Recap: Riri Williams Returns in Debut Episode of Marvel's "Ironheart" on Disney+
Marvel’s latest Disney+ series is here. Riri Williams has returned, fresh off of her “internship" in Wakanda, and now she has to find her place in the world. Ironheart follows Riri as she attempts to fill a void in the scientific community, left by the now deceased Tony Stark. And despite her status at M.I.T., she is finding her return to the real world to be a bit challenging.
The episode opens with a flashback of Riri and a girl, roughly her age, with somber music underneath before getting to the Marvel Television intro. Clearly, there is more coming on their relationship.
Back at M.I.T., we see Riri earning money by selling off finished science projects to students to pass off as their own. She explains that she needs money to be the greatest inventor in the world, mentioning that Tony Stark would not have been who he was if he wasn’t a billionaire. There is a little easter egg in one of the exchanges. We can see Riri collecting money stashed in a copy of Scott Lang’s Look Out for the Little Guy, the book we hear Lang read in the opening of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. We also get a glimpse of a white board with Riri’s work on it. There, we can see a note referencing “B.A.R.F.," Tony Stark’s/Quenting Beck’s hologram technology seen in Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Riri tries to power up her new suit in what appears to be a demonstration for Professor Wilkes, whom we also met in Captain America: Civil War. Firing up the suit causes things around the lab to start sparking and Wilkes panics and runs off. Later, we see Riri having a meeting with Dean Choi and a now-apparently-injured Wilkes. Riri pleads for more time on her grant but instead learns she is being expelled from the school.
Riri is led by security to her lab to collect her things before she leaves. Riri puts on her fully functioning iron suit and flies past security. She pulls up M.I.T.’s AI assistant, Trevor, and asks him to set a course to Chicago, her home city.
In Chicago, we see a team of criminals working on some kind of heist in a home. The job goes sideways though when the team’s tech guy fails to disable the security system and an alarm is triggered. Two members of the team fight their way past security and they bail on the job before the police arrive.
We later see the team stripping down their van before reporting back to their apparent leader, whom they refer to as “Hood." This is a Marvel villain and crime boss known as The Hood. Parker Robbins became a notorious criminal after stealing a cloak and boots from a demon, later learning they were enchanted with magical abilities. We see the Hood talking to his apparent right hand man, who is asking what they should do with Stu, their bumbling tech guy. Hood tells him to fire him but they discuss whether or not they’ll be able to find a replacement before their next job. Their conversation is interrupted though when they see Riri fly overhead.
Just arriving in Chicago, Riri is abandoned by Trevor and she gets locked out of her suit which is seemingly still under some control of the school. We also briefly see a man on the street preaching that “Thanos was only the beginning." If only that guy knew how right he is.
After crashing on the street, Riri starts to walk home, wearing tattered pieces of her suit while carrying the rest of it. She is stopped by a boy who offers to use his wagon to carry her suit home for her. We later learn the boy’s name is Landon.
Riri gets to her mother’s apartment to hear her talking about her with friends before she opens the door. Her mother is delighted to see Riri when she enters, but the conversation is quickly steered to her being expelled from school. She is saved from the conversation when her friend Xavier enters and they leave together.
Xavier asks Riri about her desire to build an iron suit. She explains that people are obsessed with them and that if she can build the best one she’ll be an undeniably legendary scientist. She also says she thinks she’ll have to take a job in a place like Dubai to get what she wants, saying everything around her home feels small. You can’t really blame her. She did just assist the nation of Wakanda in a war against Talokan.
Xavier drives Riri to an old garage and shows her a mural of a man and the same young girl we saw from the opening montage. Xavier explains the man is Riri’s stepdad and the girl is Xavier’s sister. Riri sees flashbacks of them both as Xavier tells stories about her stepdad. Xavier apologizes for not being there the night “everything happened."
Back home, Xavier gives Riri a mixtape before she goes inside. We also see the Hood’s right hand man, who is listed in the credits as Cousin John, watching Riri.
The next day, Xavier helps Riri collect scrap parts for her suit in a junkyard. Riri gets ready to haggle with the owner of the junkyard to pay him back later. She is interrupted though when John steps in and pays for the parts. John tells some stories of Riri’s successes, just to let her know he’s aware of her.
Outside, John makes a pitch for Riri to come work for the guy he works for. He gives her a business card and tells her to come by the next day and take the elevator to the second floor.
The next day, Riri arrives at the pizza place John gave her the card for. She steps inside to find it empty and she makes her way to the elevator. When she tries to take it up to the second floor though, it breaks down. She sees a machine in the corner leaking gas and hears a voice telling her this is her interview. The voice tells her to break into the device to get a gas mask. We see John and his whole crew watching Riri on a monitor, some of them with doubts she’ll succeed. Riri instead decides to break her way out of the elevator and is greeted by applause from the crew.
The Hood greets Riri and makes his pitch for her to work for him. Riri refuses and tries to leave. Hood instead shows her a box full of cash and hands her a stack of bills. He pitches again for her to join him for three jobs and admits they’re not exactly legal, but assures her no one will get hurt. Riri reluctantly agrees and Hood tells her they’re going to need her suit tomorrow.
Back home, Riri works on the suit as she begins to listen to Xavier’s mixtape. The tape includes a voicemail from Natalie, which triggers an emotional reaction from Riri. She sees another flashback of herself with her stepdad and Natalie in that garage we saw earlier. We hear an argument outside before shots are fired. Riri storms out of her room before we can see what happened, but it is implied her stepdad and Natalie were both shot and killed.
Riri rushes out into the kitchen where her mother asks if she was crying. She assures her she’s fine and asks why she never cleaned up her stepdad’s garage. They argue briefly before Riri goes back to her room.
At Hood’s hideout, he discusses upcoming jobs with John, saying after tomorrow’s job they have two more before “the big show." Excited, John tells Hood to take a seat and he removes his shirt to show a combination of tattoos and what looks to be a very painful skin condition. As it turns out, wielding demonic magic comes with a price. Wanda could have warned him.
Riri continues to work on the suit and begins programming her AI, hooking up her computer to her own head. Firing it up causes an apparent power outage and she sees a timer saying it’s going to take four hours for the AI to be ready. Meanwhile, we see Hood hanging his cloak up in a vault as ominous whispers fill the air.
Riri watches as the time ticks down, waiting for her AI to be ready. Her mind flashes to thoughts of Natalie before she drifts off to sleep. The next morning, she wakes up to someone calling her name. She looks up and sees Natalie standing in front of her, or at least a projection of Natalie. Riri faints and that’s where the episode comes to a close.
This was a very intriguing start to this new series. While pacing was a bit rough and things seemed to move a little fast, the stage has been set for a very interesting combination of science and magic. And with entertaining characters like these and elements like that, this series could be a whole lot of fun.
The first three episodes of Marvel’s Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.