IRONHEART Ending Explained: A Long-Awaited Debut, Ezekiel Stane Twist, And The Hood's Plan Revealed - SPOILERS

IRONHEART Ending Explained: A Long-Awaited Debut, Ezekiel Stane Twist, And The Hood's Plan Revealed - SPOILERS

All episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+, and we're taking a deep dive into that long-awaited debut, Ezekiel Stane's new status quo, The Hood's plan, and what it means for the MCU's future.

By JoshWilding - Jul 01, 2025 09:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Ironheart

Ironheart has wrapped up after two weeks on Disney+, but there's plenty to discuss in the show's final three episodes. In the fourth instalment, for example, Ezekiel Stane is imprisoned after the police find the piece of tech Riri Williams left at the site of The Hood's last heist. 

The Hood, who figures out that Riri was behind Cousin John's death (thanks to some sinister, demonic whispers), breaks Stane out and funds his bionic surgery, transforming Iron Monger's son into a living weapon. 

Ezekiel, who doesn't don a costume, easily defeats Ironheart, but he's not all bad and allows her to escape. Later, he tells Parker Robbins that he successfully killed his former friend. 

Talking of The Hood, it's revealed that the businesses he was targeting were all parts of ArtWorks, the company owned by his father (who cruelly kicked him out when he was a boy, in the wake of his mother's death). His plan this whole time has been to take back everything that he feels rightfully belongs to him, and he successfully forces his dad to sign it all over. 

While this is happening, Riri finds an ally in Zelma Stanton, a young witch who once trained at Kamar-Taj. She does some digging and concludes that Parker's Hood hails from the Dark Dimension and belongs to Dormammu. The markings on him match those on Doctor Strange villain Kaecellius, and with some help from her friends, Riri builds a new suit powered by energy from the Dark Dimension; it's part-magic, part-science. 

Unfortunately, there's a cost, and that's Riri's beloved AI, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., who disintegrates into nothingness. 

As Parker's condition worsens, we revisit the night he and John attempted to rob his father. Running from the cops, he encountered a mysterious man wearing the Hood. He offers him refuge, and we see that the character is played by Sacha Baron Cohen. He speaks with an American accent and asks Parker what he wants before offering him the means to get it: the Hood. 

In the present, Parker demands to see him, and now speaking with an English accent, this mysterious villain says that if Parker can hold on to what he's already given him, he'll get even more. 

Poor Ezekiel has fallen fully under The Hood's control as he's hacked Stane's bionics, but a swift kick to the nuts from Riri—the only place he doesn't have bionics—frees him as the trauma leads to a hard reset. Ezekiel points out to Riri that they're not done because he has millions of dollars worth of tech in him, but nowhere to put his anger. 

Ironheart confronts The Hood, who, in the course of their battle, becomes fully demonic. She tricks him with a hologram and takes the Hood, leaving Parker in immeasurable pain. 

Leaving, she's confronted by Cohen's character, who scoffs when she suggests he's Dormammu. No, he's Mephisto, and offers to give Riri what she wants in exchange for "nothing you'll miss." She shakes his hand (a glimpse of his true, red-skinned form can be seen in a reflection), and in the final scene, a fraught Riri is reunited with Natalie...however, it's not her AI. The real Natalie has been resurrected, and as they hug, we see some familiar scars on the hero's arm. 

The insinuation is that Riri has sold her soul to the devil, but what isn't clear is what this means. Are those scars meant as a telltale sign that she no longer has a soul, or is she destined to become increasingly more demonic as The Hood did before her? 

It's hard to say, but Ironheart may have fallen under the villain's control. Then again, The Hood certainly didn't; Mephisto instead seems satisfied with taking a soul in exchange for giving someone what they want. In Parker's case, he just became more monstrous the more he used that demonic artefact, but that's not necessarily where Riri's story is going.

Either way, she's fully entrenched in the supernatural corner of the MCU now, making her future uncertain. As for Mephisto, seeing as he likes making deals, it surely won't be too long before he makes one that Johnny Blaze, a.k.a. Ghost Rider, similarly can't refuse. 

