Riri Williams' first on-screen appearance in Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022 was only a taste of what was to come. It took three more years -- filled with delays, naturally -- but Ironheart's first three episodes have finally dropped on Disney+.
The character's backstory is a tragedy with alleged hope for brighter days ahead. Freshly booted from MIT and still mourning the loss of her best friend, Riri returns to Chicago with one goal in mind: Make enough money to finish her Iron Man-inspired suit. It's been her goal all along, but now she doesn't have school to distract her from pursuing it full-time. She'd be living the dream if it weren't for, you know, all the unresolved grief and trauma associated with watching your best friend die.
All that aside, it's nearly impossible to fairly judge a show like Ironheart with only half its story told. This would be a completely different review if Disney+ wasn't determined to premiere and end their shows of late as quickly and quietly as possible. This miniseries will be over before plenty of us have had a chance to watch it. But these are complaints for a later time.
Put simply, Ironheart is as formulaic as an MCU TV show will ever be. Straying from that formula seems to be a forbidden act for any writers brave enough to sign on to these projects. It's been the same for a long time: Main character's life is drastically changing overnight. They're carrying around some kind of past trauma they haven't dealt with yet. They're desperate to keep moving forward, and that desperation leads them directly into trouble. They lose some battles. They figure out how to deal with their grief in a somewhat healthier way. Sometimes, they get to be the hero and win at the end.
As predictable as Ironheart is at this moment, looking past its flaws is easy once you realize it's the end of Phase 5 and at this point there's no harm in just sitting back and having a good time with more superheroes. Riri and Natalie are an entertaining dynamic, especially when you factor in the complex implications of AI technology. Lyric Ross is, as always, a treasure. And while I did enjoy Daredevil: Born Again, it's nice to watch a show with an interesting, actively developing not-a-white-man character in its lead role. Dominique Thorne finally gets to shine at the forefront as she deserves.
If the story goes the way all these shows will have you believe it will, then that's how it goes. Sometimes we're pleasantly surprised, and sometimes we're satisfied with minimum closure. We cannot control the ending; we can only sit back and watch as it unfolds. Ironheart will go on, for one more week. Then it will end, and we will all move on. Whether or not we get to share our opinions on the full story from start to finish will not change this. If it is the last Marvel show of its kind, perhaps in time we will remember it fondly as a final bow worth witnessing with a smile.