‘Ironheart’: Who is Riri Williams?

Dominique Thorne reprises her role as Riri Williams / Ironheart from 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Dominique is best known for her roles as Sheila Hunt in If Beale Street Could Talk and Judy Harmon in Judas and the Black Messiah. 

Riri Williams in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

During the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in addition to working on an Iron Man-styled suit of armor, Riri was tasked by the USA to build a device capable of tracking Vibranium. This device risked the exposure of the Kingdom of Talokan and their leader Namor putting Riri on the Talokanil’s radar. 

When Shuri and Okoye visit Riri at her dorm, they warn her of the threat of Namor and urge her to join them, while dismissive at first Riri eventually agrees. Riri brings the two to her garage, where the FBI arrive to put a stop to the trio. Riri burns her blueprints, and the three escape. While they manage to escape the FBI, Riri and Shuri are captured and taken to Talokan.

Nakia comes to their rescue, and the two return to Wakanda, Namor declares war on the country, and Riri offers her aid. Riri develops a heating ray to weaken Namor, a new suit of armor and helps Shuri to recreate the heart-shaped herb. After assisting in the battle against Talokan, Riri has to give up her armor and return to MIT but she is cleared of all charges.

Riri Williams In ‘Ironheart’

In episode one of Ironheart, we open with flashbacks of Riri (Dominique Thorne) and her best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) talking about their dreams, Riri wants to be the greatest inventor, and be even bigger than “[Steve] Jobs, [Bill Gates] Gates, [Hank] Pym and [Tony] Stark combined”. We see a montage of her in MIT, where she explains she needs money to achieve her dream, which leads to a montage of her selling inventions to other students. She’s currently trying to recreate the GRIOT AI and also wants to continue Stark’s legacy by building a suit of armor to protect people.

Riri’s dean explains that she’s been at MIT for 4 years with no sign of completing her degree. That coupled with selling assignments to students and a failed project that cost the university tons of money, causes her to get expelled. Riri gathers her things, which include a fully functional suit, her Mark III, which features a white and black finish funded using her grant money. The suit has the AI TRVOR, MIT’s teaching robot, which presents himself as a pencil with a backpack. When Riri is fully expelled, the AI no longer works and that causes Riri to crash, destroying her suit in the process. 

When Riri arrives home, we learn that it’s been about 5 years since the passing of Natalie and her stepdad, Gary. Riri’s mom knows of her expulsion, revealing that she and a janitor, Lee in touch because Riri doesn’t call. When Natalie’s brother, Xavier, welcomes Riri home, she runs off with him to avoid the judgment and questioning from all the parents. The two talk for a while, Riri says that building the iron suit will make people respect her. They end up going to Gary’s autoshop, and she’s hit with flashbacks. We also learn that Riri sold the Barracuda, which was repaired during Wakanda Forever, to fund her suit. Before they say goodbye, Xavier leaves Riri with a mixtape he made. John is in the background, keeping an eye on her.

The next day, Riri is looking for parts for her new suit. She visits Jim, a car part seller whom she’s known since she was younger. Through Jim, we learn that Riri was part of the Tony Stark Fellowship program. Before Riri can ask Jim to let her pay the rest later, John comes in and pays for her, pretending to be an associate of hers. Outside, John tells Riri about the offer, encouraging her to meet with Parker Robbins. When Riri is in the elevator, her “interview” begins; she’s tasked with escaping within 3 minutes or the air becomes unbreathable. She escapes successfully, and the crew is impressed by her skills.

Parker tries to recruit Riri, but she initially declines before Parker convinces her with the amount of money she can earn. She emphasises that she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and Parker assures her that it won’t happen. Parker seals the deal by promising Riri that she’ll be able to carry out her vision ASAP, and with seemingly no other choice, she accepts. Riri is also tasked with building another Iron suit for tomorrow’s heist. She begins working on the suit, she listens to Xavier’s mixtape in between and becomes emotional upon hearing Natalie’s voice, we cut back to the moment Natalie and Gary are killed, and she rushes out of the room. She and her mom get into a small argument.