All episodes of Ironheart are currently streaming on Disney+.

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Matchesz
Matchesz - 7/1/2025, 9:25 PM
if their goal was to make the MCU as lame and gay as possible they’ve done it
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 7/1/2025, 9:28 PM
Wooow mamá! The Zero Hype Is real! Glad this show was good for the Seven people that watched here
CrimsonComet
CrimsonComet - 7/1/2025, 9:29 PM
They didn't even try with Mephisto's look, it's literally just Borat
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/1/2025, 9:30 PM
@CrimsonComet - we see it for a second.
Matchesz
Matchesz - 7/1/2025, 9:44 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - sooo literally just like the 2006 mephisto played by Peter Fonda
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/1/2025, 10:51 PM
@Matchesz - this show is meant to give a taste of the character. I doubt the actor wanted to go through extended makeup and/or cgi without a huge pay check. They will give him his full look in a coming movie.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/1/2025, 10:52 PM
@Matchesz - *extensive makeup
Android
Android - 7/1/2025, 11:21 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - That's... THat's like how the 2007 FF Sequel had the cloud for a "Second" look like the classic purple helmet... Don't let that kind of stuff pass.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/1/2025, 11:58 PM
@Android - marvel has been on track for how villains and heroes look mostly. Sasha probably didn’t want to do any extensive makeup or cgi for a small scene.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/1/2025, 9:29 PM
This was a good episode. However I would have introduced Mephisto in another movie.
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 7/1/2025, 9:34 PM
I actually read this article for what its worth. This series isn't even worth the effort of watching it to write an article on whats wrong with the writing.

Everything. Everything is wrong with the writing. I can't even believe someone signed off on this cast.

Well, it bombed as expected. Lets see how FF does. I still dont think it does very well but whatever. Sooner or later Marvel is going to have to beat me just to make it interesting.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/2/2025, 7:06 AM
@CreateNowSlpL8r - "Sooner or later Marvel is going to have to beat me just to make it interesting."

Hey, no kink shaming here.
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 7/2/2025, 9:55 AM
@Clintthahamster - We all have our problems I suppose :)
WakandaTech
WakandaTech - 7/1/2025, 9:35 PM
So Kevin Feige did a show no one asked for
spent time and money and ruined a cool Marvel character in the meantime in Mephisto

The good news

I believe Ironheart and fantastic four are the last. DEI/ woke MCU content.moving forward
KaptainKhaos
KaptainKhaos - 7/1/2025, 10:13 PM
@WakandaTech - how is Fantastic Four "woke"
Android
Android - 7/1/2025, 11:20 PM
@KaptainKhaos - From reports: Making Susan the leader, a position she's only rather recently (in the past 10 years) gotten to do and even then not with the original 4 but a mix and match of replacements and her being the sole original F4 member. Recasting Shalla Bal as the Surfer, instead of Norrin, while she has taken up the position of herald it was always has her own entity (Keeper of the Great Truth
/ Starglow) except only once in an alternate universe where Norrin died after being the surfer for years (Earth X) , where Franklin who had become galactus transformed her.
To some those changes seem "Woke" i'm not one of them , I'm more annoyed we probably won't see Frankie/Nova for a while as they made it Shalla-Bal instead of Norrin.
AlexGSpeaks
AlexGSpeaks - 7/2/2025, 12:44 AM
@Android - Sue lead the FF for a few years in the 90s. It was not a team full of replacements. She originally took it when Reed "died" and stayed team leader even after his return. Ben and Johnny never were still on the team.
AlexGSpeaks
AlexGSpeaks - 7/2/2025, 1:11 AM
@Android - I mean Ben and Johnny never left the team.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/2/2025, 2:24 AM
@KaptainKhaos -

I don’t get that one either unless he means girl boss Sue and Surfer chick.

The word woke sounds more stupid every day, both from the conservatives who overuse it and the ethnicity that bastardized its use in the first place. Everyone should just leave it behind.
KaptainKhaos
KaptainKhaos - 7/2/2025, 3:12 PM
@DocSpock - but it's a Silver Surfer from an Alternative Universe where his wife becomes the Herald, does that make Alternate Universes woke?

