2025 has been an inconsistent year for the MCU. On one hand, Thunderbolts* was an absolute banger that revitalised my interest in the franchise. On the other hand, Daredevil: Born Again and Captain America: Brave New World were underwhelming entries that I won’t be revisiting anytime soon. Sure, they weren’t abhorrently bad, but when only one project out of the last three has been amazing, you start to lower your expectations. That’s what I did going into Ironheart, the latest MCU show and the finale to Phase 5.
Created by Chinaka Hodge and produced by Ryan Coogler, this six-episode miniseries had been in development hell for the past couple of years. The series completed filming in late 2022 and has just been constantly pushed back, suffering delay after delay. It appeared Marvel finally decided to cut their losses and send the series out to die with little to no marketing, releasing all six episodes over the span of two weeks. Was Marvel right to not have faith in Ironheart, or is the series an underrated hit? Only one way to find out.
After her trip to Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams has returned to MIT to pick up where she left off, building her own suit of armour (seeing as the one she used in Wakanda Forever couldn’t make it past customs). However, after blowing up one too many classrooms, she’s expelled from the school. Leaving with the prototype of her suit (or maybe stealing it, depending on your point of view), Riri heads back home to Chicago to figure out a way forward. However, she now lacks the funds required to continue creating her suit, and she’s getting desperate. Falling in with some rather shady individuals, will Riri sell her soul to the devil to make her dreams come true?
The story in Ironheart was pretty good, all things considered. It definitely feels like it should’ve released soon after Wakanda Forever, as there are a few callbacks to that film, and this series feels like a natural continuation of Riri’s story. Her single-minded desire to create an iron suit of her own was a refreshing tale, producing some intriguing story beats that aren’t normally seen in the MCU. Seeing a soon-to-be hero throw her lot in with a wanted criminal like The Hood because she needs money was interesting, and the dynamic between Riri and Parker Robbins (The Hood) gave this story a different level of intrigue that I didn’t expect from this series.
I also enjoyed most of the other aspects of the story, such as the creation of the AI N.A.T.A.L.I.E., the appearance of Obadiah Stane’s son, and even infusing some mystical elements into a mostly tech-based series. It took some time to get going, and some plot threads were left unresolved, but it was an overall enjoyable time.
The performances for the main characters ranged from decent to pretty good, with some I would even go so far as to say were great. The standout is without a doubt Dominique Thorne as Riri, as she perfectly conveyed every emotion Riri experienced over the series. From the arrogant confidence akin to Tony Stark to the emotional breakdown after a job goes sideways, her performance was exemplary.
Another great performance was Anthony Ramos as Parker/The Hood, which I was pleasantly surprised by. When I saw the main villain would be some guy in a red hood, I thought it’d be tacky and lame. But, like many aspects of this series, I was proven wrong by Ramos’s performance, skyrocketing the character up my fav list. The last great performance was from Alden Ehrenreich as Ezekiel Stane, who I didn’t even know was going to be in this series. I liked his descent into villainy, and Ehrenreich’s performance makes it all the more believable.
The rest of the cast is decent but doesn’t reach the heights of the other three. Lyric Ross as the AI N.A.T.A.L.I.E. had some good moments with Riri, but nothing that I would say is excellent. The same could be said for the rest of the supporting cast, who all do well enough. I did think that Parker’s crew were a bit meh, though. The characters seemed to be there just to have some fights later on, and the performances were either forgettable or comically overdone. Maybe if they had had more screen time, they could’ve been better, but they were just goons at the end of the day. But hey, they did serve their purpose of giving us some decent action scenes.
Phase 4 and 5 MCU projects have been pretty hit or miss with their CGI. So, like with every other aspect of this series, my expectations were on the floor. But I was once again surprised by Ironheart, cause this show actually looked pretty good. It wasn’t outstanding, but still leagues better than a lot of the other Disney+ series. Riri’s suits looked sick, and it was nice to have proper armor instead of nano tech. The chunkiness of the suit she uses for most of the series was a nice change from the sleek Iron Man suits we’ve all grown accustomed to. Alongside just looking good, the fights were also done surprisingly well. I loved how they were shot, with one particular fight in a fast-food joint being especially entertaining to watch. All of these visuals are elevated by a fitting soundtrack that was exactly the vibe the series needed, but that’s to be expected from anything attached to Ryan Coogler.
I’ve said it repeatedly throughout this review, but Ironheart was way better than I ever anticipated. It surpassed my expectations, and it could be argued that it's one of the better Phase 5 MCU projects. While I found the pacing a bit wonky at times and some characters didn’t work that well, this was still a solid first outing for Riri Williams. Hopefully, her story can continue in a Season 2 or other films, because they can’t leave us hanging after that ending.
If you want to hear some more Ironheart thoughts, check out the Watching Now Podcast, where we covered all six episodes.
Did you watch Ironheart? What did you think? Better than you expected? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about Phase 5 of the MCU.
