Ironheart (character)

Ironheart (Riri Williams) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created in 2015 by writers Brian Michael Bendis, and artist Mike Deodato, and later redesigned by Eve Ewing and Kevin Libranda.

For the martial arts film, see Ironheart (1992 film). For the science-fiction film, see Ironheart (2020 film).
Ironheart
Riri Williams on a variant cover of Invincible Iron Man vol. 3 #1. Art by Jeff Dekal.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceCameo appearance:
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #7 (May 2016)
Full appearance:
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #9 (July 2016)
Created byBrian Michael Bendis
Mike Deodato
Eve Ewing
Kevin Libranda
In-story information
Alter egoRiri Williams
Team affiliationsChampions
Stark Industries
Notable aliasesIron Man
Lady Ironheart
Queen of Latveria
AbilitiesSkilled inventor and Engineer
Super Genius-level Intellect

Publication history

Riri Williams, created by Brian Michael Bendis and designed by Mike Deodato, first appeared in Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #7,[1] written by Bendis and drawn by Deodato.[2][3] She then made her first significant appearance two issues later.[4]

Williams later starred in the third volume of Invincible Iron Man, starting in late 2016,[3] under the codename Ironheart,[5] using armor designed by Stefano Caselli, the artist of the new volume.[6]

Fictional character biography

Origins

Riri Williams is a 15-year-old engineering student and the daughter of the late Riri Williams Sr. Following her father's death, Riri lives with her mother Ronnie and her paternal aunt Sharon in Chicago. A certified super-genius, she attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on scholarship.[7][8] Working alone, Riri designs a suit of armor similar to the Iron Man Armor using material stolen from campus. When campus security knocks at her door, she flees while wearing the suit.[9]

When Williams prevents two inmates from escaping the New Mexico State Penitentiary, her suit is damaged.[10] Upon returning to her mother's house, Riri continued to work on improving the suit, much to the dismay of her aunt. Tony Stark hears of Riri's accomplishment and goes to meet her. During their meeting, Tony Stark decides that he will endorse her decision to become a superheroine.[8]

Post-Civil War II

Appearing in her Rescue armor following the "Civil War II" storyline, Pepper Potts confronts Riri Williams and Tony Stark, that has transferred his consciousness into a device becoming an A.I., in an attempt to explain the problems of being a superhero. They are then attacked by Techno Golem and her Biohack Ninjas.[11] As Riri flees and Pepper fights them, Techno Golem tries to find out how Pepper knows Riri.[12] When Techno Golem's armor breaks and Tomoe tries to instead attack Riri, Pepper uses her Rescue armored gauntlets and knocks Tomoe out. When Sharon Carter formally meets Riri after the arrest of Tomoe and the Biohack Ninjas, Pepper tells Riri that they will talk again.[13] Pepper Potts, Mary Jane Watson, Friday, Tony Stark, and Stark's biological mother Amanda Armstrong are in the Hall of Armor with Riri when she demonstrates her knowledge of each of the Iron Man armors. When Amanda Armstrong offers to allow Riri to use Tony Stark's labs as her base of operations, Riri is hesitant but Pepper encourages her. The next day at her home, Riri's family is visited by the head of M.I.T. She wants Riri to continue working there, as it has gotten sloppy since she left. Riri would also be allowed to use the laboratories at the school. After working in one of the labs, Riri asks Tony Stark to find her something to blow off some steam. Tony Stark locates Armadillo during a crime spree and Riri uses the Ironheart armor to defeat Armadillo. She is then approached by the Champions, who offer her membership into their group.[14]

Secret Empire

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Ironheart is seen fighting the Army of Evil during Hydra's takeover of the United States. Baron Helmut Zemo has Blackout surround Manhattan with Darkforce after enhancing him with the powers of the Darkhold. Riri sends a distress signal to all available heroes to meet her in Washington, D.C.. Ironheart and Falcon II join up with the Champions to assist in the underground's fight against Hydra's takeover of the country. They later follow Black Widow when she makes her own plans for Captain America. During training, the young heroes disagree about Black Widow's brutality and mercilessness. The heroes later infiltrate a Hydra base to find someone crucial to Black Widow's plan. Black Widow later tells them that they are going to have to kill Steve Rogers, after Hydra destroys the Underground hideout. In Washington, as their assault begins, Spider-Man fights Captain America, but Black Widow intervenes and is killed. Just as Spider-Man is about to kill Steve Rogers, the others convince him to not do it and they all get arrested.[15] She also helped the Champions search for survivors in Las Vegas, Nevada after its destruction by Hydra.[16]

