The Marvel Cinematic Universe is essentially founded on putting new twists on the world of Marvel Comics, but this week’s Ironheart #1 brought a bit of the opposite.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Spoilers for Ironheart #1 below!
The issue followed Riri Williams in her first official solo comic, as she juggles being both a college student and a superhero. The issue opens with a slew of dignitaries visiting Riri’s lab on their way to some sort of summit. The summit is then attacked by Clayton Cole, who is otherwise known as the Spider-Man villain Clash, and is trying to kidnap and extort resources from the dignitaries.
As Riri arrives and saves the day, Clayton reveals that all of his actions have a very specific purpose — catching the attention of the Ten Rings.
For diehard MCU fans, this name will certainly ring a bell, as it’s a terrorist organization that played a role throughout the Iron Man solo films. The group was responsible for kidnapping and torturing Tony Stark, which eventually led to him creating his first ever Iron Man suit as a means to escape. As Iron Man went on, it was revealed that the group tried to lure in Obadiah Stane, only for him to refuse their offer.
The group then appeared pretty significantly in Iron Man 2, with both Iron Man and Black Widow trying to fight the group on separate occasions. The film’s main villain, Ivan Vanko, also had ties to the group in some way.
And of course, Iron Man 3 featured the group in an entirely new way, with all of the plot twists surrounding The Mandarin, who was believed to essentially be the group’s leader.
The most recent appearance of Ten Rings in the MCU happened in Ant-Man, with a member of the group attempting to buy Yellowjacket technology from Darren Cross. Ant-Man quickly defeated the agent, before he ultimately died in the implosion of Pym Tech Headquarters.
Even with all of this history, the Ten Rings had yet to really make their way into Marvel Comics before, which certainly makes their Ironheart role interesting. While it’s unclear exactly what the series has in store, it doesn’t seem out of the question that they could play some sort of larger significance.
Ironheart #1 is in stores now.
