See The First Look At The Ironheart Armor For Robert Downey Jr.’s Replacement
Riri Williams will be taking over as Iron Man, as she is called Ironheart. Now, we have been given a first look at her armor and how it differs from Robert Downey Jr's armor.
While the loss of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame was a tear-jerking one, it was a fitting end to the character that kicked off the MCU as we know it. At San Diego Comic-Con, we got a new trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which gave us a brief look at Riri Williams aka Ironheart creating her first set of armor. While you don’t get the best look in the trailer, the release of Funko Pop toys gives us a pretty good idea of what the suit might look like. Check out the post featuring the figurine below:
While Tony Stark had to build his first set of armor in a cave, it seems like Riri Williams will have access to the scientific wonders and technology of Wakanda for her Ironheart suits. The genius-level inventory is being introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but she’ll also be getting her own Disney+ series next year. She’ll be played by Dominque Thorne.
While it’s clear that Ironheart will be taking Tony Stark’s place as the new genius inventor with a suit of armor, the real mystery of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is who will be taking up the mantle of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. After the tragic passing of Boseman, Marvel was left with the tough choice of where to take the Black Panther franchise next. Undoubtedly, the movie will be heavily focused on Boseman’s legacy and the decision of who will be donning the Black Panther suit next. In the trailer, we see the iconic adamantium claws unsheathed, but you can’t tell who is in the suit. It seems likely that Marvel will save that surprise for theatergoers.
Ironheart isn’t the only new character that is getting introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The movie will also be introducing Namor, whose kingdom of Atlantis is typically at odds with Wakanda. It seems like Namor is posed to be the antagonist of this movie. In the comics, Namor is typically portrayed as an anti-hero of sorts, who is focused on protecting his ocean kingdom above all else. Just like the first Black Panther, it seems like the movie will be aiming to portray a villain with sympathetic motivations, much like Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. Killmonger was one of the best villains the MCU had to offer, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle Namor. Tenoch Huerta will be playing the role.
Along with Thorne’s Ironheart and Huerta’s Namor, other newcomers to the movie will be Michaela Coel, Alex Nivilani, and Mabel Cadena. Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba, and Winston Duke all reprise their roles from the first movie. Any of these returning stars could very well be donning the Black Panther suit by the time the movie is over. At this point, we’ll just have to wait and see what director Ryan Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole have in store for us. You can catch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever when it hits theaters on November 11, 2022.