Riri is later startled to learn that her android teammate Viv Vision has developed a crush on her, which initially revolts her due to internalized homophobia.[17] Later, her mind - and that of several other Champions - is corrupted by Mephisto's son Blackheart, turning her against her teammates.[18] However, when Riri is about to destroy Viv, it is the latter's honest apology for not considering her feelings which snaps her out of Blackheart's control and finally makes her acknowledge Viv's affection.[19]

During the "Outlawed" storyline, Ironheart is among the teenage superheroes affected by the Underage Superhuman Warfare Act that was drafted by Senator Geoffrey Patrick ever since Ms. Marvel was put in a coma during a fight with an Asgardian dragon. The established group C.R.A.D.L.E. raided her lab.[20]

Iron Man 2020

In the "Iron Man 2020" arc, Riri is among the characters that Tony Stark in his form of Mark One has not returned the calls of.[21] While abiding by the Underage Superhuman Warfare Act, Riri, her A.I. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (who is based on Riri's late best friend Natalie), and Xavier King see people fleeing because the Intellicars have gone haywire. As Riri interfaces with the Intellicar, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. finds that it's A.I. is corrupted with a bad code. As the Intellicar starts acting up again, Riri was able to find the reset code as the three Intellicars crash. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. informs Riri that the signal came from the cell phone of André Sims who is currently working as an intern at Stark Unlimited's Chicago branch. 3 days later at Stark Unlimited's Chicago branch, Riri confronts André about the incident with the Intellicars. André denies all knowledge of the incident and states that Stark Unlimited is doing the people a favor. Back at her lab, Riri states to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. that she has sent her complaints to Stark Unlimited and nobody has responded yet. While debating on the next plan of action with N.A.T.A.L.I.E., Riri notices that she might be glitching out. Later that night, Riri informs Xavier that N.A.T.A.L.I.E might be suffering a glitch ever since the Intellicar incident. She then gets an alert that the Ironheart armor has been hijacked. It is shown that N.A.T.A.L.I.E. has hijacked the Ironheart armor and starts glitching when she confronts André.[22] Using the tracker in the Ironheart armor, Riri and Xavier enter Stark Unlimited where they avoid the Stark drones. They catch up to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. as Riri works to talk N.A.T.A.L.I.E. out of harming André as N.A.T.A.L.I.E. states that they can't be able to help people from being harmed by people like André. Riri states that she can't have N.A.T.A.L.I.E. doing away with André or else Riri would get arrested as she doesn't want to put her mom through that and lose N.A.T.A.L.I.E. Riri has no choice but to armor up as André recovers and blasts Xavier out the window. Ironheart manages to rescue Xavier and expose André's experiments. After watching the news revolving around the incident, Riri, N.A.T.A.L.I.E., and Xavier noticed that the Ironheart armor was listed as one of Stark Unlimited's prototypes as they suspect that Stark Unlimited covered up the fact that it was the real Ironheart. N.A.T.A.L.I.E's glitch was also taken care of.[23]

Sales

Invincible Iron Man 1 was cover dated November 2016 and sold 97,713, making it the fifth best-selling comic that month in the North American market.[24]

Reception

The character of Riri Williams initially received criticism for having an inaccurate portrayal of a typical black female teenager,[25] and the lack of an actual black female writer for the character.[26]

Alternate versions

Ultimate Marvel

In the 2017 comic Spider-Men II, an alternate universe version of Riri Williams is a member of the Ultimates.[27]

In other media

Television
  • Ironheart appears in Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron, voiced by Sofia Wylie.[28] In flashbacks, Riri coped with the loss of a family member and worked on her version of the prototype Iron Man armor which strained her friendship with a girl named Natalie. In the present, she has created an A.I. named A.M.I. (voiced by Melanie Minichino). When A.M.I. is stolen by Hala the Accuser to be used for a doomsday device, Riri had to work with the Secret Warriors to disarm it. Riri does it at the cost of A.M.I.'s arc reactor. By the end of the short, Riri built a new armor and joins up with the Secret Warriors as Ironheart.
  • Ironheart appears in the Spider-Man episode "Amazing Friends," reprised by Sofia Wylie.[29][30] This version is an Avengers intern who lost her stepfather. In addition, she has an A.I. of Tony Stark that she calls "Not Tony" (voiced by Mick Wingert[30]). In "Vengeance of Venom" Pt. 2, Ironheart is among the heroes captured by the Klyntar during their invasion of Earth.