Riri continues work on her suit, and manages to finish her Mark IV suit, which includes voice commands. With the suit complete, all that’s left is the AI, which Riri chooses to use her brainwaves to create it. The process takes four hours, and Riri remembers more about Natalie before falling asleep. In the morning, Riri wakes up to a voice. She sees a hologram of Natalie and faints from the shock. 

In episode two, Riri wakes up, rushing to figure out what happened and escapes to her room to hide her suit and NATALIE. Riri tries to erase NATALIE to no avail, she’s called to a meeting by Parker and after telling NATALIE to stay put, she takes a minute to breathe, she runs into Xavier who invites her to Saba and then heads to the pizza parlour. When Riri arrives, the team teases her, and Parker then introduces themselves and their backstories. Riri is the mechanic and tech specialist of the group. For the TNNL heist, Riri is tasked with uploading a virus to the TNNL system in order to shut it down. 

Back at home, Riri works to finalise the suit, but there are a few issues. Riri, unable to find the old tech specialist of the crew, Stuart, NATALIE helps Riri to find black market sellers one of which is Joe McGillycuddy (Alden Ehrenreich). Riri is surprised when NATALIE remembers things from her past; she traps NATALIE in her laptop and makes her way to Joe. After Riri helps Joe with his groceries, she reveals her true intentions, and the two go inside to chat. Joe plays dumb, but eventually Riri is able to get the truth out of him through blackmail.

The two make their way to Joe’s bunker, during that time, Riri learns more about Joe and tries to boost his confidence. The two bond over a love of music. When they arrive at the bunker, Riri is impressed by the amount of tech Joe has stored. Riri asks Joe for his opinion on AI made through brainwaves, and he suggests that anyone who tries it has a death wish. Riri gets everything she needs from Joe, and the Mark IV is complete while also helping Joe open up a bit.

Riri arrives at the tunnel system where the crew successfully completes their parts of the heist. While Riri is in the tunnel, NATALIE appears on the suit’s HUD, scaring Riri and causing her to load the flash drive with the virus on it, forcing Riri and NATALIE to find another way. Riri successfully overrides the system, allowing Slug to take control. Outside of the tunnel, Riri and NATALIE celebrate, but when a guard pulls out a gun on the two, NATALIE freezes almost endangering Riri’s life, before Parker saves her. 

At the hideout, while the crew celebrates, Riri starts asking questions about Parker and his Hood. Clown shares what she knows, but the conversation is stopped by John, who warns Riri to stop asking questions. Outside of the hideout, Riri talks with NATALIE about what happened earlier, NATALIE also tells her that the Hood has a strange energy not from this world, but Riri dismisses it. Afterwards, Riri meets up with Xavier at the Saba performance. They talk about Natalie, and Riri keeps quiet about the AI version of her.

When Riri returns home, her mom confronts her about NATALIE and talks about how amazing she is. Riri explains that she doesn’t know how NATALIE happened.

In episode 3, it’s payday, Riri and the crew celebrate their money. When asked what Riri is gonna do with the money, she says it all goes back to her suit. When Clown models the hood, Riri continues her questions before John puts a stop to it again. The next heist is on Heirlum, who specialises in preserving antique seeds. The facility has a metal detector, so Riri has to get creative in this heist. Riri asks Parker to speak in private. She explains that she’s only doing this because she has to. She asks Parker about how the Hood works and he simply responds that it’s magic.

When Riri returns home, she buys Xavier new headphones, which he declines because the one he uses was Natalie’s. Xavier tries to get Riri to open up about what her secret job is, but the conversation is stopped when Joe arrives at Riri’s doorstep. After Riri inspired Joe, he’s begun thinking of all types of bionic enhancements, and he wants Riri to look them over. When Riri turns him down, he blackmails her, and she’s forced to help him. 

