Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame are ahead!
It’s been nearly two full months since Robert Downey Jr. made his final appearance as Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, in Avengers: Endgame. The billionaire genius sacrificed himself to save the universe, and while his buddy James Rhodes is still rocking the War Machine armor, unlike how Steve Rogers passed on the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson, it doesn’t look like the Iron Man mantle will be passed to anyone.
However, if you ask Robert Downey Jr., Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart, who was introduced to the Marvel Comics universe three years ago and uses her own suit of armor to fight the forces of evil, should be introduced to the MCU. Downey said this while speaking at the Gene Siskel Film Center gala after being introduced by Eve Ewing, who’s writing the current Ironheart comic book series.
Created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato, Riri Williams is a teenage prodigy who built her own Iron Man-like armor while attending MIT. Along with meeting Tony Stark in person, Riri also used an A.I. modeled on Tony’s consciousness to help her control her armor and mentor her while the actual Tony was physically recovering. Following HYDRA’s takeover during the Secret Empire crossover event, Riri joined the latest incarnation of The Champions.
Outside of the comics, Ironheart starred in the Marvel Rising special Heart of Iron and is also a playable character on several video and mobile games. It goes without saying that featuring her in a movie would introduce her to a lot of folks, and with other young, recently-introduced Marvel heroes like Miles Morales and Kamala Khan becoming more popular, Riri could easily be part of that group.
While Robert Downey Jr. saying he’d like to see Riri Williams appear in the MCU doesn’t guarantee she’ll show up, perhaps him expressing support for the character is enough for Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios brass to at least consider bringing her in. Downey may not be part of this franchise anymore, but you can bet his opinion still holds sway.
With all the Marvel movies currently in development, along with the Fantastic Four and X-Men expected to be rebooted within the franchise, I suspect that the chances of Riri Williams leading an MCU movie are smaller than her being thrown in as a supporting character or a player in an ensemble piece, but anything’s possible.
For now, there aren’t any armored-antics in store for the MCU going into Phase 4. After Tony Stark died after harnessing the power of the Infinity Stones to turn Thanos and his forces to dust, all the major MCU characters attended his funeral. Gwyneth Paltrow has said that she doesn’t see herself playing Pepper Potts in any major capacity again, but perhaps we could see Tony and Pepper’s daughter Morgan again when she’s older, thus allowing for Katherine Langford to reprise the character.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest updates on the MCU, which continues with the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2. In the meantime, feel free to plan your trips to the theater this year in our 2019 release schedule.