Considering Sue is the most powerful and more competent than Reed (Dr.Doom would agree with me), so it would make sense that she's the leader
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/2/2025, 6:41 PM
@KaptainKhaos -

I didn’t say any of it made sense.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 7/1/2025, 9:35 PM
If not for Thor, Iron Man would take the cake for being the most screwed over comic-book in the MCU. From Iron Man 2-3 and onward, all the MCU does with his books is wipe their asses with them.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/1/2025, 9:48 PM

I keep hearing this D+ quality over quantity stuff, but it certainly didn't show up in this crappy show.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 7/1/2025, 9:55 PM
Show just released at 8 by the way. 48 minute episodes 3 episode drop. Do the math
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 7/2/2025, 12:14 AM
@DocSpock - Thats because that claim doesn't actually start until after Iron Heart for TV and After FF for movies(Despite that claim coming down in the middle of Thunderbolts production). Essentially...here on out is where that claim take place...for whatever thats worth of course
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 7/2/2025, 12:29 AM
@BlackStar25 - Bro ...Wonderman Is next...AND ITS not Going to be Quality at all lol
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/2/2025, 2:13 AM
@BlackStar25 -

Next show: WonderMan.

BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 7/2/2025, 2:20 AM
@Malatrova15 @DocSpock - Like I said....for whatever its worth.
LenSpiderman
LenSpiderman - 7/1/2025, 9:55 PM
Was considering watching the last episode or two to see the debut of Mephisto and just get the gist of the whole thing but this sounds convoluted and confusing and not particularly rewarding. And since the first episode put me off and then put me to sleep, I think I’ll pass.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/2/2025, 7:07 AM
@LenSpiderman - If you, you know, watch it, it all makes sense.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 7/2/2025, 6:04 PM
@LenSpiderman - it’s actually a pretty straight forward show and is pretty fun.
Android
Android - 7/1/2025, 11:11 PM
Stane gets his bionics via Hood funding? ughh , that's horrid, Stane was made to be Tony's usurper, not a lapdog for a third stringer like Hood.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/2/2025, 7:08 AM
@Android - Tony's been dead for six years. Time to move on.
Android
Android - 7/2/2025, 10:10 AM
@Clintthahamster - except the legacy of Tony is up for grabs , that's what this film and armor wars (remember that is coming ) are all about : the legacy of Tony Stark and who's going to do it dictate wants going to be next . So reducing the usurper of the legacy to a second Stringer for a third Stringer is ridiculous.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/2/2025, 1:03 PM
@Android - I'm not particularly familiar with Stane (I haven't read Iron Man actively since the 80s) but generally, I've come to accept that the movies and comics are just fundamentally different beasts. By some estimates there are 80,000 characters in Marvel Comics. Even if you assume that 95% of those are side characters and one-offs, that still leaves thousands of characters, each with rich and complex back stories. Combine that with the unfortunate but unavoidable realities of contracts, the passing of time, and mortality, and there's just no way to do all those stories justice with the finite windows of time Marvel Studios has to work with.

Comic books are wonderful because of the boundless creativity and massive page counts to tell rich, overlapping stories. The movies and TV will never be able to match that with ~20 hours a year to work with.
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 7/3/2025, 6:31 AM
@Android - I thought Armor Wars got the plug pulled?
Android
Android - 7/3/2025, 11:50 AM
@FrankenDad - officially it's still on , unofficially everyone and their mom thinks it's a dead.
Android
Android - 7/3/2025, 11:57 AM
@Clintthahamster - I'd directly say read "5 nightmares" by Matt fraction , it's the introduction of Ezekiel stane & a good jumping on point for people like you who may have fallen off where it goes through "okay Tony is struggling with realistic issues a man in his late 30s /early 40s would ge" including that "I'm going to be replaced." which Stane plays into heavily.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/3/2025, 12:13 PM
@Android - Thanks for the tip! I've been trying to catch up on major story arcs where I can. I'll add that to the list.
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 7/3/2025, 2:08 PM
@Android - Ohhh that’s great news! I thought it got canned officially. Fingers crossed.
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