The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine at this point, constantly releasing new content in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. But those of us who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order will remember when Robert Downey Jr. started it all with Iron Man in 2008. Tony Stark's legacy is being expanded with the Ironheart TV series, and actress Dominique Thorne recently spoke about the sweet nature of her relationship with RDJ.
Thorne debuted as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, before her spinoff show was announced. While fans are waiting to see her in upcoming Marvel movies, we're currently in the midst of Ironheart. While appearing on The Zach Snag Show, she revealed how supportive Robert Downey Jr. continues to be. As she shared:
He's my bestie, Zach. I love him, he loves me, it's great. He FaceTimed me the other day truly just to wish luck. We were chatting a bit about the first three episodes he got to watch. It was really really stilling to the mind to hear him kind of read the whole set up.
How sweet is that? While they seemingly aren't going to share the screen together, it sounds like Robert Downey Jr. has gone out of his way to connect with Thorne and make her feel seen and encouraged. He even watched the 3-episode premiere of Ironheart when it was first released.
Adapting comics from the page to the screen is challenging, especially given how much exposition and set-up is needed before a full-blown superhero battle can occur. This something that RDJ spoke about Dominique Thorne about regarding her new spinoff, as she shared:
He understood everything. He's like 'Oh, I see that you had to balance this with that, and you needed to set up this.' And just going through all of the points and really just identifying the arc, the structure that we need to get established in episode one for everything that's coming later. And that felt like 'Oh my god,' a breath of fresh air, almost like a weight off my shoulders I didn't even know I was carrying.
Sounds like pretty powerful stuff. Thorne is a unique place in the MCU, as she's going from a supporting character to leading her own project. That comes with its own set of challenges, something she really appreciated connecting with the Oscar-winning actor over. In that same podcast appearance she also said:
Just to hear someone else acknowledge and identify the load, the lift that the set up kind of takes. And that's something that only the person who set up the MCU could really understand.
Now we just need to get this dynamic duo on the screen together. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom in the next two Avengers movies, to the joy of fans. Dominique Thorne's name wasn't listed on Doomsday's cast announcement, so we might have to cross our fingers that she somehow factors into Secret Wars instead.
Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+ and Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on December 18th, 2026. Hopefully we get to Riri Williams and Doctor Doom get a scene together... it'll almost be like seeing her with Tony Stark.
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