Internet video
  • In March 2017, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's admissions department released a short live-action video where Riri Williams / Ironheart, played by student Ayomide F., walks around campus, attends class, and builds an Ironheart suit in her dormitory.[31]

Video games
  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears as a playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight.[32] This marks the character's debut in mobile games as well as the entire video game genre in general.[33]
  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears in Marvel Avengers Academy,[34] voiced by Dani Chambers.[35]
  • Riri Williams / Ironheart appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. She appears as part of the Champions DLC.[36]
  • Ironheart appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.[37]

References
  1. DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. Johnston, Rich (2016-07-10). "Invincible Iron Man #7 Hits $49 For First Riri Williams". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  3. Dockterman, Eliana (July 6, 2016). "Exclusive: Marvel's New Iron Man Is a Black Woman". Time. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  4. Mike Deodato, Jr. [@mikedeodato] (2016-07-11). "Riri Williams was based on the beautiful young actress @skaijackson" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2017-10-23 – via Twitter.
  5. Bien-Khan, Joseph (August 22, 2016). "Exclusive: Marvel's New Iron Man Will Be Known as ... Ironheart!". Wired. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  6. Lovett, Jamie (2016-07-07). "Marvel Reveals Riri Williams' Iron Man Armor Design". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  7. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #1. Marvel Comics.
  8. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #12. Marvel Comics.
  9. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #7. Marvel Comics.
  10. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #11. Marvel Comics.
  11. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #3. Marvel Comics.
  12. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #4. Marvel Comics.
  13. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #5. Marvel Comics.
  14. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4 #6. Marvel Comics.
  15. Secret Empire #0-7. Marvel Comics.
  16. Champions Vol. 2 #11. Marvel Comics.
  17. Champions Vol. 2 #27. Marvel Comics.
  18. Champions Vol. 3 #9 (November 2019). Marvel Comics.
  19. Champions Vol. 3 #10 (December 2019). Marvel Comics.
  20. Outlawed #1. Marvel Comics.
  21. Iron Man 2020 Vol. 2 #2. DC Comics.
  22. 2020 Ironheart #1. Marvel Comics.
  23. 2020 Ironheart #2. Marvel Comics.
  24. "November 2016 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops". Comichron.
  25. Busch, Caitlin (2016-10-19). "Marvel's New Riri Williams Cover Has a Lot of Fans Pissed Off". Inverse. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  26. Riesman, Abraham (2016-07-07). "Geeks Are Angry About Iron Man Becoming a Black Girl — But Not for the Reason You'd Think". Vulture. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  27. Spider-Men II #3
  28. Sorrentino, Mike (October 2, 2018). "Iron Man Riri Williams is making her animated debut in Marvel Rising". CNET. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  29. Spider-Man: Maximum Venom Debut at Marvel.com
  30. "Amazing Friends". Spider-Man. Season 3. Episode 2. May 17, 2020. Disney XD.
  31. Annear, Steve (March 8, 2017). "MIT's admissions teaser features the new Iron Man — a black female superhero". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  32. Shiach, Kieran (January 11, 2017). "Ironheart Makes Her Video Game Debut In Latest 'Marvel: Future Fight' Update". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  33. Chabala, Ben (January 17, 2017). "Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Riri Williams". Marvel. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  34. Glass, Joe (July 28, 2017). "Avengers Academy Brings Armor Wars To iOS And Android". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  35. "Dani Chambers Resume". Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  36. Arrant, Chris (January 4, 2018). "KATE BISHOP, NADIA PYM, RIRI WILLIAMS, More Added To LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES 2". Newsarama. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  37. "Blob, Toad, Ironheart, and Red Skill are the Latest New Characters in Marvel Strike Force". February 24, 2020.
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