Back in her room, we see that NATALIE is capable of controlling the Mark IV on her own and she casts her doubts on Parker. Riri still treats NATALIE as code, but Nat convinces Riri to hang out. Riri adds a projector to her necklace, allowing NATALIE to go wherever Riri goes. During their time together, Riri believes NATALIE is the real deal before correcting herself. Riri and NATALIE go to Gary’s autoshop, Riri gets flashbacks to that night again, but NATALIE manages to calm her down. When Riri returns home, she sees police officers at her front door who ask about Stuart. She claims she met him at her job interview and is shocked to know he’s dead. Riri begins to freak out over Stuart’s death, and she suggests that getting the Hood will give her the upper hand. 

Riri plans to take advantage of the chaos in the Heirlum heist to get a piece of the Hood, she remembers Joe’s bio-mesh skin which can help her sneak something into the facility. Riri meets up with Joe, who rushes her inside due to a failed experiment. She tries to get some of the bio-mesh skin, but Joe is immediately dismissive due to his fears of getting caught. While digging around for Peroxide, she finds the ashes of Joe’s dad, and she then learns his true identity. Riri continues to treat his wound, and Joe now Ezekiel Stane asks her the real reason behind building the suit which involves her stepdad Gary who she saw as a hero. Ezekiel eventually allows Riri to use the bio-mesh skin on the condition that he doesn’t get into any trouble which Riri assures him.

Riri arrives with the team for the Heirlum heist, with the bio-mesh skin upgrade is ready. She’s the eyes in the sky, helping to disable cameras as well as the watchtower. Riri begins her plan to grab a piece of the hood by sneaking into the central room of the facility. While Parker and Mason talk, Riri is carefully cutting a piece of the hood off while trying to avoid the detector. She eventually triggers the alarm but is successful in getting a piece of the hood. She escapes through the vents and ends up in one of the greenhouses. She sends NATALIE to save the other crew members. John finds Riri in one of the greenhouses, noticing the piece of the Hood, he tries to stop her. Eventually, Riri is able to escape, but John is unable to escape and suffocates. Riri is sent to look for John, and she has to tell Parker that he didn’t make it.

When Riri returns home, she realises she lost the bio-mesh skin during her fight with John, meaning that she may be found out. NATALIE tries to comfort her.

Riri Williams in the Comics

Riri Williams was first introduced in in Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 3) #7 (March, 2016) written by 

Brian Michael Bendis. She’s created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato. 

Riri Williams is named after her late father, Riri Williams Sr, who died shortly before her birth. She grew up in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, with her sister Sharon, their mother, Ronnie, and their step-father. At the age of five, Riri developed behavioral problems, which led to her being evaluated by a child psychologist who declared her a child genius.

Riri would retreat inside her own mind and become an introvert but at the age of ten, she met her first and only friend Natalie Washington, a year later she would earn a scholarship to MIT. Unfortunately, Riri’s friendship with Natalie would not last for long as 2 years later, Natalie and Riri’s step-father were caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting leading to their deaths.

Riri created her own suit of armor as a challenge turned secret project, reverse engineering an Iron Man Model 41 armor to make a prototype of her own using parts from the campus. On her first flight, Riri stops a group of inmates escaping from the New Mexico State Penitentiary but damages her armor in the process. 

When Tony Stark learns of Riri’s secret project, he supports her decision to become a superhero and asks her to join his team in the second superhero civil war against Captain Marvel. During this war, Tony falls into a coma, so Riri, alongside an AI replication of Tony, starts work on an improved suit of armor, and she takes on the alias of Ironheart.

Riri Williams / Ironheart Powers And Abilities

As Riri Williams, she possesses super-genius intelligence and, as a result, is a skilled inventor and engineer.

As Ironheart, her latest suit of armor allows her to have superhuman strength, superhuman durability, repulsors and flight.

Ironheart is created by Chinaka Hodge and stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart, Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins / The Hood and more. The series premieres on Disney+ on June 24th.

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