious investors needed reassuring—just because theaters were dead, don’t worry, streaming and an impressive raft of content was the future and would save the day. But the reality was that Marvel (and Lucasfilm) prematurely announced a tranche of news shows that weren’t ready for primetime. And it’s clear as day that “Ironheart,” a leftover vestige of that era that’s been delayed at least two years, is a product of that rushed-to-order and underbaked era.
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“Ironheart,” has a sketch of an idea—the post “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” story of super genius whiz MTI student Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) and a technology-versus-magic storyline via the manipulative influencer and criminal enterprise she falls into led by Parker Robbins, aka The Hood (Anthony Ramos), and his abuse and misuse of magic powers he doesn’t fully understand.
And it’s not a bad one, all and all, this story; Riri has her own past and demons to reckon with—not to mentioned wrestling with her own worst enemy which is herself and her inexperienced stubbornness— the arrogant Parker is clearly in over his head with the true nature of his dark art magic powers, and the two of them are tethered together by youthful entitlement and victimhood.
Gifted and talented, they both think they’re special, and they both think the world owes them much more than it’s delivered because, by and large, they’ve often been served a raw deal. This element of the show—the arrogant heroes and villains’ spoiled, disenfranchised and self-centered flaws, the weak excuses they use for their immorality and the yin-and-yang similarities they share—are easily the series’ best and most fascinating qualities. Still, not enough is done with this meaty texture. “Ironheart,” like many Marvel shows, tends to favor plot over story to their own detriment.
Regardless, Parker taps into Riri’s frustration at a crucial moment in her development as she gets shit-canned from MIT after cutting too many corners and scamming by getting paid to perfect other students’ assignments.
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Parker, a would-be Robin Hood—get it?—robs and steals from the rich and gives to himself; a poor boy who believes he deserves much more. Along with his motley crew of thieves, hackers and thugs, he eventually recruits the feeling-marginalized Riri to do his dirty work after she’s disillusioned and disheartened from her MIT ousting.
Along the way, she accidentally revives her dead best friend, Natalie Washington (Lyric Ross)—killed in a drive-by along with her beloved step-father—and resurrects her as a super-intelligent A.I. named N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (not unlike Tony Stark’s F.R.I.D.A.Y., but in unnervingly realistic holographic form).
While trying to boost her Ironheart suit to help out Parker’s goons’ elaborate heists, she tracks down Joe McGillicuddy (Alden Ehrenreich), a cagey tech ethicist/frenemy with access to black market bioweaponry who reveals his darker, secret side later on in the series.
Eventually, Parker’s increasingly unhinged and desperate methods become too unsound for Riri— who’s already been in it for just a quick payday to get her back on her feet—and the two determined achievers, striving for greatness, find themselves at odds and on a collision course for supremacy.
But all and all, try as it may to give itself flavor by taking the MCU to Chicago and representing its black, brown and Puerto Rican community and some of is sassy, swaggery and irreverent characters, “Ironheart” often feels overcrowded and yet flat and listless, telling a decently conceived without much spark, heart or the kind of special sauce that makes it pop more than your very average Marvel Disney+ shows from this era (an epoch that Bob Iger himself has suggested hurt Marvel’s overall brand by focusing on quantity and not quality).
“Ironheart” tries to inject a heavy emotional baggage into its main characters, which is appreciated. Riri is struggling with the trauma and grief of witnessing her step-father and bff being killed, along with the devastating loss of being kicked out of school. And Parker’s backstory also reveals an abandoned boy left to calcify with bitterness in fending for himself. Both are brilliant and misguided in their virtuosity, but unfortunately, the series keeps getting bogged down in plot, additional characters, tangents and sub-plots. One particular subplot featuring Doctor Strange/ Kamar-Taj acolyte Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah), as a means to assist Riri in bridging the science vs. magic gap, feels like both MCU homework and an unnecessary add-on.
Impulsive, stubborn, dogged, curious and her own worst enemy, Riri Williams is a potentially captivating MCU character who often borders on anti-hero. Still, ultimately, the show lets her down and can’t keep up with her complexity.
Replete with unearned brassy montages, cliches like “demons you can’t outrun” (wink wink nod to Parker’s supernatural elements and the secrets behind him), and just one too many supporting characters in an overstuffed plot, additionally, the science vs. magic angle never feels fully realized, other than a narrative experiment of opposites and how they may challenge one another.
Created and showrun by Chinaka Hodge (“Snowpiercer”), “Ironheart” also suffers from lethargic, sluggish pacing— six fifty-minute-ish episodes that often feel interminably long and undercooked. Like many MCU shows, you might have a decent, admirably brief three-episode mini-series if you sandwiched together all the good parts and jettisoned the insipid filler. Still, alas, narrative economy is not this brand’s strong suit.
Worse, it’s revealed that a greater force and evil entity is pulling all the strings, and frankly, like “WandaVision,” “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” “Agatha All Along” and seemingly ˆ other Marvel series, the “who’s the real bad guy behind it all?” mystery box formula of all these shows has become extremely played.
And thus, “Ironheart” does not possess a special justification for its existence. “Ironheart” is by no means terrible; it’s just unremarkable enough to feel wholly non-essential. And as the MCU tries to recover from their pandemic-era mistakes, focusing on must-watch-only TV shows to recapture the glory of their overall brand, the mostly unexceptional “Ironheart” series is unfortunately a regressive step in the wrong direction. [C]
“Ironheart” is now available to stream on Disney+.