Ironheart is set to premiere on Disney+ on June 24, so a full trailer should be right around the corner. For now, we have a new promo still featuring Riri Williams in her upgraded suit of armor courtesy of Empire.
While speaking to the mag, star Dominique Thorne revealed that Tony Stark actor Robert Downey Jr. gave her his blessing to take up the Armored Avenger mantle shortly after the series wrapped.
“Robert Downey Jr and I spoke just after we wrapped, and he shared some very lovely words about my journey,” Thorne recalled. “He told me how excited he was and that he’s rooting for it, too. I literally got two thumbs up. It’s really reassuring to know you’re not embarrassing Iron Man.”
Though Williams has a genius-level intellect at her disposal, she does not have the same resources that Stark did when he started out as Iron Man (after he built his first suit with nothing but "a bunch of scraps in a cave," that is).
“She’s dumpster-diving, whereas Tony Stark [was] this bajillionaire,” Thorne adds. “What she’s able to accomplish is remarkable.”
Riri is expected to don a few different costumes over the course of the series, but based on what we've seen so far, she'll be spending the majority of the show in this early prototype suit.
"There’s a full practical suit," Marvel Television's Brad Winderbaum confirmed during a recent interview. "It doesn’t obviously do all the crazy things that the suit does, but we used a lot of techniques that go all the way back to the first Iron Man film, where we actually had a practical suit on set."
"First of all, just even as a visual reference for the CG artists having the actual suit there, even if it had to do like CG things and open and close and stuff," he continued, "it had all the perfect lighting reference, so the emulation is just spot on. It’s awesome. I mean I’m sure it’s going to be in the Marvel lobby in a few months."
Winderbaum added that Riri has "Tony Stark-sized ego" and will be in "a bit of a quarter-life crisis." when we catch up with her.
"She fought in Wakanda, she fought Namor, she had this great adventure. But the day-to-day struggle is still real. She’s Riri Williams. She’s gonna do what she needs to do to get by for her and her family and everyone else. And it does lead her down some roads."
Ironheart follows Riri Williams as she "returns to her hometown of Chicago. There, she discovers secrets that bring technology and magic into conflict, leading her on an exciting and dangerous adventure."
In the comics, Riri is encouraged to suit-up and fight crime by Tony Stark, who becomes a mentor of sorts to the young hero. Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame would obviously make that particular dynamic very difficult to replicate, but Ironheart is expected to carry on Iron Man's legacy (to some extent, at least).
Ironheart also stars Lyric Ross, Regan Aliyah, Alden Ehrenreich, Manny Montana, Matthew Elam, and Anji White. Sacha Baron Cohen is also rumored to make his MCU debut as Mephisto, though this has yet to be confirmed.